The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States. Because of the region's unique cultural and historic heritage, including Native Americans; early European settlements of English, Scots-Irish, Scottish and French heritage; importation of hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans; growth of a large proportion of African Americans in the population, reliance on slave labor, and legacy of the Confederacy after the American Civil War, the South developed its own customs, literature, musical styles, and varied cuisines that has profoundly shaped traditional American culture. In the last few decades, the South has become more industrialized and urban, attracting internal and international migrants.

The American South is among the fastest-growing areas in the United States. (See Cultural Variations for more about the complexity of southern states).

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