Breadbasket 218191 221204713 2008-06-23T14:29:37Z Terraxos 794371 added 'unreferenced' template {{This|the cultural/political concept|Basket (disambiguation)}} {{unreferenced|date=June 2008}} The '''Breadbasket''' of a country is a region which, because of richness of [[soil]] or advantageous [[climate]], produces an agricultural surplus which is often considered vital for the country as a whole. A similar term is the '''Granary''' of a given country. As such the ownership of such regions are historically the subject of fierce military disputes. ==Regional breadbaskets/granaries== ===[[Classical antiquity]]=== [[Sicilia]] and [[Africa Province|Africa]] were considered the breadbaskets of the [[Roman Republic]]. Later on [[Aegyptus (Roman province)|Egypt]] was considered the breadbasket of the [[Roman Empire]]. ===Africa=== [[Zimbabwe]] was called the breadbasket of Africa until the [[Land reform in Zimbabwe]]. ===Portugal=== Around the 1970's, [[Alentejo]] was considered the breadbasket of [[Portugal]]. ===India=== The [[Punjab region]] is considered the breadbasket of India and Pakistan. ===Russia=== During Tsarist times the [[Little Russia|Ukrainian provinces]] of the [[Russian Empire]] were referred to as the Empire's breadbasket. During the Soviet era, the mantle passed to the [[Ukrainian SSR]]. There is also the [[Central Black Earth Region]] within [[Russia]] proper. ===North America=== North America's [[Great Plains]] are a common breadbasket shared between Canada and the United States. ====Canada==== In Canada the grain-growing areas are also called the [[Canadian prairies]]. Sometimes the province of [[Saskatchewan]] is further singled out from within this region as the main breadbasket of Canada. ====United States==== In the US, this region is called the [[Grain Belt]]. ====Studies on regionalism==== This region also shares some cultural and political traits which lead the authors of two books on [[Regionalism (politics)|regionalism]] in North America to argue that they form a separate "nation." In the book ''[[Nine Nations of North America]]'', author [[Joel Garreau]] identifies the "Breadbasket" as one of nine cultural "nations" in North America. In the book ''[[The Day America Told The Truth]]'' by James Patterson and Peter Kim, this region is called the Granary instead, but its boundaries are essentially the same as those Garreau drew for the Breadbasket. Both books include western [[Indiana]], northern and central [[Illinois]] except for the immediate [[Chicago metropolitan area]], [[Wisconsin]] except for the [[Lake Michigan]] shoreline, the northern half of [[Michigan]]'s [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan|Upper Peninsula]], the states of [[Minnesota]], [[Iowa]], [[North Dakota]], [[South Dakota]], [[Nebraska]] and [[Kansas]] in their entirety, the easternmost tier of counties in [[Montana]], [[Wyoming]], [[Colorado]] and northern [[New Mexico]], the northern and western portions of [[Missouri]] and [[Oklahoma]], and the [[Texas Panhandle]]. {{wiktionary}} [[Category:Agricultural terminology]] [[ja:穀倉地帯]]