Gulf Coast of the United States

The Gulf Coast of the United States is the coastline along which the Southern United States meets the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, and these are known as the Gulf States.

The economy of the Gulf Coast area is dominated by industries related to energy, petrochemicals, fishing, aerospace, agriculture, and tourism. The large cities of the region are (from west to east) Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Houston, Galveston, Beaumont, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Biloxi, Mobile, Pensacola, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and increasingly, Sarasota; all are the centers of their respective metropolitan areas and contain large ports. (Baton Rouge is relatively far from the Gulf of Mexico; its port is on the Mississippi River, as is the port of New Orleans.)

Geography

The Gulf Coast is made of many inlets, bays, and lagoons. The coast is also intersected by numerous rivers, the largest of which is the Mississippi River. Much of the land along the Gulf Coast is, or was, marshland. Ringing the Gulf Coast is the Gulf Coastal Plain which reaches from Southern Texas to the western Florida Panhandle while the western portions of the Gulf Coast are made up of many barrier islands and peninsulas, including the 130 miles (210 km) Padre Island and Galveston Island located in the U.S. State of Texas. These landforms protect numerous bays and inlets providing as a barrier to oncoming waves. The central part of the Gulf Coast, from eastern Texas through Louisiana, consists primarily of marshland. The eastern part of the Gulf Coast, predominantly Florida, is dotted with many bays and inlets.

Gulf Coast (magazine)

Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts is a literary magazine from Houston, Texas. Founded in 1986 by Donald Barthelme and Phillip Lopate, Gulf Coast was envisioned as an intersection between the literary and visual arts communities. As a result, Gulf Coast has partnered with the University of Houston's Creative Writing Program, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Menil Collection to showcase some of the most important literary and artistic talents in the United States. Faculty editors past and present include Mark Doty (1999–2005), Claudia Rankine, (2006) and Nick Flynn (2007–present). The magazine publishes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.

In 2007, Heather McHugh chose David Shumate's Drawing Jesus, which first appeared in Gulf Coast, for The Best American Poetry 2007, and Stephen King listed Peter Bognanni's The Body Eternal and Sandra Novack's Memphis, again premiering in Gulf Coast, among the 100 Distinguished Stories in The Best American Short Stories 2007. Gulf Coast featured artists Robyn O'Neil and Amy Blakemore have been featured in the Whitney Biennial.

Gulf Coast (disambiguation)

The Gulf Coast of the United States comprises the coasts of American states that are on the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf Coast may also refer to: