True.
Pilgrims came to North America because they wanted to worship in the ways they wanted to and not how the church told them to.
The mountain ranges and rivers in Southeast Asia have made a stripe like relief in the mainland of this region. The mountain ranges are in a north-south direction and separate the region into few big elongated valleys, and the 5 big rivers also are moving from the north towards the south (southeast, southwest as well), and are running in between the mountain ranges and cut through the valleys.
Geography uses other subject in it's studies. Very close to geography are geophysics and geology. Geophysics studies quantitatively physical phenomena of the planet Earth, geology studies composition of soil rocks and their development through history. Geography uses biology, statistics, mathematics and other subjects in order to better describe the Earth.
A biggie: the transcontinental railroad. Because it would economically improve wherever it was, both the North and the South competed for the railroad to be in their respective territory, evidenced by the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Gadsen Purchase and induction of California as a free state in 1860.
In addition: people could get land cheap because it was abundant and might leave to start afresh economically.
There's other stuff I can't remember as clearly, but there's a little and I hope it helps :)
