Desert Southwest (Explore America’s Southwestern Deserts)

Map of the Desert Southwest

This map shows the region depicted as the Desert Southwest at Notes from the Road. There are different ways of describing the American Southwest, but most descriptions are either too broad or too specific. It is not just a collection of states in the southwest corner of the country, nor is it just Arizona and New Mexico. The best definition of the Desert Southwest is the region that surrounds the warm deserts north of Mexico. Some geographic and cultural elements are common to all of the Desert Southwest: the influence of Spanish colonization, Mexican culture and cuisine and a relative abundance of desert plants.

Southern California, the southern tip of Nevada, the southern edge of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and the basin and range region of Texas are all a part of the large Desert Southwest region.