The Piedmont (/ˈpiːdmɒnt/ PEED-mont)[1] is a plateau region located in the Eastern United States. It is situated between the Atlantic Plain and the Blue Ridge Mountains, stretching from New York in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont Province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands physiographic division and consists of the Piedmont Upland, and the Piedmont Lowlands sections.[2]
The Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line marks the Piedmont's eastern boundary with the Coastal Plain. To the west, it is mostly bounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, the easternmost range of the Appalachians. The width of the Piedmont varies, being quite narrow above the Delaware River but nearly 300 miles (475 km) wide in North Carolina. The Piedmont's area is approximately 80,000 square miles (210,000 km2).[3]
The French word Piedmont (modern spelling Piémont) comes from the Italian Piemonte, from Latin pedemontium, meaning "foothill" or, literally, "at the foot of the mountains";[1] it is the name of the northwestern Italian region abutting the Alps.