Showing How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein
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Why does Oklahoma have that panhandle? Did someone make a mistake?
We are so familiar with the map of the United States that our state borders seem as much a part of nature as mountains and rivers. Even the oddities—the entire state of Maryland(!)—have become so engrained that our map might as well be a giant jigsaw puzzle designed by Divine Providence. But that's where the real mystery begins. Every edge of the familiar wooden jigsaw pieces of our childhood represents a revealing moment of history and of, well, humans drawing lines in the sand.
How the States Got Their Shapes is the first book to tackle why our state lines are where they are. Here are the stories behind the stories, right down to the tiny northward jog at the eastern end of Tennessee and the teeny-tiny (and little known) parts of Delaware that are not attached to Delaware but to New Jersey.
How the States Got Their Shapes examines:
- Why West Virginia has a finger creeping up the side of Pennsylvania
- Why Michigan has an upper peninsula that isn't attached to Michigan
- Why some Hawaiian islands are not Hawaii
- Why Texas and California are so outsized, especially when so many Midwestern states are nearly identical in size
Packed with fun oddities and trivia, this entertaining guide also reveals the major fault lines of American history, from ideological intrigues and religious intolerance to major territorial acquisitions. Adding the fresh lens of local geographic disputes, military skirmishes, and land grabs, Mark Stein shows how the seemingly haphazard puzzle pieces of our nation fit together perfectly.
Important places
New York (7,400)Washington (2,457)
Counties
New York (8,072)District of Columbia (2,673)
Regions
Kansas (511)Rhode Island (430)
Colorado (1,596)
Connecticut (867)
North Dakota (215)
Idaho (520)
Wyoming (604)
Nevada (857)
Missouri (930)
Virginia (2,431)
Wisconsin (731)
West Virginia (543)
Delaware (162)
District of Columbia (2,676)
Maryland (1,306)
New Mexico (810)
Arizona (1,022)
Arkansas (680)
Nebraska (466)
Oklahoma (380)
South Dakota (315)
New Hampshire (499)
Vermont (463)
Alabama (831)
Indiana (687)
Ohio (1,283)
Tennessee (979)
New Jersey (1,469)
Pennsylvania (4,458)
Utah (1,192)
Massachusetts (3,085)
Minnesota (828)
Montana (730)
Florida (2,551)
Georgia (1,485)
Oregon (944)
California (7,435)
Iowa (567)
Louisiana (1,489)
Texas (2,882)
Mississippi (774)
South Carolina (671)
Illinois (2,704)
Kentucky (814)
North Carolina (1,570)
Maine (1,075)
Michigan (1,031)
Alaska (1,096)
New York (9,763)
Countries
Canada (8,082)Mexico (1,563)
United States (64,950)
Other geographical areas
Bitterroot Range (17)Columbia Plateau (47)
Front Range (USA) (58)
Superior Upland (76)
Ozark Plateau (77)
Alaska Range (82)
Great Basin (USA) (130)
Edwards Plateau (159)
Allegheny Plateau (173)
Cumberland Plateau (211)
Central Valley (290)
Sierra Nevada (316)
Rocky Mountains (370)
Canadian Shield (805)
Piedmont (USA) (1,063)
Appalachian Mountains (1,111)
Central Lowlands (North America) (1,334)
Southwestern United States (1,729)
Carolinas (2,142)
Great Plains (2,255)
Gulf Coast (USA) (2,573)
Upper Midwest (2,971)
Northern California (3,440)
Deep South (4,776)
New England (5,830)
North Atlantic Ocean (8,812)