imo this video belongs in r/mildlyinfuriating . Dividing some sides of some states by natural borders only for their other side to be a random ass straight line left me feeling incomplete. I want my 11 mins back.
Also, my state of Virginia was screwed over. We already have less population than North Carolina and Georgia. He divides up Virginia while giving North Carolina more land and takes away a little from Georgia. He should have combined Virginia, West Virginia just take away the panhandle, and Maryland.
Judging by what he said at the very end, i kinda feel like these borders were made to be mildly infuriating, so, i think its a job well done in that case.
Geoff: Splitting up states for political reasons is dumb. Also Geoff: West Virginia and Virginia stay separated because politics. If there's one thing I cannot tolerate, it is inconsistency. Edit- Yes, I'm aware it makes sense to keep them separate for geographic reasons. That's not the reason he gave.
There is a mountain range between them, thats why they stay split, not because of political reasons... He never said they should stay split because of political reasons, but because of natural borders.
@@uIz-slc Of course, that border doesn't actually make sense: the roads around there completely ignore it. I know an old lady who had to cross the state line three times to buy milk
You had no problem merging the Dakotas, which were divided for political reasons. So why not merge Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut which were also divided for political/religious reasons?
@@skywarp0828 Everyone knows why, this guy is literally suggesting gerrymandering on the level of the Jim Crow era and painting it as a good thing because orange man bad 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I wouldn't mind seeing state boundaries redrawn based on current cultural climate. It would let people better further their mutual interests. Some examples: split N California from S California. Split E Texas from W Texas. N Michigan goes to Wisconsin. E Washington and E Oregon join Idaho, W Washington and W Oregon join each other. Re-arrange WV, VA, MD, DC and DE into Delmarva, Tidewater/Piedmont, and Appalachia. Merge N and S Dakota. FL panhandle goes to AL.
there is a big disadvantage to dividing by rivers, because major cities are often by rivers, and then you end up with half of a city in one region and the other half in another
yes, this is the most annoying thing when i make my own maps, its very difficult to allow the same city to expand while under different jurisdiction, its very easy to find a american city on a river that divided between states with 1 being developed and other just a small town or fields.
@@spdracr Often there are physical reasons for that. For instance, Memphis is on a bluff, so when the Mississippi floods, it stays unflooded, but West Memphis, Ark. is not raised up so it gets frequently flooded. Fine for farmland (lose one crop, but gain new silt), but not handy for an urban area. Savannah is like that too - I don't remember what they call the part of South Carolina across the river, but it is low-lying and prone to floods, while Savannah itself is on a bluff. These higher lands are what channels the rivers to their particular locations in many areas, so the ports and urban areas take advantage of that.
While in the same state, so not the same exact issue, this is more or less proven by Minneapolis and St. Paul lol We basically decided to put one on each side of the river instead of making them all one city because, well, the river. But it means that attempting to get population measurements usually results in people mistakenly thinking the major population here is a fraction of what it is because they look up one city and ignore the other as well as all the necessary suburbs that fill out the area as part of the metro.
I actually have a bigger problem with Puerto Rico being a state. It has nothing culturally in common with the rest of the country. It shouldn’t even be a territory. It should be its own country or part of Cuba or something.
There’s a whole mountain range separating the Virginias. That’s valid. Puerto Rico is valid too. Mariana… eh. The Virgin Islands losing their identity to Puerto Rico would also be problematic.
@@BMWE90HQ You say that like there's a single cultural entity called the US and that's just not the case. There are a lot of Puerto Ricans serving in our military, too, and I would bet they wouldn't agree with your assessment either. Either way, this was a silly video, but it did highlight the fact that a lot of decisions that affect us all are done for pretty silly reasons, too.
Ya, I'm surprised he didn't just say EVERY BIG CITY is now a state so they can regulate the country the Democratic way, permanently. However, parts of Washington and Oregon are tire of putting up with the loser/hippy bs of constant riots and soft on crime policies and want to join Idaho.
@@Willowdog08 I'm not the idiot making videos of why we should remodel America to fit THEIR desires. Though, there have been videos gong the other way basically wiping off the left coast mostly because its coming up to 3 weeks later and they are still counting votes in California. But this one coming out right after the election, kinda looks suspicious eh?
it can be worse, what about combining the 48 states into only 10, and then fuse the names together to make some very awkward names, like Texico and Louisisansas
This is like if a victorian emperor was given total control of American borders and gave it the same consideration that they gave Africa & The Mid East
1 Million %! Yes, some of the geographic borders are wonky but there's a bunch of reasons and now history for why they are the way they are, so arbitrarily combining, splitting, rearranging borders is absolutely crazy and would cause a ton of chaos and expense to sort out.
😠 You're forgetting that American borders were already drawn by colonists to keep the indigenous tribes divided. The Americans who drew our current borders were *not* the natives.
@stevencooper4422 because he's not taking any cultural identities into account, it's purely geographic in nature which is an extremely stupid way of redrawing borders.
So, South Carolina split because it didn't want to marginalize a group and you put them back together?. West Virginia split because they didn't want to marginalize a group and you leave them apart?
@noway6690 To be fair, South Carolina just didn't want to spend the money to marginalize a group of people. They didn't actually care about the natives. Still pretty stupid to put them back together based on that, though.
“Put Dakota back together bc of their politics I don’t agree with” “Don’t put Virginias back to together bc their politics I do agree with” Can’t have it both ways
I think there is a difference. The Dakotas didn't have a political difference to split them, but split to game the political system. The Virginias split because the state was politically divided.
@@karl-erlendmikalsen5159 Virginia split when most of the men were away in the Confederate army. The ones who remained voted to split away. I think it would have made sense to reunite them, but maybe divide them again differently for geographic reasons.
@@karl-erlendmikalsen5159 Actually go look up the voting records, North and South Dakota voted differently from each other in their first two elections that they were states.
@@calebforbes7855 The Dakotas have historically been far more split east/west than north/south. Mining, forestry, and tourism in the west. Farming and ranching in the east.
@@rightwingsafetysquad9872 Yeah, you're right about that. You can look on Google earth, the western parts are dryer like Wyoming and Montana, and the Eastern parts are much more similar to Minnesota, Iowa. And they could have been split by Missouri River. I still think that my point stands: They didn't vote the same in the first election leading me to believe, the republicans were either just mistaken about how the two states would vote or the motive wasn't more republican Senators. Farming has, at times, been very unionized and democrat leaning, just not currently.
No! Go the other way! Return the parts of DC where people live back to Maryland. That way, they get representation. DC should only be where the government buildings, the museums, and the memorials are.
@@jcarp1776 all federal buildings would be "DC" or "federal territories", with your logic... DC being exempt from state laws is kinda the whole point of a National Capitol. The founding fathers would have made specific buildings in Philadelphia excempt from state law if you had your away. "WE HEREBY DECLARE that the area bounded by the street hereforeout known as 86th street to the north, and 85th Street to the south; the western and Eastern boundries shall be between 32nd and 33rd Avenue, in the building constructed by approx. 3/4 timber and the rest of various composite marerials; This Building shall be placed under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress, and any state(s) otherwise claiming this area as thier own, shall be invalid" or someother legalese I often wish Americans had just moved the capital to a west-of-the-mississippi territory in the 1800's, simply so that we don't have to listen to Maryland and Virgina complain about loosing territory (despite the benefits of having the capital. right. there)
DC cannot be a state because the founders did not want the seat of power to be beholding to a state governor. If it became a state, the Federal district could not still be a state and the only resident would be the President, who could then vote himself the electoral college vote of the District. There was a plan to absorb the city part of DC into either Maryland or Virginia and then leave the Federal district as it is when not voting rights, since the only resident would be the President and his family.
2:40 You mentioned the Rocky Mountains but not the Cascade Mountain Range that runs through WA, OR, and CA and it creates a real impact in those states: environmentally, physically, politically, culturally.
I agree!!! Washington and Oregon both should be split along the Cascade Ridge into east and west, and the SW corner of Oregon should be joined to the NW corner of California.
I've always thought Kentucky and Tennessee should be combined and re-divided into two states with an east-west split rather than a north-south split. Because their eastern sides are one Appalachian culture that is very, very different from their "almost midwestern" western sides.
He's willing to make Nevada huge but giving a little more land to Ohio? Nooo, can't have that. Come on, dude, commit, go all in! Why is Minesota "fine" but you ignore those two straight lines?
This video is not redrawing the US States based on Geography, but "Redrawing the US States based on how much I like them, random reasons that make no sense and occasionally geography" This is one of the worst redrawings of the US states that I have ever seen.
NO! First and most importantly give Texas the panhandle back. Those areas have a strong Texan identity. Also give Texas the Oklahoma panhandle and give Texas all the land in New Mexico east of the rio grande and give the rest to Arizona. HE ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO DO THIS! Georgia is WAY to small. Give it South Carolina. It also brings the border to the natural boundary on the river in between north and South Carolina. Completely give Delaware to Maryland. Give Ohio that extra land in New York it dont matter if you dont want it to be bigger. IT DONT MATTER. Make it how the geography is. Split Dakotas because it makes a nice organized 5 states in the north Great Plains. Remove West Virginia and Vermont and in there place make a new state named Appalachia that takes up all the Appalachian mountains except for to deep into Tennessee. And maybe split California into 2 states the north stays California and the south is named Los Angeles. At that point its good but otherwise his map ABSOLUTELY SUCKS.
Exactly, if anything I'd take those 3 Okla panhandle counties and give em to Texas, cutting off Okla from touching NM, and taking that tiny strip of theirs that barely comes up n over the NW part of the panhandle as well. As NM already has a goofy southwestern heel with the Mexico border, doesn't need that 1-3 mi wide northeastern strip. 🤷
@@vector_7 you wouldn't recognize good borders if they say on your face, following geography is good but not just the most major features, and not over more important aspects of life.
Agreed. All of the straight borders in the west still look unnatural. Dividing the border by watershed west of the continental divide will make a lot more sense geographically.
@@LocaChoca and railroads are nightmares for everything and everyone nearby yet modernists insist on their supremacy for some unknown reason. They're awful. Just keep people with staunch opinions 500 miles away from the eastern edge of the rocky mtns. Yuck 🤮 all day all the way
_This is worse than when the British drew up all the borders in the Middle East_ Ahh, but *_not_* as bad as when the Europeans divided up Africa at the Berlin Conference in the 1880s.
@@TimTomsen-o9h He really should have given East New York to Pennsylvania instead of arbitrarily splitting us up. Don’t worry we hate New York City too so we can find unity through that.
@@TimTomsen-o9h It would've made more sense to have west New York and west Pennsylvania be a new state than what was done. Call it Allegheny or something. It's also better than cobbling Pacific Islands to be a state.
He didn't make bad map because even bad maps have good ideas, he was so afraid to get political that he concously made "anti-good" map to not get criticized by people who could dox him, well now he has us who are shitting on him, hope it was worth it. I can recognize metrosexual numales mapper on how much they don't want to admit reality.
Wait wait wait...religion? The US has no official religion and neither do any of the states, so that cannot be a consideration when redrawing borders. Vive la séparation.
I dont think he's even been outside, the idea of splitting Eastern states by the Appalachians is insane. Those aren't mountains they're puffed up hills, so famously easy to handle a trail running the length of them is a nice vacation hike.
I understand your sentiments 😊 as truly the majority of people don't like change. However, I think the intention was to create and uncreate the States based on geography. Anyone can have dreams. Creations and inventions start with a dream. Think about it 🤔
As a resident of Eastern Washington.. you went to the trouble of redrawing borders, and left Eastern Washington and Oregon in the same state as their Western counterparts?
I agree in principle (split along Cascades rather than Columbia), but as someone who has to live in Eastern Washington for work and spent most of my life on the West Side, I’m thankful to have the Seattle overlords to prevent us from turning into Idaho.
@@abard124 How am I reading too much in? You literally described how happy you were that the needs and government priorities of the people in Eastern Washington are drowned out by other people in the state that couldn’t care less about them. You are clearly saying that you are happy that people in Eastern Washington don’t have a choice in how their government works because they would choose wrong. That is the very definition of Undemocratic.
@@timothyashe3779I am a people in Eastern Washington, and I vote. I’m allowed to have opinions just like you. I’m not undemocratic just because my opinions tend to be more in line with the 40% or so of Eastern Washington voters whose views tend to be represented in the majority in Western Washington. I was on the other end of it too when I lived in Austin. It’s literally just how voting works. I don’t know why you’re so offended by that.
@@JimmyaKaTheK nah there shouldn't be north and south part of the same states in the first place. But the rest I do agree with you. You either make boundaries fully geographical or keep it as it is. This guy is doing in betwee.
No, North and South Dakota became separate states for reasons beyond partisan politics. There were actual cultural, economic, and geographic distinctions.
This is true in a lot of cases. By focusing solely on geography, the video disregards geopolitical sentiment, a driving force behind some secessionist (state level) movements today. It would in fact make more sense for western NY to be a part of Ohio than essentially controlled by NYC politics. Parts of northern California and eastern Oregon want to join Idaho due to political influences from their southern partisans.
"We have two Dakotas for political reasons and nothing more." Political reasons are all you need. Politics make the country go. Everything is political.
And he's wrong about it too. There are two Dakotas for economic and cultural reasons. The south of Dakota was way more populated and viewed the Northerners as direputable and far too willing to pick fights with the local Indians, they also wanted better control over elected officials since the officials they were assigned at the time were seen as carpetbaggers. The north of Dakota wanted to remain a territory because it was cheaper so far as taxes and more lax so far as law enforcement, not to mention that their population was roughly a third the size of the southern half and the economies of the two half were based on wholly different industries and trade routes.
@@darkdragon7210 Not really, a combined Dakota would lose two senators and hence two electors. But why combine them and keep Washington and Oregon apart? Just because they have different names?
what about putting upper ny into a new england state, the lower and upper already feel disconnected from another, and a city state would be pretty cool lol
Dakotas actually didn't split simply to give Republicans an advantage. They split for many reasons but a big reasons was railroads running through only through South Dakota and another running only through North Dakota and this caused the two to separate and develop differently with South Dakota gaining much of the population and power and then changing the capital without the Norths consent causing the North to become disenfranchised and wanting it's own political autonomy. So both areas of North and South Dakota asked to be admitted separately and were both granted entry into the Union. So North Dakota was created mainly by the North Dakotans not wanting to be dominated by their more powerful southern half. Also, the landscape was so desolate and large that it was difficult for North Dakota to stay in political contact with the south especially since no railroads connected from North to South but rather only East to West. I don't know where you got this Republicans did it talking point but it's woefully inaccurate, or at least appears to be by what I've learned of it.
All the above, and also that since the Dakotas are distinctly divided east to west, the border between them should be the Missouri. Western Minnesota should really go with them too to round out the population a bit.
That's only one part of the story. At the end of the day, there were various bills introduced to Congress simultaneously on how to divide the Dakota territories. The final decision was 100% motivated by the politics of the time.
@TheSeanathon ummmm...well yeah territory is ALWAYS decided by the politics of the time! But I'm also trying sharing that the population of the Dakotas had the say on dividing the territory. If that advantaged a political party then I'm sure they thought it was even better.
@@danielwatcherofthelord1823 You are *_very_* wrong on two points! First, the decision to split the Dakotas was made via the federal legislative process with the intent of armoring the existing GOP Senate majority into the 20th century. Second, it was tomfoolery by Territory Governor and NH carpetbagger Nehemiah Ordway and corrupt *Northern* interests -- not Southern -- that saw the capital moved from the recently flooded **southern** city of Yankon to the **northern** city of Bismarck. Furthermore, while the capital relocation also was motivated by a desire for a State of North Dakota, it was South Dakota that first submitted a petition for statehood. When told by the feds they could either petition again as one territory or wait until ND has crossed the minimum required population threshhold, they opted to wait. The whole thing was a giant, sloppy, *woeful* mess. And in, fact, one casualty of all of this is that my home state of New Mexico was denied statehood until 1912. Much of that had to do with anti-Hispanic and anti-Catholic sentiment, but the deciding factor was the expectation that they would send to Democrats to the Senate.
Minnesota has a piece of its state surrounded by Canada. You literally have to drive through Canada to get the local children to school everyday. I'd say there is room for improvement there. Also there is Point Roberts in Washington state. It is almost a suburb of Vancouver. They share Vancouver's water & sewer and fire department. Again, just for the sake of argument, that should be fixed.
The states' awkward borders just make their human and political geography more fun. Hell, let's cut Montana's plains region off and make "West Dakota".
I would then move to merge the 26 states entirely east of the Mississippi (plus that bit of Louisiana) and call it East Dakota. Then let everyone else complain that Minnesota is interrupting the Dakotas. And leave out Florida, actually. Living in one political jurisdiction that contains Florida is bad enough. Let's just say that it's south of this Mississippi and doesn't fit into this scheme, or just give it back to Spain or something.
Geoff, like myself, is a Oregonian. We're well aware. That said, it doesn't make sense. What would make infinitely MORE sense is to instead get Eastern Washington to move to cede from the state, and merge with Eastern Oregon, creating the state of Lincoln, which was what the people and original proposal actually was for the record. They got ignored, and that's how we instead got the current borders. It could have been avoided entirely if the people were listened to and got their wishes granted.
@@scottgrohs5940 More likely the capital for a state of Lincoln would be one of the Tri-Cities, as it'd be more central while still retaining fair size in city and in metro population. Hell, even somewhere like Hermiston, Umatilla or Pendleton could do decently as a small state capital, too. Hermiston and Umatilla have been rapidly expanding and growing, while Pendleton would enable a fair balance between historic town, and space, and they've talked a lot over the years about how to draw more people in for visits, which partially has to do with their EAS contract not getting renewed a few years back, losing commercial air service, at least from PDX. But overall, I'd place the capital in one of the Tri-Cities. Probably Kennewick, as it'd be the most central north to south for the three, and has the history of hosting big events, while also redeveloping a lot of their land within city limits. Lincoln would also have one other mid-size city in Bend, outside of Spokane, Spokane Valley, Yakima and the Tri-Cities. Redmond is claimed to be Portland's replacement when the tricentennial quake strikes, but uhh... I really doubt that'd work. lol. Plus, there really is no activity there development and redevelopment wise. Bend on the other hand is constantly developing and redeveloping, and growing pretty rapidly.
@@CBGOODMAN200A as a New Yorker: no. Sure there’s a massive divide between upstaters and downstaters, it’s silly to get rid of it, why have such a tiny state?
I did the math. If you separated NY state counties from westchester and lower, including richmond and long Island into their own states the rest of the NY state would be a very even swing state. Makes a lot of sense to separate them, preferably into West NY, Upstate NY, And Central NY.
@@direwolf6234 We didn't take anything from Mexico. They gave us that territory as a peace offering after they unjustly attacked our recently added state of Texas.
As a native (upstate) New Yorker, I’d say Long Island should be its own state. New York City and the rest of Long Island are culturally very different than the rest of NY. Outside of a few larger cities, upstate is much more rural than any of Long Island.
How is dividing a state based on political affiliation a crime? The very nature of a border is political difference. Even when a border follows a topographical boundary like a mountain range or a river, the reason that they chose a mountain range or a river to divide two states is strategic. "Those people over there are barbarians, so lets make sure there's a defensive boundary that helps us hold them off in the case of aggression". The political difference precedes the choice for a topographical boundary.
Im sorry but this is horrible, and im not just saying that cause my state got shrunk or something, im from new jersey, one of the few untouched states. These borders look absolutely attrcious and pretty much never count for actual cultural differences. To me the only real border changes we should have would probably be making a new state out of upstate new york and just maybe expanding idaho into eastern oregon and washington (but even thats a stretch) both of which he didnt do. In my opinion, the us borders are almost perfect. And of course the worst crime to ever possibly be commited was made here, expanding delaware.
I live in Upstate New York, and come election time it sucks to have NYC because we’re always blue then. Also NYC literally dictates all of the governor’s concern. Also also, new power grid or new wind farms, guess what, all that power goes to NYC. Cutting off NYC would be nice, but also would kind of suck if you wanna go there.
@@justinbuddy56The city also gets much of the hydropower from Niagara Falls. The city is a giant leech as far as I am concerned. They are also the reason our taxes are so high up here. People say an upstate NY couldn't survive on its own, but I don't see why not it would still be bigger in population than at least half the other states, would still have several large cities, and would still have the falls and the great lakes which are huge advantages for power production and a natural source of fresh water. And farming. I believe we are second only to Wisconsin in dairy farming.
This is the worse geography video I’ve seen, Starting off with north and South Carolina, they are very different from each other. North Carolina has more mountains while South Carolina is more flat. There is no good reason to put them together. Then you have the western US, the borders are to keep states balanced and look more neat. Plus dividing by rivers can mess up cities that live ON the river. Then you have my state; Florida. Florida is THE SUNSHINE STATE for a reason, Florida is meant to have plenty of coastline, no the panhandle isn’t like Alabama at all and by taking that away you also took away our capitol, Tallahassee. I stopped watching the video halfway through because I already know that the rest of it is gonna be worse.
@@BrodzyOnVR Also there are more reasons to why we have two Dakotas then simply more Republican votes. (Also South Dakota has the nickname the Sunshine State before Florida. Just a fun fact!)
I find it funny that he wants to set borders on natural features and then forgets that the border between Montana and Idaho is already set on the Bitterroot Mountain Range - A NATURAL FEATURE.
Us Georgians got the shot end of the stick ;-; Also, I'm pretty sure our state capital is no longer in our state (and like 80% of our population) things aren't looking good 👀
As a resident of Atlanta (12 years running), metro Atlanta should not be divided. As a former northerner (rural New York), Georgia has the least dysfunctional government in the deep south (excluding Florida). Absorbing voters from the comparatively backwards state of Alabama would diminish Georgia's electorate. Alabamians are kind people but not particularly educated. While I hate encountering Floridians on the roadways, they do appear to be a good electorate. I wouldn't mind absorbing some of northern Florida like he did for Alabama since Florida's horrible drivers are from the peninsula and not the northern portion. Lastly, since the Appalachian mountains are effectively non-existent in metro Atlanta and points southward, no physical or cultural barrier exists therefore his "continental divided" argument is rendered mute.
@@ducksongfans As a South Carolinian, I agree. Please don't make us join with the Northerners, they already stole a football team from us, who knows what else they'll steal.
I don't mind gluing States together, but as long as you're doing that, why not also split more States? New Ohio+Upstate NY could have been split into 2 states. Calfornia could be 2, Texas could be 2-3, Florida could be 2, and so on. It doesn't make sense to me.
Ye aint dividing Texas into parts as far as I'm concerned, but I get the idea. Overall I think the guy was just a fool overall even for making the video. Its just fools content really
Texas is a big State, population-wise. I don't see why not. It's ridiculous to expect big blue states to happily get sectioned up while leaving big red ones intact. That would clearly read to people as purely partisan special pleading.
Then let me anger you a little. In my plan the US trades Alaska to Canada in exchange for the Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) which are then combined into a single State of New Scotland.
Couldn’t even finish this. Combining Carolina’s and splitting Louisiana makes no historical or geographical sense. It would actively make the state boarders so much worse by doing that
**Problems:** - California has a small square region situated between Nevada and Oregon, both of which have irregular borders. - Utah's northern border could have been straight, similar to Arizona's. - Nevada has a bulge that extends into Oregon and includes parts of California that are not desert. Additionally, this area meets the Mexican border. It may be more practical to transfer eastern Oregon to Idaho to resolve the border issue. In fact, there is a movement in eastern Oregon advocating for joining Idaho. - Wyoming retains a small square area between Montana and Idaho, both of which also have irregular borders. - West Virginia has a bulge that extends into Ohio, while Ohio also has a portion that extends into Pennsylvania and borders New York's straight edges, potentially creating one of the most complicated borders.
This video is garbage. There is much more to state borders than continental divides and rivers. You have ignored cultural and land use considerations which are far more important. As a North Dakotan, I can tell you that there was much more to the decision to split North and South Dakota than the advantage of having two Republican states. It all started with the railroads and the commerce and settlement patterns they created. The result was a huge void of settlement in the central area and while Bismarck was favored in the north and Sioux Falls in the south, it was extremely inconvenient for the settlers at that time to travel north and south to reach a far distant state capital. The railroads provided east to west transportation. Splitting the territory into two states was the only logical thing to have happen. Modern highways most often follow rail routes so today's transportation mostly follows the same early patterns. So now you can put North Dakota back on your map please.
Have you been out west? Outside, even? Every time you made a bad decision you impressed me an one-upped yourself just a few seconds later. Never cook again.
I was with you until you ceded Kansas City to Kansas. KC was a city BEFORE Kansas was a state and the only reason there is even a Kansas City Kansas is because the City of Wyandotte changed its name to confuse investors and tourists to their benefit. Furthermore, both the state of Kansas and the city of Kansas City are both named after the kansas river and the Kansa tribe. so Kc should remain in Missouri where it belongs!!!!
Yeah, I don't get how he casually gives Kansas City and Pittsburgh, PA to another state (both the second largest urban areas in their respective states) but then is like, "Oh, no, no, we can't have Baton Rouge or New Orleans in Mississippi."
Great video. I’m Canadian. Can you make a video fixing USA Canada boarder? Maine goes too far North and Alaska’s panhandle goes too far south. Thanks. 😊
As a western New Yorker, nothings pissed me off as much as hearing that New York’s borders “should stay as is”. NY probably has the most messed up borders period. First off, let’s get rid of NYC and make it its own district like DC. We don’t want it! Additionally, if we are going to follow the trend of changing borders to run along natural boundaries, then NY’s eastern border, save for maybe Westchester county and south, should be moved to the Hudson River… our current border with Vermont and Massachusetts is 10 miles east of the river for just no apparent reason at all. Additionally, let’s talk about WNY’s southern border with Pennsylvania. Theoretically, that should also follow a river; the Allegheny and Susquehanna rivers cut in and out of the southern tier NY from PA. Now I do believe the historical reasons for the present borders is because of tribal lands but that is basically obsolete nowadays anyways. I really do like this video’s trend of using natural borders but he could have gone more into depth and detail with his research for every state first!
Atlanta is bisected by two states as the continental divide runs along the railroad tracks entering the city on the east or following Decatur Street. So we should Fix that, I doubt Metro Atlanta will like to be part of Alabama
@@LamborghiniLegends New Mexico was mapped and named by the Spanish all the way back in the 1500's. They called it "Nuevo Mexico" because of the landscape closely resembling "The Mexico Valley" at the heart of the Aztec empire. The name Mexico originally referred to just one valley at the center of the Aztec empire, its presently home to Mexico City. The name Mexico wasnt used to refer to the whole country until the early 1800's.
@@shrekdaddy6912 We could never allow actual yinzers to merge forces with Ohio Steelers fan. That collective force of smug would pollute the air enough to suffocate us all.
But wait you did geographical features for dividing most states but most of Georgia's border with Alabama is the Chattahoochee River. The Appalachian range is barely noticable in the central and southern part of the state 😂
Came to point out exactly this. The region already has a river dividing it, why "fix" that and also ignore historical context. Alabama used to be part of Georgia before Alabama ever existed.
nope. I’m from DE and I’ve also lived in MD’s Eastern Shore for a while. So, I know how badly they hate being lumped in with Baltimore so I sure wouldn’t want to be either!!! The Delmarva Peninsula is its own little cultural entity so I’m good with just making it ALL DE. That makes sense to me. Then, the rest of Maryland can just change its name to Baltimore/D.C. Suburbs! 😂
I can already imagine the government of a combined NC and SC only caring about Raleigh, Charlotte, and Durham while the rest of the state doesn't get anything. The Carolinas are split for a reason
imo this video belongs in r/mildlyinfuriating . Dividing some sides of some states by natural borders only for their other side to be a random ass straight line left me feeling incomplete. I want my 11 mins back.
Also, my state of Virginia was screwed over. We already have less population than North Carolina and Georgia. He divides up Virginia while giving North Carolina more land and takes away a little from Georgia. He should have combined Virginia, West Virginia just take away the panhandle, and Maryland.
Judging by what he said at the very end, i kinda feel like these borders were made to be mildly infuriating, so, i think its a job well done in that case.
Yeah, I don't like that Colorado got cut in half and given to Utah... Nobody wants to be part of Utah.
You'll get nothing, and like it.
Agreed, thought this was going to have some logic to it, pretty lame.
Geoff: Splitting up states for political reasons is dumb.
Also Geoff: West Virginia and Virginia stay separated because politics.
If there's one thing I cannot tolerate, it is inconsistency.
Edit- Yes, I'm aware it makes sense to keep them separate for geographic reasons. That's not the reason he gave.
@@crazyb1ch Fr lol also they should reunite sense the war is long over
Yeah, the argument is not so good. Though later the border is redrawn anyways for the continental divide, so you'd get them separated anyhow.
There is a mountain range between them, thats why they stay split, not because of political reasons...
He never said they should stay split because of political reasons, but because of natural borders.
@@uIz-slc Of course, that border doesn't actually make sense: the roads around there completely ignore it. I know an old lady who had to cross the state line three times to buy milk
Well political reasons as in we want two extra senators.... not we should fight a treasonous war to keep slavery......
This video should be called "how to piss off everyone in America in 11 mins." I love it. Here's a Like to offset all the angry Carolinans 😂
Carolinians*
Not everyone 😂 NE states stay the same 😂
All except Delawareans!!! 😂
Hey as a Wisconsinite I can’t complain. The UP is connected to us. However I think we have the best looking state shape, so that would kinda ruin it.
South Carolinaian here: Angry
You had no problem merging the Dakotas, which were divided for political reasons. So why not merge Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut which were also divided for political/religious reasons?
You know why
@@jeffpudewell5884 indeed
@@skywarp0828 Everyone knows why, this guy is literally suggesting gerrymandering on the level of the Jim Crow era and painting it as a good thing because orange man bad 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I wouldn't mind seeing state boundaries redrawn based on current cultural climate. It would let people better further their mutual interests. Some examples: split N California from S California. Split E Texas from W Texas. N Michigan goes to Wisconsin. E Washington and E Oregon join Idaho, W Washington and W Oregon join each other. Re-arrange WV, VA, MD, DC and DE into Delmarva, Tidewater/Piedmont, and Appalachia. Merge N and S Dakota. FL panhandle goes to AL.
Make your own video 😂
there is a big disadvantage to dividing by rivers, because major cities are often by rivers, and then you end up with half of a city in one region and the other half in another
yes, this is the most annoying thing when i make my own maps, its very difficult to allow the same city to expand while under different jurisdiction, its very easy to find a american city on a river that divided between states with 1 being developed and other just a small town or fields.
@@spdracr Often there are physical reasons for that. For instance, Memphis is on a bluff, so when the Mississippi floods, it stays unflooded, but West Memphis, Ark. is not raised up so it gets frequently flooded. Fine for farmland (lose one crop, but gain new silt), but not handy for an urban area. Savannah is like that too - I don't remember what they call the part of South Carolina across the river, but it is low-lying and prone to floods, while Savannah itself is on a bluff. These higher lands are what channels the rivers to their particular locations in many areas, so the ports and urban areas take advantage of that.
While in the same state, so not the same exact issue, this is more or less proven by Minneapolis and St. Paul lol We basically decided to put one on each side of the river instead of making them all one city because, well, the river. But it means that attempting to get population measurements usually results in people mistakenly thinking the major population here is a fraction of what it is because they look up one city and ignore the other as well as all the necessary suburbs that fill out the area as part of the metro.
Hello, Yes, I read you from Kansas 😂 ✌🏽
Cincinnati and kansas city for example
Your reasoning for putting north and South Carolina back together is the same reason you keep West Virginia and Virginia separate that makes no sense.
I actually have a bigger problem with Puerto Rico being a state. It has nothing culturally in common with the rest of the country. It shouldn’t even be a territory. It should be its own country or part of Cuba or something.
@@BMWE90HQ what do you think you have in common with native Hawaiians?
@ I never said Hawaii should be a state…
There’s a whole mountain range separating the Virginias. That’s valid. Puerto Rico is valid too. Mariana… eh. The Virgin Islands losing their identity to Puerto Rico would also be problematic.
@@BMWE90HQ You say that like there's a single cultural entity called the US and that's just not the case. There are a lot of Puerto Ricans serving in our military, too, and I would bet they wouldn't agree with your assessment either.
Either way, this was a silly video, but it did highlight the fact that a lot of decisions that affect us all are done for pretty silly reasons, too.
As a Texan, You have awakened the horde. Prepare.
😂😂😂😂
As a Texan, this is true.
@@ARandomTexan Houston, there's a problem... 😄😄😄😄
@@janeentumbao8690 lol
Yea
As a proud Ohioan, I demand you give the Toledo strip back to its rightful owner, Connecticut.
There is no way this video isn't ragebait.
@@ManFaceManYes ikr
Ya, I'm surprised he didn't just say EVERY BIG CITY is now a state so they can regulate the country the Democratic way, permanently. However, parts of Washington and Oregon are tire of putting up with the loser/hippy bs of constant riots and soft on crime policies and want to join Idaho.
Oh. Triggered?
@@Willowdog08 I'm not the idiot making videos of why we should remodel America to fit THEIR desires. Though, there have been videos gong the other way basically wiping off the left coast mostly because its coming up to 3 weeks later and they are still counting votes in California. But this one coming out right after the election, kinda looks suspicious eh?
I'm guessing you live in one of the pointless northeast states that need to be combined into one state.
"Let's fix the United State's Awful Borders".
Proceeds to make them exponentially worse.
yeah it looks really awkward
Do not use "exponentially" that way. Learn English.
@@magicwindow6682 Nah, looks much better now. If anything is awkward, it's 5 year old kid with crayons drawing just straight lines look...
@@HappyScience-wp8cn That is a perfectly valid way of using Exponentially?
it can be worse, what about combining the 48 states into only 10, and then fuse the names together to make some very awkward names, like Texico and Louisisansas
As a Wisconsinite, thank you for re-attaching our missing limb. As an American, what the f*ck did I just watch?
Agreed and agreed
Give us our damn peninsula back
@@IamHIMallday22 no
Agreed we should have that part they don't need it
We already took all the big trees, copper and iron ore. You can have the deer, black flies and pasties. Now, what to do with Toledo?
Fun Fact: Kansas City predates Kansas, the state.
@@herowither12354 Yup, and it's named after the Kansas River.
This is like if a victorian emperor was given total control of American borders and gave it the same consideration that they gave Africa & The Mid East
OH MY GOD YESSS
That'd be a Better Title!
1 Million %! Yes, some of the geographic borders are wonky but there's a bunch of reasons and now history for why they are the way they are, so arbitrarily combining, splitting, rearranging borders is absolutely crazy and would cause a ton of chaos and expense to sort out.
😠 You're forgetting that American borders were already drawn by colonists to keep the indigenous tribes divided. The Americans who drew our current borders were *not* the natives.
what the fuck is a "victorian emperor"
Genuinely the worst state redraw I've ever seen in my life, it's so bad
It's cursed....Utah doesn't even include any of Idaho's mormon territory for some reason
@stevencooper4422 because he's not taking any cultural identities into account, it's purely geographic in nature which is an extremely stupid way of redrawing borders.
I mean you try doing making states purely with social identity
It's going to be actual hell
@@Bigus-Brainus you have no cultural identity 😂😂
@@doubt3430 Monsieur Z actually did a really good job at redrawing borders based off of both geographic and cultural lines
So, South Carolina split because it didn't want to marginalize a group and you put them back together?. West Virginia split because they didn't want to marginalize a group and you leave them apart?
If it's all for fun it doesn't really matter but he uses personal beliefs and ideals on how and why it should or shouldn't be devided
@noway6690 To be fair, South Carolina just didn't want to spend the money to marginalize a group of people. They didn't actually care about the natives.
Still pretty stupid to put them back together based on that, though.
@@amrcombs This isn't fun. This is just as useless as watching a video about preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse. Complete waste of time and energy.
he wanted to virtue signal about slavery... pretty cringe.
@@jovetj true
“Put Dakota back together bc of their politics I don’t agree with”
“Don’t put Virginias back to together bc their politics I do agree with”
Can’t have it both ways
I think there is a difference. The Dakotas didn't have a political difference to split them, but split to game the political system. The Virginias split because the state was politically divided.
@@karl-erlendmikalsen5159 Virginia split when most of the men were away in the Confederate army. The ones who remained voted to split away. I think it would have made sense to reunite them, but maybe divide them again differently for geographic reasons.
@@karl-erlendmikalsen5159 Actually go look up the voting records, North and South Dakota voted differently from each other in their first two elections that they were states.
@@calebforbes7855 The Dakotas have historically been far more split east/west than north/south. Mining, forestry, and tourism in the west. Farming and ranching in the east.
@@rightwingsafetysquad9872 Yeah, you're right about that. You can look on Google earth, the western parts are dryer like Wyoming and Montana, and the Eastern parts are much more similar to Minnesota, Iowa. And they could have been split by Missouri River. I still think that my point stands: They didn't vote the same in the first election leading me to believe, the republicans were either just mistaken about how the two states would vote or the motive wasn't more republican Senators. Farming has, at times, been very unionized and democrat leaning, just not currently.
You should've made Washington DC an entire square as George Washington intended
@@sebbvell3426 no no no the virgins, I mean virginians want to be special
No! Go the other way! Return the parts of DC where people live back to Maryland. That way, they get representation. DC should only be where the government buildings, the museums, and the memorials are.
@@jcarp1776 all federal buildings would be "DC" or "federal territories", with your logic... DC being exempt from state laws is kinda the whole point of a National Capitol. The founding fathers would have made specific buildings in Philadelphia excempt from state law if you had your away. "WE HEREBY DECLARE that the area bounded by the street hereforeout known as 86th street to the north, and 85th Street to the south; the western and Eastern boundries shall be between 32nd and 33rd Avenue, in the building constructed by approx. 3/4 timber and the rest of various composite marerials; This Building shall be placed under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress, and any state(s) otherwise claiming this area as thier own, shall be invalid"
or someother legalese
I often wish Americans had just moved the capital to a west-of-the-mississippi territory in the 1800's, simply so that we don't have to listen to Maryland and Virgina complain about loosing territory (despite the benefits of having the capital. right. there)
Keep DC as only the Capitol Mall and federal buildings and annex the adjacent residential and commercial centers to their adjacent states.
DC cannot be a state because the founders did not want the seat of power to be beholding to a state governor. If it became a state, the Federal district could not still be a state and the only resident would be the President, who could then vote himself the electoral college vote of the District. There was a plan to absorb the city part of DC into either Maryland or Virginia and then leave the Federal district as it is when not voting rights, since the only resident would be the President and his family.
Bro im not even american but this is awful
It's just a video for fun
@Tafrara-idir that's not even funny😐
@@average_user7 Its not that bad? Right? It makes more sense and wil tremendously help the people even if it looks bad
@@parvkale it is that bad and no it really doesnt help
@ Having actual geographic borders that follow earth’s natural landforms instead of straight lines is bad?
2:40 You mentioned the Rocky Mountains but not the Cascade Mountain Range that runs through WA, OR, and CA and it creates a real impact in those states: environmentally, physically, politically, culturally.
I agree!!! Washington and Oregon both should be split along the Cascade Ridge into east and west, and the SW corner of Oregon should be joined to the NW corner of California.
Bro said mountain ranges but forgot the sierra Nevada range
I was just making the same reply. Eastern Oregon and Washington should be added to Idaho. It would make a lot more sense from almost any perspective.
People outside the PNW just call that the Rockies.
@@The_One_In_Black No they don't.
I've always thought Kentucky and Tennessee should be combined and re-divided into two states with an east-west split rather than a north-south split. Because their eastern sides are one Appalachian culture that is very, very different from their "almost midwestern" western sides.
I'm actually appalled at how bad this video is 😭
Same
yes..
He's willing to make Nevada huge but giving a little more land to Ohio? Nooo, can't have that. Come on, dude, commit, go all in! Why is Minesota "fine" but you ignore those two straight lines?
can i have my 7.5 minutes back?
Saying the video will be "fun". More like useless.
This video is not redrawing the US States based on Geography, but "Redrawing the US States based on how much I like them, random reasons that make no sense and occasionally geography"
This is one of the worst redrawings of the US states that I have ever seen.
Monsieur Z made a much better redraw than this.
right? how in the world did he not fix NY's awkward shape. And why did he let Rhode Island exist still?
NO! First and most importantly give Texas the panhandle back. Those areas have a strong Texan identity. Also give Texas the Oklahoma panhandle and give Texas all the land in New Mexico east of the rio grande and give the rest to Arizona. HE ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO DO THIS! Georgia is WAY to small. Give it South Carolina. It also brings the border to the natural boundary on the river in between north and South Carolina. Completely give Delaware to Maryland. Give Ohio that extra land in New York it dont matter if you dont want it to be bigger. IT DONT MATTER. Make it how the geography is. Split Dakotas because it makes a nice organized 5 states in the north Great Plains. Remove West Virginia and Vermont and in there place make a new state named Appalachia that takes up all the Appalachian mountains except for to deep into Tennessee. And maybe split California into 2 states the north stays California and the south is named Los Angeles. At that point its good but otherwise his map ABSOLUTELY SUCKS.
Why do you hate Georgia?
Cause it’s Georgia
@@Willrocs What did we do?? ;-; I'm sorry
Atlanta just got cut in half, the eastern continental divide literally runs through downtown and midtown
Yeah Bama doubled in size.
@@hillbilly6638 I'm in Bama and do not want any part of Atlanta or its outliers, give it back to Georgia
Disliked the video because you made Texas smaller. Don’t mess with Texas
Texas is the largest small place on the planet.
Exactly, if anything I'd take those 3 Okla panhandle counties and give em to Texas, cutting off Okla from touching NM, and taking that tiny strip of theirs that barely comes up n over the NW part of the panhandle as well.
As NM already has a goofy southwestern heel with the Mexico border, doesn't need that 1-3 mi wide northeastern strip. 🤷
Keeping California and New York as single states while chopping off half of Maryland is totally wild
What do you mean? He gave Nevada a huge chunk of southeastern Cali.
“Lets make the US state borders worse” is a better title
i thought it said that before i clicked it ngl
nah these borders are better
@@vector_7 Much, much Better!
@@vector_7 you wouldn't recognize good borders if they say on your face, following geography is good but not just the most major features, and not over more important aspects of life.
Who pissed in your oatmeal? This is just for fun, you know. Don't like it? Draw your own map and start your own channel!
Honestly the west looks worse now
I didn't understand how the western states borders were weird but new England isn't 🤷
@@Coloradoball_gooberia Oregon should have swallowed everything west of the snake, gobbling the lower half of Idaho biased on your logic.
Agreed. All of the straight borders in the west still look unnatural. Dividing the border by watershed west of the continental divide will make a lot more sense geographically.
Those straight borders are because of railroads not for any other reason.
@@LocaChoca and railroads are nightmares for everything and everyone nearby yet modernists insist on their supremacy for some unknown reason. They're awful. Just keep people with staunch opinions 500 miles away from the eastern edge of the rocky mtns. Yuck 🤮 all day all the way
as a new yorker im still mad
This is worse than when the British drew up all the borders in the Middle East.
The French had a lot to do with that.
@@imagseer Sort of. It would be accurate to say "the locations of specific resources and cultural sites had a lot to do with that."
And look how that has turned out.
Don’t forget the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
_This is worse than when the British drew up all the borders in the Middle East_ Ahh, but *_not_* as bad as when the Europeans divided up Africa at the Berlin Conference in the 1880s.
>didnt wanna make ohio too big
>makes nevada massive
ok bro
your complaint would be valid if the territory ohio got was entirely desert wasteland like nevada's was
But nobody lives there. So it makes sense for it to be one state.
*cough cough* he is a New Yorker
@@brid1889 I thought he would just make Nevada the whole Central Basin.
Utah: 🗿
Western New York was so close to finally escaping NYC. 😢
I wish you could have so pa was not singled out to be in ohio
@@TimTomsen-o9h He really should have given East New York to Pennsylvania instead of arbitrarily splitting us up. Don’t worry we hate New York City too so we can find unity through that.
i was hoping so hard for that NYC city state but nope. its still attached to the rest of us 😐
@@TimTomsen-o9h I escaped. And so have millions of others.
@@TimTomsen-o9h It would've made more sense to have west New York and west Pennsylvania be a new state than what was done. Call it Allegheny or something. It's also better than cobbling Pacific Islands to be a state.
You ever heard the phrase Don't mess with Texas? You done went n messed with Texas. Shouldn't oughta done that son.
this is so bad bro. never cook again
Why isn't Deseret a thing for Utahs boundaries? He even left out the mormon parts of Idaho from Utahs new boundaries lol😅
What annoys me is he is ONLY taking geographic factors into account and ignoring everything else like ethnicity, culture, and religion
Not even that, the Cascades are something this guy never heard about before.
He didn't make bad map because even bad maps have good ideas, he was so afraid to get political that he concously made "anti-good" map to not get criticized by people who could dox him, well now he has us who are shitting on him, hope it was worth it.
I can recognize metrosexual numales mapper on how much they don't want to admit reality.
dude geography literally encompasses demographics how is this a real channel
@@formersamonellaclone Have you seen any other of his videos? This one is just for fun. I've done my own "map corrections" myself!
Wait wait wait...religion? The US has no official religion and neither do any of the states, so that cannot be a consideration when redrawing borders. Vive la séparation.
Have you ever actually been west of the Mississippi River…?
Well he can't any more now they have his face on wanted posters For violating geography
I dont think he's even been outside, the idea of splitting Eastern states by the Appalachians is insane. Those aren't mountains they're puffed up hills, so famously easy to handle a trail running the length of them is a nice vacation hike.
@@TheFullAutomaticShermanShow 😂
May as well totally delete CO and GA. And you may as well rename NV to “Wasteland”. Sorry but you made it worse, not better. 😂
Fly over states. I don't understand why the "Dakota Territories", should get more Representation, than California, in 2024.
this is just... awful
@@brendanforbes8349 😂 It's just for fun, though. Lighten up, Francis.
@@jims3251 Yes it is for fun But I love the comment. It is short but so descriptive. I can just picture a face that looks so confused and shocked. 😳
@@GregDavis-r4f I don't disagree. 😅
I understand your sentiments 😊 as truly the majority of people don't like change. However, I think the intention was to create and uncreate the States based on geography. Anyone can have dreams. Creations and inventions start with a dream. Think about it 🤔
but why? for me a non american it makes all sense
As a resident of Eastern Washington.. you went to the trouble of redrawing borders, and left Eastern Washington and Oregon in the same state as their Western counterparts?
I agree in principle (split along Cascades rather than Columbia), but as someone who has to live in Eastern Washington for work and spent most of my life on the West Side, I’m thankful to have the Seattle overlords to prevent us from turning into Idaho.
@@abard124 You were literally arguing AGAINST democratic self representation. Who’s really the threat to democracy?
@@timothyashe3779I think you’re reading WAY too much into my comment
@@abard124 How am I reading too much in? You literally described how happy you were that the needs and government priorities of the people in Eastern Washington are drowned out by other people in the state that couldn’t care less about them. You are clearly saying that you are happy that people in Eastern Washington don’t have a choice in how their government works because they would choose wrong. That is the very definition of Undemocratic.
@@timothyashe3779I am a people in Eastern Washington, and I vote. I’m allowed to have opinions just like you. I’m not undemocratic just because my opinions tend to be more in line with the 40% or so of Eastern Washington voters whose views tend to be represented in the majority in Western Washington. I was on the other end of it too when I lived in Austin. It’s literally just how voting works. I don’t know why you’re so offended by that.
I’m gonna be honest… I don’t think there was a single good decision made in this video…
fr😭
Honestly the only good decision here is probably Oklahoma taking Texas' hat
except Puerto Rico
@@khan0491 maybe
@@JimmyaKaTheK nah there shouldn't be north and south part of the same states in the first place.
But the rest I do agree with you. You either make boundaries fully geographical or keep it as it is. This guy is doing in betwee.
No, North and South Dakota became separate states for reasons beyond partisan politics. There were actual cultural, economic, and geographic distinctions.
This is true in a lot of cases. By focusing solely on geography, the video disregards geopolitical sentiment, a driving force behind some secessionist (state level) movements today. It would in fact make more sense for western NY to be a part of Ohio than essentially controlled by NYC politics. Parts of northern California and eastern Oregon want to join Idaho due to political influences from their southern partisans.
"We have two Dakotas for political reasons and nothing more." Political reasons are all you need. Politics make the country go. Everything is political.
and he kept the 2 virginias, even though they broke up for entirely political reasons
And he's wrong about it too. There are two Dakotas for economic and cultural reasons. The south of Dakota was way more populated and viewed the Northerners as direputable and far too willing to pick fights with the local Indians, they also wanted better control over elected officials since the officials they were assigned at the time were seen as carpetbaggers. The north of Dakota wanted to remain a territory because it was cheaper so far as taxes and more lax so far as law enforcement, not to mention that their population was roughly a third the size of the southern half and the economies of the two half were based on wholly different industries and trade routes.
I would do the same! Besides they would still have the same amount of Electoral Votes, so that was pointless!
@@darkdragon7210 Not really, a combined Dakota would lose two senators and hence two electors.
But why combine them and keep Washington and Oregon apart? Just because they have different names?
Read the wikipedia page of Dakota territory
You are totally wrong @@heirofaniu
Could have combined at least some of the New England states
Agreed. Vermont and New Hampshire at a minimum. Connecticut and Rhode Island also.
Everything east of the Hudson River should be part of New England.
Agreed; Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire should all combine into the State of New England with Boston as capital.
why? nothing wrong with them
what about putting upper ny into a new england state, the lower and upper already feel disconnected from another, and a city state would be pretty cool lol
Dakotas actually didn't split simply to give Republicans an advantage. They split for many reasons but a big reasons was railroads running through only through South Dakota and another running only through North Dakota and this caused the two to separate and develop differently with South Dakota gaining much of the population and power and then changing the capital without the Norths consent causing the North to become disenfranchised and wanting it's own political autonomy. So both areas of North and South Dakota asked to be admitted separately and were both granted entry into the Union. So North Dakota was created mainly by the North Dakotans not wanting to be dominated by their more powerful southern half. Also, the landscape was so desolate and large that it was difficult for North Dakota to stay in political contact with the south especially since no railroads connected from North to South but rather only East to West. I don't know where you got this Republicans did it talking point but it's woefully inaccurate, or at least appears to be by what I've learned of it.
All the above, and also that since the Dakotas are distinctly divided east to west, the border between them should be the Missouri. Western Minnesota should really go with them too to round out the population a bit.
That's only one part of the story. At the end of the day, there were various bills introduced to Congress simultaneously on how to divide the Dakota territories. The final decision was 100% motivated by the politics of the time.
@TheSeanathon ummmm...well yeah territory is ALWAYS decided by the politics of the time! But I'm also trying sharing that the population of the Dakotas had the say on dividing the territory. If that advantaged a political party then I'm sure they thought it was even better.
@@danielwatcherofthelord1823 You are *_very_* wrong on two points! First, the decision to split the Dakotas was made via the federal legislative process with the intent of armoring the existing GOP Senate majority into the 20th century. Second, it was tomfoolery by Territory Governor and NH carpetbagger Nehemiah Ordway and corrupt *Northern* interests -- not Southern -- that saw the capital moved from the recently flooded **southern** city of Yankon to the **northern** city of Bismarck. Furthermore, while the capital relocation also was motivated by a desire for a State of North Dakota, it was South Dakota that first submitted a petition for statehood. When told by the feds they could either petition again as one territory or wait until ND has crossed the minimum required population threshhold, they opted to wait. The whole thing was a giant, sloppy, *woeful* mess.
And in, fact, one casualty of all of this is that my home state of New Mexico was denied statehood until 1912. Much of that had to do with anti-Hispanic and anti-Catholic sentiment, but the deciding factor was the expectation that they would send to Democrats to the Senate.
@@TheSeanathon You are correct!
The issue with Puerto rico is that they voted OVERWHELMINGLY to not be a state, they do not want to be a state.
They just elected a statehood advocate as governor
Minnesota has a piece of its state surrounded by Canada. You literally have to drive through Canada to get the local children to school everyday. I'd say there is room for improvement there. Also there is Point Roberts in Washington state. It is almost a suburb of Vancouver. They share Vancouver's water & sewer and fire department. Again, just for the sake of argument, that should be fixed.
Those two came to mind too.
As an Minnesotan that little piece of land Canada can have it
He said he didn't want to touch international borders.
@@cartier2312 lol no one really wants it, even Canada but for the sake of simplicity....
@@kjhuang ya I heard but he also said the Minnesotan border was perfect so I think given that one piece it isn't perfect.
The states' awkward borders just make their human and political geography more fun. Hell, let's cut Montana's plains region off and make "West Dakota".
I would then move to merge the 26 states entirely east of the Mississippi (plus that bit of Louisiana) and call it East Dakota. Then let everyone else complain that Minnesota is interrupting the Dakotas.
And leave out Florida, actually. Living in one political jurisdiction that contains Florida is bad enough. Let's just say that it's south of this Mississippi and doesn't fit into this scheme, or just give it back to Spain or something.
The eastern part of Oregon wants to break from the western part of the state and join up with Idaho for cultural and political reasons.
Most of Minnesota, everything east from Duluth, the cities, and Rochester, wanted to join South Dakota for the same reason.
Geoff, like myself, is a Oregonian. We're well aware. That said, it doesn't make sense. What would make infinitely MORE sense is to instead get Eastern Washington to move to cede from the state, and merge with Eastern Oregon, creating the state of Lincoln, which was what the people and original proposal actually was for the record. They got ignored, and that's how we instead got the current borders. It could have been avoided entirely if the people were listened to and got their wishes granted.
They would have a mid-size city, Spokane, for a capital.
@@scottgrohs5940 More likely the capital for a state of Lincoln would be one of the Tri-Cities, as it'd be more central while still retaining fair size in city and in metro population. Hell, even somewhere like Hermiston, Umatilla or Pendleton could do decently as a small state capital, too. Hermiston and Umatilla have been rapidly expanding and growing, while Pendleton would enable a fair balance between historic town, and space, and they've talked a lot over the years about how to draw more people in for visits, which partially has to do with their EAS contract not getting renewed a few years back, losing commercial air service, at least from PDX. But overall, I'd place the capital in one of the Tri-Cities. Probably Kennewick, as it'd be the most central north to south for the three, and has the history of hosting big events, while also redeveloping a lot of their land within city limits.
Lincoln would also have one other mid-size city in Bend, outside of Spokane, Spokane Valley, Yakima and the Tri-Cities. Redmond is claimed to be Portland's replacement when the tricentennial quake strikes, but uhh... I really doubt that'd work. lol. Plus, there really is no activity there development and redevelopment wise. Bend on the other hand is constantly developing and redeveloping, and growing pretty rapidly.
if i was a senator i would never approve of that
Any remapping that doesn't split NY the City from NY the State must be rejected. I'm sorry you've wasted our time.
@@CBGOODMAN200A Yeah. Big swing and a miss.
@@CBGOODMAN200A as a New Yorker: no. Sure there’s a massive divide between upstaters and downstaters, it’s silly to get rid of it, why have such a tiny state?
@Mets2015WorldSeries you just want our money. Greedy
Especially when he had two states to spare and gave them to Puerto Rico and the Marianas, rather than separating Western New York and Long Island
I did the math.
If you separated NY state counties from westchester and lower, including richmond and long Island into their own states the rest of the NY state would be a very even swing state.
Makes a lot of sense to separate them, preferably into West NY, Upstate NY, And Central NY.
Why did you merge the Carolina’s? The split was before the us as you said. We are so culturally and economically different.
Would've made more sense to to combine South Carolina with the micro Georgia he made
They both have Carolina in the name a sin apparently unforgivable.
@donaldjgumpofficial5754 I agree
@fire_tower Might as well combine New England with the UK 💀
Texan here. If you take our panhandle, at least give us Mexico.
Go get 'em tiger!
We should have kept Mexico back before we gave it away in the treaty of Guadalupe
Have you been to Dahlart? eww. You would think they would want to get rid of it.
we already took 5 states from them .. give it a rest ...
@@direwolf6234 We didn't take anything from Mexico. They gave us that territory as a peace offering after they unjustly attacked our recently added state of Texas.
As a Missourian who got our Kansas City stolen, doesn't even get a border change, and then gets mocked by, I am mad at this video
call your half missouri city /j
@@djsaidez271 Kansas stole the name from Kansas City
As a Western New Yorker who would still have to be in New York with these changes, I am also mad at this video 😂
@@djsaidez271 There already is a Missouri City. Although it's tiny and 30 minutes away
And give that southern peninsula part to AK!
As a native (upstate) New Yorker, I’d say Long Island should be its own state. New York City and the rest of Long Island are culturally very different than the rest of NY. Outside of a few larger cities, upstate is much more rural than any of Long Island.
How is dividing a state based on political affiliation a crime? The very nature of a border is political difference. Even when a border follows a topographical boundary like a mountain range or a river, the reason that they chose a mountain range or a river to divide two states is strategic. "Those people over there are barbarians, so lets make sure there's a defensive boundary that helps us hold them off in the case of aggression". The political difference precedes the choice for a topographical boundary.
Im sorry but this is horrible, and im not just saying that cause my state got shrunk or something, im from new jersey, one of the few untouched states. These borders look absolutely attrcious and pretty much never count for actual cultural differences. To me the only real border changes we should have would probably be making a new state out of upstate new york and just maybe expanding idaho into eastern oregon and washington (but even thats a stretch) both of which he didnt do. In my opinion, the us borders are almost perfect. And of course the worst crime to ever possibly be commited was made here, expanding delaware.
Amen
I live in Upstate New York, and come election time it sucks to have NYC because we’re always blue then. Also NYC literally dictates all of the governor’s concern. Also also, new power grid or new wind farms, guess what, all that power goes to NYC.
Cutting off NYC would be nice, but also would kind of suck if you wanna go there.
@@justinbuddy56The city also gets much of the hydropower from Niagara Falls. The city is a giant leech as far as I am concerned. They are also the reason our taxes are so high up here. People say an upstate NY couldn't survive on its own, but I don't see why not it would still be bigger in population than at least half the other states, would still have several large cities, and would still have the falls and the great lakes which are huge advantages for power production and a natural source of fresh water. And farming. I believe we are second only to Wisconsin in dairy farming.
Grew up in Maryland and you will forever have my respect for that Delaware take
This is the worse geography video I’ve seen, Starting off with north and South Carolina, they are very different from each other. North Carolina has more mountains while South Carolina is more flat. There is no good reason to put them together. Then you have the western US, the borders are to keep states balanced and look more neat. Plus dividing by rivers can mess up cities that live ON the river. Then you have my state; Florida. Florida is THE SUNSHINE STATE for a reason, Florida is meant to have plenty of coastline, no the panhandle isn’t like Alabama at all and by taking that away you also took away our capitol, Tallahassee. I stopped watching the video halfway through because I already know that the rest of it is gonna be worse.
@@BrodzyOnVR Also there are more reasons to why we have two Dakotas then simply more Republican votes. (Also South Dakota has the nickname the Sunshine State before Florida. Just a fun fact!)
tallahassee actually did still make it in Florida, just barely by the new border
@ exactly, it’s barely in there. A capital is meant to be the center area, not part of the border🤦♂️
@@BrodzyOnVR Then explain Trenton NJ, Carson City NV (each on the border with another state), Cheyenne WY and Providence RI
I find it funny that he wants to set borders on natural features and then forgets that the border between Montana and Idaho is already set on the Bitterroot Mountain Range - A NATURAL FEATURE.
The number of Buckeyes you pissed off giving Michigan the Toledo Strip… 😂
I’m a Michigander & it pissed me off, we don’t want it! 😂
Us Georgians got the shot end of the stick ;-;
Also, I'm pretty sure our state capital is no longer in our state (and like 80% of our population) things aren't looking good 👀
Still a really good video
Why move the existing border of GA / AL away from the current border along the Chattahoochee river? Its already a Geographical feature!
As a resident of Atlanta (12 years running), metro Atlanta should not be divided. As a former northerner (rural New York), Georgia has the least dysfunctional government in the deep south (excluding Florida). Absorbing voters from the comparatively backwards state of Alabama would diminish Georgia's electorate. Alabamians are kind people but not particularly educated. While I hate encountering Floridians on the roadways, they do appear to be a good electorate. I wouldn't mind absorbing some of northern Florida like he did for Alabama since Florida's horrible drivers are from the peninsula and not the northern portion. Lastly, since the Appalachian mountains are effectively non-existent in metro Atlanta and points southward, no physical or cultural barrier exists therefore his "continental divided" argument is rendered mute.
Right I’m not gonna be apart of Alabama
State capitol returns to Savannah, as it should've been.
As a north Carolinian we have perfect borders
Dont dare unite us with those south people
@@ducksongfans As a South Carolinian, I agree. Please don't make us join with the Northerners, they already stole a football team from us, who knows what else they'll steal.
@@ducksongfans As a South carolinian I agree dont unite us with those scum in the north
This video should be called "How to give the Democrat Party a permanent congressional majority forever"
He didn’t think of that or time zones or highways and national parks. This video is just…poor
was about to say that at the start to, but it's honestly so poorly done i don't even think he's politically aware
I don't mind gluing States together, but as long as you're doing that, why not also split more States? New Ohio+Upstate NY could have been split into 2 states. Calfornia could be 2, Texas could be 2-3, Florida could be 2, and so on. It doesn't make sense to me.
Ye aint dividing Texas into parts as far as I'm concerned, but I get the idea.
Overall I think the guy was just a fool overall even for making the video. Its just fools content really
Texas is a big State, population-wise. I don't see why not. It's ridiculous to expect big blue states to happily get sectioned up while leaving big red ones intact. That would clearly read to people as purely partisan special pleading.
The two more states are Alaska and Hawaii
Not merging Connecticut and Rhodes island is wild. Worse than the dakotas
AND he let Massachusetts keep the notch 💀
As a Canadian, I'm going to send this to all my American friends to anger them 😂
HA!
American here from NC, I find this humorous
Anger about something that is realistic and it make sense there is no need to be anger or upset about
Then let me anger you a little. In my plan the US trades Alaska to Canada in exchange for the Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) which are then combined into a single State of New Scotland.
half of your provinces are fucking rectangles nerd
Couldn’t even finish this. Combining Carolina’s and splitting Louisiana makes no historical or geographical sense. It would actively make the state boarders so much worse by doing that
**Problems:**
- California has a small square region situated between Nevada and Oregon, both of which have irregular borders.
- Utah's northern border could have been straight, similar to Arizona's.
- Nevada has a bulge that extends into Oregon and includes parts of California that are not desert. Additionally, this area meets the Mexican border. It may be more practical to transfer eastern Oregon to Idaho to resolve the border issue. In fact, there is a movement in eastern Oregon advocating for joining Idaho.
- Wyoming retains a small square area between Montana and Idaho, both of which also have irregular borders.
- West Virginia has a bulge that extends into Ohio, while Ohio also has a portion that extends into Pennsylvania and borders New York's straight edges, potentially creating one of the most complicated borders.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns can NOT be in the same state
How ironic the Steelers would get stolen in this scenario
As a Texan you will have about 300 gun maniacs at your door in about 1-2 business hours.
This video is garbage. There is much more to state borders than continental divides and rivers. You have ignored cultural and land use considerations which are far more important. As a North Dakotan, I can tell you that there was much more to the decision to split North and South Dakota than the advantage of having two Republican states. It all started with the railroads and the commerce and settlement patterns they created. The result was a huge void of settlement in the central area and while Bismarck was favored in the north and Sioux Falls in the south, it was extremely inconvenient for the settlers at that time to travel north and south to reach a far distant state capital. The railroads provided east to west transportation. Splitting the territory into two states was the only logical thing to have happen. Modern highways most often follow rail routes so today's transportation mostly follows the same early patterns. So now you can put North Dakota back on your map please.
Hey man don’t call it garbage man just don’t b rude man
@@Claylionhe is on point and my state didn't even get messed with
You just made Alabama eat my state and my City. I've never even been to Alabama. Not cool man.
You in Atlanta or Columbus? LOL
that's not fixing, more like destroying lol
Real
Real
@@danieloktovian9523 fr💀🙏
i don't think that you can destroy something that was already destroyed lmao
@@swilleh_ the state borders were good before with a few exceptions
Have you been out west? Outside, even? Every time you made a bad decision you impressed me an one-upped yourself just a few seconds later. Never cook again.
I was with you until you ceded Kansas City to Kansas. KC was a city BEFORE Kansas was a state and the only reason there is even a Kansas City Kansas is because the City of Wyandotte changed its name to confuse investors and tourists to their benefit. Furthermore, both the state of Kansas and the city of Kansas City are both named after the kansas river and the Kansa tribe. so Kc should remain in Missouri where it belongs!!!!
Yeah, I don't get how he casually gives Kansas City and Pittsburgh, PA to another state (both the second largest urban areas in their respective states) but then is like, "Oh, no, no, we can't have Baton Rouge or New Orleans in Mississippi."
Great video. I’m Canadian. Can you make a video fixing USA Canada boarder? Maine goes too far North and Alaska’s panhandle goes too far south. Thanks. 😊
LOL, Maine isn't as far north as part of Minnesota.
@@janethicks8269Agreed, I drive from Ottawa to Nova Scotia once a year and Maine is in my way. Lol.
lets fix Canada!!! we say its the 51st boom its now fixed
United States, but if it was more Geographically European.
Not at all
@@Chance_Rice ?
more like exactly
this video is bad and you should feel bad
idk why but this comment made me slightly chuckle with my mouth
@@arquebusgun Futurama reference
Texas is the most iconic state in the union
You can't just get rid of it's panhandle
*its
The only fix the US map needs: extend the Oklahoma panhandle all the way to the West Coast.
As a western New Yorker, nothings pissed me off as much as hearing that New York’s borders “should stay as is”. NY probably has the most messed up borders period. First off, let’s get rid of NYC and make it its own district like DC. We don’t want it! Additionally, if we are going to follow the trend of changing borders to run along natural boundaries, then NY’s eastern border, save for maybe Westchester county and south, should be moved to the Hudson River… our current border with Vermont and Massachusetts is 10 miles east of the river for just no apparent reason at all. Additionally, let’s talk about WNY’s southern border with Pennsylvania. Theoretically, that should also follow a river; the Allegheny and Susquehanna rivers cut in and out of the southern tier NY from PA. Now I do believe the historical reasons for the present borders is because of tribal lands but that is basically obsolete nowadays anyways. I really do like this video’s trend of using natural borders but he could have gone more into depth and detail with his research for every state first!
I live in the Hudson Valley, and without NYC New York State would basically be Wisconsin.
@@kevinbergin9971 What's wrong with Wisconsin? LOL
Atlanta is bisected by two states as the continental divide runs along the railroad tracks entering the city on the east or following Decatur Street. So we should Fix that, I doubt Metro Atlanta will like to be part of Alabama
and being from Alabama I absolutely do not want Atlanta part of our state, take it back
This guy just proved he has no credibility talking about geography. Not one bit.
You just put atlanta in alabama
New Mexico casually being unnamed💀
lmao
Cool fact, New Mexico is OLDER than Mexico.
@HarrisonBurgeron-h9m how💀
@@LamborghiniLegends New Mexico was mapped and named by the Spanish all the way back in the 1500's. They called it "Nuevo Mexico" because of the landscape closely resembling "The Mexico Valley" at the heart of the Aztec empire. The name Mexico originally referred to just one valley at the center of the Aztec empire, its presently home to Mexico City. The name Mexico wasnt used to refer to the whole country until the early 1800's.
It's pretty accurate.
Pittsburgh would be in Ohio.
That's unacceptable.
@@shrekdaddy6912 We could never allow actual yinzers to merge forces with Ohio Steelers fan. That collective force of smug would pollute the air enough to suffocate us all.
WV
This guy knows nothing of terrain’s effects. The states dynamics change at the front range. Not the continental divide
dont let bro fix borders again
Combining the Carolinas is an atrocity. This is bad. Start over.
The idea of being considered the same statehood as South Carolinians is absolutely terrifying to me.
@@Mae_RenneburgThe idea of being considered the same statehood as North Carolinians is absolutely terrifying to me.
Fine move the Panther as they were founded as a regional team.
I'm not American but this is respectively worse than any redraw series I have ever seen.
You know it's bad when the non-Americans start questioning you
@@FloridaManProductions 😂
This is literally just the “fixing tf2s terrible weapons” video, even down to the voice and confidence in the changes
“Balancing Americas Terrible States”
Wisconsin came out net positive from this. The new map wins my seal of approval.
But wait you did geographical features for dividing most states but most of Georgia's border with Alabama is the Chattahoochee River. The Appalachian range is barely noticable in the central and southern part of the state 😂
Came to point out exactly this. The region already has a river dividing it, why "fix" that and also ignore historical context. Alabama used to be part of Georgia before Alabama ever existed.
Please consider doing a video of how the states would look if borders were made out of watersheds.
Are you familiar with John Wesley Powell? He explored the Colorado river and made his own map that he wanted Congress to adopt but they ignored.
That's a great idea
Cameron County in Pennsylvania is designed around part of the Sinnamohoning Creek watershed and is my favorite county in the state.
I would merge Delaware with Maryland.
We shall call it Melloware
@@HarrisonBurgeron-h9mI love it!!!!
nope. I’m from DE and I’ve also lived in MD’s Eastern Shore for a while. So, I know how badly they hate being lumped in with Baltimore so I sure wouldn’t want to be either!!! The Delmarva Peninsula is its own little cultural entity so I’m good with just making it ALL DE. That makes sense to me. Then, the rest of Maryland can just change its name to Baltimore/D.C. Suburbs! 😂
@@christinafidance340 At that point its better to just make the whole thing into its own state
@@christinafidance340Let’s just call it Delmarva. I hate lower slower
As a kansan, I think we deserve our bite taken out of us back. I rly appreciate all of Kansas City but we need our little bite fixed
Why would you ruin California’s and Nevada’s iconic shapes 😭 this hurts me
especially Oklahoma, that panhandle silhouette is the only thing that keeps us from being just another completely forgotten square.
Not to mention the abomination he did to Texas.
@@icantthinkofaname4723 atleast he kept minnesota
I can already imagine the government of a combined NC and SC only caring about Raleigh, Charlotte, and Durham while the rest of the state doesn't get anything. The Carolinas are split for a reason
PREACH
You disrespected TF outta Georgia. How dare you cut it into a 3rd it's size.
I’d give Missouri’s boot-heel to arkansas
Dividing by culture is far more important than dividing by geography.
Said the viewer to the Geographer, not an anthropologist.
@rebeccahaglund3736 I am an anthropologist.
what problem is this trying to solve.
6:18 "I couldn't bring myself to make Ohio even bigger."
You fool, it's all Ohio and it always has been.
It's all Ohio and we're just living in it 😂
As a Western New Yorker I was actually rooting for him to give our part of the state to Ohio 😂
I wouldn't have put western PA with Ohio, but rather merged it with western NY to make the state of 'Erie'
With the way these borders were drawn, this man could've been on the team that split up Africa at the Berlin Conference!