In 1973 geographer George Etzel Pearcy published a plan to re-draw the United States map to have only 38 states based on cultural and economic relation of existing regions.
>*Why the need for a new map? Pearcy states that many of the early surveys that drew up our boundaries were done while the areas were scarcely populated. Thus, it was convenient to determine boundaries by using the land’s physical features, such as rivers and mountain ranges, or by using a simple system of latitude and longitude.… The practicality of old established State lines is questionable in light of America’s ever-growing cities and the increasing mobility of its citizens. Metropolitan New York, for example, stretches into 2 adjacent States. Other city populations which cross State lines are Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Chicago, and Kansas City. The “straddling” of State lines causes economic and political problems. Who should pay for a rapid transit system in St. Louis? Only those citizens within the boundaries of Missouri, or all residents of St. Louis’s metropolitan area, including those who reach over into the State of Illinois?…*
>*When Pearcy realigned the U.S., he gave high priority to population density, location of cities, lines of transportation, land relief, and size and shape of individual States. Whenever possible lines are located in less populated areas. In the West, the desert, semidesert, or mountainous areas provided an easy method for division. In the East, however, where areas of scarce population are harder to determine, Pearcy drew lines “trying to avoid the thicker clusters of settlement.” Each major city which fell into the “straddling” category is neatly tucked within the boundaries of a new State. Pearcy tried to place a major metropolitan area in the center of each State. St. Louis is in the center of the State of Osage, Chicago is centered in the State of Dearborn. When this method proved impossible, as with coastal Los Angeles, the city is still located so as to be easily accessible from all parts of the State…*
>*-1975’s edition of The People’s Almanac*
Petrarch1603 on
What kind of ‘cartographer’ uses that projection for Alaska?
timhamilton47 on
Why not just let Hawaii keep its name?
Guapplebock on
The fuck if Wisconsin will be any part of Illinois. We put 600,000 gun toting hunters in the woods every November. Bring it on FIBS.
dumbBunny9 on
Hawaiian’s smugly smiling in Hawaiian.
SpaceWolfGaming412 on
New York being called New York:
PoetryInEverything on
Ok I don’t know anything about Michigan, so pardon my ignorance, but if you were going to redraw boundaries, why would the upper peninsula stay with the lower state?
rupicolous on
Left Texas and California way too big relative to the finer partitions in the Northeast.
FrontRow4TheShitShow on
Oh ffs at least call it Cascadia
shiner820 on
George didn’t know squat about Louisiana.
SmoothSoup on
>Makes a state for 150k people in northern Alaska
>Doesn’t split up north and south Florida, which are both highly populated and culturally distinct
Sure, whatever
shrikelet on
The Proposed 38 JPEG Artifacts of America
–*or*–
Solutions Looking for Problems
ch4lox on
DAKOTA
FlockaFlameSmurf on
Giving Cleveland to Allegheny and not aligned with Erie is infuriating and Columbus.
Almost as infuriating as Erie not actually touching Lake Erie.
LeftyNate on
I’m a little surprised that Ozark would extend into Western Kentucky at all.
ArtisticRegardedCrak on
I fucking hate this guy, hope he rots
Potential_Ice9289 on
I support this map because Philadelphia is a state now (Like it was supposed to be) /hj
LurkAndSmurk3 on
The Susquehanna river empties into the he Chesapeake Bay.
What does the state of that name include Philadelphia? The Delaware River is adjacent to Philadelphia .
omnipresent_sailfish on
This map makes me irrationally angry
notyogrannysgrandkid on
As a born and raised NW Wyomingite (I hate that demonym btw) living in Arkansas, Bighorn and Ozark are top tier names
21 Comments
In 1973 geographer George Etzel Pearcy published a plan to re-draw the United States map to have only 38 states based on cultural and economic relation of existing regions.
>*Why the need for a new map? Pearcy states that many of the early surveys that drew up our boundaries were done while the areas were scarcely populated. Thus, it was convenient to determine boundaries by using the land’s physical features, such as rivers and mountain ranges, or by using a simple system of latitude and longitude.… The practicality of old established State lines is questionable in light of America’s ever-growing cities and the increasing mobility of its citizens. Metropolitan New York, for example, stretches into 2 adjacent States. Other city populations which cross State lines are Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Chicago, and Kansas City. The “straddling” of State lines causes economic and political problems. Who should pay for a rapid transit system in St. Louis? Only those citizens within the boundaries of Missouri, or all residents of St. Louis’s metropolitan area, including those who reach over into the State of Illinois?…*
>*When Pearcy realigned the U.S., he gave high priority to population density, location of cities, lines of transportation, land relief, and size and shape of individual States. Whenever possible lines are located in less populated areas. In the West, the desert, semidesert, or mountainous areas provided an easy method for division. In the East, however, where areas of scarce population are harder to determine, Pearcy drew lines “trying to avoid the thicker clusters of settlement.” Each major city which fell into the “straddling” category is neatly tucked within the boundaries of a new State. Pearcy tried to place a major metropolitan area in the center of each State. St. Louis is in the center of the State of Osage, Chicago is centered in the State of Dearborn. When this method proved impossible, as with coastal Los Angeles, the city is still located so as to be easily accessible from all parts of the State…*
>*-1975’s edition of The People’s Almanac*
What kind of ‘cartographer’ uses that projection for Alaska?
Why not just let Hawaii keep its name?
The fuck if Wisconsin will be any part of Illinois. We put 600,000 gun toting hunters in the woods every November. Bring it on FIBS.
Hawaiian’s smugly smiling in Hawaiian.
New York being called New York:
Ok I don’t know anything about Michigan, so pardon my ignorance, but if you were going to redraw boundaries, why would the upper peninsula stay with the lower state?
Left Texas and California way too big relative to the finer partitions in the Northeast.
Oh ffs at least call it Cascadia
George didn’t know squat about Louisiana.
>Makes a state for 150k people in northern Alaska
>Doesn’t split up north and south Florida, which are both highly populated and culturally distinct
Sure, whatever
The Proposed 38 JPEG Artifacts of America
–*or*–
Solutions Looking for Problems
DAKOTA
Giving Cleveland to Allegheny and not aligned with Erie is infuriating and Columbus.
Almost as infuriating as Erie not actually touching Lake Erie.
I’m a little surprised that Ozark would extend into Western Kentucky at all.
I fucking hate this guy, hope he rots
I support this map because Philadelphia is a state now (Like it was supposed to be) /hj
The Susquehanna river empties into the he Chesapeake Bay.
What does the state of that name include Philadelphia? The Delaware River is adjacent to Philadelphia .
This map makes me irrationally angry
As a born and raised NW Wyomingite (I hate that demonym btw) living in Arkansas, Bighorn and Ozark are top tier names
Chesapeake is basically large Maryland.