British Couple Reacts to Regional Terms in the U.S. Defined
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- Опубліковано 20 січ 2023
- British Couple Reacts to Regional Terms in the U.S. Defined
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Keep in mind most of these regional distinctions are more about culture than actual geography.
@@bmorg5190 they got it, eventually. But it doesn't help that the names are based on geography, but how they are defensed is different.
Exactly. The regional names would be way too long if they named them after the list of cultural traits they represent, so they just named them after geography.
I was just about to post this myself
Believe it or not there are geological boundaries which follow the boundaries of cultural etc
And the geography has mountains etc.
I'm a North Midwesterner (Wisconsin). This man is pretty spot on.
It's more to do with the different cultures, landscapes, climates, and history of the area, than simply where states are located on the map.
Sup fellow sconnie
Sconnie here
Greetings fellow cow people. 😉
Ayo wi ppl 👋
Ope , another Sconnie checking in
Millie trying to put everything in a straight line and reorganizing America is funny. We like it the way it is, confusing.
Absolutely
mountains are what really divides regions not state lines.
@@MichaelJohnson-vi6eh Rivers beg to differ.
Rivers make a lot of state lines, but mountains seem better at restricting the flow of people between regions.
@@MichaelJohnson-vi6eh also rivers
At 4:10, Millie suggests that Virginia and Kentucky are not the South because she sees a straight line making the northern borders of North Carolina and Tennessee. I am sure a fair amount of people in Virginia and Kentucky choked on their sweet tea. The line she is looking at has no relevance culturally or regionally, and most people in the southern parts of Kentucky and Virginia would fight anyone who suggested they were not Southerners. Actually, those peoples' ancestors literally did that.
Exactly as someone from Kentucky we are Southerners through and through
Here here. As a born and raised Virginian, I definitely consider myself a southerner. Maybe they can find a video that discusses the Mason Dixon Line.
Virginian here - I AM A SOUTHERNER! I was born and raised below the Mason Dixon line. Those lines on the Map now mean pretty much nothing.
@@fawkesflames I'm also a Virginian but I see Virginia as more of a transition state from the South to the North and from the North to the South. We're a little bit of both.
True. The only part of Virginia that doesn't really consider itself southern is NOVA. NOVA is basically the east coast Seattle. The rest of the state cooks breakfast in a skillet. Route 58 is about as stereotypically southern as it gets.
The "Midwest" region makes more sense if you look at a map of the original 13 colonies 🙂
Yes, American didn't come into being this big. We started small and many of the names (midwest as an example) came from before there was more territory west.
The original Colonies were founded in that bit of area between the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian Mountains; that was the East; everything else was west of that mountain range complex. The official West was everything between the Pacific Ocean and the Rockies. In between the Rockies and the Appalachians, that's the MidWest, being the middle portion of the continent just past the Appalachians.
Technically, the North/South boundary is at the Mason Dixon Line. Later, North/South became a political distinction, one we have been trying to sort out since before we were an independent nation. Maryland and Delaware are south of the Mason Dixon Line, but Delaware is very Northern and Maryland is half & half. Still, everything from Virginia south and east of the Appalachians (inclusive) is the South. It also drags in the Gulf states (minus Texas).
Yah. It'd not like they just plopped the borders down and said "There it is, murica."
I just realized that’s why it’s called midwest and 😂 I’ve been confused for so long and this video cleared it up. lol
Of which Vermont was not one!
Point is, regions are about shared culture. Occasionally the direction on a compass lends its name to a region.
And the Midwest was named when the Great Plains were the west.
Exactly as someone from the KY we’re Southern through and through. Our state is literally know as “the place where northern industry (Indiana) meets southern hospitality”. South Florida and Northern Virginia are much different culturally then North Florida and Southern Virginia.
One thing to keep in mind is that when defining the different regions of the US, it's largely based on culture instead of actual geography. For example, there's a saying about Florida: "the more north you go, the more South it gets." Miami culture is very different from "The South" and southern culture.
And Florida overall is very non southern in large part because of all the people who retire there from northern climes. I think Cajun and Creole country are probably more of a special variation of southern than a separate thing.
@@user-xe7mv4uu5l I would nor lump north or central Florida in that statement. It's still very southern. Most of the Northerners usually flock to places like Ft Lauderdale and much of Southern Florida. I dread to see how Pompano must have changed since I last visited. My mom hasn't quite told me enough to give me how South it was when she was growing up there.
Even Texas isn't completely Southern. We're our own mix of Southern and Mexican influences (having been colonized from both places).
Southeastern Louisiana is almost a nation unto itself. New Orleans' cultural history is extraordinary. This is probably why it is considered in the top cities for eating! French, Spanish, English influences. "Cajuns" are a group unto themselves: they were French settlers in upper Northeastern US and part of Canada aka Acadia). The British forced the French out of that area. Then ended up in the French colonies in the southern US which includes New Orleans. The term Acadian sort of morphed into Cajun. They still speak their own variety of French as well as English and live up in the bayous north of NO. They eat a number of very strange foods, but their regional dishes are superb (gumbo, jambalaya, and others. There is a famous American poem "Evangeline" by Longfellow about the Acadians
Defining the region called the south isn't arbitrary and isn't culture based though you could easily draw a cultural line through the states that comprise it. The South is the confederate states simple as. Unending blood was soaked into that ground that we call 'The South' that makes it indelibly so. What 'The South' meant before the war I don't know and it doesn't matter but after and forever those lands that make it up are defined by blood.
It was pretty funny watching James and Millie trying to divvy things up based on state shapes and equal parts like a pie LOL. You guys were pretty off though, not gonna lie 😅 The regions are what they are based on a combination of many factors like colonial history, the civil war, settlement patterns as we expanded into the midwest then later the west, cultural development and customs, countries of origin/ethnicities of the settlers, immigrant populations, economic/industrial/agricultural makeup, geographical features/ecosystems/topography.... Geography King did a really good job of explaining the different regions and where there is some overlap (because there is definitely some overlap in areas). Fun reaction!
Yeah, I am not sure how they are assuming they know where the regions are just by looking at the map, especially since they have not really been to these places. It would be like an American looking at a UK map and saying, "Oh, hey, Yorkshire looks about in the middle, it must be in the Midlands."
I love that you are so invested.
Millie and James are wonderful people.
Yeah, but he didn’t mention the Upper Midwest-Minnesota (where I live), Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas.
@@nancykaminski8600 He didn't talk about my area specifically either, the Intermountain West. The video was just covering the main large regions, he didn't go into the sub-regions within those. It's still a decent basic overview.
The Mexican influence isn't from people moving in, it's from those areas having been part of Mexico years ago.
Not really. The population of some of those places was very low when Mexico owned them. Texas was literally settled by Americans, because Mexico didn't have enough people in the region and wanted it developed. While there was always a Mexican background, the cultural aspect has grown with the influx of immigrants.
It's all that history, old and new.
It is a combination of actual Mexican control and Spanish control before the Mexican,u.s.war and later Mexican immigration.These lands have a longer,ancient ownership of native north American tribes.
Interesting when Europeans moved into Texas,Mexicans referred the them as anglos and there may have been many English origination over generations of Americans.The less polite term than anglos was gringo or gringos,used by Mexicans.
Interesting historical fact,at the battle of the Alamo,the Texans vs.Mexico,many of the defenders of the Alamo were Scott's and Americans.
The way his divided his maps were correct for the most part. Wyoming is in the west, but not in the pacific northwest. Pacific Northwest is just Washington State and Oregon. Wyoming is normally in what is called the Mountain West.
Agreed.
Perfect. Mountain west. I couldn't think of it...
I think Northern California could be considered the Pacific Northwest as well but idk I’m from Wisconsin
@@dacrosber as a Washingtonian, no. 😂 maybe Idaho but California is never PNW
Panhandle & the Palouse of Idaho identify as inland Pacific Northwest (PNW) along with eastern Washington. The border between Idaho and Montana was originally going to be a straight line, but Montana claimed the northeast corner. We like them anyway.
As for the Midwest, I was born in southern Illinois, there's no difference between it and southern Indiana. I think it helps to look at the terrain and the density of major roads. The East Coast is packed with interstates and arterials. The Midwest has fewer folks & the most regular 1 mile square grid of township roads. Great Plains have even lower density, but still straight roads (mostly). The West's roads are fewer & farther between until you get to the coast, and they are straight only where the terrain is flat enough to permit it.
A lot of the places aren’t really labeled by geography despite the names, but culturally, that’s why a lot look wierd
I'm from Kentucky. I can make this pretty simple. If you like your tea sugary sweet, your food fried, say please, thank you, yes and no ma'am/sir and refer to more than one person y'all, you're southern. That would be me!😍
To make it even more confusing, the area between the Ohio river and the Great Lakes was the Northwest Territory in the 1790’s.
Northwestern is a cool name for a university, though.
What? Pfft
The Cuyahoga River (yes, THAT Cuyahoga River) was once the western border of the US.
You're making this more difficult than it actually is. It isn't about physical geography or state lines, it is about culture. Kyle's maps are accurate.
They're making it more difficult? Or our cultural boundaries are? Because to me, it looks like their purely geographical divisions are simpler. Obviously that's not how these terms are _actually_ used, but that's kinda beside the point if you're just comparing them for complexity.
@@rafetizer The thing people keep forgetting, when these places were labeled things like 'the midwest' at the time, THEY WERE. People seem to completely forget that our country took time to spread out west. The regions aren't going to change just because more geography got tacked on later. I mean, if we decided to include Hawaii in this, then the entire continental US would be 'eastern US'.
@@piperbird7193 It's like the wildlings in GoT telling the northerners they're actually southerners
When they refer to the Megalopolis, it's a pretty much solidly populated area from around Boston down to Washington D.C., and it's got nearly the same population as the U.K.
And now it includes Richmond. It is solid people as you drive from Richmond to Boston.
@@MarkM58 It's about 17% of America's population, living in 1.5% of the land area! If all of America was as densely populated, we'd have nearly 4 billion people!
Boston, NYC, Philly, Baltimore, and D.C
I like his cultural influence based on County lines.
These are cultural regions which often have geographic names. Its definitely called the Midwest, and like he said its because when the name was created, that area was the "Middle West". Now its a name that confuses people because it doesn't make sense geographically. Culturally its split between the Great Lakes region and the Plains states (in my opinion as Midwesterner). But there are tons of arguements of which areas are part of which regions.
You should check out Charlie Berens videos on the Midwest, they're hilarious.
Oh, YES!! Charlie Berens captures the Upper Midwest (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan) culture perfectly! 👍👍
And if you want to get more confused the great lakes region states used to be the Northwest territory. After the American revolution the area was ceded to the US. The northwest ordinance was the first law that regulated the setting up if townships, selling land for settlement. Creating school districts etc.... In any area that wasn't already a state.
Also a fun fact was that congress had to get east coast states to give up their claims on these lands. Many original charters didn't have a western boarded prescribed. So they had to agree to set western boarders for states like NY, PA, VA etc..
The old joke about Florida is the further north you go, the further South you get.
It's so true haha
As a Floridian, this is most definitely true. You can really see the Spanish and Cuban influence the further south you go. I love my state 😊
I love watching you guys so confused 😂
In regards to the Floridian confusion:
As the saying goes, “the farther south (in Florida) you go, the less southern (culturally) you get”
As a native Floridian, we all know of the dreaded “sweet tea line” where you stop being served sweet tea in restaurants, somewhere just south of Orlando (although this varies wildly from town to town in terms of cultural association, i.e. southern vs south Floridian culture)
What a parched place Miami must be. Sweet tea for me.
@@AL-jb1mh when I was a kid I distinctly remember the sweet tea line being a thing. I remember visiting Miami from my native Jacksonville often times as a child and not being able to order sweet tea at many restaurants. It’s perhaps changed but culturally the “sweet tea line” is absolutely a thing. Florida certainly is a melting pot and I’m sure that’s changed as you can even get sweet tea where I live in Las Vegas now. When I used to visit here as a kid, you couldn’t get sweet tea in many places, but now you can. So it has certainly changed everywhere
@@willantvan Hah! I’ve never thought of the sweet tea distinction, but now that you’ve mentioned it, I think you’re right!
@@willantvan I grew up in Miami and I didn't know what "sweet tea" was back in the day. I thought it was just Lipton Ice Tea in a can. 😋
The video is 100% correct. These terms are NOT largely about geographical location. They are almost entirely about history and culture. Like the South is often the states that fought for the South in the Civil War. Which is why many will include places like Virginia.
Yes, and West Virginia should be considered a Northern State since it broke away from the slave trade early in the conflict between North and the South.
Fun fact, Virginia is geographically closer to Ontario , Canada than it is to Florida. However, once you hit NJ, that is where it’s 95% agreed that NJ is in the northeast U.S in most aspects. Plus, Northern most part NJ is north of some of southern CT, and southern RI which both RI, and CT make up New England. So really Virginia is the traditional boundary between northern and southern states.
you cant take out Las Vegas. You drive 5 miles off the strip in any direction, your in the desert. lol
But that was the point, that the “west” is not very populous.
And Phoenix is bigger anyway, and less fun
I am from Ohio and live in NC. This guy understands the cultural differences. Ohio is a bit Eastern, but also very Midwestern in feel.
NO ONE on the east coast thinks of "Ohio" as part of the eastern regions (northeast, mid-atlantic, southeast)
Ohio is Ohio...no one else wants to claim it (Wisconsinite here). 😂
@@Solidaritas1 rude.
@@RobertMJohnson agreed.
Even in ohio we have our own regions. The north coast is along the lake, mid ohio is centered in Columbus, ohio river valley, etc. Columbus is pretty much the defining city for whether you're "down south" or "up north". That's my experience anyway
The presenter is absolutely right. This is the way Americans view the country. South Florida is not part of the south. It’s not about the compass. Alaska is our most northern, most Western and most Eastern state( the islands reach the international date line) and Florida, our most south state, is divided by the I4 corridor. North of that is southern culture and south of it America Latina or a million retired Northerners
I pretty much agree with him. I am actually very glad to watch this video, it is good to hear someone address the cultural parts of the country. Growing up in Illinois, with my mother coming from Indianapolis, IN, I would even say that when you get south of Peoria, IL you are starting to get culturally into the south, likewise Indianapolis and southern IN are much more southern, than northern. However, that difference in Indiana, is less pronounced now than when I was growing up. Peace
Very true. Take Ohio for example, much of the state is very midwestern culturally, but in the southern part across the river from Kentucky that part of Ohio is very southern. There are places like that where people from the same family fought on opposite sides during the Civil War
As a lifelong Northwesterner I have never heard Montana to be included. The Pacific Northwest is considered Washington, Oregon and usually Idaho.
I was born in the PNW, and have never heard of it being included. Definitely straight west.
Yeah, usually Idaho is included due to bordering both Wa & Or but also because Lewiston has the easternmost seaport of the Pacific. It’s at sea level & barges go there from the coast.
But Montana should be the Northwest. That's crazy.
100% agree with you, as a PNW native. I think natives think of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho as the Pacific Northwest, with the Rockies form the border with the mountain states. I think people from very western Montana (like the western slopes of Rockies) are sometimes considered in the PNW.
it's true. Pac NW ... Montana is never included. Montana is Montana or MT-WY or MT-WY-CO
Old joke in my area: To a European, a Yankee is an American. To an American, a Yankee is a Northerner. To a Northerner, a Yankee is a New Englander. To a New Englander, a Yankee is a Vermonter. To a Vermonter, a Yankee is someone who eats apple pie for breakfast.
Virginia is definitely the south as soon as you cross into Virginia its a total different way of life, more southern.
Northern Virginia is definitely note. The tri area with DC and Maryland makes it quite different.
Nope Virginia is not in the south
@Dale Moore lol Did you forget that Richmond VA was the capital of the Confederacy? Virginia is most certainly part of the South, with the exception of Alexandia culturally due to it being right next to D.C. Technically speaking, even Maryland could be considered part of the South due to the Mason-Dixon line, but culturally, it's not.
IMHO, once you get south of the Rappahannock, you are in the South. The DC suburbs are largely devoid of Southern culture (or any culture that I can identify, really). I know that people who live in the Deep South sometimes don't consider Virginia Southern. But hey, when you live all the way South and look up, everything looks Northern to you, right? Southside Virginia, in terms of culture, is every bit as much the South as any other state below it.
@@Longhauler85 Maryland (my home state) is a true border state. I think of it as the southern-most Northern state, but there are real nuances. The central core counties around DC and Baltimore and up to Pennsylvania, are culturally Northern (or, just cosmopolitan). But if you go to the Maryland regions known as the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland, these will seem much more Southern -- maybe actually Southern. Western Maryland is much more like an Appalachian border area, like SW Pennsylvania or northern West Virginia.
Yeah, don't give your opinions on what should be what based on geography. This is just how it is culturally 😂
Yeah I was thinking exactly the same thing I’m sitting here thinking why are these two British people saying what should be considered in the south in the US? That would be like me (an American) deciding what should be considered part of the north of England. I don’t know what’s culturally considered part of the north of England or would I presume to based on some arbitrary line that I consider to be geographically appropriate.
The Eastern part of Texas is more similar to much of Louisiana
I was surprised by all the pine forest in east Texas, had this idea it was all open country.
That's so funny. 😅
@James smith
Yes, living in southeast Texas I can guarantee that Cajuns from Louisiana make up a significant part of the culture. I worked for a few years for a Cajun man who was raised in southern Louisiana and English was probably his second language after French. He used to laugh and say that there were more Cajuns in southeast Texas than in Louisiana. Gumbo, boudin, étouffée, crawfish boils, etc., are a weekly routine in the region, even for non-Cajuns.
I was born and raised in Texas but Louisiana is about 20 miles away.
Also @Steve C, I think a lot of people may be surprised that about a third of Texas is heavily forested.
Keep in mind the location of mountain regions. The Rocky Mountain and the Appalachian Mountains really influenced how people initially migrated. You weren’t traveling across mountains often in the early days. So cultural lines formed where the mountains are. This is why Ohio and Indiana are midwestern. (Look up the importance of the Cumberland Gap in how they were settled).
Ya'll missed it. Watch the video again and listen. This isn't a map redrawing exercise. These are distinctive cultural regions. This is a social studies lesson; not an opinion on what makes the cleanest lines on a map.
@The Beesleys Virginia may not look far South geographically but it definitely is culturally, it's where the Confederate Army Capital was during the Civil War
"The South" is not just territory but also the accents are similar, the culture is similar, music is similar in many of these states. Country, Bluegrass in general is Southern.
I am speaking in generals over here.
Mid-Atlantic is a common phrase for people living in or around this area of the country, it was commonly used in banking, transportation, utilities, real-estate naming like Mid-Atlantic Bank of Maryland.
It definitely makes sense if you understand the areas, their influences, and their culture.
South Florida is not the South because there are so many northerners (like me) who live there. There is an expression in Florida that says: "The further south you go, the more north you are." They say that because there are so many New Yorkers and New Englanders here.
THat is like saying that Chicago area is not the midwest or New York is not a midatlantic city just because of the huge influx of foreigners in those cities. And no offence but I wouldn't expect a self proclaimed northerner to know what is southern.
@@pfcampos7041 but he is right. South of the panhandle is considered the north.
@@dalemoore8582 And I am just saying that its BS. sorry. I know he is just repeating what other folks keep saying to him. But certainly not folks who are generational S. Floridians.
@@pfcampos7041 whatever dude
@@pfcampos7041 With all due respect, I used to live in South Carolina and Georgia. I have been to southern Florida a couple of times. Seriously, it is not the South. It is Florida.
These regions are often more thought about along cultural lines and not just geographical ones. As for Virginia, as much as they want to pretend that they are not the South, most of the state is very culturally Southern. Only the area around D.C. can really argue successfully that they are not culturally the South.
Man I've lived in the rual part of Virginia my whole life and I don't wanna be heaped in with any city slicking sleezeballs
Y'all keep missing the point, forget the boarders. It's the culture.
Would someone from Yorkshire call someone from Cornwall a southerner? I think that this guy hit the nail pretty well on the head.
I think it would have been very helpful for the two of you to understand why the dividing lines are placed where they were if you saw a map with the mountain ranges and rivers shown. The Midwest area is bracketed by the eastern and western mountain ranges. Also, historical settlements and expansions used the Mississippi River as the marker for east and west; hence the St. Louis Arch. Florida is unique because when it first became a state, no one lived too far from the Georgia state line (unless you were an outlaw or Seminole Indian). The expansion into Florida was a huge planned development, they literally filled in the swamp and paved southern Florida. Southern Florida was marketed as a vacation and retirement community and Northern and Midwest people bought into it.
As you probably know, many of the largest cities are culturally different (much more diverse) than the regions and states they belong to. Also, Texas, for example, is so big that not only is there a difference culturally and politically in the large cities & suburbs from the more rural areas, but there are around 10 different climates within its borders. Great reaction as always! 🇺🇸💙🇬🇧
As noted, the regions are divided by both regional (geographical) and cultural differences. You need to travel here to actually experience the differences.
I'm from Texarkana,Texas a part of a twin with Texarkana,Arkansas our old "Slogan$ use to be " Gateway to the Southwest"🤠
I live in central Arizona and I recently had a co-worker who had moved here from New Jersey who decided to take a weekend road trip into western New Mexico. He told me on Monday that he know understands the term "Big Country" as he drove for hours without encountering any towns or cities. This was a shock to him as he had towns, villages and cities in NJ usually within a few miles of each other.
I had a coworker that moved here
( Ohio ) from New Jersey. He said when he first got here that he thought that we Ohioans seemed "country" to him. Meaning Southern.😅😂
A megalopolis is basically a region of a country that consists of large cities (or many cities) in close proximity to each other, creating a continuous urban area with only sparse countryside in between them. The Northeast megalopolis is named so because it is population dense area connecting large cities (New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC) with some smaller cities in between (Newark NJ, Trenton NJ, Wilmington DE).
Florida is part of the South, you can’t get much more southern than Florida. Tampa does have a hugeCuban influence, the food is amazing. My parents were born and raised in Kentucky. And it most definitely Southern.
Oklahoma is midwestern - western, plains, cross timbers zone, the weather is the same as a great plains state and the culture is western, at least it was when I lived there.
Most of these regions are based on how they were settled and the cultures thereof.
New England - these are the areas settled by the Puritans as their “New” England.
Mid-Atlantic - We were stationed north of Philadelphia when I was in high school, and I was in marching band. We competed in the Mid-Atlantic Championships. That is how I know this one. Philly is a seaport due to the Delaware River (similar to London and the Thames), so it can count as “Atlantic”. I would say eastern Pennsylvania fits but not western but the whole state is included.
The Southeast and the South are based on settlement of various people and the interior is different than the coastal. Take Virginia as an example: the coastal areas were settled by the Cavalier gentry and the mountains by the Scots via Ulster and Germans. Totally different cultures. This distinction is still evident today. And of course, you have the agriculture and cultural influences of the slave era.
The Midwest - When the US expanded after Independence, it expanded into Ohio and beyond. Congress organized this as the Northwest Territory. At that time relative to the states, it was the NW. As the country expanded it was distinguished as the Mid-West. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Territory
The Great Plains - the middle section that is tornado country is also called The Great Plains because that is what it is and really was before settlement. This is where the great herds of buffalo roamed. I still call the tier from North Dakota to the Oklahoma and the panhandle of Texas ‘the plains states’ which is an old term, I guess. This includes eastern Colorado, eastern Wyoming, eastern Montana.
Rocky Mountain region - He didn’t use this, but I do. That or Mountain West. Northern New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho. The Rockies define this region and are the reason for the weather and geography further east in the great plains.
Southwest - It really is influenced by Spanish settlement and includes southern Colorado as there are old settlements there. I have a friend whose ancestry comes from Spanish settlers in the southern Colorado mountains. I would concur with Kyle’s definition here. It is also defined by weather in that it is hot, dry, and mainly desert type conditions.
West as Kyle did it without the coast is correct weatherwise as it is totally different from the coast. You spoke of Las Vegas - it is west in that it is dry desert. The only way it can be there is taking water from the Colorado River. Utah and Nevada are not mountain west but interior west. Geography again!
Pacific Northwest - It is definitely its own thing - very wet and green on the west side. Only Oregon and Washington, not Idaho or Montana. Eastern Oregon and eastern Washington are dry and reminded me of Wyoming. This is due to the Cascade Mountains rain shadow.
There is a fantastic book about the settlement of the original states called “Albion’s Seed” by David Hackett Fisher that lines all of this out in detail. Also the 3 part series called “The Americans” by Daniel J Boorstin.
Mid West is correct on the map at 6:35. Indiana is the Mid West.
I'm in Virginia, and we are a southern state..it stems from the Civil War. Mid Atlantic is a term I've heard as well
Originally, the Midwest was called the Middle-West, hyphen and all! It was named when the state's touching the coast were not states yet, but territories
That's so weird. LoL
And just to add to the confusion, British Columbia is often grouped into the northwest. Even though it’s in Canada and is in it’s southwest.
I think it’s because the climate, geography and attitudes of western BC are very much like that of the other side of the border. Linguistically our neighbors up there are pretty much indistinguishable as well. I can’t tell the difference between people from Vancouver, BC and Seattle or Portland.
Confusion is expected since, as the video points out, there are a lot of overlapping zones that depend on what metric is used. Most states are solidly in their own defined region, but others are a bit more squirrelly and can still be contentious (e.g. is Virginia a southern state). Just as with other countries, each region has its own sensibilities and experience educates you to know their boundaries. Mostly.
3:15. I live in New England. It is literally called "New England" because almost every town is named after a town in England--hahaha! I live in Amesbury, Massachusetts which is named after Amesbury, England (where Stonehenge is). The towns around me in Massachusetts & New Hampshire are named: Hampton, Salisbury, Kensington, North Hampton, Kingston, & Seabrook. Sound familiar to you, James & Millie--hahaha?
Hi neighbor, I'm in Barnstable.
You guys are both getting way too hung up on geography, but the whole point of the regions is that it groups by culture. There’d be no point for this video to be made if every regional term we used was defined easily by just looking at a map.
Isn’t this true of England as well? What people call the north in England isn’t a perfect 50/50 half with a strict line in the middle right? There’s a cultural element that somehow people use to link a lot of “northern England” together right? Working class attitude, certain accents etc. I may be completely wrong with that, but in the US that’s what these terms have come to be defined by.
Like he said, the reason Miami isn’t “the south” is because when you go there the culture is absolutely nothing like the typical south. It’s super Hispanic influenced in every way, a lot of the peoples beliefs and cultural norms are different etc.
Wyoming is forever west. It even says it on the welcome sign as you enter the state. If you even want to visit American and experience the west you come to Wyoming.
Yes, to me Wyoming is literally the archetype of the West. I mean, it is as West as West gets.
Oklahoma is definitely where southern culture meets western cattle culture. The cattle, the country music, the food, religion. Greatest state in the union. God bless y’all
Yessir, we okies truly are a good mix of southern and western.
As he indicated, there is not a clear definition of any region. That is because the regions are also defined by their history. The Spanish influence began in the 1500s and went as far north as Wyoming. They created missions all along the west coast. Then there is the Louisiana Purchase that also went farther north than most people realize. And the story of the Cajuns, who started out in the New England area abutting Canada, but now are associated with New Orleans, even though they were sent to North Carolina,
The Cajuns were expelled from eastern Canada by the British to deminish French influence in Canada.If you read this history,it is very cruel to families and individuals.They eventually settled in Louisiana,a long and difficult journey from eastern Canada.
Oklahoma is it's own region and undefinable.
The line is irrevelent. KY in my experience, is south in culture, while Indiana in my experience, is Midwest culturally.
Here in Texas we often just consider ourselves as living in our own region of the USA.
We were the only state that was it's own country.
A lot of definitions you'll find of the American South are the states where slavery was allowed or who joined the Confederacy during the Civil War and Texas does in fact fit that definition but I find that too narrow of a modern definition because once you get west of Louisiana or Arkansas you'll know you're in Texas in a big way.
It's more about culture here and ours in distinct to here.
Hate to tell you but by our actual constitution each state is it's own country that is part of the republic.
Usually, I see TX as Southwestern because of the Mexican influence, and it's on the border. Also, because of the old Southwest Conference.
California started out it’s own country as well. Even the state flag says, “California Republic.” Congress rushed statehood through quickly enough so that California was designated a “Free State.”
As a Southerner, I never consider Texas as part of the South. It's just "Texas" 😁
A couple of states were independent before they entered the union, including Vermont, which existed separately from the original 13 colonies and only joined the U.S. in 1791. But you can continue to think Texas is special, bless your heart.
I’m from Oklahoma and can agree that if trying to use state boundaries alone as to where to define the regions then Oklahoma, like many other states, doesn’t fit so neatly. The Panhandle area is mostly ranches and many of the people there moved into the area from western states and so have accents similar to folks from Colorado, Wyoming, Utah. The western part of the state is heavily influenced both by its myriad plains Native American cultures and Texas’ western cattle ranch culture. The common accents in this part of the state sound either like Texans or are variations on the plains Amerind accents. The southeastern part of the state is nicknamed Little Dixie by most folks here. The accents definitely sound more like those from Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia. And that’s not really a surprise given that most of the settlers to the area came from those states originally. The northwestern part where I grew up was mostly settled by people from Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio so the accents are more similar to the Midwest. The northeastern part of the state is where a lot of the Native American tribes from east of the Mississippi were resettled and so the accents amongst them are similar to eastern Amerind tribal accents. The central part of the state is where accents mix and since the largest city in the state is located there it’s home to people from all over the US as well as lots of immigrants. There’s also a Hispanic influence in parts of the southwest/southern sections of the state and an African American influence throughout a lot of the eastern parts of the central areas of the state. The accent amongst them is varied as African Americans in the areas came from all over. Two populations in the state that are a result of things that happened in the mid and late 20th century would be the large number of South Vietnamese in the central part of the state and the large number of Marshallese in the north-central part of the state. These folks have added to the variety and cultures of the different parts of the state in noticeable ways. There’s a growing South Asian and East Asian population in the state in multiple regions (predominantly central, north-central, and northeast). Anyways, my point is that just taking the state’s boundaries and then trying to put all of us into one region is difficult because people settled here from different regions bringing the cultures from where they came from. That’s why asking for a fizzy drink in the state it’s a good idea to just ask for a soft drink or ask specifically for the brand because depending on where you are it’s pop, soda, or coke. And having grown up in a family from all over the US, I feel like there’s definitely variety in many other states, too….even in New England! I mean, I definitely noticed differences between my family from southern New Hampshire and family from northern New Hampshire (they were subtle differences like hearing them pronounce houses, horses, and hoses. My family from southern New Hampshire drops the “r” sound in horses while my family in northern New Hampshire soften the “s” in hoses…..I mostly remember these specific distinctions because at a family reunion when I was 13 there was a word puzzle and hoses, horses, and houses were on the list and I had difficulty understanding my cousins as to my ears the three words when spoken quickly [which is a family thing that we speak fast] sounded too similar. To be fair there were things I said that they didn’t understand either and we tended to just laugh it off as we thought it was neat and fun. I mean we understood for the most part, way better than when trying to talk with the older folks of the family from all over. My great aunts from California calling fizzy drinks tonic, my great uncle from Ohio referring to the radio as “the wireless”, my uncle from England calling things “dodgy”, my great uncle’s wife who was from The Philippines using Tagalog slang words for things and my other older family members getting upset that they didn’t know what she meant even though she was gesturing to the item with her hand so us kids figured it out. Between that and the live music….seems almost everyone in my family plays at least one musical instrument…family reunions were usually fun. I’m kinda sad that they happen less frequently than when I was a kid).
The southern part of Louisiana that he had cut from the south (also known as the Acadiana region) is still southern culturally it just has lots of french/catholic influences. If anything it is a subregion within the greater south.
He didn't mention it, but sometimes you hear the term "Rocky Mountain States" pretty much Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah.
If you remember the accent tour series - that video made a point about accents not following state lines. That’s also very true here, many regions should be mapped at the county level, not based on straight line state boundaries. Many states have parts that are in 2, 3, or even 4 (looking at you TX) different regions. It’s about history, culture, and settlement patterns. Also many of the regions were given “compass names” way back when the US wasn’t a continent spanning nation.
PS it’s quite well known that the further south (geographically) you go in Florida, the less southern (culturally) it is.
IT IS CULTURE, more than geography that makes the Southwest, Southeast, etc. to be called that. His county maps are FAR more accurate. Midwest, where I live, are defined by cold and snowy winters, hunting deer, the rust belt, pine forests, water, and crops of corn soy and apples. IF I went to Wisconsin, it would look similar, maybe more cows (cheese heads).
If you said "southwest" in America, it automatically think of Tex-mex, Hispanic, Latinx, spicy foods, hot peppers, deserts and border culture.
West Virginia is VERY south in feelings and behaviors, but it is on that border north. I have heard "mountainfolk" as a descriptor for them, since it is all mountain.
The differance between southern Florida and Northern Florida is very obvious. He is correct. Same with New Orleans area. It stops being Southern and becomes Southern French.
Megapolis is referring to how the cities and their suburbs merge (or are merging) from New York to Washington DC and into Virginia in to one large Metropolitan complex. You literally don't leave a major city if you travel from New York to DC.
I think what a lot of people fail to remember is how the United States formed and then how additional territories were added. A lot of these terms were formed early on and the US was created when there were only 13 States total. If you start looking at these terms with the basis in our history, you can get a better understanding. For a long time there were not "States" West of the Mississippi River. The Mason Dixon Line separated the "North" from the "South". The Northern States fought the Southern Stats in the American Civil War. All of these historical events drove how people saw certain States and where they lumped them. The States West of the Mississippi didn't come along until later and many of they regional terms for the earlier States were already established. So those States got their regional classification based more on geographic differences than anything else.
It's so cute how you are both sharing the earbuds.
In Florida once you get south of Gainesville, you’re back in the north. Even the accent is closer to a Northern accent than a Southern one.
Guess you’ve never been to places like Okeechobee, Wachula, Arcadia, Lake Placid, Labelle…it’s definitely still the south below Gainesville
lol love you guys but you did miss the point lol
I don't think of California as part of the Southwest. -native Californian
Kinda agree. As a person stationed there back in the day.
But I do. We are the south west. Oregon and Washington are the Pacific northwest. Pfft
@@runrafarunthebestintheworld Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
Drawing the line below VA for The South. Y'all may want to look up where General Lee was from and, for that matter the Confederate capitol was. ;-) Midwest is spot on. Remember - "west" is relative to the original 13 and long before the addition of the west coast and inner mountain west as states. Nobody thinks Michigan or Indiana is Northeastern.
It’s not really about geography, but in many ways it is. It’s also about how people arrived, when they migrated to where they ended up in the U.S., where were from before they got there (their culture, food, history, etc.) So when you think “that couldn’t be “middle western” because of where it is on the map, you have to remember that the U.S. did not always extend all the way to California for much of its history. Many peoples were migrating westward. As we expanded westward, people from many different cultures made their way further west. The same is true for parts of the north and south.
Yall should do a video on the history of Las Vegas and how much it has evolved and changed over the years. Sin City was the home of some of the first organized crime in the west, and it was supported in the early days financially by the violent mobsters who ran the casinos and brothels. It’s such an interesting city because there’s absolutely nothing for miles but desert and open road, and then you stumble upon the brightest lights, tallest buildings and the most people you’ll ever see in Nevada
I think they'd get a kick out of visiting the Mob Museum!
Wasn't it basically started by New York mobsters trying to escape the cutthroat competition in New York?
@@randlebrowne2048 yup, there wasn’t any competition in the west so they basically built an empire from the ground up in the middle of a desert
Historically the Mason Dixon Line was the Boundary that separated North and South. If You were below the Mason Dixon Line you were in the South. The south was also called Dixie or Dixieland or Dixie's Land
I am 58 Years old, and I learned a Song as a Kid that said, "If you are from Alabama Tennessee or Carolina or anywhere below the Mason Dixon Line then you are from Dixie I say from Dixie because I am from Dixie To."
Being a Brit it's probably hard for you to understand that it's not based on just state lines and geography. That has a little bit to do with it, but it's mostly about culture and our history and how things were named and decided through time. You definitely have to take that all in to understand. We understand it because we were raised knowing our own history and our own cultures. By the way when are you guys going to finish watching "Oversimplified The Cold War"? You only did the first part and never did the second part! Hopefully by the time you get to the second part you're going to still remember the first part. I would do it soon.
A lot of the regional names were also labeled before the entire country was settled. Hence midwest is positioned in the mideast. At one point everything west of there was just the west.
You guys are getting way too caught up in how the map looks and not how it was settled. Even after acknowledging the cultural significance of the names.
Thanks! As an American I learn a lot about America from your videos!
I live in Northeast Oklahoma and in Tulsa, where I live, we think of ourselves as very midwestern. But, in general, the way we divide Oklahoma regionally is by drawing a line down the middle from north to south. Everything to the west is considered part of the west because the geography is more like that of western states- it's drier, flatter and there are fewer trees. The eastern half can be more or less divided in half with the northern half being more like the midwest- green and hilly,n with colder winters, and the southern part being more geographically similar to the south- warmer, wetter, even swampy in places.
Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin were all part of the Northwest Territory back in the late 18th and early 19th century prior to becoming states. That was the beginning of the west back then, so it became the beginning of the mid-west.
Very educational. Keep up the good work.
FYI. If you are a native New Yorker and moved to Florida then moved to new North Carolina you are considered a “half back”. But never to your face because that would be rude so it’s “bless your heart”.
Watch out guys, some Americans live by there regions and are extremely proud. Some Americans also identify by thier area codes. I live in Texas. Which is different in and of itself. "Texas Panhandle", West Texas", "806" is my area code. I live in all those examples. Oh, not to mention the High Plains region as well. Lol
Kyle’s map is spot on. Maybe on your future trips to the US, the best approach would be to make each trip regionally focused, so if you do Yellowstone, you’d probably want to visit Jackson Hole and maybe Glacier Natl Park befor the glacier melts (Northern Montana) or Denver/Colorado area (much more to see and do, as it’s more populous). Then you’d have to come back for West Coast or wherever else you want to go. If you choose Colorado, you could potentially come in late summer/early fall and see a University of Colorado D1 (division with the big schools) football game with one of the most talked about new coaches, and former NFL superstar, Deon Sanders. I bet Folsom Field in Boulder will be completely full for every game.
Anyway, hope you two have a good day!
And I would also agree that Oklahoma is an anomaly-it’s like very midwestern in terms of farming (most of it is giant expanse of farmland, sprinkled with the occasional shrinking railroad/farm town and a few trees clumped here and there. You can literally see for miles, as far as the humid haze will let you. But there’s also a sense of the south, too, sharing many of the same attitudes and tastes that prevail in the south. Maybe it has to do with many people (who “settled” Oklahoma the the infamous “land grab”-actually, if you can find a weird History video about the Dust Bowl, that’d be interesting) moving out during the dust bowl, and southerners who already knew farming came in after they left? Idk. Interesting to ponder. And many Oklahomans consider Texas as their sister state, but only north Texas, as Texas is huge and has parts of the South, parts are Southwest, and then there’s a Texas-only culture, too. Oh yeah, Oklahoma has red dirt, too. Lol
For Millie: Wyoming is clearly a Western state. It has the Rocky Mountains (Yellowstone) in the upper-left part of the state. The rest of the state is flat, dry, windy grassland for ranches, cows, and oil and gas rigs. One key aspect of the West and South West is how clear the sky is. Because it’s not humid-or sometimes bone dry-the bright blue days and star-filled nights are so beautiful. If you know that old song “Home on the Range”, that’s Wyoming:
Give me a home
Where the buffalo roam
And the deer and the antelope play.
Where seldom is heard
A discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
As an American, I understand and agree with his analysis. Over my 74 years I have lived in Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas ....
Midwest, Connecticut- , New England, Texas - South and Montana- West. Each region is unique with cultural and historical differences which made those experiences memorable and interesting!
There use to be a football conference called the Southwest Football conference and it consist almost entirely of Texas colleges and Arkansas.
As a New Englander who eventually moved to the south, I am baffled by how many people think New York and PA are part of New England. I guess it is a bit weird that we use New England instead of the individual states we are from. For me I guess it's because I've got family all over New England, and we'd buzz up or down for a weekend in Maine or New Hampshire or Connecticut depending on who we were visiting. It just feels like one big place. "The South" also tends to go by which side of the war the state was on. I live in Kentucky, and if you tried to tell someone here that it's not the south, it'd be fighting words.
Well, I'd say that depends on where in NY state. Places like Hampton, NY and other rural communities right over the Vermont border up in Washington County and thereabouts are New England in all ways that matter, IMO. I can easily imagine if I lived there considering myself a New Englander. Culturally, demographically, botanically, and geologically that area belongs to New England far more than it does to the mid-Atlantic (or to the midwest, which some other parts of northern NY state seem to me to properly belong to).
For the most part, though, I agree with you that NY is not New England.
A lot of these regions make a little more sense if you know the geography, and the people. We may all speak the same language, but going from one region to another is sometimes more like going to another country. One region that wasn’t mentioned is the Great Plains, or sometimes just called the Plains. It’s a large swath down the middle of the country that is relatively flat. I live almost in the center of that map. I think of myself as midwestern, but, if you Google the term, it says I’m not in the Midwest, but rather in the Plains. 🤷♀️
Oklahoma falls into the Central Plains. As well as KS,NE,SD and ND
Virginians think of themselves as being located in the south...coming from one who lives there.😊
Absolutely!
Being more informed now, a quiz for J&M: Where are Northeastern University, Northwestern University, Case Western Reserve University, Southern University,?
Also, keep in mind, that most of the eastern US is actually an island - with the Mississippi River being used to navigate by boat from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.
I flew from Portland Oregon to Denver Colorado and when we landed the flight crew welcomed us to "the west" despite us flying east for 2.5 hours.
We also have two other regions the Gulf Coast which includes Texas Alabama Mississippi Louisiana and Florida. And we also have the North Coast which is the Great Lakes region which includes Michigan Minnesota Wisconsin Ohio Pennsylvania Indiana Illinois and New York.
As someone who’s lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota for something like 30 years (all as an adult,) I’ve never heard anyone talk about any such region as the “North Coast.” Having also lived in upstate New York for a couple of years, I can tell you that there’s not a lot of common culture across the states you mentioned, no matter how much shoreline they may have.
Now, if you wanted to talk about the “Upper Midwest,” I’d be totally on board with that. My definition along state lines would include MN, WI, and MI, which do share many cultural similarities 💐
The terms are not strict geological boundaries, but rather cultural and historical. Also, what states and areas were on what side in the Civil War counts as well.
I love the looks on your faces. You’re trying your best to get it. You think it will make sense. It’s the equivalent of referring to all of Europe in size
I live in extreme Southwest Florida, which physically lies in the southern USA. However, the population here mainly consists of transplanted "Northerners" from the Northeast and the Midwest. There are very few native Floridians here. The culture here cannot be considered "Southern". Likewise, in the Southeast part of Florida, the culture is heavily influenced by the Hispanic presence.
There are geographical regions, cultural regions, and historical regions. This video seems to be focusing on a combo of cultural and historical regions.
For instance, New England and the Mid-Atlantic regions are more or less historical regions, as fewer and fewer people identify with those regions culturally. Mid-Atlantic specifically, is more about architecture and history, with Mid-Atlantic accents becoming more and more diverse, as accents have shifted from one regional accent, to multiple city accents.
Some parts of New England still identify with the region in a cultural way, particularly Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, but again prominent cities like New York, or even the state of New Jersey, have thier own unique culture and accents that differentiate them from the New England culture.
In the same way as some regions are more focused on historical-cultural boundaries, other regions are more focused on geographical-cultural boundaries. Appalachia is a region that stretches all the way from the southern tip of New York State down to northern Alabama and Georgia, and focuses on the Appalachia mountain range. There are also smaller regions, or sub-regions within regions, such as how Acadiana, a sub-region of the south is culturally Cajun, and many people within the region speak Cajun French.
In many areas of the United States, geographical regions, cultural regions, and historical regions overlap, intersect, and combine to from distinct combinations of cultures, identities, and even unique sub-regions with their own distinct cultural heritage. Personally, I think this video is good for getting a basic overlook of the topic, but is glosses over a lot of information and doesn't seem to address some of the more important details. Such as how West Virginia is considered part of the North because is separated from Virginia during the Civil War, but it's still heavily influenced by southern culture, not to mention most of the state is actually part of the Appalachia region, or how the coal industry shaped West Virginia's cultural historically. America is much more complex than this video seems to make it out to be.
The regions were also determined by settlement patterns and the period in time when the states in a grouping were settled. So Missouri, a slave holding state settled by many Southerners, had a French earlier settlement and then a large influx of Germans and Irish. West of Missouri the landscape changes to The Great Plains *(Kansas) all the way to the Rocky Mountains when the broad vast Plain is broken suddenly by the Rocky Mountains. Colorado was settled by successive gold and silver rushes where immigrants, Americans, and differing exoduses brought in migration from all over the world.