Why So Few Americans Live In This HUGE Area Of The East Coast
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- Опубліковано 9 тра 2024
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The eastern half of the United States is home to about 80% of the country's total population. Despite this, there's a relatively large part of the East Coast that has far fewer people and no major cities. This region, stretching along the coastal areas of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia developed in a far different manner than their northeastern or Floridian neighbors. And, as usual, there's a geographic reason for this.
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We keep it empty so we can hide our F-35's there.
Very good! If you find it send a postcard to the Pentagon, attn: Lost and Found Dept.
🤣🤣
They just found it! (Finally)
Quite right, don't want any civilians witnessing them crashing, might undermine tax payer trust
Dang now they’re gonna know
As a truck driver, who has been through all of these areas I can tell you there's more than enough people living there already
It's not relative to other places. You're right that there's still sizable populations but if not for the problems it would have 5 times the population
@@chrispekel5709 i don't think the folks living there see the problem - it's a feature, not a bug
@@AldousHuxleysCatAgreed!
We've been to Charleston - it's a sprawling city with plenty of people and never feels empty. Rush hour on business days can be very unpleasant, and it doesn't take much of a disruption on any of their many bridges to cause a lot of commuting headaches for locals.
As a resident in the mentioned area, I agree lol
I've lived in this area for 15 years. It definitely does not seem empty. You described an area that includes Savannah, Charleston, Columbia, etc. I used to live in the dead area of Nevada between Reno and Vegas. Now that's empty space.
North or South of Tonopah?
@@SunsetAssassin Northwest of Tonopah, 105 miles up the road towards Reno. Back in the early 80s, dad once drove that 105-ish miles in 50 minutes in our Firebird with the V8.
@@user-ks8pf5yk4m Nice I bet there was even less traffic back then.
I've driven all over Nevada and there are long stretches of nothing when going from places like Reno to Elko (after Fernley/Lovelock) from Reno to Vegas (after Hawthorne/Goldfield) or from Elko to Salt Lake City.
I'm guessing you are from either Hawthorne or Walker Lake if I had to take a guess haha.
@@SunsetAssassin Just north of Hawthorne, the Army base. You nailed it.
I know what you mean, I used to live in that vast empty space, between the ears, mostly reminiscing about the past,
and theorizing what I could be doing in the future, and not actualizing the present. Some would say that's a waste of
time, but you have to play with the cards you are dealt.......................................................................................................
It was mentioned, Charleston with 800,000 should be the same size as Atlanta, with 6.1 million Atlantans arriving
into the "New World" through the port of Charleston, making it a "big player" in Colonial America, moreso than NY.
Come visit the Columbia Metro during rush hour traffic. The I-77 @ I-20 interchange/ Clemson Rd corridor and the I-20, I-126, I-26 battleground we locally call Malfunction Junction are both a headache every day and a nightmare during bad weather.
Been there and you are so correct !
In Lexington there is lot of new neighborhoods
Columbia still sucks. Way too humid to still be so far from the ocean.
Preach it neighbor! I drive it twice a day, and it keeps getting worse. See ya in the passing lane! 😂
You are very correct! Columbia is not very fun to drive through.
Geoff should have also mentioned that Atlanta is an airline hub because its far enough south that it doesn't experience snow storms and far enough inland that it doesn't get hit by hurricanes, which makes it a perfect place for airlines to never worry about the weather affecting there airport schedules.
And the metropolitan area is massive (8th largest in the nation) and is home to so many corporations. Anytime you take a flight in the South, there’s a high chance you are gonna have a layover at Hartsfield-Jackson
Atlanta airport is massive and very busy. No wonder Delta is large
@@bricky63bNot just Georgia Atlanta has the busiest airport in the world if not top 5 you can look this up.
@@bricky63b Geoff didn't mention Atlanta's lack of snow is the reason why Delta and other airlines have made Atlanta into an airline hub
Charlotte is a huge hub as well, and even Greenville, SC is an international airport. And speaking of Greenville, it should be mentioned as it's growing incredibly fast and will emerge as the Charlotte/Atlanta of South Carolina.
I live in Charleston SC, smack in the middle of the "empty coast" if you had to drive to work in morning traffic, you would not think this place was "empty"
26 at 7:30am is a fight for your life
yeah, this guy has never been to either CHS or SAV
Amen to that! Lived in Charleston many years and since COVID it has been ruined by California and New York. Traffic is atrocious.
And a once polite city has become absurdly rude.
I had to move out of Charleston in 2021. All the "Southern charm" was gone, and the only thing left was strip mall stores and gridlock traffic.
I was born and raised in Charleston, SC and have been living here for almost 25 years now. The population growth has exploded over the past decade. I took note of the agricultural and tourist industries that exist in the region, but what wasn’t mentioned here is that Charleston is home to major players in the manufacturing industry such as Boeing, Bosch, and Volvo. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has its main production plant located here, and tech is also big where Blackbaud has its world headquarters and Google has a data center. We’re also home to a Navy and Air Force Base making for a big military presence. Sure, tourism is a huge industry here, but there’s way more to it than just that and there’s a very diverse job market in Charleston. No wonder rent is crazy high anywhere you go in the Charleston area.
I was stationed at Fort Stewart outside of Savannah. I really enjoyed the culture, access to beaches (Tybee Island + Hilton Head), and low cost of living. Like many places with low costs of living, jobs typically don't pay as much as similar jobs do elsewhere. And there aren't as many jobs available.
Ah so you were stationed in Fort Stupid too huh. Savannah is a great town, and the beaches at Tybee is great.
I lived there for about 8 months over 15 years ago. There was some cool stuff about Savannah, but retail/dining kind of sucked. Shelves were always poorly stocked, and my food orders were constantly wrong. There was a Taco Bell on Mall Boulevard, and I swear they got my order wrong every single time.
As someone who's lived in both Georgia and North Carolina at different times, I can tell you that one of the big reasons not a lot of people in those states live near the coast is because it can got ungodly humid there, especially in the summer.
Definitely a big part of it. I'm just a bit further inland now, east of Atlanta, and it's bad enough here. I grew up in Augusta on the Savannah River, and the place is a swamp in the summer (and literally a swamp some places year round.) If you didn't need the land for agriculture, it'd be unbearable in the times before air conditioning.
Florida tho? Louisiana? Texas? Plenty of folks there.
@@DengueBurger Florida was empty also, until air conditioning got common. Our Country is under populated.
@@katarhI lived there 40 years ago. During the summer. It’s like a sauna. I’ve been living in SoCal for 35 years and it’s 90% perfect weather. I can open my 12 foot sliding doors and there are no bugs.
And mosquitoes! And horse flys!
As a Geography degree holder, I have my own opinion on this video. The areas of NC, SC and GA focused here are coastal plains of these three states. Meaning they tend to be closer to the ocean, lower in altitude, the soil tends to be poor... oftentimes sandy or red clay mud soil. It goes back to the days when the British colonized the eastern seaboard of North America. The British sought out the premium regions for farming, seafaring and also tried to avoid the basically subtropical climates of the southern most states. Back then, air conditioning did not exist, malaria actually existed in these areas because of so many swamp, canals, etc. Alligators existed and still do. The vegetation was much thicker, nastier and jungle like than northern and even mid Atlantic colonies. Colonists in the south did not have freezers with ice machines to keep their meat, eggs and milk cold. Cold beer did not exist. Add to this, these areas along with Florida (then Spanish), took the brunt of frequent hurricanes and their was no NOAA, no weather satellites, no radio to warn of brewing hurricanes in the Caribbean. The British focused the core colonies further North, from around Virginia on up to New England because the climate, terrain was more like Europe (normal). And once you get to the Virginia coastline and above, the hurricanes usually peter out to Nor easters. Water moccassins, coral snakes and alligators did not exist in the colonies north of these areas. The British were expert geographers and oceanographers and they decided early on these areas would be where theyd be growing tropical crops like rice, cotton, some tobacco in. These colonies were primarily colonized by Irish and African American slaves forced to come here from central Africa who were already used to extremely hot humid climates. And had some natural resistance to malaria.
Good info. I live in eastern NC: The soil is awful as is the summer weather.
@@thedevilandhertrumpets4268 Thank you, I learned a lot of stuff about Geography as a Geography major at UNC-Greensboro in the early nineties. Add to that my Dad came from a tobacco farm family in central NC where I live and personal experience with farmwork in NC, well...social studies is one of my things.
There is the factor of industrialization. Having iron deposits close by is important also is having power. In the colonial days that power was water flowing down rivers. In the north the water flowed down to the sea at a sufficient rate to power industry near the coast and the land was rocky enough to make agriculture difficult. In the south there was less elevation change and it was inland where the water flows down to the coastal plain, places like Raliegh, Greesboro and Charlotte.
Then there were politics. But this was suposed to be about geography????
A rather poor performance by Geoff.
They didn't teach you that GA was a penal colony in geography school?
@@CoolestDude38NCSo you have been exposed to all of the woke Marxists stuff they teach in the Humanities these days 🤣.
As someone who grew up in the Carolinas the population has been growing a great amount. Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Wilmington are all growing. Even the Outer Banks have grown. Florida hasn't hurt much from hurricanes. Myrtle Beach was very small when i was a kid in the 1960's and Wilmington was about 60,000 when i was in high school in the '70's. Both have grw tremendously in my opinion.
I like this Podcast. Especially the many comments which contribute to the overall story. Thank you.
Anyone who grew up on the East Coast knows why many major cities are inland. They are at or above the 'fall line,' where the flat coastal plan, as you call it (known locally at the Tidewater) borders the Piedmont. This was as far as vessels could go before needing locks. Building cities at or above the fall line was safer during the rainy/flood seasons.
Exactly….one word: GNATS……..and the heat and humidity. Brutal.
@rodcoulter997 *We really need to do some global science to make mosquitos and other pests like gnats go extinct. They've tortured humanity for far too long. One of the greatest moments will be when A.I. finds a way to eradicate mosquitos in the same way it finds a way to eradicate diseases. Mosquitos and gnats are a LITERAL disease upon the human race and so are oppressively hot and humid climates. I'm living in a hot/humid climate and the mosquitos are making my life a living hell on a daily basis. I abhor them so much. I want to wake up one day and hear that science found a way to manipulate their genetics so that they've been killed off. They're as bad as COVID and the flu... they just NEED to be eradicated. And they're extremely gross. There's something SO gross about having a creature land on you and feed off of you without your consent and then harm you by leaving this annoyingly itchy mark that stays there for hours. They don't have a conscience either. All they do is feed and breed and die off. They're literally irrelevant and gross and they look DISGUSTING under the microscope.*
@@rodcoulter997*People say that the global ecosystem would get fucked up if mosquitos went extinct, but I'm sure that there is a way to get rid of them.*
@@rodcoulter997*Flies too. Flies are fucking GROSS. Insects in general are GROSS.*
@@earlaweese Unfortunately, mosquitoes are food for a lot of animals and are a necessary component of the ecosystem.
Female mosquitoes are the problem, since they are the ones biting us for our blood used for the mosquito eggs.
You realize that the Port of Savannah is the 4th busiest port in the country and the largest single container terminal in the North American continent. If you combine that with the Port of Brunswick and the Port of Columbus (which are the other 2 ports in GA that make up the Georgia Port Authority) pushes the GPA to a solid second place. They are also currently the most technologically advanced port in the country and once the Savannah Jasper Ocean Terminal is complete will actually be the largest port in the country.
Yep. I work at the port and we have over 1500 employees just here.
I came here to say that.
I work on Moran Tugboats that serves the Ports of Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia and you are correct!
Not to mention that Charleston is 8th busiest container facility in the U.S.!
Literally came here to mention Charleston and Savannah, i wanted to subscribe but there’s too many misses.
This is very interesting. Thank you!
I’m from a town just southeast of Atlanta on the edge of the “empty coast” region you outlined. Growing up, the term “fall line” was everywhere. It’s the transition from the coastal plain to the rolling hills and it’s where all the rivers (Savannah, Ocoee, Ocmulgee) all drop in elevation. This led to mills, factories and dams being built which brought jobs, people and cities. The fall line is the defining geographic feature in my hometown and I believe the reason the town of Milledgeville exists today. Thanks for all your great videos.
Yes and typically as far as you could go in a mid size boat.
Milledgeville was the Capital before Sherman burnt it to the ground
@@LaneCorbett Sherman was a cowardly douche. Too bad a Confederate soldier didn't put one between his eyes in 1863.
Except this wasn’t really a great video. How do you talk about the geography of this region without ever mentioning the fall line or even the coastal plain with its bad red clay soil? He also said that major international ports never developed here but the Port of Savannah is the 3rd busiest port in the US.
How do you do an entire video about the geography of the South East and not mention the fall line?
I worked for the Port of Charleston for the 25 years and for that entire time we were the 2nd largest port as far as tonnage moved on the east and gulf coast. That’s a pretty major port.
I would really like to know how he quantified his qualitative statements.
Port of Savannah is the third busiest seaport in the US
He is speaking historically, but overlooking trade winds. NYC is about as far south as you can go to catch the winds going east. That's why hurricanes that curve back out to the Atlantic return to the shore up the coast until they hit the northeast and then go over to Ireland and Britain. Cotton, sugar, rice, etc, it all got shipped through NYC. It by far was the largest earner in the transatlantic slave trade. Charleston was the first major American city to receive shipments from Europe. (Savannah is beautiful but not as important historically as Charleston.) Ships catch the winds west at the Canary Islands to the Caribbean then sail up the coast. News from Europe reached Charleston first making it a cultural hub until the transatlantic cable connected NYC to London. This happened not to long after the civil war, intensifying the economic collapse of the south.
@@seanburnette1816 maybe 3rd on the East & Gulf Coast. LA, Long Beach,Oakland & Seattle are huge ports and New York/New Jersey is the largest on the East & Gulf Coast. I heard that Savannah took the number two spot awhile back but I really don’t keep up with it anymore. It’s hard to match the west coast ports because of all the trade with Asia.
@@celiab.french4627 Just listen to his accent, he’s definitely not from the South East!
Just found your channel. Awesome content. I really enjoyed this video.
I love geography! This my new favorite channel.😊
What’s interesting is the Savannah-Charleston region is now growing like crazy all of a sudden. The Gulfstream corporate HQ and the ports have traditionally been the biggest employers over the last 20-30 years, but now Hyundai is making a several billion dollar plant in between the two cities, and people are moving there in droves. Savannah has also become the second largest port by tonnage on the east coast (not including the Gulf of Mexico) only behind NY. And Charleston isn’t too far behind.
Literally it used to be so nice an peaceful here but now I feel like it's becoming too crowded these cities weren't made for the populations such as New York or Boston.
Charleston has also been getting large investment from Mercedes, Boeing and a few other major corporations. The summerville area in particular has been exploding in population
@@meatman7079I was reading the original commenters comment thinking it was a good that the populations were growing: I’m sorry to hear that it is the opposite
I live in Savannah... We have one of the largest and busiest ports.... I honestly feel like this guy is very wrong in a bunch of what he said... Knowing my own history of the area compared to what he said.... I mean I guess the Chatham County area only has like 300k people but....we are not some backward useless area that he seems to be making the area seem..
@erichaile4079 I was just there. Savannah's port seems to be really busy. And tourism is through the roof. But it does seem geographically like Savannah and Charleston are hemmed in by marshland. I hope they stay the way they are!
It’s the same reason that Southern New Jersey, mostly the Pine Barrens, is empty compared to the rest of the state. It’s part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and it’s all sand and flat. There is no bedrock to build on. It’s the same geography and environment as the sand plains of the Carolina’s. The flora of Southern NJ is far more similar to that of the Carolina’s, and many southern species like Loblolly pine, wax myrtle, water oak, bald cypress/Atlantic white cypress swamps, and sweet bay magnolia can be found there.
💯 - it's the fall line that is the real population boundary which is more or less where Route 1 is. His boundaries go too far inland and don't go far north enough.
Would you describe the coastal parts of Louisiana as having similar terrain?
the PIne Barrens, is where the pesky Soprano outfit got rid of bodies...
My wife's grandparents have a house in this region. No plumbing. Right next to a mile of sand that leads to the ocean. I had to take a 2 mins shower. But the tamales were good.
@@z-z-z-z ironically, that scene in the Sopranos wasn’t even filmed in New Jersey. It was filmed in Harriman State Park in NY.
Great video! The Jasper port is going to be a boon to the local economy.
THAT was interesting! Thank you!
My family originates from this region. They are Gullah Geechee. My great grandparents left this area for DC in the 1930s. Many Africans Americans who lived in the low country/coastal Carolinas ended up migrating during the great migration period to larger cities like DC, Philly, and NYC. My family used to farm and had their own land. I have a few family members living in this area still but most of the family is in DC, NYC, or Atlanta.
Went to their celebration festival this summer on Hilton head island. Great music and food along with great people!
DC nyc and atlanta are cringe
Your family originates from here? The colonist have only been here for a few hundred years. All of us really just got here unless you’re indigenous. If your family truly did originated from this area, perhaps you could give a hand with all of the artifacts discovered
My family is from St Helena most moved to NYC.
@@mr.skeleton3190 it’s sad how all these ones beautiful cities have been destroyed.
FUN FACT: Charleston, SC was a big city even during the first years of US independence.
How on gods green earth did I find an entire well made video about the exact question I randomly had at 3AM.
Earned my sub, that’s for sure!
Nice video. As someone that live in Fayetteville N.C. I never really noticed how big population game was between this side of the state and the western side.
In colonial times, Charleston was one of the largest, and certainly the wealthiest cites in the colonies. And it's still a significant port today, as is Savannah and Wilmington. I know for absolutely certain that huge amounts of cargo goes through Charleston because it rolls rolls by my house on ridiculously long trains about five times a day.
Yes, utterly nuts that he overlooked this.
yup Geoff missed this fact, or omitted it on purpose to promote an agenda...
Wilmington was international trade hub starting in the colonial era and huge manufacturer of Naval vessels until the end of WW2. Today Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah are some of the largest ports on the Atlantic.
speaking of cargo, savannah has the 4th largest port in america!!
I think he needs to research trade winds. New York City is perfectly placed to catch the winds going east. That is why it became a shipping center. Charleston was only able to import from Europe not export directly. It had to go through NYC. It also is more of a straight shot to London so it made sense for the location of the transatlantic cable. NYC had more access to London than DC had.
Big issue also is the great dismal swamp on the NC VA border. That along with barrier islands made it very difficult to initially settle NC. George Washington gave up on a plan to drain the swamp. Many Native Americans and escaped slaves formed isolated and protected communities in the great dismal swamp.
My son lives one road width away from the very beginning of the Great Dismal Swamp in Suffolk VA. There are many small canals and nice flat trails that criss-cross the northeastern end. Quite a few black bears make their homes at his end. It's a pretty cool section you can explore without getting your feet too wet but know you are in swamp land.
Later presidents have also given up on a plan to "drain the swamp."
My dad grew up there next to the base
For all the ''failed'' plans to drain the GDS, it is only one third the size it was originally!
Great video and makes a lot of sense. Kind of makes the Atlantic coast appealing to me as I have been though six hurricanes while living in Florida so that is no issue for me.
I would to visit and maybe return to Savannah or Charleston some day.
Architecture looks lovely and seems like there are also recreation/cultural activities.
Disease also prevented the growth of cities on the southeast coast in the past, such as Charleston. Many died from diseases like malaria back in the day, which limited their growth.
The effect would be psychological as well - would you settle in a known malaria hotspot? Oddly enough, much of the DC area was similar, at one time.
Agreed, I remember reading years ago that grandparents became common in northern colonies while the ones south of the Mason Dixon Line had a much lower life expectancy.
@@snoproblem As an enterpreneur, why (before air conditioning became affordable in the late 1940s) would you try to start (or expand) a business in a region where there was a lot of disease, an uncomfortable climate, poor transport networks/logistics, few significant universities, and a small skilled labor pool? The only advantages were cheap/unskilled labor and cheap land, and even that was available in good quantities in just a few mid-sized towns along the Fall Line.
Malaria, in USA?
I’m a longshoreman at the savannah port and imma just say the way you talk about the savannah port like it ain’t shit is so amusing. Look at the tonnage we move compared with the WORLD we ain’t no joke for where we come from
The soyboy spent half the video talking about slavery as if that is STILL a factor in that region.
I really enjoy your videos because they are interesting, and you resemble Alf
This was a great video. I loved the subject’s analysis and how you tied it in with history of the region. Could you do a similar analysis for European cities?
Maybe your channel could tell us why people from New York, Illinois and California keep coming to my home state of Tennessee. Also is there any way to get them to stop. Thanks.
One major factor that keeps large populations from moving into these states might be the extreme humidity during the Summer months. If you have a career that requires you to work outdoors between May and September you will be constantly sweating from dawn to dusk. If you enjoy the feeling of having perpetual swamp ass and steamy hot weather each year then the Carolinas are the place for you!
Raised in NC. Live in the Rocky Mountains these days. I occasionally miss home, but do not miss constantly sweating nine months of the year.
This video doesn't highlight the influence of the invention of air-conditioning as one of the big factors influencing growth in this region. But it's a big one.
I grew up in central MI, and I find the NC summers to be quite comfortable.
CAP
Just came back to Savannah from the North Georgia mountains. It was definitely more humid there than in Savannah.
Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah are some of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to. I’d live in the area if it wasn’t so hurricane prone and expensive!
Yes, those 3 cities are beautiful and quite historic! He seems to somewhat ignore the importance of the port of Charleston in this video. Charleston has always been a key US port for trade with Europe and the Caribbean going back to colonial times. It may not be as good a natural harbor as NYC but it's still an important port. I think Wilmington has a good natural harbor and it certainly was a key port during the Civil War.
Charleston is buddy killing itself. It looks like crap now.
Way too many people.
I live in Ocean Isle Beach, NC right on the NC/SC border. The cost of living here is less than what it was in Charlotte. I moved here 4 yrs ago. The main drawback are the hurricanes, but that’s just something you get used to, and most structures around here, including all kinds of homes, have existed for 50+ years without falling into the ocean.
man, had I known what home prices would do I would have just taken out a blind loan to buy a house in Savannah. Top tier place to live
Drive 45-60 minutes inland, very cheap living and you can get land too. Moving to North GA in a few years and can't wait.
My parents live in Eastern NC, and it is a beautiful and unique place. The Outer Banks serve as a slight extreme weather buffer, but they are still fairly hurricane-prone up there. The breeze out there actually makes it less humid than where I live in Atlanta in my opinion. Now Eastern SC on the other hand... Woah I am melting.
Your content is interesting as heck. I never knew that we have a few swaths of real estate that are considered as “low” population. Especially if they exist in a coastal locale, wowww
I love North and South Carolina.... I'm from Maryland but when i go to the Carolinas... i love how nice the people are... the hospitality is on point and people are so nice. Its almost unreal
Why,thank you! ;)
Unfortunately it's changing, the more others move here from other places and don't keep our friendliness going the more I see the locals getting grumpy about it. Im one of them.
You guys are the best, just genuinely kind people@@brotherlittlefoot2216
@@hillaryg7668facts . It’s the outsiders moving here with their disgusting attitudes.
Too many Yankees like Maryland people moved here in the last ten years.
Wilmington's metro population is actuality over 400,000. The census moved Brunswick county, NC to the Myrtle Beach metro 10 years ago, but earlier this year, they rightfully added it back to Wilmington.
I live in Inman, SC, and lived on Hilton Head for 8 years. HHI is a resort area, expensive as far as real estate. Inman is just north of Spartanburg, and Tryon, NC is just 15 miles away, and is where the mountains begin, to the north. This area is the foothills just to the south of the mountains. The climate here can be hot, but generally not jungle hot, like along the coast. This area is growing fast, houses popping into existence in development after development. I've got 3 acres, surrounded by trees, and they're not pines, for the most part. A creek forms the south border of the property, and no houses can locate next to me. I love it here.
Interesting focus on a little covered region - I'd place more emphasis on climate - just how hot and humid it is in the Low Country much of the year, whereas the higher elevation areas near the Appalachians are spared some of this heat and I think this may be a significant factor keeping more people away as well
If you look at most major coastal cities, they usually are not built directly on the coast, they are usually built on bays or further inland. This is because the ocean is a very destructive force, and not good for trade if there is not a proper harbor which Bays usually provide. Also there needs to be access to fresh water, as humans cannot drink salt water, so if there is no river or lake nearby, a large city likely wont develop
Savannah has become a bustling port city. The volume there has really grown in the last 10 years.
All 3 (Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington) have exploded, but Savannah on a global scale.
Yeh Dex, most folks aren't aware of what is going on at the Savannah Port (yet anyway). It's getting huge. Wife was a cargo coordinator of Chinese shipping. One might be shocked how fast the port is growing.
Yes, Savannah has the fifth largest port in the US and might be the largest port in the Eastern US.
Charleston is such a cool city. I lived outside of Charleston in the southern part of the county. Beautiful rivers, islands, and coastlines. I miss jet skiing down little known back creeks with the dolphins and gators.
Boeing based in Charleston, one of the most important exports in the US. We also have Mercedes, Volvo and BMW in the upstate. You should consider the highways and the central corridors of I95 for instance relating to the lack of central concentration of coastal population. And now of course it’s cost prohibitive.
Fun fact: Wilmington was the largest city in North Carolina until the first decade of the 20th century. As the state continued industrializing, most of the growth occurred in the central part of the state (the piedmont). Money and political power shifted inland after the Civil War.
Was originally going to be called New Liverpool and is the home of Michael Jordan.
Should have mentioned the Fall Line, the transition from the Piedmont to the coastal plain, where shipping coming up the rivers from the coast have to halt. Richmond VA is another example: coming inland, you could have mills available, that weren’t as feasible on the flatter land east of the Fall Line.
Ive lived in both Savannah, Georgia, and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina in the past. I loved them!
Been to Brunswick, GA: fun little historical town. Liked finding the few “faces” in trees there that I was able to do in the time I had there. Jekyll Island was very memorable too.
St. Simons Island, Little St. Simons Island, and Sea Island (all barrier islands off Brunswick, GA) are beautiful too.
@@princetonscholar5723 jim brown's hometown
The Gullah Geechee cultural heritage corridor lies along the Atlantic coast from Wilmington, North Carolina to St Augustine, Florida.
It is the hottest, most humid, most unpleasant place in the country. Yearly hurricanes and torrential rains. Ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, cottonmouths and more ticks. The only thing I miss about coastal NC is the barbecue.
You forgot to mention the cockroaches and overflowing pig excrement ponds that kill all life in the rivers. But without the latter, no NC BBQ.
This is true. @@user-fm6wd8xy2o
I feel like Florida has all of this minus the bar b q
@@user-fm6wd8xy2o it's better than most liberal stupid ass states
This is the reason 100% 😂😂half of the year it is miserable
The fact that we get free videos on UA-cam by Geoff is truly a gift.., keeping the education and knowledge alive 👏👏👏
He said you could draw a line... Start in DC. 95S to Richmond, 85S to Atlanta!
I am a sixth generation Atlantan. The name Terminus was a nickname that was never a legal name for Atlanta. The name for Atlanta was previously Marthasville. The railroad company used Terminus in their record keeping because Marthasville would not easily fit in the space provided on the bills of lading. BTW: East Point which is on the West side of Atlanta is where the railroad terminated. ~3K
no, a couple of additional letters is not the reason anything happened
I thought Terminus was at the end of railway where a dangerous flesh-eating survivor group was lurking
@@gkim1005 Well, now you know where the name came from...
Where did the nickname “Shotlanta” come from?
"Spitting Facts" is a good summary of this guy's videos. Spitting facts with a hint of left-wing perspective.
Atlanta has definitely had a “winner take all” effect on Georgia in terms of college graduates as well. Most college graduates from small and mid sized Georgia cities relocate to Atlanta because of the much greater career opportunities that are less available in the rest of the state. This further hinders other cities from becoming more economically prosperous, unfortunately
Couple of things about this though. I think Macon and to a lesser extent Columbus will be incorporated into a mega reagion with Atlanta stretching from Calhoun up I-75 north of ATL down to Warner Robbins South of Macon. And out to Ft Benning in Columbus. With possibly Atlanta and Macon joining together to form on continuous metro area as the edges of both metros are only about 15 miles and 10 minutes apart. If that happens by 2040, this will be a region of about 12 million people. With that being said I think Savannah by 2040 may be the second "Big City" in Georgia.
@xlxl9440 I see what you're saying but to me that wouldn't make sense. Columbus Macon Savannah and even Augusta needs to learn to grow within their own metro instead of depending on Atlanta. Even our cities in NC are doing that.
I believe it's referred to as "brain drain"
Yea, whenever I visit Atlanta that’s the first thing that comes to mind. “Intellectual hub”. I just try to get out of that dump alive actually. Probably the largest ghetto on the US East coast by land area. If it wasn’t for Buckhead it would be basically be Philly South.
@tomdomenico actually it is Atlanta has 1 of the highest College graduate rate in the country check the Stats your opinion is obviously biased
It sure don’t feel like charleston is empty at 7am omw to work on Ashley Phosphate! 😂
Thanks for spilling the beans
I am from Ohio but I have a lot of relatives in the Atlanta area. This spring I drove through Atlanta and I’m used to the massive amount of people there. It’s really interesting because I did drive down to Savannah for the first time and like outside of Macon most of Georgia was eerily empty. Like Ohio can be pretty rural but your bound to run into a small town off the highway. There was nothing and it just really surprised me
Thumbs up for Ohio
Lol it's literally a barren wasteland on I-16 between Macon and Savannah. Dublin is the only city right on the highway. It's my least favorite part of the state to travel through.
@@Kalisis07 I love I-16. That is an Interstate that is easy on the nerves. No traffic, nature, and rural landscape.
There is Dublin, but it isn't exactly on the Interstate. A little piece of the western part might touch it by the Cracker Barrell at I-16.
Metter, home to "Metter International Airport", and where "Everything is Better in Metter" is also on the freeway, but it is small and only one exit.
Statesboro is a decent sized college town, but it sits about ten to fifteen miles to the north of the Interstate.
Pooler, part of the Savannah area, is seeing some growth on I-16.
If you had stayed on I-75, it is not so empty. In Georgia, the emptiness is moreso on I-16 and I-20 east of the Macon and Atlanta areas. On I-20 just to the east of the far eastern Atlanta suburb, Covington, all the way to probably just west of Augusta. I-16 hits marshland just east of downtown Macon, and so development basically cuts off in that direction and doesn't really pick up east of that. Not much on I-16 until you get to about the Savannah area, about three hours away.
@@Kalisis07 lol at "barren wasteland" to describe The SE seaboard...
Athens and Decatur Georgia are also much older than Atlanta. Atlanta was bigger than Charleston, before Hartsfield was built. One of the reasons people moved to Atlanta is because it is the last flat space coming up from the Macon area, before you start getting up into the mountains, so it probably has more to do with climate than transportation even though now it's transportation.
Atlanta is far from flat
@@Anzomax2 Atlanta sits at approximately 1000 feet in elevation. I'm sorry you don't understand what I'm talking about.
@@Anzomax2I think he means relatively. He's comparing it to the Appalachians.
I've lived in the "down east" section of North Carolina in the late 90's - early 2000s...the coastal plains of NC are low, swampy and flood prone. I've rode out a hurricane "Down East" once...it was dumb luck that I didn't lose everything I owned, since then, I try to stay west of the fall line and away from flood zones.
Very weird, my parents live along the coast in South Carolina by Hilton Head, I fly into Savannah, it's busy!
The Fall Line where the Appalachian foothills meet the Piedmont was where the largest population centers developed early on, especially when water power was so important. Also the Coastal Plain is limited in agricultural potential compared to the Black Belt or Mississippi and Red River Deltas. And there really isn't much industry in the empty area described in this video.
Yep thats about as far as the could go inland on a small boat.
Technically, the Fall Line is the boundary between the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain, not the foothills and the Piedmont. Why? Because Piedmont is translated as foothills, so it’s synonymous.
If youve been in these areas in the video (I frequent the Ga area in the vide often, my job) its mostly coastal tidal plains,barrier islands, and more interior low plains. Tidal plains are very tough to build on, and interior low plains are very sandy. Hot humid swampy type weather is quite a summer.
I live there for 3 months a year in Mt Pleasant. A few weeks before Xmas and then back to New England by about St Patrick's Day. Been doing it since I turned 50.
I live on the NC Coast close to Atlantic Beach and I love it here cause there's less people.... except during the summer when it gets packed!
It should be added that Atlanta received a lot of funding from philanthropic groups in the North after the civil war to help rebuild it after the fire.
To be fair, many of these coastal areas like Savannah, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Wilmington have been growing in population faster than the overall US for a while. North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia did locate their capitals and major universities well inland a long time ago, which impacted economic development patterns for generations to come.
I'm from the coast on nc ..kittyhawk NC...houses are 10ft apart and completely mobbed traffic sucks year around
It’s interesting there is a line of cities along the start of the Piedmont region. Starting in AL with Tuscaloosa, through GA with Columbus, Macon, Augusta, continuing with Columbia SC, and Fayetteville NC, through Richmond VA. These cities are all on rivers and mark the respective spots the elevation rise make the rivers unsuitable for traveling further inland.
As a native South Carolinian and GA resident, I think it's also worth mentioning South Carolina moving the capital from Charleston to Columbia in the 1780s so it would be more central and have a more even travel time for governmental reps. The local economies would have been impacted by that and this move inland could have eventually helped with Atlanta's population growth a year later
With remote work, we are thinking of moving to Charleston. Atlanta is to congested and zero transit. How’s it in Charleston? Good beaches?
Georgia followed the same formula. Savannah to Louisville to Milledgeville to Atlanta.
I forgot Augusta and all the short-term moves during the Revolution...then came Louisville
@@CheveraChino The beaches are decent, but not on par with Florida. There are some good beach communities, though and they can be fun. But we have pluff mud, so you won't get crystal-clear water. On the plus side, you'll know you're home, even if you close your eyes. 😁I grew up and still live in Charleston, and I think it's great. Traffic is terrible, and has been for decades (and has gotten worse and worse over time as more ppl move here), but it's not really as bad as Atlanta, according to some folks we've met who also moved here from Atl. There is zero mass transit here, but planning for a BRT line seems very promising (*fingers crossed*). It also depends where you move. If you move West Ashley close to downtown, or Mt Pleasant, or Park Circle, traffic is manageable. If you live farther out (North Area, Summerville, James Island, etc) and have to go into the city, the commute can be a pain. If you're sticking close to home, then you'll be fine.
I bet the capital was moved inland so it would be less vulnerable to British attack. Virginia did the same thing when the capital went from Williamsburg to Richmond in 1780.
@@VAspeed3 Absolutely. Georgia was practically meeting in random houses and barns during the occupied period; all over Wilkes County.
I did marine sales in the whole SE and in this coastal region. A tough nut to crack. Swamp, hot as hell in the Summer, humid as a rainy day (raining your sweat), and a very rigid mindset of the locals. After all, the Civil war started here. I still like the place. It is one of the better boating spots in the world. During the Civil War this area was popular for smuggling by boats. Also, those damn "No See'ums" will bite the crap out of you.
Sand gnats not no seeums
I’ve lived in Savannah for nearly 3 years. It’s not empty at all. Traffic is bad all the time. Evening rush hour is from 3-7pm. Especially when the universities here are on their semesters or quarters. You barely move faster than a glacial pace.
Good question! I live in northeast NC. It is depressingly empty. The problem is that it's remote from major city hubs and interstates. And of course the lack of ports.
We want it empty. There are enough Yankees in the piedmont and Wilmington
You didn't take into account the position of the fall line, and just how very low much of the "low country" is. The climate is another issue. If you have ever spent part of your summer at Fort Jackson you will understand. Florida may be hotter on average, but they never experience the extremes of heat and humidity of this area. Geographically, this area extends well into Virginia, so you really need to include Newport News and Norfolk to get the full picture.
It's a fucking armpit here in Columbia in the summer.
People always forget about Hampton Road and Richmond,VA.
@@VL1975Lol, Yes I've been there.
@@sapinva I would assume if you mentioned Fort Jackson..lol
@@Indigolily80 Nothing like Columbia.
Not one mention of the fall-line in a video about the geography of the South-East? This geographic feature is quite fascinating and shouldn't be overlooked. The fall-line is the dividing line between the piedmont hills and the alluvial plains. Many old cities were founded along this line for a variety of reasons. Many old foot-paths follow the fall-line as the rivers could often be crossed on foot at a rapids. Downstream the rivers widen and occupy huge wide floodplains that would flood every year and made the flood plains inhospitable to settle in. The fall line is the furthest you can bring boats up-river, too. The huge floodplains can easily be seen in satellite photos of the area. When the railroads came along they inevitably would bridge at the fall-line. Augusta, GA (metro population ~600,000 (dunno why it was left out of the list of metro areas)) is a good example of a fall-line city. Before the railroad the vast cotton industry was supported by boat traffic to Savannah, GA on the Savannah River. After the railroad showed up it was moved by railroad. On the 200 mile stretch between Augusta and Savannah, there is only a single bridge crossing the Savannah, and a pinch-point in the flood plain about halfway down the river. These wide floodplains are found along most of the rivers in the flat plains of these states are really limit movement and development.
The fall-line can actually be seen clearly in the 1860 map seen 2:11 as most of the slave-owning plantations were settled along the fall-line. You can see it curving through the middle of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Even in modern times, the fall-line can be seen in voting pattern maps: brilliantmaps.com/2020-county-election-map/ The fall-line continues all the way up the coast of the US, but in the north it is much closer to the coast. Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, and Trenton are all fall-line cities
Thanks for the information! I didn't know this at all.💯
@@huggybear2789 that was a great read thank you!
Thanks for posting
This was better than the video itself. ❤🎉
I love alluvium. We have those in the desert over here in the southwest.
I live across from the Virgin River on a flat mesa/valley and on the other side of the freeway/River is the alluvium that goes all the way up to the mountains which are over 7800 feet. It's so beautiful during sunsets!
I lived in Aiken, SC and worked every other week in Savannah, GA driving through many “Speed Traps” in the Low Country through “towns” that survived off that income.
But on the opposite weeks, I travelled through the Blue Ridge Mountain area. That made it worth it. I loved the Appalachian areas.
Ive been in s carolina my whole life and i can tell you its more than enough people here and growing so fast our infrastructure cant keep up
I'm a 6th generation SE Georgian and on behalf of my fellow SE Coastal families, we are perfectly happy not having a ton of people flock to our little corner of humid paradise 😂😂
Same here and I agree with you. 100%!
Exactly, last thing we need is Northerners trying to take over the rest of the south like they have been flocking to Atlanta for years. I'm not even mentioning the awesome places we go there because I don't want it to turn into Florida which is a dump because of all the people moving there from up north. Funny they mention humidity but not the snow and cold weather they get half the year.
We lost the war for one thing. We were the area that got the most Vitamin D defficiency diseases.
@@codytheduke6562.... Yo Cody, Dude, ur so Right about how FL has become a dump. Dude, I live in the middle of it down here in Delray, FL. This place South FL use to be so quiet & calm. Now! OMG! The North has all invaded this place like lost cockroaches. Now it's crazy traffic, & every Damm thing is unaffordable. I"m in the process of planning a move North to SC, it reminds me of FL. I like how FL was 15 yrs ago. I can't take these Northeast folks, I gotta get the hell outta here. They used to come to visit ,now they're coming to stay. Florida if it hasn't already especially down here in the South East will be known as the 6th borough. Geesh!
@@codytheduke6562.... Yo Cody, Dude, ur so Right about how FL has become a dump. Dude, I live in the middle of it down here in Delray, FL. This place South FL use to be so quiet & calm. Now! OMG! The North has all invaded this place like lost cockroaches. Now it's crazy traffic, & every Damm thing is unaffordable. I"m in the process of planning a move North to SC, it reminds me of FL. I like how FL was 15 yrs ago. I can't take these Northeast folks, I gotta get the hell outta here. They used to come to visit ,now they're coming to stay. Florida if it hasn't already especially down here in the South East will be known as the 6th borough
Something that should also be noted is that Atlanta and Charlotte are relatively close to the 1828 gold rush in North Georgia and Western North Carolina. Both states had US Mints until the Civil War. Also "gold in them thar hills" does not refer to California but the area around Dahlonega, GA.
I live in North Carolina and we tend to think of that area as the vacation zone. That's Savannah and Charleston and those are great cities. They're both very beautiful. There's more population in that sound than there is in Montana or Wyoming or a bunch of those states.😊
Yep, same. I live in Eastern NC and we vacation to either Charleston, Savannah, or west to Asheville.
@@vinylhorror that's where everybody goes. I used to love going to Topsail Beach though. It was a little bit white trash but it was also affordable and beautiful in some places.
I currently live in Fayetteville. After being an Army brat and spending years in Atlanta I’m very satisfied with not living in an overcrowded city lol. I will enjoy the air and beautiful landscapes of NC while it last lol
The older cities of the Southeast --- Montgomery, Macon, Augusta, Columbia, Raleigh, and Richmond, are located on what is called The Fall Line. That is the line that divides the Piedmont region from the coastal plains. the fall line where the waterfalls blocked navigation any further inland, so ships had to stop at those cities about midway into Georgia and the Carolinas. Also where falling water powered mills. It's also known as the "gnat line." South of that line, disease-carrying gnats and mosquitoes ae ubiquitous. Before the invention of antibodies, life expectancy was lower on the Gulf Coast than the Piedmont, so only farming communities and a few ports of modest size like Charleston developed. Atlanta is an artificial city in the sense that it is not positioned in or near any navigable body of water. It has no nearby natural resources and the land around it is poor for farming. It exists only because a couple railroads were connected at a certain point in the 1840s and a city of very modest size grew up around them. During the Civil War, Atlanta was strategically important as a rail hub, but not as a population center. Columbus, Macon, Augusta, and Savannah were larger. After the war, General Sherman was invited to speak to a surprisingly friendly Chamber of Commerce of former Confederates. Sherman gave them a happy pep talk: "By the time I got here during the war, the Confederacy was like the fingers of your hand, and Atlanta was its palm. The same reasons that induced me to burn the city will cause it to become a great metropolis in the future." And it did. Railroads and highways made it a transportation center, despite having no river or recoverable natural resources in the vicinity.
Great info. I lived in a town south of Augusta, GA and it was definitely in the "gnat line". Due to atmospheric changes over the years, the gnats have died off. Thank God, too. lol
I understand that a key geographic factor in the development of Atlanta as a transportation hub was Atlanta's location at the "bottom" of the Appalachian mountain chain where railroads could finally head west without having to cross mountains.
@@Statickification If you are old enough, you will probably have noticed a substantial decline in the population of birds, butterflies, bees, and most other insects. Roaches and mosquitoes, unfortunately, seem to be the exceptions, breeding fast enough to stay strong despite the declining environment.
Montgomery is in Alabama! Not GA ,SC nor NC
I lived there and assumed everybody else knew where it was. @@renaldowilliams9575
Also, the big cities are on the 'Fall Line' of these major rivers for industrial reasons. Boats can make it from the ocean to the large cites up to the fall line.
Gotta push back on the hurricanes bit. Yeah, sometimes they knock down trees, but we rarely have any deaths related to hurricanes. Even on the outer banks, locals often weather the storms in place.
I’m one of many that moves from larger cities to the Atlanta suburbs during Covid. I moved from L.A. CA to the suburbs of Atlanta and have tons of neighbors who recently moved from NY and California here in the last 2 years
Well anyone with functioning brain cells left those hellholes!
While this video is spitting facts about the Southeast Coast above central Florida. This is changing rapidly somewhat. The coastal cities are growing rapidly. Charleston, Savannah, and Jacksonville Florida are all growing at a fast clip. Savannah is now one of the 3 largest commercial ports in the country. And all of the associated development is coming with it. Between Savannah and Hilton Head, SC as one metro there will be a million people there soon. Charleston is growing rapidly and will reach a metro of 1 million in a few years. And the Myrtle Beach/Conway, SC area is growing rapidly as well which is creeping north to Wilmington. For some reason Augusta, Columbia, and Fayetteville were left out. But these are 3 relatively large metros that are also growing. But maybe they are kinda im a transition zone between coastal cities and the Piedmont. Also I expect that the GA coast between Savannah and Jacksonville including the city of Brunswick, GA will be a high growth area for retirees and othe folk wanting the Florida lifestyle and weather without the "FLORIDA". There is already development happening there. I am not saying that these areas will suddenly become the most densely populated area of the Southeast. But they will grow to have a population that is significantly larger than what it is now. I expect that in the next 20 years Savannah (with Hilton Head, SC) will become the second Big City in GA/SC, Charleston will become the largest metro in SC, and Myrtle Beach \Conway, SC metro will approach 1 million people. I live in the Atlanta metro!! Almost 7 million people here with an expected 2.5 to 3 million people added in the next 20 years! 🙄🙄🙄🙄
I'm originally from Brunswick. And the county which it is located is surely growing.
@@BLAKGOLDEN The Wick is growing. Just under 10k new homes to be added in the next 16 months. Go Terrors!
I’m from Columbia SC and it’s growing insanely fast. The town I grew up in on the outskirts of Columbia used to be very rural and had a low population when I was younger, but now it seems like every plot of land is being turned into housing developments and shopping centers. In fact I moved to a different city on the other side of Columbia to avoid this congestion
The Charleston metro area is growing enormously fast.
"rapidly somewhat"-huh?
The port of Savannah is the third largest port in the USA. Largest container port. Also there is a major EV car plant going up.
I love visiting st simeon's, tybee, and ocracoke. Its no where near as crazy as the bigger tourist trap beaches.
That's where I grew up at. And I can confirm it's empty in some parts. Very rural. But in Georgia, Savannah is growing very fast. And so is Statesboro, the college town I'm in an hour away from Savannah.
It’s hotter than hell is the right answer lol. It’s 10-20 degrees cooler in Charlotte or Atlanta vs Columbia SC.
Is it hot in September?
@@vedhanthrathod6576 Yes, but not as bad as July or August. It's still humid and full of biting bugs.
Geography By Geoff Interesting video! Charleston, SC is among the top 8 busiest container ports. With ongoing dredging it's among a handful of Panamax deep-water ports. I think Charlestonians are happy they avoided the devastating sprawl of Charlotte and Atlanta (worst in the US). Charleston is situated on the CSX A-line, the I-95 of railroads, and is also served by Norfolk Souther, I-26 and an international airport. People think tourism is the backbone of the economy, but the Charleston economy also features the military, academia, manufacturing (think Volvo, BMW and the B-787), health care and internet business. Much of the SC coast is protected wetlands- development is prohibited. For further insight into the evolution of cities in the region research the "fall-line". That explains a lot. Cheers
As a South Carolinian, I am very glad that the wetlands are protected. It's so important to preserve them. And what's wrong with avoiding the overdevelopment present in big urban areas? I'm definitely not a big city person.
Fabulous, thank you ❣️
As someone who lives on the coast of South Carolina/ GA boarder it feels super populated to me 😅
I was surprised to not hear any mention of the Civil War and Sherman's March to the Sea. General Sherman's Union troops were some of the first practitioners of total war, meaning industry, farmland, and especially railroads were valid targets for destruction. This devastated the Confederacy's already-diminished ability to wage the Civil War, but also made it impossible for much of the South to be economically viable for arguably over a century.
Lived in this region almost all my life, but you brought up some things that I had never thought about in quite that manner. I would point out that textile industries were huge here when I was a kid, but it all went overseas, causing a big recession in the upper reaches of the states.
This.... NAFTA killed the regional towns in the south that were dominated by textiles, furniture, and other manufacturing
Not to mention a huge fall in quality of products. Can’t stand the nasty feeling microfiber clothes that are predominant in the stores. I’m about ready to start sewing again. 😱
I wish you would have brought up how malaria in the 18th and 19th century also impacted the growth of these areas. Let alone hook worm parasites due to "night soil" that was still an issue even in the early 1900's.
I agree. It seems like a big miss. I’d go as far as to say disease, in general, is probably the main restriction on growth. Communicable disease chewed through population in most cities before antibiotics and better sanitation.
Empty? Not even close to empty here in N. Georgia. And the humid days are very temporary. Most of the time the weather is great.
North Georgia isn't in his zone, is it?
where were you when I was in school & needed to do my research & reports 😢😂