Why The United States Has Two Virginias: Virginia and West Virginia

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  • Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
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    Virginia and West Virginia: two states with basically the same name, existing right next to each other, but with completely independent state governments, laws and, today, even political leanings. But at one point, these two states were a single colony and then a single state simply called "Virginia." So how did West Virginia separate itself from its eastern neighbor? Well it all has to do with the geographic differences between the two which eventually spilled over into the U.S. Civil War.
    Stock footage and music is acquired from www.storyblocks.com.
    Animation and production assistance provided by DH Designs (needahittman.com).

КОМЕНТАРІ • 563

  • @GeographyByGeoff
    @GeographyByGeoff  Рік тому +24

    Get 10% off 6” and 8.5” MOVA Globes with code GEOFF at movaglobes.com: bit.ly/movageoff

  • @User1player
    @User1player Рік тому +205

    One thing i’ve always thought was weird about the Virginias is that theres a big part of Virginia that is completely west of the entire state of West Virginia

    • @DeKevers
      @DeKevers Рік тому +9

      Not too weird

    • @bbraat
      @bbraat Рік тому +16

      Yeah, weird quirk.
      Along those lines, I thought it was weird that the Republic of Ireland extends further north than Northern Ireland.
      Also, isn't Alaska both the easternmost state and the westernmost state?

    • @bbraat
      @bbraat Рік тому +24

      I was surprised when I traveled westward from NYC to St Louis through Pennsylvania that I had to pass through West Virginia as it was on PA's western border. I mentioned it to someone in school and they refused to believe me and said, "No. West Virginia is in the South and Pennsylvania is in the North." (She spoke as if there was an impenetrable barrier between North and South and states were either on one side or the other. WV's whole existence is based on being between the two factions).
      I told her I understood her confusion but it was true. She refused to believe me OR to look at a road map. She just kept repeating, "No. West Virginia....".
      Some people resist new information.

    • @User1player
      @User1player Рік тому +12

      @@bbraat I can’t believe some people actually think like that. It’s like they think every state is a perfect square and that the borders are perfect.

    • @TheAtkey
      @TheAtkey Рік тому +22

      @@bbraat I'm a West Virginian. I and almost everyone of us who have traveled around the country have stories that go something like this, you meet someone and you are asked where you're from and you say "West Virginia" and they respond "Oh Virginia, I have a friend that lives in Richmond you anywhere close to there?" And some people go as far as thinking you are pulling their leg that there are two Virginias and argue with you over it.

  • @LegoGirl1990
    @LegoGirl1990 Рік тому +39

    What's really impressive is how creative they were in naming the new state.

    • @Cedarlick
      @Cedarlick Рік тому +8

      There was actually a proposal to call it Kanahwa (river and native nation ) but there was already a Kanahwa county and it was decided that would be too confusing.

    • @schs1977
      @schs1977 Рік тому +5

      Other names being considered in addition to Kanawha, was Allegheny and Vandalia.

  • @jimc.goodfellas
    @jimc.goodfellas Рік тому +330

    We West Virginians have always been proud of how and why we split from Virginia. Yet we've always gotten a bad rap

    • @matthewwelsh294
      @matthewwelsh294 Рік тому +66

      West Virginia is super poor and always at the bottom of rankings

    • @colspiracy8326
      @colspiracy8326 Рік тому +26

      At least your bit is in the Country Roads song 🎵 🙂👍

    • @Porklion
      @Porklion Рік тому

      ​@@matthewwelsh294just how we like it, it keeps all of the morons from coming around 😂

    • @boringchannel9987
      @boringchannel9987 Рік тому

      Cuz yall more racist than va lol

    • @phazon100
      @phazon100 Рік тому +15

      @@matthewwelsh294 california Ranks very poorly in education

  • @michaelsadams524
    @michaelsadams524 Рік тому +35

    Geoff, this particular part of American History has been fascinating to me for many years. I was already very much aware that The Civil War is what made the split possible. But I had never gotten much deeper into it than that. Thank You so much! You have taught me more about these two states in this episode than I have learned in the last several years!

    • @johnhblaubachea5156
      @johnhblaubachea5156 Рік тому +1

      One thing Geoff failed to mention is that after the Civil War the issue of whether the creation of WV was legal wound up before the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the VA legislature did not have standing to contest WV's formation, because it had left the Union. Also, several of WV's eastern counties joined later (?). Perhaps someone else can expound further on these.

    • @michaelsadams524
      @michaelsadams524 Рік тому

      @@johnhblaubachea5156, thank you for this feedback and further information. It definitely sheds light on this subject.

  • @Jack_Stacks
    @Jack_Stacks Рік тому +48

    9:09 "Virginia has far larger and more metropolitan cities than Virginia"

  • @LtexprsGaming
    @LtexprsGaming Рік тому +19

    There have been multiple Supreme Court cases afterwards on various topics on VA/WV such as whether WV is a legal state (to which the SC said to VA you rebelled you don't get a say) to WV repaying debt owed to VA. Another interesting fact is that even though the border between the states was largely settled upon after the conclusion of the Civil War, there was still a dispute on where the border lay between Jefferson County, WV and Loudoun County, VA which wasn't resolved until I think the 1990's.

    • @corneliuswowbagger
      @corneliuswowbagger Рік тому

      That dispute was because folks in a Virginia Subdivision needed to know where their kids went to school and what Ambulance would show up when called. Nobody cared until it was populated. Five Virginia counties are still welcome to join West Virginia based on a majority vote of their current residents.

  • @Levelistchampion
    @Levelistchampion Рік тому +13

    One suggestion for the future topic, are Virginia political geographic oddities. The nubbin that is the Virginia Eastern Shore for one. And how Virginia's northern border extends to the low water line of the Potomac, effectively ceding control to Maryland. However Kentucky, once a part of Virginia, has control of the Ohio River up to the shores of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.

  • @kkingquad
    @kkingquad Рік тому +25

    A video on WV’s state lines would be very interesting or a state line video series for each state.

    • @johnschuh8616
      @johnschuh8616 Рік тому

      The eastern boundary was determined by the fighting in the area. By the way, slavery was more extensive in what is now West Virginia than you acknowledge. Where there were significant numbers of people, there was slavery.

    • @patmanbnl
      @patmanbnl Рік тому +1

      The Eastern panhandle was made part of West Virginia because of a rail line that went through that area at Harper's ferry.

    • @pierlouis7325
      @pierlouis7325 4 місяці тому

      You can drive in the residential area, you see sign , virginia, state line dont run straight

  • @ChaosMechanica
    @ChaosMechanica Рік тому +24

    You should get a sponsorship from the video game Cities: Skylines 2. It'd be cool to see you make a city with the knowledge that you have with history and urban development

  • @bigverybadtom
    @bigverybadtom Рік тому +12

    I took a bus tour of West Virginia years ago. West Virginia had wanted to break away from the rest of the state for a long time, and the US Civil War finally gave them an excuse to do so.

    • @ryanwelborn1609
      @ryanwelborn1609 Рік тому

      And yet a majority of counties voted against secession on October 24, 1861

  • @jollyjohnthepirate3168
    @jollyjohnthepirate3168 Рік тому +6

    You can still see the animosity between these states today. The West Virgina Mountaineers used to play Virgina Tech in football. The halftime shows got so insulting that TV broadcasters would cut away. West Virgina left and joined the Big 12.

    • @StuartAdamson-st3fq
      @StuartAdamson-st3fq 8 місяців тому +1

      Actually, Virginia Tech left the Big East to join the ACC in 2004. West Virginia didn't join the Big XII until 2012.

  • @heymikeyh9577
    @heymikeyh9577 Рік тому +27

    In a similar (if not identical) vein, how ‘bout a piece on how the state of Washington got its name, even though the national capital already had that name. Believe me, it causes no end of annoyance to those of us in the state.

    • @murkywaters5502
      @murkywaters5502 Рік тому +4

      The capital city of the US is formally known as the "District of Columbia" (DC), but good luck for most people to understand that...

    • @Wolff13
      @Wolff13 Рік тому

      Change it to Lincoln.

  • @Mae-hx2ml
    @Mae-hx2ml Рік тому +91

    It should be noted that Lincoln was not in favor of WV becoming a state but decided to do so in order to control the entirety of the B & O Railroad. This was pivotal for the war effort. Furthermore, WV was more progressive the VA for most of it's existence. Look towards the history of workers rights and unionization efforts in WV to see this and look towards the fossil fuel companies propaganda like "Friends of Coal" to see how descendants of those who picked up arms against the coal companies now carry water for them, willingly.

    • @Mae-hx2ml
      @Mae-hx2ml Рік тому

      For a prime example of political corruption in WV, look towards JFK. Nothing against him, but he literally inflated the cost of political corruption in WV during his primary run. WV was key to his victory and while he did put boots on the ground and earn the votes of people, he also paid the powers at be for votes. There is an old joke in WV politics that JFK didn't know where the decimal was supposed to go and ended up paying 10x more per vote than he needed to.

    • @PresidentFlip
      @PresidentFlip Рік тому +3

      West Virginia, or rather its working class population, used to be unironically communist, arguably the most communist in America

    • @Mae-hx2ml
      @Mae-hx2ml Рік тому +12

      @@PresidentFlip absolutely! That’s even where the term redneck comes from. Miners wore red bandanas on their neck when storming Blaire Mountain.

    • @joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536
      @joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536 Рік тому +4

      Amen.🙏.

    • @devilface97
      @devilface97 Рік тому +4

      ​@@Mae-hx2mlredneck and hillbilly were old world terms that existed in england and scotland first to describe the scots.

  • @gregadams558
    @gregadams558 Рік тому +16

    As a proud Mountaineer, I am very glad that the shape of West Virginia gives Virginia "the bird".

    • @johnschuh8616
      @johnschuh8616 Рік тому

      My wife is from Elkins and so I know a bit about the state. The most important civil war battle in West Virginia just a few miles south of Elkins. In my opinion, it would have been battle for the State in the long run if they had not seceded. The counties in the Shenanoah would have added strength to the Republican Party and the politics of very different from what actually happened in the present state of Virginia after 1865 with the wealth more evenly distributed than before.

    • @carolinablue8885
      @carolinablue8885 Місяць тому

      @@gregadams558 cuz yall mad we got 100 times the wealth compared to your state 😭 NOVA 🔝🔝‼️‼️

  • @ainanarvaez9496
    @ainanarvaez9496 Рік тому +287

    *

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      @Danielcooker7108 Рік тому +1

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      @ainanarvaez9496 Рік тому +1

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    • @ainanarvaez9496
      @ainanarvaez9496 Рік тому +1

      +1

  • @edsova5089
    @edsova5089 Рік тому +24

    Happy 160th birthday West Virginia! June 20th 1863 - June 20th 2023!

  • @beckyb.4592
    @beckyb.4592 Рік тому +24

    I am a proud West Virginian... born and raised here and I will never understand why we get a bad rap but I really don’t care because I feel that we are a hidden gem in this country that not many people know about. Does anyone really know that Mother’s Day started in West Virginia? God Bless America and God Bless West Virginia! ❤

    • @ryanwelborn1609
      @ryanwelborn1609 Рік тому +1

      I am a Virginian and I have lived in foreign countries for the past 15 years. People often think I'm from West Virginia and they start singing Country Roads by John Denver. West Virginia is a beautiful state and you are right, a hidden gem.

    • @surveyva4526
      @surveyva4526 7 місяців тому

      Maybe the Incest and doped put population has something to do with it?

    • @larrym.johnson9219
      @larrym.johnson9219 2 місяці тому

      @@beckyb.4592 Yep 👍 also shortly after the first commemoration of Father's Day. West Virginia is always home no matter where I am. My hometown is in Lewis county the city of Weston. I live in Florida.

  • @jflatley38
    @jflatley38 Рік тому +6

    Proud lifelong Virginia resident here, born and raised. I've also visited 47 other states as of this day. I approve of this video.

    • @brandonjohnson9839
      @brandonjohnson9839 Рік тому

      what county?

    • @jflatley38
      @jflatley38 Рік тому

      @@brandonjohnson9839 Shenandoah :) U?

    • @DianaLynn45
      @DianaLynn45 Рік тому +1

      @jflately38. Hello neighbor! Funny how this just popped up in my feed, lol I'm Shenandoah county also. Lived here all my life (50yrs). My husband is from WV. We own land in both states.

    • @ryanwelborn1609
      @ryanwelborn1609 Рік тому

      I'm from Hanover County. The western part of the state (and West Virginia) is beautiful.

  • @bbraat
    @bbraat Рік тому +11

    I think if you are going to declare yourself a new state you should pick a better name than the old state name with a directional adjective like "West Virginia".
    Why not Appalachia or something else based off the idea of mountains? They missed a golden opportunity.

    • @InvertInteriors
      @InvertInteriors Рік тому +5

      There were more interesting names considered, like Vandalia, which was the name for the original proposed colony that covered West Virginia and parts of Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Also, Kanawha, which is a Native American term that a river and county are now named after. Unfortunately, when the powers that be voted, “West Virginia” won.

    • @johnschuh8616
      @johnschuh8616 Рік тому

      I think because West Virginians hoped to control the whole of the original Virginia after the Confederacy was defeated.

    • @PappysDungeon45
      @PappysDungeon45 4 місяці тому +1

      As a West Virginian, i would prefer that our forefathers voted in favor of names such as the State of Kanawha or the State of Potomac. They are much more unique and interesting.

  • @lioneldemun6033
    @lioneldemun6033 Рік тому +29

    The US has also 2 Carolinas 2 Dakotas and 2 Washingtons ( DC and State)

    • @johnbriscoe5932
      @johnbriscoe5932 Рік тому +4

      But only one of them is a State. The other is the Capital district, and by design does not have all of the rights and benefits of statehood.

    • @adspur
      @adspur Рік тому

      There’s only one called West though.

    • @manchesterunitedno7
      @manchesterunitedno7 Рік тому +1

      Yeah, and how many towns called Springfield?

    • @johnschuh8616
      @johnschuh8616 Рік тому

      District of Columbia. The city is Washington. The District should have long ago gone back to Maryland, like Arlington country went back to Virginia. Absurd to think of Dc being made a state. NYC as a state is more reasonable.

  • @timothypeters7748
    @timothypeters7748 Рік тому +3

    I love this series. Hopefully you do one on why there are three Californias and why the US decided not to annex Baja.

  • @scottbogfoot
    @scottbogfoot Рік тому +6

    Can you make a video about that first Newfoundland colony that parishes after leaving. Cheers from Newfoundland! 😃

  • @Blaqjaqshellaq
    @Blaqjaqshellaq Рік тому +4

    West Virginia's formation, it should be mentioned, was possible because the territory was controlled by Union forces.
    The eastern part of Tennessee also tried to form their own mountainous state, with less success.

  • @tommykawaii
    @tommykawaii Рік тому +6

    “Almost heaven
    West Virginia…” 🎶 ❤

  • @ElizabethKennedy-u1v
    @ElizabethKennedy-u1v Рік тому

    I LOVE West Virginia because of the mountains - some of the best skiing in the east can be found at Snowshoe Resort and the views from the mountain ridges are incomparable. The small towns are a throwback, with lovely quaint main streets, and the larger towns have everything you might need. I’d move there in a minute if I could!

  • @itzamia
    @itzamia Рік тому +2

    I'm originally from Florida, raised in a military family. When we moved to Connecticut, a friend of mine claimed he was from the South because he was from West Virginia. He actually lived in the Eastern part of West Virginia that mixed in with Maryland for 5 years but, come to find, he was born and raised in Minnesota. Long story short the guy was a clown that liked to rob people behind their backs, so made sense he didn't know West Virginia broke away from the South to become a part of the Union.

  • @CraigBaughan-mg3hf
    @CraigBaughan-mg3hf Рік тому +3

    The western district of Virginia was under a Federal garrison, at the request of the Virginia legislature, prior to the Civil War because of violence and danger. John Brown raided the Federal station at Harper's Ferry, but the presence of Federal troops helped West Virginia stay in the Union. West Virginia reimbursed Virginia for its share of the pre-war debt from construction of the Kanawa Canal which was a financial failure, its towpath later turned into railroads.

  • @hudson5112
    @hudson5112 Рік тому +11

    Virginia's decision to secede from the Union in April, 1861 cost the state not only 24,000 sq.mi. of land (present day West Virginia), but 33,000 of her citizens killed and tens of thousands more wounded in the war that followed. Add to that the destruction of her cities and farm lands as battle after battle raged across the state for four long years and you have a tragedy of epic proportions.

    • @ryanwelborn1609
      @ryanwelborn1609 Рік тому

      True. About half of total Confederate and Union casualties in the Civil War happened on Virginia soil. About 1/6 occurred in Spotsylvania County. Nonetheless, there was never much chance of Virginia staying in the Union in 1861.

  • @calliecooke1817
    @calliecooke1817 Рік тому +2

    I think you missed one important thing when talking about the economic differences. The Eastern Continental Divide is roughly the VA/WVA border. The rivers east of it all empty into the Chesapeake Bay or Atlantic Ocean. All the waterways west of it flow into the Ohio, tying WVA to the Ohio Valley.

    • @deanchapman1824
      @deanchapman1824 Рік тому +1

      And the Mississippi River!

    • @calliecooke1817
      @calliecooke1817 Рік тому

      @@deanchapman1824Of course. Almost everything between the continental divides ends up in the Mississippi.

    • @johnschuh8616
      @johnschuh8616 Рік тому +1

      West of the Blue Ridge is culturally more like West Virginia. Until recently.

    • @calliecooke1817
      @calliecooke1817 Рік тому

      @@johnschuh8616 Oh, I know. Mom's family is on the North Fork of the Shenandoah, and Dad's is on the South. Even the accent's a little different. Hill Williams and Tidewater. Different culture. Only 15 miles apart.

  • @doughnutnizzle2620
    @doughnutnizzle2620 Рік тому +3

    As a person from West Virginia I will forever be piss that we passed on the name Vandalia

    • @InvertInteriors
      @InvertInteriors Рік тому +2

      They considered Kanawha too. Guess a pass on that is ok bc no one would know how to pronounce it outside of the state.

    • @PappysDungeon45
      @PappysDungeon45 4 місяці тому

      @@InvertInteriors Potomac would have been much better

  • @UWish0430
    @UWish0430 Рік тому +14

    Perfect timing with this video as today, June 20th is West Virginia's 160th birthday as a state.

  • @corneliuswowbagger
    @corneliuswowbagger Рік тому +3

    You totally missed the strategic railroads in what is now West Virginia and the ethnic and religious differences between the early settlers. The current CSX tracks across the Alleghenies, for example, was bitterly fought over particularly around Rowlesburg and Terra Alta. The Tidewater was typically settled by the Episcopalian second sons of wealthy English, while western Virginians were Presbyterian Ulster Scots and Germans. These were two critical factors. The best way to emphasize the differences is the mis-spelled county name, Monongalia County on the Monongahela River, for example. Also a subtlety is that some county names seem mis-placed in West Virginia and western Virginia. For example Pocahontas County West Virginia is far from Pocahontas Virginia while Allegheny County is far from the traditional Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and western Maryland. The Tidewater Virginians that made up the majority of the Virginia government just didn’t care about getting things right out in the hinterlands that they cared little about. I am a fifth generation Virginian/West Virginian and had a four times great uncle in the Virginia Legislature. My background is in geology with an undergrad minor in geography. Geography matters, but so does history! The place where the Civil War really was brother against brother was the South Branch Valley. I have done geologic field work there during two periods and you can encounter earthworks with got away seeded fruit and nut trees in the back trenches in the strangest, but logical places.

    • @johnschuh8616
      @johnschuh8616 Рік тому

      Patrick Henry was looked upon as a kind of hick by the Tidewater folk. Interesting to men is the way that Jefferson was so westward oriented in his thinking. But he was t sedentary in the ways to think about going there himself. Unlike Washington, another westward looking man, He had claims along the Ohio in Virginia. Wild country in those days.

  • @punditgi
    @punditgi Рік тому +4

    Good info! 😊

  • @yee3771
    @yee3771 Рік тому +3

    Love ur vids…just wanted to let u know Charlesfort wasn’t where Charleston is…but Beaufort

  • @brent4209
    @brent4209 Рік тому +1

    Take a drive through West Virginia, beautiful mountainous scenery, not a lot of open flat areas.

  • @brandonpickrell3677
    @brandonpickrell3677 Рік тому +12

    As a lifelong West Virginian, I can say that I am proud of the culture of my home state. We don’t have much and in some circumstances we have been abused by out of state companies who come and take natural resources for low pay and then outsource that revenue elsewhere instead of seeing it reinvested.
    I’m proud of the idea of what this state is: hardworking people who get by on love, loyalty, and friendship cause they don’t have much else.
    But it’s increasingly frustrating to see a state stagnate like West Virginia. Why can’t we keep our beliefs and our culture and simultaneously decide that our people need better jobs, infrastructure, education, and health?

    • @lochnessamonster1912
      @lochnessamonster1912 Рік тому

      WVians are not being hired because of drug addiction and govt dependence. That's the reason for all of the out of state workers.

    • @demsareunamerican6800
      @demsareunamerican6800 Рік тому

      Well, you can blame the Democratic Scum on why WV has lost most of it industry. Where I grew up in WV, everything you can think of was made right in the USA, gone because of Democratic Stupidity and greed, selling out to China. Besides Pittsburgh, where do you think all the US steel came from. Pittsburgh and WV. Wheeling was mentioned in this video. That's where I'm from.

  • @deirdre108
    @deirdre108 Рік тому +6

    Interesting how a similar dynamic as the WV/VA divide worked out in the mountain counties of Western NC and Eastern TN, however without separation. As in WV, these were yeoman farmers working small parcels of land, living and working independently from the slavery power centers. Most of those NC and TN counties sent more men to the Union Armies than the Confederate Army.
    While these Virginian "faux aristocratic" slave-driving fops were eager to continue their leisurely, decadent lifestyle, proud and strong men and women who worked the land with their OWN bodies in the western, mountainous part of the state had had enough of the whining, sissy VA plantation culture and rightly separated from these dandies and formed the free, great State of West Virginia.

    • @johnschuh8616
      @johnschuh8616 Рік тому

      More slavery in WV than you are acknowledging. It seems that someone who moved from the Shenandoah Valley to Charleston area would have found things pretty much the same. except his business would have oriented to the Ohio Valley.

    • @ryanwelborn1609
      @ryanwelborn1609 Рік тому

      As a Virginian, I have to agree. My own ancestors were poor white farmers in western North Carolina (Yadkin County). They probably wanted to own slaves but couldn't afford it. I would like to know more about why the mountainous counties of western NC and eastern TN did not secede.

    • @davidcpugh8743
      @davidcpugh8743 Рік тому

      Have you heard of the Stonewall Brigade? Formed as the 2nd Virginia, and now a National Guard division paired with a Pennsylvanian brigade, presumably to assure their loyalty. Badge is a circle divided by a yin Yang curve on half blue; the other grey. It works as both groups are mostly hill people and culturally similar.

    • @deirdre108
      @deirdre108 Рік тому

      @@johnschuh8616 True what you commented. I was being brief and somewhat rhetorical. The residents in the northwestern part of the state, for example, exhibited different loyalties than perhaps the southern counties. I will need to read more about the Civil War in WV in the future. Thank you.

    • @deirdre108
      @deirdre108 Рік тому

      @@davidcpugh8743 Yes, the Stonewall Brigade was quite a force and pretty much went undefeated in their engagements while Jackson was alive.

  • @erickriebel4366
    @erickriebel4366 Рік тому +2

    West Virginia is known for people working and specially coal mines and things of that nature. And Virginia is related to Washington d.c.. and people refer Richmond as Richmond north of Richmond. Meaning the government and Corruption and all the payoffs. And that is my best guess?

    • @reelfishing47
      @reelfishing47 Рік тому

      The only area of Virginia with ties to working in dc is the dc metro of Virginia western part of Virginia is the Same as west Virginia with coal and most of the Piedmont and coastal plain were built in tobacco and cotton farming

    • @erickriebel4366
      @erickriebel4366 Рік тому

      @@reelfishing47 thank you for the info I've been through there many times on vacation and also North Carolina and Virginia and West Virginia I've been around up there but I don't know whole lot about it all I just know what I hear and I saw what I saw thanks for the info

  • @greymarket6834
    @greymarket6834 Рік тому

    the natural landscape of both are stunning

  • @jasonromage6129
    @jasonromage6129 Рік тому +2

    As a West Virginia, we look forward to Virginia rejoining the fold and becoming Mountaineers once again.

    • @mochalattemiss
      @mochalattemiss Рік тому +5

      Uh, no WE don’t. Stay over there..we are the BEST Virginia!

    • @jasonromage6129
      @jasonromage6129 Рік тому

      @@mochalattemiss haha. Good point

    • @ldc3214
      @ldc3214 Рік тому

      If anything, Virginia will just take its chunk of DC land since I keep hearing that they want representation and MD and take their chunk back as well.

    • @mochalattemiss
      @mochalattemiss Рік тому

      @@ldc3214 Nah, that is NEVER going to happen. DC will be a state within a decade, and so will PR. Neither Virginia nor MD wants DC’s nearly 100% democratic voters.

  • @lannynavitka8949
    @lannynavitka8949 7 місяців тому

    I have a friend from West Virginia who claims to be a Consitiutional Originalist. When I bring up that his state was created by a Constitutional Amendment that would be considered social reforms today(abolition), he just gets a blank look on his face and changes the subject.

  • @turtlescycle
    @turtlescycle Рік тому

    Thank you for the video. Since you like doing videos on state splits, you should consider doing one where the Northern part of California almost broke off to become the state of Jefferson. The locals there still talk about it today.

    • @12345fowler
      @12345fowler Рік тому +1

      I just watched one of his video talking about that

  • @eyeofthescar6890
    @eyeofthescar6890 Рік тому +1

    Something can't be 'very unique'

  • @utsosoumyo76
    @utsosoumyo76 Рік тому +12

    Almost Heaven, West Virginia ❤

  • @calebbearup4282
    @calebbearup4282 Рік тому +5

    The law was broken in order to allow West Virginia to split off.

  • @michaelfried3123
    @michaelfried3123 Рік тому +16

    One little correction: It's West "by God' Virginia.

  • @Transmontaine
    @Transmontaine Рік тому +6

    Good video but actually Huntington is WV’s largest metro at 360,000. Also, no video ever points out how Virginia’s economy was built from huge investments from the federal government. No state can compete with that.

    • @dianakidd4219
      @dianakidd4219 Рік тому +2

      Charleston is the largest city, beating Huntington by over 1,000 people.

    • @bkraft
      @bkraft Рік тому +1

      @@dianakidd4219 But the Huntington Metro Area (which includes Ashland KY and other surrounding areas) is larger than Charleston.

    • @dianakidd4219
      @dianakidd4219 Рік тому

      @@bkraft
      Yes, you are correct. I was just talking about the city of Huntington

    • @MichaelWH
      @MichaelWH Рік тому

      That's where I am 🙂

  • @hicknopunk
    @hicknopunk Рік тому +3

    The proper name is "Less East Virginia"

  • @bobzelley5100
    @bobzelley5100 Рік тому +1

    One has coal , the other granite. West Virginia , along with Pennsylvania , was paramount to my countries prosperity.

  • @Cedarlick
    @Cedarlick Рік тому +1

    How much of West Virginias poverty is caused by its resources and politicians being controlled by out of state corporations, including from Virginia?

  • @cmichaelhaugh8517
    @cmichaelhaugh8517 Рік тому +6

    I was born in Bath County on the Virginia side of the line. It’s very similar to WVA, including sending delegates to Richmond with instructions not to secede. Still not entirely sure why it’s not part of West Virginia.

    • @brandonjohnson9839
      @brandonjohnson9839 Рік тому +1

      they can have your poor county

    • @ryanwelborn1609
      @ryanwelborn1609 Рік тому +1

      Bath is a beautiful county so I'm glad it stayed in Virginia. But yes, it doesn't really make sense.

  • @glennso47
    @glennso47 Рік тому +3

    Why does the USA have 2 Carolinas? Why 2 Dakotas? Why are New England states so small? Why is Michigan have a small part just above Wisconsin? Why do Missouri and Louisiana look like boots? Why does Oklahoma look like a frying pan? Why do Colorado and Wyoming look alike?

    • @jstoli996c4s
      @jstoli996c4s Рік тому

      It’s called Google, use it

    • @12345fowler
      @12345fowler Рік тому

      Well I am not sure of your point but I am sure Google is not the reason for that.@@jstoli996c4s

  • @agrarianriverman
    @agrarianriverman Рік тому +2

    We should recombine with WVA and give up NoVa in the process.

    • @757CitiesReppa
      @757CitiesReppa Рік тому +1

      Hell nah

    • @chrispavlich9656
      @chrispavlich9656 Рік тому

      @@757CitiesReppaExactly. Virginia has enough poverty of it’s own to deal with, without taking on West Virginia’s.

    • @757CitiesReppa
      @757CitiesReppa Рік тому

      @@chrispavlich9656 WV always ranks in the bottom five states for damn near everything. New Mexico, Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas….nothing like VA.

  • @Taladar2003
    @Taladar2003 Рік тому +1

    5:10 West Virginia was settled by AI according to the symbols on the map?

  • @joshuamccormick5497
    @joshuamccormick5497 Рік тому

    2:26 41th parallel… nice

  • @revinhatol
    @revinhatol Рік тому +2

    Where's Kentucky?!

    • @KlynerKaiOffical
      @KlynerKaiOffical Рік тому +2

      Do you see at 2:04 the area that isn’t West Virginia or Virginia but is still in red. That’s Kentucky right there

    • @revinhatol
      @revinhatol Рік тому +1

      @@KlynerKaiOffical Thanks!

  • @Davidsavage8008
    @Davidsavage8008 Рік тому

    Same thing is happening in Oregon towards Idaho. The only difference is Oregon does NOT care about central or eastern oregon, Oregon just cares about the coastal part.

  • @joew974
    @joew974 Рік тому

    This didn't need an 11 min video, but its good content.
    Simply:
    Civil War.
    The end

  • @anthonyminimum
    @anthonyminimum Рік тому +1

    6:53 This map is misleading, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri stayed neutral during the Civil War and when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, the border states (which now included West Virginia) were allowed to keep their slaves because Lincoln didn’t want them to fall into the Confederacy if they took their slaves away and waited until the passage of the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery all together

  • @patmanbnl
    @patmanbnl Рік тому

    All the things John Denver sings about in Country Roads are actually in Virginia.

    • @Perfectly-Imperfect
      @Perfectly-Imperfect 9 місяців тому

      Yeah there’s no blue ridge mountains here in WV. He didn’t write the song though.

  • @bolockhart3435
    @bolockhart3435 5 місяців тому

    9:10- " Virginia has far larger and more metropolitan cities than Virginia".

  • @lanabreeze
    @lanabreeze Рік тому +13

    It would have been nice if you would of talked about Virginia's failed attempts to get the western section back. Without that the video seems incomplete. Other than that, nice video.

  • @cris-1001
    @cris-1001 Рік тому

    Lovely shirt you are wearing! Is that octopus? Beautiful. I think you should also offer the styles you wear for sale. Not the same shirt obviously, but the same type totally!

  • @hyzercreek
    @hyzercreek Рік тому

    Good grief! 3:13 New Netherlands went all the way past Albany, it wasn't just one city!

  • @electrofan1796
    @electrofan1796 Рік тому

    West Virginia should either become apart of another state or broken up between other states with better connectivity with the regions nearby.

  • @joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536
    @joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536 Рік тому +1

    Very interesting.

  • @RobespierreThePoof
    @RobespierreThePoof Рік тому

    And Next Up in "what you missed when you fell asleep in high school history class and didn't bother studying because you were lazy" ...
    "the Missoiri compromise ..."

  • @christopherflux6254
    @christopherflux6254 Рік тому

    Because John Denver singing “Country roads, take me
    home, to the place I was born…Virginia!” wouldn’t sound right! 😂

  • @helenwheels3341
    @helenwheels3341 Рік тому

    In 2021 the population of Charleston West Virginia was 48,018 I don't know when you think there were hundreds of thousands?

  • @tenerifecats6652
    @tenerifecats6652 11 місяців тому

    Yep! I was confused as a child growing up in Virginia that there was a West Virginia. Lol

  • @mooretalk5351
    @mooretalk5351 Рік тому +1

    I'm from Huntington WV and its hell! Just a poor failed state. Thank God i was able to get out.

  • @jacobjones4766
    @jacobjones4766 8 місяців тому

    Sweden also colonised what became Delaware and southeast Pennsylvania

  • @tengoken4313
    @tengoken4313 Рік тому

    Whats hilarious is the amount of southern flags flying in WV.

  • @JohnKolarMusic
    @JohnKolarMusic Рік тому

    "Virginia has far larger and more metropolitan cities than Virginia" @ 9:10 ... can't believe a "rural" West Virginian found this ERROR ........ but cool video

  • @rosalieroku3818
    @rosalieroku3818 Рік тому +1

    I'd like you to do
    New Mexico and Mexico! 😁

  • @PraveenSrJ01
    @PraveenSrJ01 Рік тому

    Why doesn’t the state of Virginia further split up 🆙 to East Virginia where Norfolk and the beach 🏝️ are?

  • @MilkyWayWasTaken
    @MilkyWayWasTaken Рік тому

    Me from Virginia seeing many top comments from West Virginians: :')

  • @mandy2tomtube
    @mandy2tomtube Рік тому

    Charleston 46,000 people kanawha county 178,000 people but you’re right about the metropolitan area not quite sure how they come up with that but it must encompass several counties ?

  • @VaxtorT
    @VaxtorT Рік тому +4

    If I had to choose between the two.....Id choose West Virgina. Back then.....and now.

  • @Sk8Bettty
    @Sk8Bettty Рік тому

    There’s south West Virginia and then there’s southwest Virginia. Two different places, but try living in either with fam in the other. You’re never sure which is meant at first.

  • @Mark_Wheeler
    @Mark_Wheeler Рік тому +1

    Geoff, you need to fix your audio. The lag is really annoying!

  • @walterbrown8694
    @walterbrown8694 Рік тому +1

    No big deal - There are 2 Carolinas, 2 Dakotas, a New York, a New Hampshire, a New Mexico - - - And a partridge in a pear tree. Now I gotta go do something important - - Check my belly-button int.

  • @jeremywoessner8136
    @jeremywoessner8136 Рік тому

    You do know that globes were designed as a toy/decorative item. Look it up globes were never intended for educational uses.

  • @D.E.P.-J.
    @D.E.P.-J. Рік тому

    One senator should be removed from West Virginia and added to Virginia. It makes no sense that both have two senators.

  • @mdb1239
    @mdb1239 Рік тому

    Interesting. So there is a precedent of a state being created from an existing state. Hmmm? I think there are several areas of the US that want this to happen again (maybe) -- Colorado, Oregon, Washington.

  • @raysimms427
    @raysimms427 Рік тому +2

    Well not much has changed in Virginia just drive a hour away from I95 in any direction. Sadly all the wealth and jobs are centered in northern Virginia, if you drive from fairfax county down to south western Virginia its like going to another planet they clearly still have a problem with distributing jobs and wealth. I'm from Fredericksburg btw.

    • @ldc3214
      @ldc3214 Рік тому

      I can easily get to Fredericksburg, Virginia from my residence. NOVA is where the elites live and I definitely don’t want to live there now. I do wish that education focus went further south and East/West. The school Thomas Jefferson High School is constantly ranked as No. 1 in the state and I wish they would make more schools like that in other areas and then offer school choice.

    • @jstoli996c4s
      @jstoli996c4s Рік тому

      I’ve lived in Roanoke for a little under a year, having grown up in Buffalo and then spending 27 years in Florida. I’m very much enjoying the slower pace. While not like northern Virginia, the economy is decent out here. Also, due to being in the mountains at 1,000 ft elevation, the humidity here is low most of the year and there’s lots of sunny days.

  • @igorgerlovin3185
    @igorgerlovin3185 3 місяці тому

    And why does Virginia own the lower portion of the Delmarva peninsula?

  • @firefighter1c57
    @firefighter1c57 8 місяців тому

    West Virginia joined the Union as a slave state. The Willey Amendment only really outlawed future slaves, but those persons enslaved at the time West Virginia joined the union remained such until February 1865.

  • @fowchiiiliedpuppiesdied
    @fowchiiiliedpuppiesdied Рік тому

    My ancestors, on both sides, arrived in New England, in the mid to late 1500s. Persecuted and jailed for daring to question corruption within the Church of England, they must have been the heartiest of breeds. This must be why I didn’t wear a mask, and was deeply suspicious of the so-called pandemic.

  • @sdboy1978
    @sdboy1978 Рік тому

    California needs to follow this route

  • @donmcc6573
    @donmcc6573 Рік тому +1

    Because without West Virginia, John Denver couldn't have written that song.....

  • @snapfinger1
    @snapfinger1 Рік тому

    No beach front property in W. Virginia.

  • @emeraldkimble7602
    @emeraldkimble7602 Рік тому

    The U.K. has two Ireland’s. Orthern Ireland @nd Irish republic
    Unlicensed

  • @williammurray1341
    @williammurray1341 Рік тому +1

    Let's see - the urban centers of the state disregarded the distant rural areas and put in place policies that the rural areas...wait. I'm describing Oregon.

  • @aaronburt1103
    @aaronburt1103 Рік тому

    You should do one on Florida and West Florida. I'm mean Louisiana

  • @jamiecosgrove1950
    @jamiecosgrove1950 Рік тому

    its like that movie, the front virginia and the back virginia.

  • @maverickspirit208
    @maverickspirit208 2 місяці тому

    Is this a history channel? I thought I was going to be about geography and it wasn't really.

  • @zacharyhusk4649
    @zacharyhusk4649 Рік тому

    As we West Virginians say. The best part of virginia moved west. This place is home.

  • @daveburrows9876
    @daveburrows9876 Рік тому

    There's more than that, my Aunt Ginny's another Virginia.