He's willing to make Nevada huge but giving a little more land to Ohio? Nooo, can't have that. Come on, dude, commit, go all in! Why is Minesota "fine" but you ignore those two straight lines?
it can be worse, what about combining the 48 states into only 10, and then fuse the names together to make some very awkward names, like Texico and Louisisansas
there is a big disadvantage to dividing by rivers, because major cities are often by rivers, and then you end up with half of a city in one region and the other half in another
yes, this is the most annoying thing when i make my own maps, its very difficult to allow the same city to expand while under different jurisdiction, its very easy to find a american city on a river that divided between states with 1 being developed and other just a small town or fields.
@@spdracr Often there are physical reasons for that. For instance, Memphis is on a bluff, so when the Mississippi floods, it stays unflooded, but West Memphis, Ark. is not raised up so it gets frequently flooded. Fine for farmland (lose one crop, but gain new silt), but not handy for an urban area. Savannah is like that too - I don't remember what they call the part of South Carolina across the river, but it is low-lying and prone to floods, while Savannah itself is on a bluff. These higher lands are what channels the rivers to their particular locations in many areas, so the ports and urban areas take advantage of that.
While in the same state, so not the same exact issue, this is more or less proven by Minneapolis and St. Paul lol We basically decided to put one on each side of the river instead of making them all one city because, well, the river. But it means that attempting to get population measurements usually results in people mistakenly thinking the major population here is a fraction of what it is because they look up one city and ignore the other as well as all the necessary suburbs that fill out the area as part of the metro.
Geoff: Splitting up states for political reasons is dumb. Also Geoff: West Virginia and Virginia stay separated because politics. If there's one thing I cannot tolerate, it is inconsistency.
There is a mountain range between them, thats why they stay split, not because of political reasons... He never said they should stay split because of political reasons, but because of natural borders.
@@uIz-slc Of course, that border doesn't actually make sense: the roads around there completely ignore it. I know an old lady who had to cross the state line three times to buy milk
This video is not redrawing the US States based on Geography, but "Redrawing the US States based on how much I like them, random reasons that make no sense and occasionally geography" This is one of the worst redrawings of the US states that I have ever seen.
imo this video belongs in r/mildlyinfuriating . Dividing some sides of some states by natural borders only for their other side to be a random ass straight line left me feeling incomplete. I want my 11 mins back.
Also, my state of Virginia was screwed over. We already have less population than North Carolina and Georgia. He divides up Virginia while giving North Carolina more land and takes away a little from Georgia. He should have combined Virginia, West Virginia just take away the panhandle, and Maryland.
Judging by what he said at the very end, i kinda feel like these borders were made to be mildly infuriating, so, i think its a job well done in that case.
Bro really said let me draw a random squiggly lines where the borders used to be and say they're somehow improved with absolutely no attention paid to cultural, political and religious differences 🤦🤡
This is like if a victorian emperor was given total control of American borders and gave it the same consideration that they gave Africa & The Mid East
1 Million %! Yes, some of the geographic borders are wonky but there's a bunch of reasons and now history for why they are the way they are, so arbitrarily combining, splitting, rearranging borders is absolutely crazy and would cause a ton of chaos and expense to sort out.
😠 You're forgetting that American borders were already drawn by colonists to keep the indigenous tribes divided. The Americans who drew our current borders were *not* the natives.
2:40 You mentioned the Rocky Mountains but not the Cascade Mountain Range that runs through WA, OR, and CA and it creates a real impact in those states: environmentally, physically, politically, culturally.
I agree!!! Washington and Oregon both should be split along the Cascade Ridge into east and west, and the SW corner of Oregon should be joined to the NW corner of California.
Have you been out west? Outside, even? Every time you made a bad decision you impressed me an one-upped yourself just a few seconds later. Never cook again.
I actually have a bigger problem with Puerto Rico being a state. It has nothing culturally in common with the rest of the country. It shouldn’t even be a territory. It should be its own country or part of Cuba or something.
There’s a whole mountain range separating the Virginias. That’s valid. Puerto Rico is valid too. Mariana… eh. The Virgin Islands losing their identity to Puerto Rico would also be problematic.
@@BMWE90HQ You say that like there's a single cultural entity called the US and that's just not the case. There are a lot of Puerto Ricans serving in our military, too, and I would bet they wouldn't agree with your assessment either. Either way, this was a silly video, but it did highlight the fact that a lot of decisions that affect us all are done for pretty silly reasons, too.
@stevencooper4422 because he's not taking any cultural identities into account, it's purely geographic in nature which is an extremely stupid way of redrawing borders.
I dont think he's even been outside, the idea of splitting Eastern states by the Appalachians is insane. Those aren't mountains they're puffed up hills, so famously easy to handle a trail running the length of them is a nice vacation hike.
No! Go the other way! Return the parts of DC where people live back to Maryland. That way, they get representation. DC should only be where the government buildings, the museums, and the memorials are.
@@jcarp1776 all federal buildings would be "DC" or "federal territories", with your logic... DC being exempt from state laws is kinda the whole point of a National Capitol. The founding fathers would have made specific buildings in Philadelphia excempt from state law if you had your away. "WE HEREBY DECLARE that the area bounded by the street hereforeout known as 86th street to the north, and 85th Street to the south; the western and Eastern boundries shall be between 32nd and 33rd Avenue, in the building constructed by approx. 3/4 timber and the rest of various composite marerials; This Building shall be placed under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress, and any state(s) otherwise claiming this area as thier own, shall be invalid" or someother legalese I often wish Americans had just moved the capital to a west-of-the-mississippi territory in the 1800's, simply so that we don't have to listen to Maryland and Virgina complain about loosing territory (despite the benefits of having the capital. right. there)
DC cannot be a state because the founders did not want the seat of power to be beholding to a state governor. If it became a state, the Federal district could not still be a state and the only resident would be the President, who could then vote himself the electoral college vote of the District. There was a plan to absorb the city part of DC into either Maryland or Virginia and then leave the Federal district as it is when not voting rights, since the only resident would be the President and his family.
So, South Carolina split because it didn't want to marginalize a group and you put them back together?. West Virginia split because they didn't want to marginalize a group and you leave them apart?
@noway6690 To be fair, South Carolina just didn't want to spend the money to marginalize a group of people. They didn't actually care about the natives. Still pretty stupid to put them back together based on that, though.
@@vector_7 you wouldn't recognize good borders if they say on your face, following geography is good but not just the most major features, and not over more important aspects of life.
Agreed. All of the straight borders in the west still look unnatural. Dividing the border by watershed west of the continental divide will make a lot more sense geographically.
@@LocaChoca and railroads are nightmares for everything and everyone nearby yet modernists insist on their supremacy for some unknown reason. They're awful. Just keep people with staunch opinions 500 miles away from the eastern edge of the rocky mtns. Yuck 🤮 all day all the way
@@TimTomsen-o9h He really should have given East New York to Pennsylvania instead of arbitrarily splitting us up. Don’t worry we hate New York City too so we can find unity through that.
@@TimTomsen-o9h It would've made more sense to have west New York and west Pennsylvania be a new state than what was done. Call it Allegheny or something. It's also better than cobbling Pacific Islands to be a state.
Couldn’t even finish this. Combining Carolina’s and splitting Louisiana makes no historical or geographical sense. It would actively make the state boarders so much worse by doing that
I understand your sentiments 😊 as truly the majority of people don't like change. However, I think the intention was to create and uncreate the States based on geography. Anyone can have dreams. Creations and inventions start with a dream. Think about it 🤔
@@JimmyaKaTheK nah there shouldn't be north and south part of the same states in the first place. But the rest I do agree with you. You either make boundaries fully geographical or keep it as it is. This guy is doing in betwee.
As a western New Yorker, nothings pissed me off as much as hearing that New York’s borders “should stay as is”. NY probably has the most messed up borders period. First off, let’s get rid of NYC and make it its own district like DC. We don’t want it! Additionally, if we are going to follow the trend of changing borders to run along natural boundaries, then NY’s eastern border, save for maybe Westchester county and south, should be moved to the Hudson River… our current border with Vermont and Massachusetts is 10 miles east of the river for just no apparent reason at all. Additionally, let’s talk about WNY’s southern border with Pennsylvania. Theoretically, that should also follow a river; the Allegheny and Susquehanna rivers cut in and out of the southern tier NY from PA. Now I do believe the historical reasons for the present borders is because of tribal lands but that is basically obsolete nowadays anyways. I really do like this video’s trend of using natural borders but he could have gone more into depth and detail with his research for every state first!
"We have two Dakotas for political reasons and nothing more." Political reasons are all you need. Politics make the country go. Everything is political.
And he's wrong about it too. There are two Dakotas for economic and cultural reasons. The south of Dakota was way more populated and viewed the Northerners as direputable and far too willing to pick fights with the local Indians, they also wanted better control over elected officials since the officials they were assigned at the time were seen as carpetbaggers. The north of Dakota wanted to remain a territory because it was cheaper so far as taxes and more lax so far as law enforcement, not to mention that their population was roughly a third the size of the southern half and the economies of the two half were based on wholly different industries and trade routes.
@@darkdragon7210 Not really, a combined Dakota would lose two senators and hence two electors. But why combine them and keep Washington and Oregon apart? Just because they have different names?
How is dividing a state based on political affiliation a crime? The very nature of a border is political difference. Even when a border follows a topographical boundary like a mountain range or a river, the reason that they chose a mountain range or a river to divide two states is strategic. "Those people over there are barbarians, so lets make sure there's a defensive boundary that helps us hold them off in the case of aggression". The political difference precedes the choice for a topographical boundary.
what about putting upper ny into a new england state, the lower and upper already feel disconnected from another, and a city state would be pretty cool lol
The states' awkward borders just make their human and political geography more fun. Hell, let's cut Montana's plains region off and make "West Dakota".
I would then move to merge the 26 states entirely east of the Mississippi (plus that bit of Louisiana) and call it East Dakota. Then let everyone else complain that Minnesota is interrupting the Dakotas. And leave out Florida, actually. Living in one political jurisdiction that contains Florida is bad enough. Let's just say that it's south of this Mississippi and doesn't fit into this scheme, or just give it back to Spain or something.
I can already imagine the government of a combined NC and SC only caring about Raleigh, Charlotte, and Durham while the rest of the state doesn't get anything. The Carolinas are split for a reason
Then let me anger you a little. In my plan the US trades Alaska to Canada in exchange for the Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) which are then combined into a single State of New Scotland.
Geoff, like myself, is a Oregonian. We're well aware. That said, it doesn't make sense. What would make infinitely MORE sense is to instead get Eastern Washington to move to cede from the state, and merge with Eastern Oregon, creating the state of Lincoln, which was what the people and original proposal actually was for the record. They got ignored, and that's how we instead got the current borders. It could have been avoided entirely if the people were listened to and got their wishes granted.
@@scottgrohs5940 More likely the capital for a state of Lincoln would be one of the Tri-Cities, as it'd be more central while still retaining fair size in city and in metro population. Hell, even somewhere like Hermiston, Umatilla or Pendleton could do decently as a small state capital, too. Hermiston and Umatilla have been rapidly expanding and growing, while Pendleton would enable a fair balance between historic town, and space, and they've talked a lot over the years about how to draw more people in for visits, which partially has to do with their EAS contract not getting renewed a few years back, losing commercial air service, at least from PDX. But overall, I'd place the capital in one of the Tri-Cities. Probably Kennewick, as it'd be the most central north to south for the three, and has the history of hosting big events, while also redeveloping a lot of their land within city limits. Lincoln would also have one other mid-size city in Bend, outside of Spokane, Spokane Valley, Yakima and the Tri-Cities. Redmond is claimed to be Portland's replacement when the tricentennial quake strikes, but uhh... I really doubt that'd work. lol. Plus, there really is no activity there development and redevelopment wise. Bend on the other hand is constantly developing and redeveloping, and growing pretty rapidly.
He didn't make bad map because even bad maps have good ideas, he was so afraid to get political that he concously made "anti-good" map to not get criticized by people who could dox him, well now he has us who are shitting on him, hope it was worth it. I can recognize metrosexual numales mapper on how much they don't want to admit reality.
Minnesota has a piece of its state surrounded by Canada. You literally have to drive through Canada to get the local children to school everyday. I'd say there is room for improvement there. Also there is Point Roberts in Washington state. It is almost a suburb of Vancouver. They share Vancouver's water & sewer and fire department. Again, just for the sake of argument, that should be fixed.
@@LamborghiniLegends New Mexico was mapped and named by the Spanish all the way back in the 1500's. They called it "Nuevo Mexico" because of the landscape closely resembling "The Mexico Valley" at the heart of the Aztec empire. The name Mexico originally referred to just one valley at the center of the Aztec empire, its presently home to Mexico City. The name Mexico wasnt used to refer to the whole country until the early 1800's.
Us Georgians got the shot end of the stick ;-; Also, I'm pretty sure our state capital is no longer in our state (and like 80% of our population) things aren't looking good 👀
As a resident of Atlanta (12 years running), metro Atlanta should not be divided. As a former northerner (rural New York), Georgia has the least dysfunctional government in the deep south (excluding Florida). Absorbing voters from the comparatively backwards state of Alabama would diminish Georgia's electorate. Alabamians are kind people but not particularly educated. While I hate encountering Floridians on the roadways, they do appear to be a good electorate. I wouldn't mind absorbing some of northern Florida like he did for Alabama since Florida's horrible drivers are from the peninsula and not the northern portion. Lastly, since the Appalachian mountains are effectively non-existent in metro Atlanta and points southward, no physical or cultural barrier exists therefore his "continental divided" argument is rendered mute.
Dakotas actually didn't split simply to give Republicans an advantage. They split for many reasons but a big reasons was railroads running through only through South Dakota and another running only through North Dakota and this caused the two to separate and develop differently with South Dakota gaining much of the population and power and then changing the capital without the Norths consent causing the North to become disenfranchised and wanting it's own political autonomy. So both areas of North and South Dakota asked to be admitted separately and were both granted entry into the Union. So North Dakota was created mainly by the North Dakotans not wanting to be dominated by their more powerful southern half. Also, the landscape was so desolate and large that it was difficult for North Dakota to stay in political contact with the south especially since no railroads connected from North to South but rather only East to West. I don't know where you got this Republicans did it talking point but it's woefully inaccurate, or at least appears to be by what I've learned of it.
All the above, and also that since the Dakotas are distinctly divided east to west, the border between them should be the Missouri. Western Minnesota should really go with them too to round out the population a bit.
That's only one part of the story. At the end of the day, there were various bills introduced to Congress simultaneously on how to divide the Dakota territories. The final decision was 100% motivated by the politics of the time.
@TheSeanathon ummmm...well yeah territory is ALWAYS decided by the politics of the time! But I'm also trying sharing that the population of the Dakotas had the say on dividing the territory. If that advantaged a political party then I'm sure they thought it was even better.
@@danielwatcherofthelord1823 You are *_very_* wrong on two points! First, the decision to split the Dakotas was made via the federal legislative process with the intent of armoring the existing GOP Senate majority into the 20th century. Second, it was tomfoolery by Territory Governor and NH carpetbagger Nehemiah Ordway and corrupt *Northern* interests -- not Southern -- that saw the capital moved from the recently flooded **southern** city of Yankon to the **northern** city of Bismarck. Furthermore, while the capital relocation also was motivated by a desire for a State of North Dakota, it was South Dakota that first submitted a petition for statehood. When told by the feds they could either petition again as one territory or wait until ND has crossed the minimum required population threshhold, they opted to wait. The whole thing was a giant, sloppy, *woeful* mess. And in, fact, one casualty of all of this is that my home state of New Mexico was denied statehood until 1912. Much of that had to do with anti-Hispanic and anti-Catholic sentiment, but the deciding factor was the expectation that they would send to Democrats to the Senate.
Im sorry but this is horrible, and im not just saying that cause my state got shrunk or something, im from new jersey, one of the few untouched states. These borders look absolutely attrcious and pretty much never count for actual cultural differences. To me the only real border changes we should have would probably be making a new state out of upstate new york and just maybe expanding idaho into eastern oregon and washington (but even thats a stretch) both of which he didnt do. In my opinion, the us borders are almost perfect. And of course the worst crime to ever possibly be commited was made here, expanding delaware.
I live in Upstate New York, and come election time it sucks to have NYC because we’re always blue then. Also NYC literally dictates all of the governor’s concern. Also also, new power grid or new wind farms, guess what, all that power goes to NYC. Cutting off NYC would be nice, but also would kind of suck if you wanna go there.
@@justinbuddy56The city also gets much of the hydropower from Niagara Falls. The city is a giant leech as far as I am concerned. They are also the reason our taxes are so high up here. People say an upstate NY couldn't survive on its own, but I don't see why not it would still be bigger in population than at least half the other states, would still have several large cities, and would still have the falls and the great lakes which are huge advantages for power production and a natural source of fresh water. And farming. I believe we are second only to Wisconsin in dairy farming.
This is the worse geography video I’ve seen, Starting off with north and South Carolina, they are very different from each other. North Carolina has more mountains while South Carolina is more flat. There is no good reason to put them together. Then you have the western US, the borders are to keep states balanced and look more neat. Plus dividing by rivers can mess up cities that live ON the river. Then you have my state; Florida. Florida is THE SUNSHINE STATE for a reason, Florida is meant to have plenty of coastline, no the panhandle isn’t like Alabama at all and by taking that away you also took away our capitol, Tallahassee. I stopped watching the video halfway through because I already know that the rest of it is gonna be worse.
@@BrodzyOnVR Also there are more reasons to why we have two Dakotas then simply more Republican votes. (Also South Dakota has the nickname the Sunshine State before Florida. Just a fun fact!)
I find it funny that he wants to set borders on natural features and then forgets that the border between Montana and Idaho is already set on the Bitterroot Mountain Range - A NATURAL FEATURE.
@@shrekdaddy6912 We could never allow actual yinzers to merge forces with Ohio Steelers fan. That collective force of smug would pollute the air enough to suffocate us all.
I don't mind gluing States together, but as long as you're doing that, why not also split more States? New Ohio+Upstate NY could have been split into 2 states. Calfornia could be 2, Texas could be 2-3, Florida could be 2, and so on. It doesn't make sense to me.
Ye aint dividing Texas into parts as far as I'm concerned, but I get the idea. Overall I think the guy was just a fool overall even for making the video. Its just fools content really
Texas is a big State, population-wise. I don't see why not. It's ridiculous to expect big blue states to happily get sectioned up while leaving big red ones intact. That would clearly read to people as purely partisan special pleading.
@@ducksongfans As a South Carolinian, I agree. Please don't make us join with the Northerners, they already stole a football team from us, who knows what else they'll steal.
But wait you did geographical features for dividing most states but most of Georgia's border with Alabama is the Chattahoochee River. The Appalachian range is barely noticable in the central and southern part of the state 😂
Came to point out exactly this. The region already has a river dividing it, why "fix" that and also ignore historical context. Alabama used to be part of Georgia before Alabama ever existed.
…and physically it has more of a Wisconsin vibe. The Michigan "culture" is more an overlay." (Born, raised and lived much of my life in the lower Peninsula of Michigan, so I know its vibe - on both sides of the Bay City/St. Johns/Holland line (with Grand Rapids NORTH of it), may I add. And the UP is different from both of them - more in line with northern Wisconsin than with Michigan proper.
Here's a strange idea. How about combining Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island into one big state actually called New England. That would be interesting I think.
nope. I’m from DE and I’ve also lived in MD’s Eastern Shore for a while. So, I know how badly they hate being lumped in with Baltimore so I sure wouldn’t want to be either!!! The Delmarva Peninsula is its own little cultural entity so I’m good with just making it ALL DE. That makes sense to me. Then, the rest of Maryland can just change its name to Baltimore/D.C. Suburbs! 😂
I did this myself back in 1973 on a 30" long piece of shelf paper. Kept it for years, but lost track of it after I got married in the mid-80s. I remember most of it, and will be curious to see if we did anything the same. EDIT: Great video! Lots of fun. And yes, many of my changes from 50 years ago were the same . . . I also merged the Dakotas, I also gave the UP to Wisconsin, I also used THE continental divide for many of my divisions (mainly in the northern half of the Rockies), I also denied the panhandle to Florida, and so on. I didn't like all your changes, but who cares? This is just fun stuff. Probably my favorite video you've ever done. (Oh, and your new smallest state -which really _is_ too small- should actually be called *Mariguama* .)
@@c.w.9501 And, even more ironically, probably my only comment ever approving of one of his videos. I usually complain at length about his videos. So yeah, quite a singular comment, from two perspectives.
The Deschutes River in Oregon would make a good East/West border as this is roughly where you see the sharpest political shift. Going along with your map, this would mean that NE and E Oregon would go elsewhere, such as Idaho. A case could be made for extending this North and including much of E Washington.
Atlanta is bisected by two states as the continental divide runs along the railroad tracks entering the city on the east or following Decatur Street. So we should Fix that, I doubt Metro Atlanta will like to be part of Alabama
Also, the Carolinas did not separate because of a war it separated because the colonial capital was newer, which is on the coast of North Carolina in Craven County, which the two biggest cities were Charlestown, which is the modern Charleston and Newburgh. They’re like seven hours apart by car. Imagine how long it would take on horseback
@@johnnyj222 the problem with that is that Millerton, which lies below the 42nd parallel, is more culturally related to Albany than to any place downstate.
😂😂😂 Geoffffff!!! Omg. We are in Ga, and you just gave part of us to Alabama! 😂 my husband is about to have a stroke. That Georgia Alabama rivalry is REAL, y’all! This was so fun though, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Obviously the more elegant and more logical solution would be to simply restore Virginia’s 1609 land claims. Why yes I do live in Virginia, how did you know?
The only other ‘natural’ border not discussed is the ‘Highway 81’ split right in the middle of the country. This is essentially where ‘farmland’ stops and ‘ranch land’ begins. And there are different interests for farmers and ranchers.
Please make sure that Isle Royale becomes part of Minnesota. Oh, and let’s fix your name. Geoff is too contorted and confusing of a spelling. You are now Jeff.
Intro: "I don't like states being split for political reasons not in line with my own ideas! Let's merge them!" Video: "I like the Virginias being split for political reasons in line with my own ideas! Stay separate and the one on my side take an extra applause!" Also Intro: "Borders should follow natural lines and not be willingly drawn to include terrritories, exclude territories, or simply because we point on a parallel or meridian where they reach a comfortable size." Also video: "Baton Rouge and Kansas City are on the wrong side of rivers for my taste. And New York's west is on the wrong side of mountains but Ohio gets too large. Let's draw willingly some awkward borders because I say so! And I'm too lazy to follow rivers in Minnesota. Let's keep them dead straight and I don't like Iowa anyways so my laziness is their fault." Good job - replaced a mess of willingly drawn lines and shady reasons with a mess of willingly drawn lines and shady reasons.
My thought is two Dakotas combined, all New English states combined, two Carolinas combined, two Virginias combined. Last but least, Washington combines with Oregon; Kentucky combines with Tennessee to remove the awkward straight line borders.
Why would adjusting borders for political reasons be stupid? The main reason any country adjusts borders is for political reasons. Your reasoning by contrast is completely arbitrary and has zero consideration for the needs of the people in the states.
This video should be called "how to piss off everyone in America in 11 mins." I love it. Here's a Like to offset all the angry Carolinans 😂
Carolinians*
Not everyone 😂 NE states stay the same 😂
All except Delawareans!!! 😂
Hey as a Wisconsinite I can’t complain. The UP is connected to us. However I think we have the best looking state shape, so that would kinda ruin it.
South Carolinaian here: Angry
I'm actually appalled at how bad this video is 😭
Same
yes..
He's willing to make Nevada huge but giving a little more land to Ohio? Nooo, can't have that. Come on, dude, commit, go all in! Why is Minesota "fine" but you ignore those two straight lines?
As a Wisconsinite, thank you for re-attaching our missing limb. As an American, what the f*ck did I just watch?
Agreed and agreed
Give us our damn peninsula back
@@IamHIMallday22 no
Agreed we should have that part they don't need it
We already took all the big trees, copper and iron ore. You can have the deer, black flies and pasties. Now, what to do with Toledo?
As a Texan, You have awakened the horde. Prepare.
😂😂😂😂
As a Texan, this is true.
@@ARandomTexan Houston, there's a problem... 😄😄😄😄
@@janeentumbao8690 lol
Yea
"Let's fix the United State's Awful Borders".
Proceeds to make them exponentially worse.
yeah it looks really awkward
Do not use "exponentially" that way. Learn English.
@@magicwindow6682 Nah, looks much better now. If anything is awkward, it's 5 year old kid with crayons drawing just straight lines look...
@@HappyScience-wp8cn That is a perfectly valid way of using Exponentially?
it can be worse, what about combining the 48 states into only 10, and then fuse the names together to make some very awkward names, like Texico and Louisisansas
>didnt wanna make ohio too big
>makes nevada massive
ok bro
your complaint would be valid if the territory ohio got was entirely desert wasteland like nevada's was
But nobody lives there. So it makes sense for it to be one state.
*cough cough* he is a New Yorker
there is a big disadvantage to dividing by rivers, because major cities are often by rivers, and then you end up with half of a city in one region and the other half in another
yes, this is the most annoying thing when i make my own maps, its very difficult to allow the same city to expand while under different jurisdiction, its very easy to find a american city on a river that divided between states with 1 being developed and other just a small town or fields.
@@spdracr Often there are physical reasons for that. For instance, Memphis is on a bluff, so when the Mississippi floods, it stays unflooded, but West Memphis, Ark. is not raised up so it gets frequently flooded. Fine for farmland (lose one crop, but gain new silt), but not handy for an urban area. Savannah is like that too - I don't remember what they call the part of South Carolina across the river, but it is low-lying and prone to floods, while Savannah itself is on a bluff. These higher lands are what channels the rivers to their particular locations in many areas, so the ports and urban areas take advantage of that.
While in the same state, so not the same exact issue, this is more or less proven by Minneapolis and St. Paul lol We basically decided to put one on each side of the river instead of making them all one city because, well, the river. But it means that attempting to get population measurements usually results in people mistakenly thinking the major population here is a fraction of what it is because they look up one city and ignore the other as well as all the necessary suburbs that fill out the area as part of the metro.
Hello, Yes, I read you from Kansas 😂 ✌🏽
Cincinnati and kansas city for example
Geoff: Splitting up states for political reasons is dumb.
Also Geoff: West Virginia and Virginia stay separated because politics.
If there's one thing I cannot tolerate, it is inconsistency.
@@vijinxshipper Fr lol also they should reunite sense the war is long over
Yeah, the argument is not so good. Though later the border is redrawn anyways for the continental divide, so you'd get them separated anyhow.
There is a mountain range between them, thats why they stay split, not because of political reasons...
He never said they should stay split because of political reasons, but because of natural borders.
@@uIz-slc Of course, that border doesn't actually make sense: the roads around there completely ignore it. I know an old lady who had to cross the state line three times to buy milk
Well political reasons as in we want two extra senators.... not we should fight a treasonous war to keep slavery......
This video is not redrawing the US States based on Geography, but "Redrawing the US States based on how much I like them, random reasons that make no sense and occasionally geography"
This is one of the worst redrawings of the US states that I have ever seen.
Monsieur Z made a much better redraw than this.
right? how in the world did he not fix NY's awkward shape. And why did he let Rhode Island exist still?
imo this video belongs in r/mildlyinfuriating . Dividing some sides of some states by natural borders only for their other side to be a random ass straight line left me feeling incomplete. I want my 11 mins back.
Also, my state of Virginia was screwed over. We already have less population than North Carolina and Georgia. He divides up Virginia while giving North Carolina more land and takes away a little from Georgia. He should have combined Virginia, West Virginia just take away the panhandle, and Maryland.
Judging by what he said at the very end, i kinda feel like these borders were made to be mildly infuriating, so, i think its a job well done in that case.
Yeah, I don't like that Colorado got cut in half and given to Utah... Nobody wants to be part of Utah.
You'll get nothing, and like it.
Agreed, thought this was going to have some logic to it, pretty lame.
Bro im not even american but this is awful
It's just a video for fun
@Tafrara-idir that's not even funny😐
@@average_user7 Its not that bad? Right? It makes more sense and wil tremendously help the people even if it looks bad
@@parvkale it is that bad and no it really doesnt help
@ Having actual geographic borders that follow earth’s natural landforms instead of straight lines is bad?
Bro really said let me draw a random squiggly lines where the borders used to be and say they're somehow improved with absolutely no attention paid to cultural, political and religious differences 🤦🤡
This is like if a victorian emperor was given total control of American borders and gave it the same consideration that they gave Africa & The Mid East
OH MY GOD YESSS
That'd be a Better Title!
1 Million %! Yes, some of the geographic borders are wonky but there's a bunch of reasons and now history for why they are the way they are, so arbitrarily combining, splitting, rearranging borders is absolutely crazy and would cause a ton of chaos and expense to sort out.
😠 You're forgetting that American borders were already drawn by colonists to keep the indigenous tribes divided. The Americans who drew our current borders were *not* the natives.
what the fuck is a "victorian emperor"
2:40 You mentioned the Rocky Mountains but not the Cascade Mountain Range that runs through WA, OR, and CA and it creates a real impact in those states: environmentally, physically, politically, culturally.
I agree!!! Washington and Oregon both should be split along the Cascade Ridge into east and west, and the SW corner of Oregon should be joined to the NW corner of California.
Bro said mountain ranges but forgot the sierra Nevada range
I was just making the same reply. Eastern Oregon and Washington should be added to Idaho. It would make a lot more sense from almost any perspective.
People outside the PNW just call that the Rockies.
@@The_One_In_Black No they don't.
Have you been out west? Outside, even? Every time you made a bad decision you impressed me an one-upped yourself just a few seconds later. Never cook again.
Your reasoning for putting north and South Carolina back together is the same reason you keep West Virginia and Virginia separate that makes no sense.
I actually have a bigger problem with Puerto Rico being a state. It has nothing culturally in common with the rest of the country. It shouldn’t even be a territory. It should be its own country or part of Cuba or something.
@@BMWE90HQ what do you think you have in common with native Hawaiians?
@ I never said Hawaii should be a state…
There’s a whole mountain range separating the Virginias. That’s valid. Puerto Rico is valid too. Mariana… eh. The Virgin Islands losing their identity to Puerto Rico would also be problematic.
@@BMWE90HQ You say that like there's a single cultural entity called the US and that's just not the case. There are a lot of Puerto Ricans serving in our military, too, and I would bet they wouldn't agree with your assessment either.
Either way, this was a silly video, but it did highlight the fact that a lot of decisions that affect us all are done for pretty silly reasons, too.
Genuinely the worst state redraw I've ever seen in my life, it's so bad
It's cursed....Utah doesn't even include any of Idaho's mormon territory for some reason
@stevencooper4422 because he's not taking any cultural identities into account, it's purely geographic in nature which is an extremely stupid way of redrawing borders.
I mean you try doing making states purely with social identity
It's going to be actual hell
@@Bigus-Brainus you have no cultural identity 😂😂
@@doubt3430 Monsieur Z actually did a really good job at redrawing borders based off of both geographic and cultural lines
This is worse than when the British drew up all the borders in the Middle East.
Have you ever actually been west of the Mississippi River…?
Well he can't any more now they have his face on wanted posters For violating geography
I dont think he's even been outside, the idea of splitting Eastern states by the Appalachians is insane. Those aren't mountains they're puffed up hills, so famously easy to handle a trail running the length of them is a nice vacation hike.
You should've made Washington DC an entire square as George Washington intended
@@sebbvell3426 no no no the virgins, I mean virginians want to be special
No! Go the other way! Return the parts of DC where people live back to Maryland. That way, they get representation. DC should only be where the government buildings, the museums, and the memorials are.
@@jcarp1776 all federal buildings would be "DC" or "federal territories", with your logic... DC being exempt from state laws is kinda the whole point of a National Capitol. The founding fathers would have made specific buildings in Philadelphia excempt from state law if you had your away. "WE HEREBY DECLARE that the area bounded by the street hereforeout known as 86th street to the north, and 85th Street to the south; the western and Eastern boundries shall be between 32nd and 33rd Avenue, in the building constructed by approx. 3/4 timber and the rest of various composite marerials; This Building shall be placed under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress, and any state(s) otherwise claiming this area as thier own, shall be invalid"
or someother legalese
I often wish Americans had just moved the capital to a west-of-the-mississippi territory in the 1800's, simply so that we don't have to listen to Maryland and Virgina complain about loosing territory (despite the benefits of having the capital. right. there)
Keep DC as only the Capitol Mall and federal buildings and annex the adjacent residential and commercial centers to their adjacent states.
DC cannot be a state because the founders did not want the seat of power to be beholding to a state governor. If it became a state, the Federal district could not still be a state and the only resident would be the President, who could then vote himself the electoral college vote of the District. There was a plan to absorb the city part of DC into either Maryland or Virginia and then leave the Federal district as it is when not voting rights, since the only resident would be the President and his family.
Combining the Carolinas is an atrocity. This is bad. Start over.
So, South Carolina split because it didn't want to marginalize a group and you put them back together?. West Virginia split because they didn't want to marginalize a group and you leave them apart?
If it's all for fun it doesn't really matter but he uses personal beliefs and ideals on how and why it should or shouldn't be devided
@noway6690 To be fair, South Carolina just didn't want to spend the money to marginalize a group of people. They didn't actually care about the natives.
Still pretty stupid to put them back together based on that, though.
@@amrcombs This isn't fun. This is just as useless as watching a video about preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse. Complete waste of time and energy.
he wanted to virtue signal about slavery... pretty cringe.
@@jovetj true
“Lets make the US state borders worse” is a better title
i thought it said that before i clicked it ngl
nah these borders are better
@@vector_7 Much, much Better!
@@vector_7 you wouldn't recognize good borders if they say on your face, following geography is good but not just the most major features, and not over more important aspects of life.
I'm not American but this is respectively worse than any redraw series I have ever seen.
Honestly the west looks worse now
I didn't understand how the western states borders were weird but new England isn't 🤷
@@Coloradoball_gooberia Oregon should have swallowed everything west of the snake, gobbling the lower half of Idaho biased on your logic.
Agreed. All of the straight borders in the west still look unnatural. Dividing the border by watershed west of the continental divide will make a lot more sense geographically.
Those straight borders are because of railroads not for any other reason.
@@LocaChoca and railroads are nightmares for everything and everyone nearby yet modernists insist on their supremacy for some unknown reason. They're awful. Just keep people with staunch opinions 500 miles away from the eastern edge of the rocky mtns. Yuck 🤮 all day all the way
Western New York was so close to finally escaping NYC. 😢
I wish you could have so pa was not singled out to be in ohio
@@TimTomsen-o9h He really should have given East New York to Pennsylvania instead of arbitrarily splitting us up. Don’t worry we hate New York City too so we can find unity through that.
i was hoping so hard for that NYC city state but nope. its still attached to the rest of us 😐
@@TimTomsen-o9h I escaped. And so have millions of others.
@@TimTomsen-o9h It would've made more sense to have west New York and west Pennsylvania be a new state than what was done. Call it Allegheny or something. It's also better than cobbling Pacific Islands to be a state.
Couldn’t even finish this. Combining Carolina’s and splitting Louisiana makes no historical or geographical sense. It would actively make the state boarders so much worse by doing that
this is just... awful
@@brendanforbes8349 😂 It's just for fun, though. Lighten up, Francis.
@@jims3251 Yes it is for fun But I love the comment. It is short but so descriptive. I can just picture a face that looks so confused and shocked. 😳
@@GregDavis-r4f I don't disagree. 😅
I understand your sentiments 😊 as truly the majority of people don't like change. However, I think the intention was to create and uncreate the States based on geography. Anyone can have dreams. Creations and inventions start with a dream. Think about it 🤔
The state whose name means “mountain” now has like 75% fewer of them
this is so bad bro. never cook again
Why isn't Deseret a thing for Utahs boundaries? He even left out the mormon parts of Idaho from Utahs new boundaries lol😅
6:18 "I couldn't bring myself to make Ohio even bigger."
You fool, it's all Ohio and it always has been.
It's all Ohio and we're just living in it 😂
As a Western New Yorker I was actually rooting for him to give our part of the state to Ohio 😂
I wouldn't have put western PA with Ohio, but rather merged it with western NY to make the state of 'Erie'
Why do you hate Georgia?
Cause it’s Georgia
@@Willrocs What did we do?? ;-; I'm sorry
Atlanta just got cut in half, the eastern continental divide literally runs through downtown and midtown
Yeah Bama doubled in size.
@@hillbilly6638 I'm in Bama and do not want any part of Atlanta or its outliers, give it back to Georgia
I’m gonna be honest… I don’t think there was a single good decision made in this video…
fr😭
Honestly the only good decision here is probably Oklahoma taking Texas' hat
except Puerto Rico
@@khan0491 maybe
@@JimmyaKaTheK nah there shouldn't be north and south part of the same states in the first place.
But the rest I do agree with you. You either make boundaries fully geographical or keep it as it is. This guy is doing in betwee.
As a western New Yorker, nothings pissed me off as much as hearing that New York’s borders “should stay as is”. NY probably has the most messed up borders period. First off, let’s get rid of NYC and make it its own district like DC. We don’t want it! Additionally, if we are going to follow the trend of changing borders to run along natural boundaries, then NY’s eastern border, save for maybe Westchester county and south, should be moved to the Hudson River… our current border with Vermont and Massachusetts is 10 miles east of the river for just no apparent reason at all. Additionally, let’s talk about WNY’s southern border with Pennsylvania. Theoretically, that should also follow a river; the Allegheny and Susquehanna rivers cut in and out of the southern tier NY from PA. Now I do believe the historical reasons for the present borders is because of tribal lands but that is basically obsolete nowadays anyways. I really do like this video’s trend of using natural borders but he could have gone more into depth and detail with his research for every state first!
I live in the Hudson Valley, and without NYC New York State would basically be Wisconsin.
that's not fixing, more like destroying lol
Real
Real
@@danieloktovian9523 fr💀🙏
"We have two Dakotas for political reasons and nothing more." Political reasons are all you need. Politics make the country go. Everything is political.
and he kept the 2 virginias, even though they broke up for entirely political reasons
And he's wrong about it too. There are two Dakotas for economic and cultural reasons. The south of Dakota was way more populated and viewed the Northerners as direputable and far too willing to pick fights with the local Indians, they also wanted better control over elected officials since the officials they were assigned at the time were seen as carpetbaggers. The north of Dakota wanted to remain a territory because it was cheaper so far as taxes and more lax so far as law enforcement, not to mention that their population was roughly a third the size of the southern half and the economies of the two half were based on wholly different industries and trade routes.
I would do the same! Besides they would still have the same amount of Electoral Votes, so that was pointless!
@@darkdragon7210 Not really, a combined Dakota would lose two senators and hence two electors.
But why combine them and keep Washington and Oregon apart? Just because they have different names?
Read the wikipedia page of Dakota territory
You are totally wrong @@heirofaniu
There is no way this video isn't ragebait.
How is dividing a state based on political affiliation a crime? The very nature of a border is political difference. Even when a border follows a topographical boundary like a mountain range or a river, the reason that they chose a mountain range or a river to divide two states is strategic. "Those people over there are barbarians, so lets make sure there's a defensive boundary that helps us hold them off in the case of aggression". The political difference precedes the choice for a topographical boundary.
Could have combined at least some of the New England states
Agreed. Vermont and New Hampshire at a minimum. Connecticut and Rhode Island also.
Everything east of the Hudson River should be part of New England.
Agreed; Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire should all combine into the State of New England with Boston as capital.
why? nothing wrong with them
what about putting upper ny into a new england state, the lower and upper already feel disconnected from another, and a city state would be pretty cool lol
worst state redraw proposal of all time
Why did you merge the Carolina’s? The split was before the us as you said. We are so culturally and economically different.
Would've made more sense to to combine South Carolina with the micro Georgia he made
They both have Carolina in the name a sin apparently unforgivable.
@donaldjgumpofficial5754 I agree
@fire_tower Might as well combine New England with the UK 💀
The states' awkward borders just make their human and political geography more fun. Hell, let's cut Montana's plains region off and make "West Dakota".
I would then move to merge the 26 states entirely east of the Mississippi (plus that bit of Louisiana) and call it East Dakota. Then let everyone else complain that Minnesota is interrupting the Dakotas.
And leave out Florida, actually. Living in one political jurisdiction that contains Florida is bad enough. Let's just say that it's south of this Mississippi and doesn't fit into this scheme, or just give it back to Spain or something.
I can already imagine the government of a combined NC and SC only caring about Raleigh, Charlotte, and Durham while the rest of the state doesn't get anything. The Carolinas are split for a reason
PREACH
As a Canadian, I'm going to send this to all my American friends to anger them 😂
HA!
American here from NC, I find this humorous
Anger about something that is realistic and it make sense there is no need to be anger or upset about
Then let me anger you a little. In my plan the US trades Alaska to Canada in exchange for the Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) which are then combined into a single State of New Scotland.
half of your provinces are fucking rectangles nerd
The eastern part of Oregon wants to break from the western part of the state and join up with Idaho for cultural and political reasons.
Most of Minnesota, everything east from Duluth, the cities, and Rochester, wanted to join South Dakota for the same reason.
Geoff, like myself, is a Oregonian. We're well aware. That said, it doesn't make sense. What would make infinitely MORE sense is to instead get Eastern Washington to move to cede from the state, and merge with Eastern Oregon, creating the state of Lincoln, which was what the people and original proposal actually was for the record. They got ignored, and that's how we instead got the current borders. It could have been avoided entirely if the people were listened to and got their wishes granted.
They would have a mid-size city, Spokane, for a capital.
@@scottgrohs5940 More likely the capital for a state of Lincoln would be one of the Tri-Cities, as it'd be more central while still retaining fair size in city and in metro population. Hell, even somewhere like Hermiston, Umatilla or Pendleton could do decently as a small state capital, too. Hermiston and Umatilla have been rapidly expanding and growing, while Pendleton would enable a fair balance between historic town, and space, and they've talked a lot over the years about how to draw more people in for visits, which partially has to do with their EAS contract not getting renewed a few years back, losing commercial air service, at least from PDX. But overall, I'd place the capital in one of the Tri-Cities. Probably Kennewick, as it'd be the most central north to south for the three, and has the history of hosting big events, while also redeveloping a lot of their land within city limits.
Lincoln would also have one other mid-size city in Bend, outside of Spokane, Spokane Valley, Yakima and the Tri-Cities. Redmond is claimed to be Portland's replacement when the tricentennial quake strikes, but uhh... I really doubt that'd work. lol. Plus, there really is no activity there development and redevelopment wise. Bend on the other hand is constantly developing and redeveloping, and growing pretty rapidly.
if i was a senator i would never approve of that
What annoys me is he is ONLY taking geographic factors into account and ignoring everything else like ethnicity, culture, and religion
Not even that, the Cascades are something this guy never heard about before.
He didn't make bad map because even bad maps have good ideas, he was so afraid to get political that he concously made "anti-good" map to not get criticized by people who could dox him, well now he has us who are shitting on him, hope it was worth it.
I can recognize metrosexual numales mapper on how much they don't want to admit reality.
Minnesota has a piece of its state surrounded by Canada. You literally have to drive through Canada to get the local children to school everyday. I'd say there is room for improvement there. Also there is Point Roberts in Washington state. It is almost a suburb of Vancouver. They share Vancouver's water & sewer and fire department. Again, just for the sake of argument, that should be fixed.
Those two came to mind too.
As an Minnesotan that little piece of land Canada can have it
He said he didn't want to touch international borders.
@@cartier2312 lol no one really wants it, even Canada but for the sake of simplicity....
@@kjhuang ya I heard but he also said the Minnesotan border was perfect so I think given that one piece it isn't perfect.
New Mexico casually being unnamed💀
lmao
Cool fact, New Mexico is OLDER than Mexico.
@HarrisonBurgeron-h9m how💀
@@LamborghiniLegends New Mexico was mapped and named by the Spanish all the way back in the 1500's. They called it "Nuevo Mexico" because of the landscape closely resembling "The Mexico Valley" at the heart of the Aztec empire. The name Mexico originally referred to just one valley at the center of the Aztec empire, its presently home to Mexico City. The name Mexico wasnt used to refer to the whole country until the early 1800's.
It's pretty accurate.
what problem is this trying to solve.
Us Georgians got the shot end of the stick ;-;
Also, I'm pretty sure our state capital is no longer in our state (and like 80% of our population) things aren't looking good 👀
Still a really good video
Why move the existing border of GA / AL away from the current border along the Chattahoochee river? Its already a Geographical feature!
As a resident of Atlanta (12 years running), metro Atlanta should not be divided. As a former northerner (rural New York), Georgia has the least dysfunctional government in the deep south (excluding Florida). Absorbing voters from the comparatively backwards state of Alabama would diminish Georgia's electorate. Alabamians are kind people but not particularly educated. While I hate encountering Floridians on the roadways, they do appear to be a good electorate. I wouldn't mind absorbing some of northern Florida like he did for Alabama since Florida's horrible drivers are from the peninsula and not the northern portion. Lastly, since the Appalachian mountains are effectively non-existent in metro Atlanta and points southward, no physical or cultural barrier exists therefore his "continental divided" argument is rendered mute.
Right I’m not gonna be apart of Alabama
State capitol returns to Savannah, as it should've been.
Dakotas actually didn't split simply to give Republicans an advantage. They split for many reasons but a big reasons was railroads running through only through South Dakota and another running only through North Dakota and this caused the two to separate and develop differently with South Dakota gaining much of the population and power and then changing the capital without the Norths consent causing the North to become disenfranchised and wanting it's own political autonomy. So both areas of North and South Dakota asked to be admitted separately and were both granted entry into the Union. So North Dakota was created mainly by the North Dakotans not wanting to be dominated by their more powerful southern half. Also, the landscape was so desolate and large that it was difficult for North Dakota to stay in political contact with the south especially since no railroads connected from North to South but rather only East to West. I don't know where you got this Republicans did it talking point but it's woefully inaccurate, or at least appears to be by what I've learned of it.
All the above, and also that since the Dakotas are distinctly divided east to west, the border between them should be the Missouri. Western Minnesota should really go with them too to round out the population a bit.
That's only one part of the story. At the end of the day, there were various bills introduced to Congress simultaneously on how to divide the Dakota territories. The final decision was 100% motivated by the politics of the time.
@TheSeanathon ummmm...well yeah territory is ALWAYS decided by the politics of the time! But I'm also trying sharing that the population of the Dakotas had the say on dividing the territory. If that advantaged a political party then I'm sure they thought it was even better.
@@danielwatcherofthelord1823 You are *_very_* wrong on two points! First, the decision to split the Dakotas was made via the federal legislative process with the intent of armoring the existing GOP Senate majority into the 20th century. Second, it was tomfoolery by Territory Governor and NH carpetbagger Nehemiah Ordway and corrupt *Northern* interests -- not Southern -- that saw the capital moved from the recently flooded **southern** city of Yankon to the **northern** city of Bismarck. Furthermore, while the capital relocation also was motivated by a desire for a State of North Dakota, it was South Dakota that first submitted a petition for statehood. When told by the feds they could either petition again as one territory or wait until ND has crossed the minimum required population threshhold, they opted to wait. The whole thing was a giant, sloppy, *woeful* mess.
And in, fact, one casualty of all of this is that my home state of New Mexico was denied statehood until 1912. Much of that had to do with anti-Hispanic and anti-Catholic sentiment, but the deciding factor was the expectation that they would send to Democrats to the Senate.
@@TheSeanathon You are correct!
Not merging Connecticut and Rhodes island is wild. Worse than the dakotas
United States, but if it was more Geographically European.
Not at all
@@Chance_Rice ?
Im sorry but this is horrible, and im not just saying that cause my state got shrunk or something, im from new jersey, one of the few untouched states. These borders look absolutely attrcious and pretty much never count for actual cultural differences. To me the only real border changes we should have would probably be making a new state out of upstate new york and just maybe expanding idaho into eastern oregon and washington (but even thats a stretch) both of which he didnt do. In my opinion, the us borders are almost perfect. And of course the worst crime to ever possibly be commited was made here, expanding delaware.
Amen
I live in Upstate New York, and come election time it sucks to have NYC because we’re always blue then. Also NYC literally dictates all of the governor’s concern. Also also, new power grid or new wind farms, guess what, all that power goes to NYC.
Cutting off NYC would be nice, but also would kind of suck if you wanna go there.
@@justinbuddy56The city also gets much of the hydropower from Niagara Falls. The city is a giant leech as far as I am concerned. They are also the reason our taxes are so high up here. People say an upstate NY couldn't survive on its own, but I don't see why not it would still be bigger in population than at least half the other states, would still have several large cities, and would still have the falls and the great lakes which are huge advantages for power production and a natural source of fresh water. And farming. I believe we are second only to Wisconsin in dairy farming.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns can NOT be in the same state
This is the worse geography video I’ve seen, Starting off with north and South Carolina, they are very different from each other. North Carolina has more mountains while South Carolina is more flat. There is no good reason to put them together. Then you have the western US, the borders are to keep states balanced and look more neat. Plus dividing by rivers can mess up cities that live ON the river. Then you have my state; Florida. Florida is THE SUNSHINE STATE for a reason, Florida is meant to have plenty of coastline, no the panhandle isn’t like Alabama at all and by taking that away you also took away our capitol, Tallahassee. I stopped watching the video halfway through because I already know that the rest of it is gonna be worse.
@@BrodzyOnVR Also there are more reasons to why we have two Dakotas then simply more Republican votes. (Also South Dakota has the nickname the Sunshine State before Florida. Just a fun fact!)
tallahassee actually did still make it in Florida, just barely by the new border
@ exactly, it’s barely in there. A capital is meant to be the center area, not part of the border🤦♂️
@@BrodzyOnVR Then explain Trenton NJ, Carson City NV (each on the border with another state), Cheyenne WY and Providence RI
I find it funny that he wants to set borders on natural features and then forgets that the border between Montana and Idaho is already set on the Bitterroot Mountain Range - A NATURAL FEATURE.
Pittsburgh would be in Ohio.
That's unacceptable.
@@shrekdaddy6912 We could never allow actual yinzers to merge forces with Ohio Steelers fan. That collective force of smug would pollute the air enough to suffocate us all.
This video should be called "How to give the Democrat Party a permanent congressional majority forever"
He didn’t think of that or time zones or highways and national parks. This video is just…poor
was about to say that at the start to, but it's honestly so poorly done i don't even think he's politically aware
I don't mind gluing States together, but as long as you're doing that, why not also split more States? New Ohio+Upstate NY could have been split into 2 states. Calfornia could be 2, Texas could be 2-3, Florida could be 2, and so on. It doesn't make sense to me.
Ye aint dividing Texas into parts as far as I'm concerned, but I get the idea.
Overall I think the guy was just a fool overall even for making the video. Its just fools content really
Texas is a big State, population-wise. I don't see why not. It's ridiculous to expect big blue states to happily get sectioned up while leaving big red ones intact. That would clearly read to people as purely partisan special pleading.
As a Missourian who got our Kansas City stolen, doesn't even get a border change, and then gets mocked by, I am mad at this video
call your half missouri city /j
@@djsaidez271 Kansas stole the name from Kansas City
As a Western New Yorker who would still have to be in New York with these changes, I am also mad at this video 😂
@@djsaidez271 There already is a Missouri City. Although it's tiny and 30 minutes away
NC and SC are too culturally distinct to combine.
As a north Carolinian we have perfect borders
Dont dare unite us with those south people
@@ducksongfans As a South Carolinian, I agree. Please don't make us join with the Northerners, they already stole a football team from us, who knows what else they'll steal.
@@ducksongfans As a South carolinian I agree dont unite us with those scum in the north
This guy just proved he has no credibility talking about geography. Not one bit.
Dividing by culture is far more important than dividing by geography.
this video is bad and you should feel bad
idk why but this comment made me slightly chuckle with my mouth
@@arquebusgun Futurama reference
But wait you did geographical features for dividing most states but most of Georgia's border with Alabama is the Chattahoochee River. The Appalachian range is barely noticable in the central and southern part of the state 😂
Came to point out exactly this. The region already has a river dividing it, why "fix" that and also ignore historical context. Alabama used to be part of Georgia before Alabama ever existed.
I know everyone would be angry if this was a serious proposal, but I'm totally willing to sacrifice part of my state if this actually happens. 😊
Please consider doing a video of how the states would look if borders were made out of watersheds.
Are you familiar with John Wesley Powell? He explored the Colorado river and made his own map that he wanted Congress to adopt but they ignored.
That's a great idea
Cameron County in Pennsylvania is designed around part of the Sinnamohoning Creek watershed and is my favorite county in the state.
I assume this is a joke, otherwise your choices are quite confusing and illogical. I realized its just a fun concept, but nothing even made sense. 😂
That's 11+ minutes I'll never get back...What the hell did I just watch?
This is literally just the “fixing tf2s terrible weapons” video, even down to the voice and confidence in the changes
“Balancing Americas Terrible States”
As a Texan you will have about 300 gun maniacs at your door in about 1-2 business hours.
By reading all these comments, it looks like nobody watched until the end
The UP of Michigan is culturally Michiganian. It's not just shape, it's culture that should be considered.
…and physically it has more of a Wisconsin vibe. The Michigan "culture" is more an overlay."
(Born, raised and lived much of my life in the lower Peninsula of Michigan, so I know its vibe - on both sides of the Bay City/St. Johns/Holland line (with Grand Rapids NORTH of it), may I add. And the UP is different from both of them - more in line with northern Wisconsin than with Michigan proper.
Here's a strange idea. How about combining Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island into one big state actually called New England. That would be interesting I think.
alternative title: "how to make everyone angry in America in 11 mins" ☠️
I wonder where you got this idea from
I would merge Delaware with Maryland.
We shall call it Melloware
@@HarrisonBurgeron-h9mI love it!!!!
nope. I’m from DE and I’ve also lived in MD’s Eastern Shore for a while. So, I know how badly they hate being lumped in with Baltimore so I sure wouldn’t want to be either!!! The Delmarva Peninsula is its own little cultural entity so I’m good with just making it ALL DE. That makes sense to me. Then, the rest of Maryland can just change its name to Baltimore/D.C. Suburbs! 😂
@@christinafidance340 At that point its better to just make the whole thing into its own state
@@christinafidance340Let’s just call it Delmarva. I hate lower slower
"It's now ALL Delaware" LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO
im from wilmington still cheered lol
@@HavikkGamez Same! It's time to _RISE UP_
I did this myself back in 1973 on a 30" long piece of shelf paper. Kept it for years, but lost track of it after I got married in the mid-80s. I remember most of it, and will be curious to see if we did anything the same. EDIT: Great video! Lots of fun. And yes, many of my changes from 50 years ago were the same . . . I also merged the Dakotas, I also gave the UP to Wisconsin, I also used THE continental divide for many of my divisions (mainly in the northern half of the Rockies), I also denied the panhandle to Florida, and so on. I didn't like all your changes, but who cares? This is just fun stuff. Probably my favorite video you've ever done. (Oh, and your new smallest state -which really _is_ too small- should actually be called *Mariguama* .)
The lone comment in support of the video. 😄
@@c.w.9501 And, even more ironically, probably my only comment ever approving of one of his videos. I usually complain at length about his videos. So yeah, quite a singular comment, from two perspectives.
I bet most of us in Michigan would rather give up Toledo and keep UP anyday. 😅
Y'all should put Detroit in time out until they start behaving right.😂
The Deschutes River in Oregon would make a good East/West border as this is roughly where you see the sharpest political shift. Going along with your map, this would mean that NE and E Oregon would go elsewhere, such as Idaho. A case could be made for extending this North and including much of E Washington.
Atlanta is bisected by two states as the continental divide runs along the railroad tracks entering the city on the east or following Decatur Street. So we should Fix that, I doubt Metro Atlanta will like to be part of Alabama
and being from Alabama I absolutely do not want Atlanta part of our state, take it back
Also, the Carolinas did not separate because of a war it separated because the colonial capital was newer, which is on the coast of North Carolina in Craven County, which the two biggest cities were Charlestown, which is the modern Charleston and Newburgh. They’re like seven hours apart by car.
Imagine how long it would take on horseback
I enjoyed this thought experiment. I might have chosen different colors in my illustration.
As someone from NY I would like to seperate the adirondacks from the rest of the state
@@neokashe Divide at the 42nd parallel. Upstate has no relation to downstate.
Yeah I'm Canadian, but driving through New York states is like going through like 3+ states
@@johnnyj222 the problem with that is that Millerton, which lies below the 42nd parallel, is more culturally related to Albany than to any place downstate.
This guy knows nothing of terrain’s effects. The states dynamics change at the front range. Not the continental divide
im in western nc where the mountains are, i either get to be in tennessee or in south carolina, hooray
😂😂😂 Geoffffff!!! Omg. We are in Ga, and you just gave part of us to Alabama! 😂 my husband is about to have a stroke. That Georgia Alabama rivalry is REAL, y’all! This was so fun though, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
I got a feeling that americans are not going to like this
Texan here. If you take our panhandle, at least give us Mexico.
We don't want the upper peninsula of Michigan, you can give it to Canada. -Wisconsin
Wasn't there a time when the UP wanted to become its own state called Superior?
No? Okay. We'll keep it. Thanks!
Wisconsin does want the UP
@@commentor3485 Too late. Someone earlier gave it up.
Ya Michigan keeps it
Bro did Michigan dirty😮
fr😭🙏💀
They took Toledo!
Remember that it is not always natural to split down rivers since the same culture usually resides on both sides
Obviously the more elegant and more logical solution would be to simply restore Virginia’s 1609 land claims.
Why yes I do live in Virginia, how did you know?
Fuck it give Louisiana purchase land claims back
Texas is the most iconic state in the union
You can't just get rid of it's panhandle
*its
CNY here, still keeping NYC with us is criminal...lol
The only other ‘natural’ border not discussed is the ‘Highway 81’ split right in the middle of the country. This is essentially where ‘farmland’ stops and ‘ranch land’ begins. And there are different interests for farmers and ranchers.
My suggestion would be to move that split to Highway 83 - it would more accurate for North and South Dakota.
@@darekzaun4427 AGREED.
Please make sure that Isle Royale becomes part of Minnesota.
Oh, and let’s fix your name. Geoff is too contorted and confusing of a spelling. You are now Jeff.
Intro: "I don't like states being split for political reasons not in line with my own ideas! Let's merge them!"
Video: "I like the Virginias being split for political reasons in line with my own ideas! Stay separate and the one on my side take an extra applause!"
Also Intro: "Borders should follow natural lines and not be willingly drawn to include terrritories, exclude territories, or simply because we point on a parallel or meridian where they reach a comfortable size."
Also video: "Baton Rouge and Kansas City are on the wrong side of rivers for my taste. And New York's west is on the wrong side of mountains but Ohio gets too large. Let's draw willingly some awkward borders because I say so! And I'm too lazy to follow rivers in Minnesota. Let's keep them dead straight and I don't like Iowa anyways so my laziness is their fault."
Good job - replaced a mess of willingly drawn lines and shady reasons with a mess of willingly drawn lines and shady reasons.
And by your example, you just proved that you should not be in control of such things. Please don't run for any offices.
My thought is two Dakotas combined, all New English states combined, two Carolinas combined, two Virginias combined. Last but least, Washington combines with Oregon; Kentucky combines with Tennessee to remove the awkward straight line borders.
Why would adjusting borders for political reasons be stupid? The main reason any country adjusts borders is for political reasons. Your reasoning by contrast is completely arbitrary and has zero consideration for the needs of the people in the states.