I've created a map that reorganizes the USA around my percieved cultural regions.
In this new USA, there are only 17 states. Except for the New England states, Minnesota, and the Dakotas, all states have been divided in some way.
The new state of Deseret probably has the strongest cultural cohesion. It was tricky to do the Midwest, since I'm not very familiar with that region. For example: where does St. Louis fit in? It's certainly not in the same cultural category as Kansas City, but is it more influenced by Midwestern or Southern culture? I considered puttin it in Delta but I decided it was much more of a Louisville- and to have Houston and St. Louis in the same category would be a little ridiculous.
Arizona is another state I'm not totally sure of. Southern California would probably be distinct enough to merit its own state, but then again, Orange County and San Diego seem like they would have a lot in common with Las Vegas and Phoenix. It would probably be better to roughly divide down the middle, making a different state out of most of the old New Mexico, down through the Big Bend region, and encompassing most of eastern Arizona, including Tucson.
So here's an updated map:
I can think of no real reason why this would be a good idea, but it's kind of fun to play with. It would probably actually be a total disaster to add the other collapsing rust belt economies to Michigan, and the clump all the impoverished Mississippi delta regions together, not to mention adding all of Nevada and Idaho's Mormons to Utah.
Suggestions?
3 comentaris:
I guess it all depends on what your goal is. If you're aiming for political stability, I would agree that Greater Michigan and Delta are going to be pretty fucked. I envision bad things for Lower Midwest, too, because it lies between those two unfortunate areas. I think Georgia and Texas are going to dominate -- and who wants that?
I like this, because balkanization of the US is one of my favorite fantasy scenarios. In fact, I talk about it so much that it gets on Alex's nerves. If I send you my version of the map, will you post it (along with my explanations)?
Finally, if you want an academic's view on this (although very dated), and if you haven't already came across it, you should look up the Nine Nations of North America
Yes, please do send me that. I will post it, although you could probably just as easily do so on your blog.
We should discuss this in a non-internet forum at some point.
I would say that St. Louis is more influenced by southern culture. Since I know someone whose parents live in southern IL and being there (and in St. Louis) sometimes feels very similar to being in good ole AR. But I don't know too much about all of this SO I'm not sure.
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