# Your geographical misconceptions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 30, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294 "2020-12-30T20:58:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 34
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/662 "2021-03-03T00:47:42Z")
nm … ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/663 "2021-03-03T02:01:10Z")
I laughed! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/664 "2021-03-03T03:06:47Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > That little strip on the New Mexico/Oklahoma border - nuh-uh! That’s going in line with the Texas/New Mexico border. Better yet, deal with that long skinny tab of western Oklahoma, by following the Red River farther west. Amarillo Oklahoma. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/665 "2021-03-03T03:33:29Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Point Roberts, WA? You mean Point Roberts, BC, amiright? I’m so intrigued by that, but I cannot get anyone that I’m with to stop there… not even on a drive from Seattle to Vancouver. Oh, and “that shit hole called Indiana”? The shithole part is the northernmost ten miles. Southern Indiana is green with rolling hills, basically Kentucky. So take the crappy part (yeah, I’m lookin’ at you, Elkhart!) …wait, wouldn’t continuing the MI/OH border west to Lake Michigan fix that? Move it a titch south and Michigan gets both Elkhart and South Bend! Make “Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana…” another suburb of Chicago and Indiana’s improved 1000%. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/666 "2021-03-03T03:48:15Z")
The original northern border for Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois was to be a line just tangent to the southernmost part of Lake Michigan. So Michigan would have had Toledo and Wisconsin would have had both Chicago and the UP of Michigan though its borders weren’t then set so they’d probably have cut it some in the west. Look up the Toledo War. > **[Toledo War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > The Toledo War (1835–36), also known as the Michigan–Ohio War or the Ohio–Michigan War, was a boundary dispute between the U.S. state of Ohio and the adjoining territory of Michigan over what is now known as the Toledo Strip. Control of the mouth of the Maumee River and the inland shipping opportunities it represented, and the good farmland to the west were seen by both parties as valuable economic assets. > Poor geographical understanding of the... ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/667 "2021-03-03T04:07:43Z")
Hey, Idaho? We’re going to remove most of that northern extension of yours. We’ll just continue the northern border of Oregon and draw a line straight east to the Montana border. Everything north of that line now belongs to Montana. ---
**Author:** ![pabstist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e99b99/32.png) [@pabstist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pabstist)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/668 "2021-03-03T04:25:23Z")
My wife, a HS English teacher, taught a lesson & had students do a project on literature in early New England. I walked by her room one day and saw the projects hanging up, and apparently she thought New England was the 13 colonies, not the 6 north east states. And yet, not one student or faculty mentioned this to her! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/669 "2021-03-03T05:16:08Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Hey, Idaho? We’re going to remove most of that northern extension of yours. We’ll just continue the northern border of Oregon and draw a line straight east to the Montana border. Everything north of that line now belongs to Montana. No, that will not do. Every now and then, Idaho does something (e.g., banning Polygamy Ale but not Five Wives Vodka) to remind us why the state is shaped like a toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/670 "2021-03-03T07:05:45Z")
Lovin’ all the (well, actually isn’t) gerrymandering, here. Yeah, Point Roberts has always bothered me. Alaska’s panhandle always looked stupid with that panhandle so BC might as well tack it on to make that area look less cartigraphically goofy. Annoying that Labrador can’t just be referred to as Labrador, and Newfoudland referred to just as Newfoundland, but no, you have to fucking call it Newfoundland and Labrador, which is more a descriptor beef, I spose, but I was just looking at a map, and how they’re ‘connected’. I’m ok with the Can-US 49th parallel, especially that it didn’t continue westward, which would have cut off the southern tip of Vancouver Island, which could have been the most frightening thing imaginable. San Marino bothers me too but that’s a whole, other… When I found out, too recently for my ego, that the Philippines was located relatively close to China (when I had earlier thought it was way, waaaaay closer to beside New Zealand) my world view was shattered, and didn’t help my Pacificphobia at all. Occasonally I might get a bit dozy on where Tjan Island is located again. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/671 "2021-03-03T13:28:04Z")
Let’s not neaten borders up, let’s keep our borders interesting for us geography geeks. I loved visiting Point Roberts, and want to visit Kentucky Bend, Northwest Angle, Kaskaskia IL, Campobello island, Carter Lake. But those are really only interesting because of their geographical oddness. Straighten all that out, and it’s boring. And Colorado can’t be made a rectangle anyway, not on the surface of a sphere. So why bother trying? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/672 "2021-03-03T13:39:53Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Annoying that Labrador can’t just be referred to as Labrador, and Newfoudland referred to just as Newfoundland, but no, you have to fucking call it Newfoundland and Labrador, which is more a descriptor beef, I spose, but I was just looking at a map, and how they’re ‘connected’. You can call the region of Labrador by that name, and the island of Newfoundland by that name. But if you’re referring ot the Province, then it’s “Newfoundland and Labrador.” ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/673 "2021-03-03T13:58:53Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > And Colorado can’t be made a rectangle anyway, not on the surface of a sphere. So why bother trying So it’s a _spherical rectangle_. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/674 "2021-03-03T16:26:12Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Hey, Idaho? We’re going to remove most of that northern extension of yours. We’ll just continue the northern border of Oregon and draw a line straight east to the Montana border. Everything north of that line now belongs to Montana. Correction, everything north of that line (and west of the current MT/ID border) should belong to Washington. Coeur d’Alene is practically a suburb for Spokane. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/675 "2021-03-03T16:27:31Z")
The Yankee-Pennamite War > **[Pennamite–Yankee War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennamite%E2%80%93Yankee_War)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Pennamite–Yankee Wars or Yankee–Pennamite Wars were a series of conflicts consisting of the First Pennamite War (1769–1770), the Second Pennamite War (1774), and the Third Pennamite War (1784), in which the Wyoming Valley along the North Branch of the Susquehanna River was disputed between settlers from Connecticut (Yankees) and Pennsylvania (Pennamites). > Claims on the Wyoming Valley were disputed from the start. The Dutch regarded the Susque... ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/676 "2021-03-03T19:36:08Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > So it’s a _spherical rectangle_ . which will still look incorrect when portrayed on a flat map. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/677 "2021-03-03T20:05:36Z")
You want interesting? Then let’s give Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and the Dakotas to Canada (Hell, give them to Mexico!) in exchange for Vancouver Island and a strip of coastline so Alaska is actually connected to the rest of the US. Or Baja in the case of a swap with Mexico. Can’t do much about Hawai’i, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/678 "2021-03-03T21:08:23Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Let’s not neaten borders up, let’s keep our borders interesting for us geography geeks. I loved visiting Point Roberts, and want to visit Kentucky Bend, Northwest Angle, Kaskaskia IL, Campobello island, Carter Lake. Campobello Island is not US territory. It is part of New Brunswick. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/679 "2021-03-03T21:09:49Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Campobello Island is not US territory. It is part of New Brunswick. Yeah, I know but it’s interesting geographically because you can only drive to it from the US, not from Canada. If we got it from Canada, it loses that interesting feature. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/680 "2021-03-03T22:54:09Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > interesting feature. Well, yeah, if we institute the _cleaning up borders initiative_, we lose a lot of interesting features. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/681 "2021-03-03T23:27:33Z")
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