Project - Re-Imagining the United States

[ceiiinosssttuu]

Very cool map.

One quick question: Some of the new states don't have state names, just capitols. Is there a reason for that? I specifically noticed it in the central states where Topeka, Colombia and Galesburg are the capitols, though other areas had this omission as well. (I live in Kansas and so naturally checked here immediately to see what you did to my home. No real qualms with your divisions, they make perfect sense, but I was just curious on the names.)

Also, though this would take more work, but it would be really cool to take this map and overlay it with a terrain map and then redraw some of the boundaries to match up more closely with mountain ranges and streams/rivers. Specifically I'm thinking out west where you still end up with a bunch of long straight lines.

The reason is I just couldn't think of a good name - I would encourage ideas. When I have received lots of feedback and made any pertinent corrections, I would love to make a "nice" looking map with terrain. You think the Eastern Kansas/Western Missouri area makes sense? Any other areas in that region that should be changed?

[Christopher Powell]

Yeah, that area made sense to me. I would point out that both Missouri and Kansas are based on tribal names, so, you could stick with those for those regions. Perhaps not coincidentally, the two areas of those states that you have not named roughly coincide with where those tribes lived. So the Topeka state could still be called Kansas (or Kansa) and the Colombia area could still be called Missouri.

Also, the area around Chicago and Green Bay was settled by the Potawatomi, so that could be a name instead of West Michigan. The Galesburg state could possibly be called Illinois since it is named after the native tribe the Illini, though, I'm not sure if their natural territory actually overlaps with what you have here.