When early settlers traveled west they hit the Rockies and decided that was as far as they felt like going in horse and buggy, so they called it “the West” even though it was fully within the east half of the continent.
Believe me, you are not the first person to be bothered by the fact that, from east to west, the four regions of the US are “east coast”, “Midwest”, “central”, and “west”
It’s interesting to see some out of Pennsylvania identifying themselves as Midwest, but having driven up I-79 there’s definitely a portion of northwest Pennsylvania that geographically feels “Midwest” to me. In fact I think I could argue (and anger many people in the process) that Buffalo, NY is a Midwest city geographically based on its proximity to Lake Erie. I’d never considered it before, but it feels like regions of US states touching a Great Lake automatically makes them part of the Midwest, except for Lake Ontario for some reason. Maybe it’s the proximity of the mountains in New York.
Close:
ah yes the north east, perfect for the “mid west” descriptor
When early settlers traveled west they hit the Rockies and decided that was as far as they felt like going in horse and buggy, so they called it “the West” even though it was fully within the east half of the continent.
Believe me, you are not the first person to be bothered by the fact that, from east to west, the four regions of the US are “east coast”, “Midwest”, “central”, and “west”
Worse, the old old West was the Appalachians.
The new world is sometimes referred to as the west and that is the middle of the continent so I guess by that logic No Mexico would be the Mid-West
the actual answer is because the area pictured was west of the original colonies but I didn’t want to ruin my joke
the actual actual answer is that people east of the mississippi river haven’t looked at a map since 1803.
It’s interesting to see some out of Pennsylvania identifying themselves as Midwest, but having driven up I-79 there’s definitely a portion of northwest Pennsylvania that geographically feels “Midwest” to me. In fact I think I could argue (and anger many people in the process) that Buffalo, NY is a Midwest city geographically based on its proximity to Lake Erie. I’d never considered it before, but it feels like regions of US states touching a Great Lake automatically makes them part of the Midwest, except for Lake Ontario for some reason. Maybe it’s the proximity of the mountains in New York.
Pittsburgh is an amalgamation of East Coast and Midwest.
The idea 3% of Minnesota and Iowa thinks they aren’t midwest is funny to me.
So then what are Idaho and Montana (and Utah)? Great Basin is the closest I can think of and I’m pretty sure Montana isn’t totally in it.
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