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”
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.