Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 11:00 AM EDT
How the States Got Their Shapes
Look at a map of the USA, and every state tells a story. Oklahoma’s panhandle tells a tale of slavery. Missouri’s boot-heel hitch into Arkansas is the footprint of a real earthquake and one man’s dream.
Texas and California are huge for a reason. There’s a tale in West Virginia’s unicorn horn.
State boundaries may look like a crazy jigsaw — random, or rigged, or arbitrarily straight and narrow. But there’s a reason every time. And some wild stories out there.
This hour, On Point: We’re having fun with history, and how the states got their shapes.
- Tom Ashbrook
Guests:
Mark Stein, author of “How the States Got Their Shapes.”
Tags: geography, maps, U.S. history
