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Great Lakes: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin
Great Plains: Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas
Minnesota has it's foot in both the Lakes and the Plains, realistically. There are parts of Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia that would be pretty aligned with the Great Lakes, and parts of Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, and Montana that would align with the Great Plains.
The Mississippi is a pretty good cultural divider and a general line from where the industrial, more heavily forested, and "Rust Belt" part of the Midwest gives ground to the less industrial, flat expanses of crop and rangeland (I realize parts of Illinois absolutely feel like west of the river). I think people in each area tend to think of where they're from as the real Midwest, too, and there's a world of difference between Kansas and Ohio, but both are considered Midwest by the government.
To me Mideast or Middle-east is taken for common usage. We all know where it refers to. Seems to me it would be the least politically correct term to use in a renaming.
For one any renaming could start with the US Census that seems to set these boundaries.
Just a search of US regions under maps gains you PLENTY o US region divisions used .... even By different US Government agencies.
Maybe this map would work for you? Throwing Ohio into the East. But the Eastern Time Zone also includes Indiana. But for the far Northwest portion that is in Chicagoland metro as in the Central zone.
Just uses the terms --Eastern - Southern - Central - Western. Pretty simple then......
I believe Evansville is also in Central timezone. I think calling Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan the "mid-east" would be a better term. But I think it's obvious why that wouldn't work. Maybe "Interior North East" would work? I realize that term is often used to describe regions of Pennsylvania and upstate New York, but oh well.
I really do think that it should be two regions. The Great Lakes and the Great Plains. I would say the Great Lakes and Great Plain really do differ from each other and feel like two different regions.
I really do think that it should be two regions. The Great Lakes and the Great Plains. I would say the Great Lakes and Great Plain really do differ from each other and feel like two different regions.
Of course the Great Lakes is split between the Midwest and the North East as a region that is based upon a geological feature and not a culturally based region. Lake Ontario and Lake Erie border Pa and NY. Buffalo NY is nothing like the towns further west in Mi and Wi. The Western Great Lakes is what we are talking about here when discussing the Lakes as being part of the Midwest region. Most of that region is already differentiated from the rest of the Midwest by calling it the Upper Midwest. The Great Lakes as a region is much like Appalachia where it is so large that it is part of two cultural regions.
I just have a major issue with calling Ohio the mid-west. It's entirely in the eastern time zone and it's driving distance from the Atlantic. How is that "west" anything?
If you want to get technical, Lebanon, Kansas, is probably the most mid-west of the Midwest states. It's within a couple of miles of the exact geographical center of the U.S. It's about 2,000 miles from East Coast and 2,000 miles from the West Coast. You can't get more middle-America/Middle West than that. The largest cities near it are Omaha and Kansas City.
Of course the Great Lakes is split between the Midwest and the North East as a region that is based upon a geological feature and not a culturally based region. Lake Ontario and Lake Erie border Pa and NY. Buffalo NY is nothing like the towns further west in Mi and Wi. The Western Great Lakes is what we are talking about here when discussing the Lakes as being part of the Midwest region. Most of that region is already differentiated from the rest of the Midwest by calling it the Upper Midwest. The Great Lakes as a region is much like Appalachia where it is so large that it is part of two cultural regions.
Lots of people from Western New York migrated to Michigan back in the day. Those two are a lot more interconnected than most people think. Buffalo and Cleveland also have a degree of connection as well. The Great Lakes region is pretty vast, so there should be an East-West split between them, but I also have to acknowledge the whole debate on whether or not Buffalo is a culturally Northeast or a Great Lakes/Midwest city.
I'm also curious about the Southern Ontario connections and relationship between WNY and Michigan as well. Obviously being in a different country would have an effect on that.
Lots of people from Western New York migrated to Michigan back in the day. Those two are a lot more interconnected than most people think. Buffalo and Cleveland also have a degree of connection as well. The Great Lakes region is pretty vast, so there should be an East-West split between them, but I also have to acknowledge the whole debate on whether or not Buffalo is a culturally Northeast or a Great Lakes/Midwest city.
I'm also curious about the Southern Ontario connections and relationship between WNY and Michigan as well. Obviously being in a different country would have an effect on that.
Much of the upper Midwest and the interior northeast have that historical connection you speak of. In the 19tg century tens of thousands of yankee settlers helped to settle the states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. This was however 175 plus years ago. A lot of much larger groups have settled in the Midwest since then such as Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians as well as many people from the southern US during the 20th century. These groups are the ones who have made the modern Midwest what it is. The earlier Northeast people have long been culturally overwhelmed. However if you look at the place names in the Midwest you often find place names from New York or New England as evidence of who the early settlers were.
Great Lakes: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin
Great Plains: Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas
Minnesota has it's foot in both the Lakes and the Plains, realistically. There are parts of Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia that would be pretty aligned with the Great Lakes, and parts of Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, and Montana that would align with the Great Plains.
The Mississippi is a pretty good cultural divider and a general line from where the industrial, more heavily forested, and "Rust Belt" part of the Midwest gives ground to the less industrial, flat expanses of crop and rangeland (I realize parts of Illinois absolutely feel like west of the river). I think people in each area tend to think of where they're from as the real Midwest, too, and there's a world of difference between Kansas and Ohio, but both are considered Midwest by the government.
To my way of thinking, I consider the Great Lakes states to be the “real Midwest” and view the Great Plains as a separate region.
Thus I would include the five states east of Mississippi that you did:OH, MI, IN, IL, and WI. West of the Mississippi, I see things differently from you. I give Minnesota full Midwest staus to your half representation. MN is dominated by rhe Twin Cities and both Mpls and St Paul are partially east of the river.
Also, the tier of states that go from MN to LA are climatically far more akin to the adjacent states east of the river, particularly in terms of percipitation.
The next tier of states to the west, the Great Plains, have a far drier climate than the MN to LA tier and the states east of the Mississippi. Only their far eastern parts where Omaha and KCKS lie have the humid type of climate.
So you can see how I am comfortable with all of Minnesota inclued. In the Midwest. But I’m also comfortable with one more state added and it isn’t even on the Great Lakes. That would be your state, Iowa. Missouri to the south doesn’t get the nod from me because culturally, as a former slave state, it doesn’t belong.
So for me (and probably no one else), I confer Midwest status to only seven states, the original footprint of the Big Ten Conference: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa.
I see Iowa having more in common with Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Kansas than any place east of the river, culturally. Missouri outside of the Ozarks is in the same boat. Minnesota is definitely a "split" state. Everything west of 35 and south/west of 94 is Plains.
It's not as dry as the western parts of those places, but the look and feel of the towns, the rural areas, and what drives the economies has far more in common. They all lack major metropolitan areas and are absolutely dominated by grain and livestock production. None of them were driven by manufacturing the way the eastern Midwest was, and there's very little Rust Belt feel (with the exception of some of the towns along the Mississippi - which are more akin to points east).
Iowa was more of an outlier in the Big 10 than Iowa State was in the Big 8 (Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado), IMO.
The federal government also places most of Iowa and a large chunk of Minnesota in the great plains. And everyone knows on City Data that this the end all be all (I'm being very sarcastic there).
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But the Eastern Time Zone also includes Indiana. But for the far Northwest portion that is in Chicagoland metro as in the Central zone.
