I love maps

Not much of an editorial on this. This is an overlay of two maps. One is dated 1860 and one 2008. From 1860 we have a map with the dots signifying cotton production in the south. Each dot equals 2,000 bales of cotton produced. The blue and red map is 2008 presidential election results by county. Blue for Obama red for McCain. The correlation is striking. Of course the common denominator is African Americans. I won't go into much discussions but such a visual raises alot of thoughts on America, it's history, it's future, on how the past effects the present. Even if one takes away the moral implications this is very interesting. The map is courtesy of the fine work over at strange maps.

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/330-from-pickin-cotton-to-pickin-presidents/

After I came across the map above I went looking for the soda vs. pop map. This is a map that I became aware of about 10 years ago. I have always been fascinated by this discussion. I remember having these discussions back in college. This is after all one of the first times that people from around the country mix together and start sharing experiences and mix and mingling culture and their own regionalisms. I actually become aware of this difference much younger. I remember driving about an hour away to my Grandmas house and all my cousins would refer to it as pop, while I had always asked for soda. Sure enough upon examining this map updated last in 2003 I can identify my home county and my Grandma's county and the difference is noted.





It is kind of hard not to notice the regionalism of the soda map. There is a bit of a correlation between the regions marked by these soda vs. pop and voting in Presidential elections. It appears all the above tends to speak to a bit of regionalism that exist in America today.










This last map is of leading church organizations or bodies in the United States. Again a distinct pattern of regionalism persist. Most notably the southeastern portion of the country appears to be most consistent.