Next comes the Midwest, the farm and factory heartland between the Appalachians and the Rockies.
Key idea
The Midwest has twelve states. The East North Central states are Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, around the Great Lakes. The West North Central states are Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, on the plains.
Why it works
Why are so many Midwestern borders straight lines? Much of this land was surveyed in a grid of squares before most settlers arrived, so lawmakers drew borders along lines of latitude and longitude. Where a river was handy, they used it: the Mississippi separates Iowa and Missouri from Illinois and Wisconsin.
- Michigan is the mitten, with its upper peninsula above it.
- Ohio, Indiana and Illinois line up west of Pennsylvania, south of the Great Lakes.
- Minnesota is at the top, next to Lake Superior and Canada.
- Iowa sits above Missouri, between the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers.
- The Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas stack from north to south on the Great Plains.
Worked example: Stack the plains states
From north to south, which four states line up in a column on the Great Plains?
- Start at the Canadian border: North Dakota.
- Below it: South Dakota.
- Below that: Nebraska, then Kansas.
Answer: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas.
Common mistake
Iowa and Missouri get switched, and so do Nebraska and Kansas. Two checks: Missouri is south of Iowa (Missouri touches Arkansas), and Kansas is directly south of Nebraska (Kansas touches Oklahoma). Nebraska has a notch cut out of its southwest corner; Kansas is a near-rectangle with a bite out of its northeast corner, where the Missouri River runs.