2010 Geographic Events in Review

2010’s Geography in Review

The Netherlands Antilles are no longer.

                1986 Aruba separated from this small sovereign state to become a part of The Netherlands. This last year, Curaçao and Sint Maarten became their own sovereign states while the rest of the islands rejoined The Netherlands. The Netherlands Antilles are, thus, no more.

The 2010 United States Census

            The twenty-third US census took place this last year. The US census has taken place every ten years since 1790. It hired a record number of temporary employees (over 600,000). It cost the US government a record $11 billion dollars to conduct. The result: the US’s total population is 308,745,538.

Sudan

            On January 9, 2011 Sudan will vote to determine whether or not it breaks apart into two separate, sovereign states. Could the civil wars end? or will this create more tension? Can George Clooney really stop the violence?

The 2010 World Cup

            For the first time ever, the World Cup was held in Africa. From the beginning, this year’s World Cup was filled with political and geographical controversy. Never before has a cup held such power and influence on political geographies.

The 2010 Winter Olympics

              There isn't a better border war than that of a Canada/US Hockey game.

2010 Haiti Earthquake

            250,000 dead and piles of rubble a year later. An unfortunate and historic event for Haiti.

Eyjafjallajökull errupts

             Airlines lost trillions of dollars, regular routes were canceled for weeks at a time. Nearly caused the world to stop moving.

Five US states/sessions you've never heard about

1. Deseret
    This state was proposed by the Latter-Day Saints in areas of present day Utah, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Colorado, Wyoming, and Nevada. After fleeing west, Mormons had settled in Salt Lake City. By 1849 there were enough Mormons in the West that they sought statehood. Leaders in the Mormon community quickly attempted to create a state to avoid further persecution by other religions. Brigham Young had a vision that his followers would create a Mormon state. They even drafted their own constitution in 1849.Their General Assembly had three meetings, and the unrecognized state even had people paying taxes to them. After two years of existence, the state died out and Mormon leaders never pressed the issue further.

2. Franklin
    This defunct state claimed the eastern extension of Tennessee. It was very close to being admitted into the United States and fell just two votes shy of gaining recognition. It was created in 1784 and lasted until 1789. This was a unique region which had been given away to Congress by North Carolina after the Revolutionary War; however, North Carolina rescinded their offer and attempted to take back this land. The people of Franklin did not appreciate this and with fervor and revolutionary spirit they sought statehood on their own. When Franklin did not win statehood, they gave independence a try. For a short while they maintained control of their territory as a sovereign nation. However, debt soon loomed over their weak government and they badly needed aid. To avoid dependence on the US or any state, they tried getting loans from Spain, but when that failed as well, North Carolina soon regained control over the region.



3. Rough and Ready
    This region, located around the mining town of Rough and Ready, California, sought independence in 1850. The citizens of this area were disgruntled by the prohibition of alcohol in Nevada County as well as high  taxes. Through a vote at a town meeting the town decided to leave the United States. Several months later, the newly formed nation of Rough and Ready dissolved after July 4th 1850. The reason: people realized that they could no longer celebrate Independence Day as they once had.



4. Winnecone
    In 1967, Winnecone, Wisconsin was unintentionally left off of a road atlas. The townspeople believed that this was an attempt to damage the economy in Winnecone. A commission was established and the town soon set up road blocks, toll booths, and began annexing lands surrounding the village. They even declared war on the state of Wisconsin. Once it was public that the village had created a new, unrecognized state, the Wisconsin governor Warren Knowles, began talks with the state's president and prime minister. An agreement was met and Winnecone rejoined Wisconsin.



5. Scott
     In 1861, the State of Scott was formed in response to Tennessee's decision to leave the United States during the Civil War. Andrew Johnson's efforts to keep Tennessee in the Union inspired the people of Scott County to take action against Tennessee. Scott County's vote to separate from Tennessee won by a larger margin than any other county in Tennessee had while voting to separate from the Union. The state was dissolved after the Civil War and had no prominent role during that time. However, it was not until 1986 that Scott was officially readmitted into the United States. Until 1986, county laws had been in storage and it was discovered that those laws and the constitution of the State of Scott were still valid. A vote was quickly held and Scott County was readmitted into the union over a hundred years later.

Perhaps this is what an MLS fan range map would look like. Interested in any comments about these ranges. I've found that the MLS has a larger proportion of fans who are out of place. These 'irredentas' are fans away from home who have likely started following a team because of a particular player, an ethnic culture associated with the club, lack of a local team, or preference of playing style. I found that USL clubs besides the soon-to-be MLS teams Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps have such small fan bases that they do not deserve a territory. FC Dallas has the smallest territory: they have the fewest fans (poor stadium planning placed their stadium far from their fan base and poor marketing compared to other teams such as Houston have caused this). KC has a large range, but has few dedicated fans. LA does not seem to have a large range, but they have more supporters scattered across all other ranges than any other team. The two Canadian teams have large ranges which compose of their respected halves of their country. Chicago has fans across the midwest into Detroit, but Columbus has many Michigan fans as well due to their feeder programs. Likewise, Chicago may have more territory in Mississippi due to their feeder system and RSL may see a growing range into Arizona due to their newly established youth programs there. Houston and Chivas have soaked up the Hispanic populations in Texas and California. The Northwest is the most highly contested region; many teams within close proximity create a mesh-up of fan bases. There local geographies such as highways, rail lines, natural barriers, and cable providers may greatly influence more detailed patterns than shown above.

Overall, I like to think that this map shows that soccer has large fanbases across the US and that it is not just a regional sport. The MLB has large gaps in their ranges as well. Besides Florida, the MLS has done well to include all populations, all ethnicities, and regions.

MLB regions?

This is a newly discovered map showing the supposed range each MLB team's fan base has. A wonderful blend of great map design, intriguing topics, and legendary rivalries. We often think of boundaries only in the political context, but what happens when we think about sports? I am super curious to see what this map would look like with other sports leagues, both here in the US and elsewhere. What would the NFL look like? What about the English Premier League? What about the premier league on a global scale? I hope the creator of this map makes more.