this post was submitted on 07 May 2024
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As a Wisconsinite, I've always been confused why it's considered "midwest". Wisconsin is in the eastern half of the US, and at the very top. Should be called the "midnorth"
Well America used to be just a handful of colonies along the eastern seaboard, but then there was the whole manifest destiny thing. Going west meant heading out to the new frontier. Midwesterners are people who gave up midway.
"Midwest" was once called "West". Like, Ohio was "The West", with "The West" meaning anything west the coastal plain.
Then people went even further west, but they still wanted to call the west of the past "West" so they called it "Middle West".
You kind of see the same thing in Asia. To Europe, Jerusalem was in "The East". Heck, even Constantinople was in "The East?" Then people saw just how much East there was. So... Middle East?
Officially, no it wasn't. Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and 1/2 of Minnesota were originally part of the Northwest Territory, named such due to it's position with with respects to the Ohio River. This territory was gained from Great Britain in the peace treaty that ended the Revolutionary War.
The culture of the Northwest Territory tended to just follow the rest of the country westwards as more states were added to the union, until we get to where we are today.