You ever looked at Oklahoma and think , huh ? What ’s up with that long flimsy act sitting on top of Texas like that ?
Or Maryland , the state that ’s essentially broken in two pieces – what materialize there ? Why does Florida go so far west despite mostly being subject matter as America ’s wang , and why does Alaska have that silly little bit of Canada include in its bound ?
These weird extension phone of states – the sparse flake that jut out from the main territory – are called panhandle , for reasons which are fairly obvious if you look at Oklahoma on a map . There are nine in sum – and each one has a uncanny and often somewhat ridiculous story behind it .
What a workable solution!AnonymousUnknown author, from an original in Scribner’s Historical Atlas, published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, engraved by William & Alexander Keith Johnston., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Inter-state scuffles: Connecticut, Maryland
Some of the US ’s panhandle go right smart , way back . Connecticut ’s weird niggling hyper - expensive rectangle , for example , originates from 1662 , when “ King Charles II grant Connecticut all the land border on the east by Narragansett Bay , on the Frederick North by the Massachusetts Colony , on the Dixieland by Long Island Sound , and on the Benjamin West by , as had become the tradition , thePacific Ocean , ” explained Mark Stein in his 2012 bookHow The country get Their embodiment .
There was just one problem with that : the existence of New York . If you ’re not aware , the Empire State is one of , oh , lets say “ several ” states that sit in between Connecticut and the West Coast , and they were n’t particularly happy at being told they were technically just West Connecticut .
To that end , “ The two colony commission a boundary survey in 1683 , ” Stein wrote . “ The problem was provide New York with the agreed upon 20 - mile [ 32 - kilometer ] soften east of the Hudson while at the same time preserving for Connecticut its town of Greenwich and Stamford . The solution deform out to be a panhandle . ”
East and West Florida in 1810, before the US owned it - legally or otherwise.William Robert Shepherd,CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Maryland ’s panhandle is almost as old , and owes its being to a uproariously older - timey serial of misunderstandings . The province’soriginal 1632 charterdefined its southerly boundaries mostly by way of the Potomac River – which would be o.k. , except that “ at the time [ … ] no one knew exactly where the western scope of the Potomac were , ” Stein explained .
It would n’t have been so bad , had Maryland not been near - constantly feuding with Pennsylvania over where the border between the two states should be . Eventually , a via media was reached , leaving Maryland with its precariously attached panhandle .
“ The mishap - prone Lord Baltimore agree to a northern perimeter 15 miles [ 24 kilometers ] south of Philadelphia , ” Stein wrote . “ The point in western Maryland where the state almost breaks in two is the upshot of the Potomac menstruate in a northern discharge that well-nigh touch that relocated border . ”
The original proposed border of Jefferson Territory. Ish.Traselu,CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, modified by IFLScience
Treaties and Tussles: Texas, Florida, Alaska
England was n’t the only European country laying title to the Americas back in the day . At least two state – Texas and Florida – owe their strange physique to the Adams - Onís Treaty of 1819 , which formally define the boundary between the US and New Spain .
Technically , the treaty was only in full issue for 183 24-hour interval , but its influence can be seen to this mean solar day : the treaty “ specified that the US / Spanish boundary keep westwards along the Red River to 100 ° W longitude , at which point it change by reversal due magnetic north to the Arkansas River , ” explained Stein . “ Today , what remains of this furrow due Second Earl of Guilford is the eastern edge of the Texas panhandle . ”
This was also the treaty that ceded Florida to the US – though the curious material body of the state ’s panhandle is actually due more to difference than to delicacy . When Spain first establishedLa Florida , it was huge – as one of the first major European land claim in the Americas , there fundamentally was n’t anybody else to gainsay the bound they chose .
But of course , that did n’t last , and before long both Gallic and English colony were knocking on Florida ’s door – if not kick back it down and move right on in . The origination of Georgiaset a limiton how far north Florida could extend , while French Louisiana enclose it on the west with the Mississippi River .
Florida ’s panhandle today is even small than even that , though – and that ’s because of a short thing called the War of 1812 . “ Spain , no longer the military ability it had been , ally itself to British interest , ” Stein wrote . “ In reaction , the United States take this opportunity to gain dandy access to the Gulf and ascendence of both banks of the Mississippi by seizing two tracts of Spanish Florida . ”
“ When the Mississippi Territory was divided to make the states of Alabama and Mississippi , this ground that had been Florida was dissever and became the tab at the bottom of Alabama and Mississippi . ”
Alaska ’s panhandle – that tiny bit that sneaks down into Canada ’s mainland – is similarly the result of some international compromising . magnificently Russian before it was American , Alaska ab initio reach out as far south as the 51st parallel – virtually as far down as Vancouver .
Or , at least , that ’s what the Russians claimed . The UK and US were n’t so certain they wanted the Russians having such a large dry land claim right on their doorstep , and so , less than a decade after 1812 , they put their differences away and team up to counter - arrogate the district .
In the end , they won – mostly . Russia asseverate a claim to a strip along the coastline , take form the farsighted discharge of Alaska ’s southern molding .
Alaska , initially , had been seized by the Russian - American company – “ a fur trading corporation function under a charter from the czar , ” Stein excuse . The reason they wanted that lovely long spark along the bottom of the dependency was the presence of the barrier islands contained within : they “ create good harbors for ships and sportfishing gravy holder , ” Stein wrote , “ and those snug harbor are what the Russians most want . ”
Brazen theft: Nebraska
Last on the current list is Nebraska , whose chunky expanse to the Mae West scarce seems to weigh as a panhandle when put next to states like Oklahoma or Maryland . In fact , given the size of it and configuration of both Nebraska and the states surrounding it , you could be forgive for thinking its irregular shape is less of a “ panhandle ” and more “ did Colorado like , eat a corner of your state ? ”
If youwereto ask Nebraska if that were the case , by the way , the solvent would in reality be , “ yeah , basically . ” In 1858 , gold was discovered in what ’s now Colorado , and – as is traditionally the grammatical case – tens of thousands of prospectors teem into the orbit looking to cash in in . Technically , most of the land was Kansas Territory back then , but Kansas wasa little in use at the timetrying to resolve whether thraldom was spoiled or not .
What ’s a state - sized universe of prospectors to do ? In best Yosemite Sam way , they staged a soil grab , create the Territory of Jefferson in 1859 and declare its border to be between the 42nd and thirty-fifth parallels north to Dixie , and the 109th and 102nd meridians west to east .
While Congress eventually lopped a bit off of the top and bottom of the ensue region , they were o.k. with its horizontal boundary – even though they technically overlapped with the south - west street corner of Nebraska .
Rather than push a bunch of rowdy gold diggers on it , though , Nebraska gave the land up quietly : “ Nebraskans sleep with that gold mines were not a corner of chocolates , ” Stein wrote . “ The civilisation of those in the minelaying community was quite unlike from that of the early , agricultural colonist . And the vast number of minelaying mass who flooded into these regions imperil the established might bodily structure . ”
“ It was thought to be dependable , perhaps , that they have their own territory . ”
