How Slavery Expanded Across the United States

By the 1860s, the U.S. had an economic system that kept nearly 4 million people in bondage. Interestingly, a Coast Survey map created and compiled from the 1860 census depicted the percentage of the population enslaved in each county. Abraham Lincoln consulted it throughout the Civil War.

1861 Coast Survey Map

Wikimedia Commons

Slave labor was integral to the plantation economy of the south and of course cotton was one of its main products
.

The slave population  grew in intensity in places around the Chesapeake Bay, even as slavery was gradually abolished in the North. But for the most part the slave population spread westward to the lands opened for settlement by the Louisiana Purchase, the dispossession of the Indian nations of the Southeast, the war with Mexico, and the distribution of public lands. Slavery spread rather than grew because it was an agricultural rather than industrial form of capitalism, so it needed new lands.

The unceasing spread of slavery provoked political crises, eventually leading to the Civil War. As Abraham Lincoln put it in is 1858 "House Divided" speech:

"Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South."

Sources and Further Info

• These Maps Reveal How Slavery Expanded Across the United States (Smithsonian)
• The Spread of U.S. Slavery, 1790–1860
  (This is an amazing interactive map)
• Historical Maps - Slavery

The Deadly Geography of Landslides

Between 2004 and 2010, 2,620 landslides killed a total of 32,322 people worldwide. Rain-driven landslides have killed at least 20,000 since 2007.

As might be expected, the most susceptible parts of the planet for landslides are regions of high altitude, including the Alps, the Andes, and the Himalayas.

The extreme inequality of landslides

The lack of quality infrastructure and the impact of mass deforestation in Africa is also especially noticeable, given that the continent saw seven per cent of recorded landslide-related deaths occur during this time period.

Human Activity

A new study by researchers at UK's Sheffield University revealed for the first time that landslides resulting from human activity have increased over time. 

"We were aware that humans are placing increasing pressure on their local environment, but it was surprising to find clear trends within the database that fatal landslides triggered by construction, illegal hillcutting and illegal mining were increasing globally during the period of 2004 and 2016," says Melanie Froude, a postdoctoral researcher at Sheffield's Department of Geography and lead author of the study.

While the trend is global, Asia is the most affected continent: "All countries in the top 10 for fatal landslide triggered by human activity are located in Asia," says Froude. The number 1 country is India, which accounts for 20% of these events. It is also the country where human-triggered fatal landslides are increasing at the highest rate, followed by Pakistan, Myanmar and the Philippines.

Further Info

• The Deadly Geography of Landslides (Interactive Map)
• The extreme inequality of landslides
• Landslides triggered by human activity on the rise.

Watch a Year's Worth of Carbon Dioxide Billow Around the Globe

This NASA visualization tracks 365 days of the planet's CO2 emissions. Called a "Nature Run," the visualization was created by a climate modeling program at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The video covers January 1st to December 31, 2006, and it clearly shows that much of the world's CO2 comes from the heavily populated northern hemisphere. Periodically, the southern half of the world flares up, because of seasonal forest fires in central Africa, for example.

Further Details

  Article >

Regional Powerhouses Driving the U.S. Economy

The concept of mega-regions dates back to 1957, when the economic geographer Jean Gottman coined the term “megalopolis” to describe the emerging economic hub that stretched from Boston to D.C. More than just a collection of cities or one giant city, a mega-region is greater than the sum of its parts.

U.S. East Coast at night

U.S. Mega-Region Population

U.S. Mega-Regions

Bos-Wash stretches from Boston through New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore to Washington, D.C., a total of 500 miles. If Bos-Wash were a separate country, it would be the fourth largest economy in the world, behind only the U.S., China, and Japan and ahead of Germany.

Chi-Pitts extends north and west from Pittsburgh through Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Its economy is just a bit smaller than the United Kingdom’s, about the same size as Brazil’s, and bigger than all of Russia’s – equivalent to the world’s seventh largest nation.

Char-lanta, includes Atlanta, Georgia; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Birmingham, Alabama. Its economy is bigger that South Korea’s, placing it among the world’s fifteen largest economies.

So-Cal runs from L.A. through San Diego and spills into Tijuana, Mexico. Its economy is bigger than all of Mexico’s and just a bit smaller than Spain’s, also putting it among the world’s fifteen largest economies.

So-Flo includes Miami, Orlando and Tampa. It's economic output, makes it about the same size as the Netherlands or Turkey, and would therefore rank among the world’s twenty largest economies.

Nor-Cal includes 14 metros surrounding San Francisco Bay. It ranks among the world’s twenty largest economies.

Tor-Buff-Chester stretches north from Buffalo and Rochester, taking in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal in Canada. It generates output of nearly $600 billion, more than Sweden, placing it among the world’s 25 largest economies.

Dal-Austin encompasses Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, Texas. It produces more than $700 billion in economic output, more than Sweden or oil-rich Saudi Arabia. It also would rank among the 25 biggest economies in the world.

Hou-Orleans stretches from Houston through Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans. It produces more than $750 billion in economic output, about the same as the Netherlands, placing it among the world’s 25 largest economies.

The Cascadia mega-region stretches up from Portland, Oregon through Seattle and into Vancouver, Canada.  It generates economic output of about $600 billion, comparable to Switzerland, also placing it among the world’s top 25 nations.

The Phoenix-Tucson region's economic output is just slightly less than Hong Kong. This makes it one of the fifty largest economies in the world.

The Denver-Boulder region's economic output is more than Finland, Greece or Ireland. If it were a nation, it would also rank among the world’s 50 largest economies.

Condensed from this Article >>

The Northwest Angle (who knew?)!

This is interesting... Who knew about this little chunk of land and lake? Although part of the United States, it is only accessible by land through Canada!

In 1783, Britain and the U.S. agreed on the new border based on a map maker's error about the source of the Mississippi River, which was used to help draw the boundary.
Details on the Wikipedia page >>

Article >>

Google Map >>

Cleopatra’s Alexandria

Alexandria was founded around 332 BC by Alexander the Great. It became an important center of Hellenistic civilization and remained the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt and Roman and Byzantine Egypt for almost 1,000 years, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 641.

Alexandria was best known for

• the Lighthouse of Alexandria (Pharos), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; 
• its Great Library (the largest in the ancient world; and 
• the Necropolis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages.

Alexandria was at one time the second most powerful city of the ancient Mediterranean region, after Rome.

Alexandria Today

Sunken Treasure

In 1998 a French archeologist, Franck Goddio found the remains of the ancient city and Cleopatra’s spectacular palace at the lost, sunken island of Antirhodos.

Why was Cleopatra’s palace submerged?

Scientists believe a few centuries after Cleopatra’s reign (1400 years ago) there was a terrible earthquake and a huge tsunami in Egypt, which hit the coast of Alexandria. It is this natural disaster, they believe, which resulted in the island of Antirhodos sinking with the, once great, royal harbor, palace and lighthouse.

Further Info

• Alexandria (Wikipedia)
• Underwater Heritage in Alexandria: The Lost Palace of Cleopatra
• How Alexandria laid foundations for the modern world

Black Drink - Ilex vomitoria

Long before Europeans arrived, Native Americans made a caffeinated beverage, known as the Black Drink, from toasted leaves of the yaupon holly plant.  The drink was typically used in rituals promoting purity, peace and friendship. The leaves were traded with tribes outside the plant's natural range. It was offered to former enemies during peacemaking ceremonies.  While the recipe can vary between tribes, the full formula was not given to outsiders.

Native American Black Drink - Preparation/Ceremony

It is speculated that the black drink may have contained emetic herbs in addition to yaupon leaves, since rituals often, but not always, included vomiting.  Although the scientific name for yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria, refers to vomiting, the leaves do not cause vomiting.

Yaupon Holly

Ilex vomitoria - The plant is the only known indigenous plant to North America that contained caffeine.The Latin name comes from an incorrect belief by Europeans that the plant caused vomiting in certain ceremonies.

Ilex vomitoria - Yaupon Holly

Cassina or yaupon tea

After European contact with tribes in what is today the Southeastern United States, colonists began using the charred leaves of the yaupon holly to make a tea similar to the black drink, but without the ritual of vomiting.

During the Civil War, yaupon tea was used as a substitute for coffee and tea throughout the South.

Further Info

• Black Drink (Wikipedia)
• Ilex vomitoria (Wikipedia)
• The Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries
• Cherokee Heritage - Black Drink (PDF)
• Ancient Beverage Promotes Purity, Peace and Friendship (YouTube Video)
• Black Drink: A Native American Tea (Book - Amazon)