US Population Density over Time

Mavric

Mavric

Yoda
Staff member
Pretty cool graphics in this article

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So cool.  Amazing to me how slowly FL and some of the other southern coasts were populated - I would have thought they would have been shipping ports early on. 

 
For a long time, we have heard about the population shift from the north to the south since the invention of air conditioning.  

I had to watch it several times to catch it.  It's clear that the gulf coast, Georgia, Carolinas and Florida really fill in more from about the 60s on.

I wish the map had more clear state borders so you can see each state more.

 
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Cool graphic. I was expecting the west coast to take off slightly before 49 but I guess the gold Rush precipitated all of that. Will have to watch a few more times and see what trends and dates correspond.

 
That bottom map really shows that Lincoln is on the very edge of the Midwest, and it's a pretty abrupt shift to sparsely-populated West after that. 

 
BigRedBuster said:
For a long time, we have heard about the population shift from the north to the south since the invention of air conditioning.  

I had to watch it several times to catch it.  It's clear that the gulf coast, Georgia, Carolinas and Florida really fill in more from about the 60s on.
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So basically Nebraska football can no longer compete because of air conditioning :lol:

 
A couple more interesting things I’ve noticed after watching it a few more times.

Note how the westward movement totally avoids Oklahoma, to the point you can pick out the outline of the state. I assume this has something to do with being known as Indian lands or something to that effect. Also I thought it a little strange how Tucson and extreme southern Arizona became noticeably more heavily populated sooner than the Phoenix area. I can see Tucson proper having some people but I wouldn’t have guessed it would’ve, even now, filled in south of there right to the border. Figured that would be some brutal and desolate country there.

 
And here is the answer ... I kinda feel like my schooling paid off a bit on this one!  Homesteading in OK started in 1889.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rush_of_1889

edit:  and it you look at the original source article:  

As you might notice in the animation, there is one anomaly that appears in the late-1800s: the area around modern-day Oklahoma is colored in, but the state itself is an “empty gap” on the map.

The reason for this? The area was originally designated as Indian Territory – land reserved for the forced re-settlement of Native Americans. However, in 1889, the land was opened up to a massive land rush, and approximately 50,000 pioneers lined up to grab a piece of the two million acres (8,000 km²) opened for settlement.

While settlers flocking to Oklahoma is one specific event that ties into this animation, really the map shows the history of a much broader land rush in general: Manifest Destiny.

You can see pioneers landing in Louisiana in the early 1800s, the first settlements in California and Oregon, and the gradual filling up of the states in the middle of the country. 

By the mid-20th century, the distribution of the population starts to resemble that of modern America.
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I had no idea that's what that was about!   Didn't see it - should I?  I really dislike him.  

 
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