00:00Why are so many U.S. states split in two?
00:02You've got two Carolinas, two Virginias, and two Dakotas.
00:05So what's the reason behind all these divisions?
00:07For two of these cases, the answer is pretty straightforward.
00:10Both North and South Carolina were once part of a single British territory called Carolina
00:15and mutually agreed to split, mainly because of their differing economic focuses.
00:19Similarly, North and South Dakota were once part of the larger Dakota Territory
00:24and divided for the simple reason that two states meant more representation in Congress than one.
00:28But when it comes to why Virginia and West Virginia are two different states,
00:32the answer is a little more interesting.
00:34You see, instead of a territory being carved up,
00:37this split came from West Virginia forcefully breaking away from Virginia.
00:40To understand why, we need to go back to the early 1860s,
00:43when at the start of the Civil War,
00:45Virginia left the Union to join the Confederate states of the South.
00:48However, many people in the northwestern part of the state were still loyal to the Union,
00:52so they severed ties with the rest of Virginia and were admitted as a brand new state.
00:56And because they had always shared a history with Virginia,
00:59they decided to keep the same name.
Comments