How a coastline 100 million years ago influences elections

[origami_itto]

https://starkeycomics.com/2021/06/11/ho ... n-alabama/

How a coastline 100 million years ago influences modern election results in Alabama
Posted on 11/06/2021by Ryan Starkey

If (like me) you enjoy looking at maps, you might sometimes wonder why a map looks a the way it does. The events leading to a certain demographic being more common here, or a border being drawn there, can often be very complex, and fascinating.
Here I’ve gathered 6 maps of the US state of Alabama. Together, these maps tell a story that links a coastline from the time of the dinosaurs, to modern political demographics, via one of the darkest periods of American history.



Map 1 shows us the Cretaceous sediments of Alabama. These sediments are rocks and minerals laid down along the swampy southern coast of the continent of Appalachia, which existed around 100 million years ago. North America had not yet formed at this time.

Map 2 shows the location of Blackland Prairie soil. This soil is known for its high fertility, as a result of the nutrients deposited during the Cretaceous period.

Map 3 shows us modern farm sizes in Alabama. The largest farms (shown in red) can be found in areas with the most fertile soil. This shows us how economically important Blackland Prairie soil is.

Map 4 shows slave populations according to the 1860 census. At that time, enslaved people accounted for 45% of the state’s population. Only 3% of the state population was made up of free Black citizens. In the darkest regions of the map, enslaved people accounted for over 80% of the population. Enslaved people mainly worked on cotton plantations, and these plantations were most common in the areas with the most fertile soil.

Map 5 shows us the modern Black population of Alabama. The darkest red areas show more than 44% of the population of the region is Black. Despite the 150 years between these maps, these is still a close correlation between the historic slave populations, and the modern Black populations.

And finally map 6 shows us the results of the 2020 election. Areas with large Black populations are much more likely to vote for the Democratic party (shown in blue). This trend continues to the east and west of Alabama, along the so called “Black Belt” of the southern USA, and along the buried coastline of the Cretaceous continent of Appalachia.

When we look at maps and data about the modern world, it’s easy to forget that everything about our world has been dictated and shaped by the events of history, and prehistory. From ancient continents to terrible atrocities, our world is a product of its past, and understanding that past can be key to helping us better understand the present.

-Starkey

[yeniseri]

Environment (climate, terrain, with what may be called "social milieu'/social engineering') does influence demographics on many levels!
Why did Northern Europeans (Swedes. FInns, etc) prefer Minnesota as opposed to Florida or Mississippi? This is not to say that some do not
live in the latter but the former does show a majority migrated to the cold North. Same would apply to the Basques (Spain/France) settling in Nevada
as their new homeland based on their lifestyle opportunities and the terrain/climate for their sheep/cattle background.

As in a Venn diagram, there is overlap and even strokes of fortune along with societal initiatives that calls for intersection of values and abilities
on the part of those within the hierarchy keeping in mind that in the south, the 'slaves' were the captured tools of labour meaning lesser to no choices
per environment, legal /illegal restraint and lack of inequity before the laws of the state.

[origami_itto]

It also brings to mind, for me at least, the idea of the mandate of heaven being associated with the behavior of the Yellow River.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/mandat ... facts.html

In the movie excalibur they use the line "The land and the king are one" and as King Arthur's health falls and rises, so does the kingdom he rules. That goes hand in hand with a lot of the cultural prohibitions and proscriptions and rationalizations documents in "The Golden Bough".

We are a product of our environment which is a product of our activity.

Letting the untethered donkey of my thought wander a little further...

An Australian recently told me that their parents would get hostile and scold them if they called it "Peanut Butter" instead of "Peanut Paste".

Apparently in part of Australia the dairy farmers were not going to let them call something butter unless it was made from milk, so anything produced to be sold in that area had to be labeled "Peanut Paste". This stuck for many years until manufacturers finally complained enough about the cost of producing multiple labels for the same product.

But how did it get from business interests not liking something to housewives scolding their children for getting the corporate messaging wrong.

I don't know for sure, but I imagine something like our various industry ad campaigns in the states, get celebrities and cute kids to pose for pictures enjoying the product with a catchy slogan. Seeing as it's Australia it was probably something like "A dingo will eat your baby and I'll smack you in the mouth if you call it peanut butter" and the rest is history.

Anyhow, I gotta go eat my steak cheese and bacon burger and wash it down with a nice cold gallon of milk.

For my health.