The US Explained

Among the swamps and bayous, marshes and forests, that sit at the mouth of one of the largest river systems on earth, sits a state unlike any other. It’s a cultural melting pot, sitting in the Deep South, home to one of the largest Black populations in the country, and more culturally connected to and shaped by France than any other state in the US. Its culture, history, geography, and society is vastly different from anywhere else in the country, and a world away from even its neighbors, it occupies an outsized role in the American imagination. This is Episode 19 - Louisiana.

Ohio. It sits between the Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley, where the Midwest, with its flat expanses of farmland meets Appalachia, home to rolling hills, forests, and valleys. One of the largest Amish populations in the country sits in a state famed for its industrial prowess, manufacturing, and business. Major cities sit not far from farms, forests, lakes, and islands. It's home to a huge population and has played an important role in the US throughout history and today. This is Episode 18 - Ohio.

Tennessee. There, black bears roam in the high peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains, paddle wheel steamboats chug up the wide, muddy, winding Mississippi, and in between sit small southern towns and a number of major cities, some growing incredibly quickly, that have had a major influence on American music. It's home to beautiful natural scenery, exciting cities, and played an important role in the country’s history. This is Episode 17 - Tennessee.

It’s part Appalachian, part Southern, and has Midwestern influences. Farms and pastures where some of the world’s top racehorses are trained sit in the same state as bustling port cities on the Ohio River and Appalachian coal mining towns that are among the most impoverished parts of the country. It’s the birthplace of bluegrass and bourbon, and stretches for hundreds of miles from the mountains to the Mississippi. This is Episode 16 - Kentucky

It’s one of the most rural and least populated parts of the country. Covered in forests and mountains, filled with lakes and islands, Vermont is renowned for its scenery and splendor. It’s a land of small farms and towns, tucked into tiny valleys and along the shores of Lake Champlain, a place where covered bridges cross small creeks and rivers, and syrup is harvested from maple trees. Its history, politics, and culture stand out starkly from much of the US and it’s one of just a few states to have been an independent country before joining the union. This is Episode 15 - Vermont.

Within this small chunk of the United States, a piece of land that could fit inside Rhode Island 17 times over, live nearly 700,000 people, more than the entire populations of Vermont or Wyoming. The history of the country has been shaped inside its halls and buildings, and on its streets and parks, and from this tiny district, decisions have been made that have impacted people across the globe. This is Episode 14 - DC.

If there’s one thing you know about Rhode Island, it’s probably that it is very, very small. In fact, 622 different counties, nearly one fifth of all the counties in the United States, take up more land than Rhode Island. The state at its length is 48 miles. That’s barely more than the average American commute to work. Despite this, the state packs a large punch. It’s the second most densely populated state in the country, has hundreds of miles of coastline, and is home to more people than seven other states, including Alaska, a state with an area 400 times the size of it. Revolving around the 39th largest urban area in the country, which takes up nearly half of its land area, it’s one the closest things the US has, other than the District of Columbia, to a city-state. And on top of that all, it’s played a crucial role in the formation and history of the United States. This is Episode 13 - Rhode Island.

It’s hard to characterize North Carolina. It’s a southern state, home to regional barbecue sauces, a bluegrass and country blues tradition, and the NASCAR Hall of Fame. At the same time, it contains vast regional differences, stretching from the mountains in the west to the swamps and islands in the east, with millions of people living in between. It’s home to beautiful scenery, a diverse population, and is a center of banking, education and research that brings in people from around the country and the world. With its spectacular geography, important history and culture, and the major role it plays in the modern United States, this is Episode 12 - North Carolina.

Throughout US history, the country has been dominated by an urbanized string of cities stretching along the coast of the Northeastern United States. Home to a stunning 52 million people, an enormous chunk of the US population, the Megalopolis, as it’s referred to, has guided and exerted influence over much of American culture, history, politics and business for centuries, and likely will continue to do so as long as it remains the country’s urban core. At the center of this string of humanity sits New York City, far and away the largest urban area in the United States, and one of the most populous and famous on Earth. Outside America’s megacity, the rest of the state of New York, often overlooked for the highly influential metropolis downstate, contains vast and nearly uninhabited mountain wilderness, beautiful lakes and islands, canals and waterfalls, forests and farms, small towns and important industrial cities. Today only three states surpass New York in population, and whether any do in terms of sheer influence is up for debate. With its skyscraper-studded megacity, a global center of business, immigration, entertainment, and culture, and a large, beautiful upstate stretching from Lake Erie to Lake Champlain, this is episode 11 - New York.

Virginia. It’s where the North meets the South. It’s home to the wealthiest part of the United States - leafy suburbs of the nation’s capital where business is booming - as well as struggling coal mining towns in the hills and mountains of Appalachia. Tobacco is still grown in much of the state, on farmland where enslaved people once toiled and Civil War soldiers fought. You can still visit the site of the first permanent English colony in the mainland of the Americas, and find families who have lived in the state for hundreds of years, some descendants of the wealthy owners of slave plantations who dominated early American society and made up 7 of the first 12 US presidents. Home to beautiful mountain scenery, a large population, beach towns that draw millions of tourists, a major military presence, and a central role in US history, this is Episode 10 - Virginia