What if Great Britain was to the west of North America, near China and Russia, but every other country remained unchanged? What if the Thirteen Colonies were instead founded on the West Coast because England was across the Pacific Ocean? How might the United States look if that were true?
This may be a very unusual thought, sure, but I asked this question months ago and have been curious about the outcome ever since.
Please understand that while this post is based on actual events in the United States, it is a fictional post that is intended to explore a fun idea and not to teach history.
After contemplating several major US events and each state border, I have reimagined those events and redrawn every state border from west to east along different parallels, meridians, and rivers. If you have any disputes with my theories or conclusions, I encourage you to make your own version, write your theories and redraw the states the way you think they would have formed!
How would the US look if the Colonies started on the West Coast?
In the year 1620, the Pilgrims sailed across the Pacific Ocean and landed in what became the colony of Massachusetts Beach, further north than they had intended.
The final and thirteenth colony of Georgia was established in 1732, the West Coast of North America was occupied by British colonies, with the exception of the Spanish Colony of Mexico to the south.
The Thirteen Colonies won their independence from England and formed the United States; the young nation started to decide what to do with its new territory.
The small island of Alcatraz, D.C. was selected as the capital of the United States. This certainly could not be the site of something infamous in another reality, could it be?
As America formed new states and expanded eastward, trails were formed to bring Americans to the new, eastern land; the Missouri Trail was the most predominant of the routes. The Missouri Trail began in New Hampshire and ended in Missouri Territory, stretching through the Wild East.
With the Kansas Purchase, the United States had acquired a large portion of land from the French; the US now owned a major portion of the East Coast, although, it took the United States too long to reach the East Coast, therefore the opportunity to acquire the Spanish territory of Florida was lost.
Once the United States formed the Mideast states, it had finally reached the end of the desert, crops were finally able to be grown and the importation of food was no longer necessary.
The Civil War brought the division of the Union, the Confederate States saw themselves as separate, but the Union considered them as part of the United States. The United States would eventually win the war and restore the Union.
With the remainder of its territory, the United States admitted its fiftieth state, Arizona; America’s shape was finally and completely formed. The borders of the United States would likely remain this way for many years.
Did you enjoy this alternative perspective of the United States?
Onward American 