Cretaceous Coatlines and Modern Voting Patterns Presentation
- 1. Cretaceous coastlines and modern voting patterns
- 2. The Cretaceous Period • 80 million years ago, the Western Interior Seaway was dividing America into two continents, Laramidia (left, west) and Appalachia (right, east) • The coastline was several hundred miles inland compared to where it is now in the American southeast.
- 3. The Cretaceous Period • Through the late Cretaceous, the Western Interior Seaway slowly disappeared as the rocky mountains were forming in Laramidia, causing a drop in sea levels. • The seaway was mostly dried up 65 million years ago, leaving behind traces of coastlines that are very rich in limestone and other sediments good for farming.
- 4. 19th Century • When white settlers came to North America looking for new lives and profits, they looked to the south, where conditions were perfect to grow cotton. • “The Black Belt” as they called it, was a strip of very dark and fertile Blackland prairie dirt that was exactly what they needed to farm cotton. • The curve of the Cretaceous coastline can be seen through Mississippi and Alabama on this map of Blackland prairie dirt.
- 5. 19th Century • Due to this area being very fertile, slave owners flocked to the area to stake their claim on the black belt. • The slave population in the black belt far surpassed the white population • This map shows the density of slaves per county in the South, the same distinct curve of the Black Belt can be seen through Mississippi and Alabama through the Carolinas.
- 6. Modern Day • After the slaves were emancipated, many of them stayed in the same areas where they were originally enslaved. • Therefore, the “black belt” is now known for the large African American population rather than the Blackland prairie dirt that it was once named for. • This map from 2000 shows counties in the south that have a majority African American Population. It, once again, follows the same curved outline where the Cretaceous coastline of Appalachia once was.
- 7. Modern Day • People of color vote overwhelmingly democrat in modern political America. When looking at county-by- county voting maps for any election, the pattern of blue follows the same curved route as the Blackland dirt, slave population, and ancient coastline of Appalachia. • This is how an ancient Cretaceous coastline has affected modern voting patterns in the American South.
- 8. Modern Day