From The Daily Mail:
Colorado is most rectangular state in the union, with all four of its borders being perfectly straight, according to the results of the 2012 Gallup-Healthways State-border-straightness Index released on Wednesday. For the 123rd year running, Wyoming was declared the squarest state.
West Virginia has the wiggliest borders, all of which follow rivers, contour lines or other natural features. Straight borders were found across most of the states west of the Mississippi River, with the Deep South states sharing one long straight border to separate them from the more civilized states in the north east and New England.
The national border-straightness index is 86.2 per cent. It was 83.1 per cent prior to Hawaii being granted statehood in 1959, since when the rate has remained constant.
Key:
Pale yellow = rectangular
Dark green = wiggly borders
That went well
14 hours ago
6 comments:
Utah and Wyoming - to the west and north of Colorado - also seem to have fairly straight borders. It is the advantage of just drawing lines on maps instead of following rivers and hills.
G, yes, Wyoming is the squarest state, the article said that.
I suppose there is a bitter dispute between Utah and Wyoming over that little rectangle which Utah would need to defeat Colorado in the rectangularness stakes and wipe out Wyoming's 123 year unbeaten run as the squarest.
Hawaii?
BR, Hawaii doesn't have borders, it has shores. Those shores were not decided by an official drawing lines on a map.
Both Colorado and Wyoming are supposed to have four straight boarders defined by lines of longitude and lines of latitude. It should be noted, however, that A) lines of longitude are not truly perpendicular to lines of latitude, resulting in an approximately 21 mile longer south boarder on Colorado than its north border; and B) the states' actual borders are defined by the surveyed monument markers, which are not precise, and the errors of the surveyors can be easily seen in jogs along the border, most notably the border of Colorado and Utah just southeast of La Sal, Utah.
SAS, excellent points. But I said Colorado was the 'most' rectangular state, not that it is perfectly rectangular, which is pretty much impossible for the reasons you give.
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