The United Stats of America - 6 Facts About America You Won’t Believe (But Must)

Apr 26

Since moving to the United States, I’ve learned a ridiculous number of facts and figures about the country. In addition to spouting them off on my award-losing YouTube channel, some of these facts seem absolutely ripe for the blog format that got Lost in the Pond started.

Here are six wild stats, facts, and/or figures—plucked from the top of my head—about the United States of America.

1. You Say Longitude, I say Latitude

It’s already pretty well understood that if you travel due west from Britain, the only US state you’d encounter is Alaska; remarkably though, the same is also true if you travel due north. Let’s say you set off from London along the Prime Meridian Line and keep going until you reach the North Pole; your journey needn’t end there.

Should you continue the route along what is known as the 180th meridian - basically the Prime Meridian Line but on the other side of Earth - you’d eventually arrive at one of the far flung Islands off Alaska. Be sure to bring a boat.

2. No Wonder Americans Have Beef

Nine states have more cows than people. And it’s exactly the nine states you think it is: Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.

3. The Biggest of Apples

Since the very first US Census was compiled in 1790, only one American city has ever ranked number one in the category of most populous: New York City.

Data from the inaugural census shows that the city had more people (all 33,000 of them) than any other US city at that time. It has remained the biggest of apples in every single census since (try saying that after four tequilas), with the city now home to more than eight million.

*New York City in 1768, when its population was roughly comparable to present-day Munster, Indiana.*

Three-Fifths Died on The Fourth

Among Americans, there exists a well-known piece of historical trivia: The second and third US presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both died on July 4, 1826—precisely fifty years after America established Independence from the British.

However, few seem to acknowledge the startling fact that a third president died on that date just five years later. James Monroe—himself a founding father—succumbed to heart failure on July 4, 1831. This meant that three of the first five US Presidents died on America’s Independence Day, despite no president doing so since.

*James Monroe was the first president in history to sleep with someone called Monroe—but allegedly not the last.*

Maps Are Harder Than I Thought

Los Angeles is further east than Reno, Nevada. Due to this revelation, I can no longer rely on my brain for anything.

*My brain thinks Los Angeles is entirely east of Nevada, but compared to Reno, it’s practically on the east coast.*

The Great American Interchange

Until several million years ago, possums were nowhere to be found on the land comprising present day United States. In fact, their habitat was confined to what is now South America, which at one point was cut off from its northern counterpart by… water.

That’s right; North and South America were once two unconnected land masses, owing to the absence of the Isthmus of Panama. Following its formation, however, animals from both continents began migrating to the other, in what is known today as the Great American Interchange. Possums were among them, and to this day, they remain the only marsupial in the United States.