You’ve probably stared at a map of the United States and wondered why on earth Maryland looks like a splattered inkblot or why Oklahoma has that weird skinny panhandle reaching out to touch New Mexico. It feels random. It isn't. Every single zig, zag, and straight line on that map is the result of a fistfight, a bad surveying job, or a backroom political deal. This is exactly why how the states got their shapes episodes became such a runaway hit on the History Channel.
The show, hosted by the endlessly energetic Brian Unger, wasn't just about cartography. Maps are boring. People are interesting. Unger realized that if you explain why the border between Tennessee and Kentucky is jagged instead of straight, you’re actually talking about a drunk surveyor or a bribe.
The Origin Story of a Geographic Obsession
It started as a special in 2010. People loved it. Why? Because Americans are obsessed with their local identity. We define ourselves by which side of a line we live on. The History Channel saw the ratings and turned it into a full series that ran for two seasons starting in 2011.
The show was based on Mark Stein’s book, How the States Got Their Shapes. If you haven't read it, you should. Stein did the heavy lifting, digging through archives to find out why Missouri has that "bootheel" (spoiler: a wealthy landowner wanted to stay in Missouri rather than be part of the Arkansas Territory).
The TV show took that academic research and hit the road. Unger would stand in the middle of a street that divided two states and talk to locals. It was brilliant. It made the high-level federal politics of the 1700s and 1800s feel like neighborhood gossip.
What Actually Happens in How the States Got Their Shapes Episodes?
In the first season, the episodes were usually an hour long. They tackled big themes. One episode might look at how water—rivers and Great Lakes—dictated borders. Another might focus on the Mason-Dixon line.
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Take the episode "A River Runs Through It." It dives into the chaos of using moving targets as borders. Rivers shift. When the Mississippi River changed course, it left tiny pockets of land on the "wrong" side of the water. This created legal nightmares. If a crime happens on an island that used to be in Mississippi but is now technically on the Louisiana side of the riverbed, who makes the arrest? The show excelled at highlighting these absurdities.
The Shift to Half-Hour Segments
By season two, the format changed. The episodes got shorter—30 minutes each. They also got more specific. Instead of broad themes, they focused on things like "Church vs. State" or "The Great Plains."
Some purists hated the shorter format. It felt rushed. But it allowed the show to cover more ground. It looked at the weird "notch" in Connecticut. It looked at why West Virginia exists at all (Civil War drama, obviously).
Why the "Mishaps" Episodes are the Best
Honestly, the best moments in the series are when things went wrong. There’s a famous story about the border between Georgia and Tennessee. In the 19th century, surveyors were sent out to mark the 35th parallel. They messed up. They marked it about a mile south of where it should have been.
This sounds like a minor "whoopsie." It wasn't. Because of that mistake, Georgia doesn't have access to the Tennessee River. To this day, Georgia politicians occasionally bring up the "stolen" water rights. They want that border moved. Tennessee, predictably, tells them to kick rocks. How the states got their shapes episodes thrive on these petty, centuries-old grudges.
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Key Episodes You Should Revisit
If you’re looking to binge-watch, don’t just go in order. Start with the ones that have the most friction.
- The Pilot (2010 Special): This is the foundation. It covers the big stuff like the Northwest Ordinance and how Thomas Jefferson wanted the Midwest to look like a series of perfect rectangles. Jefferson loved grids. He hated the chaos of European borders.
- Mormons and Money: This episode explains the "State of Deseret." The Mormons wanted a massive state that included parts of modern-day California and Oregon. The federal government said no, carved it up, and left us with the beehive-shaped Utah we know today.
- The Power of Water: Essential for understanding why the West looks like a bunch of boxes while the East looks like a jigsaw puzzle. In the East, they used landmarks. In the West, they used rulers.
The Reality of Surveying in the 1800s
We take GPS for granted. Back then? You had a compass, a long metal chain, and maybe a bottle of whiskey to keep you warm. It’s a miracle the states look as uniform as they do.
The Mason-Dixon line is the gold standard of surveying from that era. Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were literal rockstars of science. They spent years dragging equipment through the woods to settle a violent border dispute between the Penns and the Baltimores. Their line became more than a border; it became a cultural divide between North and South.
The show does a great job of explaining that borders aren't just lines on a map. They are scars. They represent where two groups of people couldn't agree and eventually gave up.
Dealing With Modern Geographic Myths
One thing the show corrects is the idea that these shapes are permanent or "correct." They aren't.
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- The Panhandle Myth: Many people think Oklahoma's panhandle was a mistake. It wasn't. It was a result of the Missouri Compromise and Texas wanting to keep its slaves. Since slavery was banned north of the 36°30' parallel, Texas gave up that strip of land to stay "legal" under the compromise.
- The Michigan/Ohio War: Ever wonder why Michigan has the Upper Peninsula? It’s a consolation prize. Michigan and Ohio almost went to war over a tiny strip of land called the Toledo Strip. Ohio won Toledo. Michigan got the UP as a "sorry about that" gift from the government. At the time, Michigan thought they got scammed. Then they found the copper and iron ore. Who’s laughing now?
How to Watch the Series Now
Finding these episodes can be a bit of a hunt depending on your streaming subscriptions.
The History Channel usually keeps them in their vault, but they pop up on platforms like Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, or the History Vault app. Some episodes are available for individual purchase on YouTube.
If you’re a teacher or a homeschool parent, these are gold. It’s one of the few educational shows that doesn't feel like a lecture. It feels like a road trip with a guy who knows way too many facts about fences.
The Legacy of the Show
How the states got their shapes episodes changed how we look at our own backyards. It moved geography out of the "boring school subject" category and into "political thriller" territory.
It reminds us that the United States is an experiment. It’s a collection of jagged pieces forced to fit together. When you see the border of Delaware—which is a perfect arc based on a 12-mile circle drawn around a courthouse in New Castle—you realize how much of our world is built on the whims of dead men.
The show ended years ago, but the maps haven't changed. The grudges haven't either. As long as Georgia wants Tennessee's water and Michigan fans hate Ohio State, these stories will be relevant.
Next Steps for Map Enthusiasts:
- Audit Your Own State: Look up the "Four Corners" monument. It’s the only place in the U.S. where four states meet. Research shows the monument is actually about 1,800 feet east of where it was legally intended to be, but the Supreme Court ruled that the physical markers are the border, even if they are wrong.
- Check the US Census Bureau TIGER files: If you're a data nerd, you can download the actual shapefiles used for modern maps and see the microscopic "offsets" in state lines that the TV show discusses.
- Read "How the States Got Their Shapes" by Mark Stein: The show is great for visuals, but the book contains the granular, gritty details about the Congressional debates that the TV format had to cut for time.
- Explore Google Earth: Zoom in on the border between Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee near the Mississippi River. You’ll find the "Kentucky Bend," a piece of Kentucky completely detached from the rest of the state, surrounded by Missouri and Tennessee. It’s a geographic glitch caused by the New Madrid earthquakes of 1812.