How Most U.S. Cities Are Insanely Well Located

Use code KNOWLEDGE in the link below to get 60% off of Incogni: incogni.com/knowledge
▶ In this video I talk about the location choices for the establishment of cities in the United States of America. Discussing the key points related to the locations and success of major cities in the United States, having their locations usually chosen based on factors such as freshwater supply, suitable terrain for food production, strategic location, and access to resources. And then highlighting some specific cities: Chicago a portage point between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, making it a crucial transportation hub. New York City: a natural harbor and port, particularly with the construction of the Erie Canal. New Orleans: the mouth of the Mississippi River, enabling close trade connections with various regions. San Francisco: The discovery of gold in nearby Sierra Nevada led to a rapid population increase and the city's success, despite natural disasters. Jacksonville: at the mouth of the St. Johns River. Los Angeles: the discovery of oil, access to freshwater through an aqueduct, a busy container port, and the growth of the film industry. Houston: Its proximity to Trinity Bay, the discovery of oil and NASA facilities further fueled its growth. Dallas: succeeded through factors like favorable tax laws, travel, tourism, and artificial lakes to address water supply issues. And Anchorage: at the confluence of rivers, deep waters for shipping, and access to the Matanuska valley contributed to its growth, especially with the discovery of gold.
▶ TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
00:50 How Location Choices Are Made
03:08 Understanding Location Choices
03:22 Chicago, Illinois
06:09 New York City, New York
07:51 New Orleans, Lousiana
09:27 San Francisco, California
10:55 Jacksonville, Florida
12:04 Los Angeles, California
13:14 Houston, Texas
14:24 Dallas, Texas
15:04 Anchorage, Alaska
16:04 Summary
▶ Support me on Patreon & get exclusive / ahead of time content! / generalknowledge
▶ Follow me on Twitter: / gkonyoutube
▶ Join the Discord Server: / discord
▶ Business Contact: [e-mail]
▶ Thanks for watching, remember to subscribe to catch future videos!

[@General.Knowledge]

*Which is your favorite city in the US?*

[@landonscott3277]

Pittsburgh

[@Thegamerxd2021]

Washington DC

[@uhyead6846]

st.paul

[@Epic_Egg]

Las Vegas

[@Random.American.]

San Antonio

[@markmh835]

The fact that the "film industry" is based in Los Angeles is NOT "circumstantial," as you said. (In comparison to the space industry/NASA being in Houston, which IS purely circumstantial due to Lyndon Johnson being president AND from Texas AND wanting NASA to put Mission Control in Houston; he made it happen.) Within 100 miles of Los Angeles in every direction is virtually every kind of terrain and habitat imaginable, making it the perfect place to locate a movie industry which must film outdoor scenes in all sorts of settings. Since you could find all sorts of outdooe settings within a close drive to L.A., it was ideal for movie studios to keep costs down. No other U.S. city can claim this.

[@seand9089]

No it's because LA gets the most sunshine. The film industry used to be based on Chicago before it moved to LA and Chicago is totally flat geographically 😂

[@General.Knowledge]

This is a great point! Thanks for the correction.

[@parkmannate4154]

​@@seand9089Its both really. Great natural light plus great locations plus a third factor plenty of space to build studios and cheap energy with all the oil in the area.

[@pllatypusmeamo2388]

Houston and florida housing nasa isn't entirely coincidental. The closer a space port is to the equator the more it can take advantage of earth's rotational speed which reduces fuel usage and texas and florida are two of the southernmost states.

[@jameswolf133]

And it was almost as far from Edison and his patent lawyers in New Jersey as possible.

[@tabletgenesis3439]

*Most countries:* The lands near this river are fertile for agriculture, feeding the population, and obviously there's water in the river. Enemies will struggle to efficiently cross this river, saving at least half the city. *Mexico:* There's an eagle holding a snake in its mouth on top of a catcus.

[@dominikr8428]

Poland: there's an eagle's nest

[@danmur2797]

People sneer at this, but there's quite a lot of symbolism in this. It may not be apparent today why it mattered they chose that spot. In that day and age, the lake they settled on was all a defensive advantage, a fresh water source, and the surrounding land fertile. Even today--it may seem a landlocked megalopolis. But look at it another way--it's also not historically been like New Orleans, Houston, New York City, Miami, or Amsterdam--facing rising sea levels made worse in some cases by hurricanes.

[@faq187tim9]

​@@danmur2797Mexico city is literally sinking into the lake base, this will be a major issue in the future BTW.

[@oscaralbertoguerrero9143]

Gran Tenochtitlan was founded on a lake TBF. That Valley might be one of the most productive places on Earth due to it's Volcanic soil. Problem I think was lack of planning and centralization of the country. Mexico City Metro could work amazingly with 10Mill population (still a massive city).

[@danmur2797]

@@faq187tim9 Not sure about that. The problems it faces are there now. But they are working on bringing in other water sources online. That should ease the sinking that's largely been caused by water extraction from the surrounding area. I think other cities around the world face more pressing existential issues.

[@charlessalzman4377]

Hollywood is totally a location choice. It is in close proximity to mountains, forests, deserts, and the coast. So many environments in close proximity was a money saver for the studios. Additionally, the mild weather and sunny days meant that films could be shot year round and would rarely be interrupted by poor weather.

[@recoil53]

Not at all. They definitely didn't think that far ahead about the wide variety of movies they could make. Thomas Edison had the patents on movie cameras and he used that control over the industry. California was as far away as the industry could get in the continental US. Investigating and filing law suits over that distance would have been very expensive and time consuming. It's been written about many times, you can look it up. The industry itself gives it as their creation story.

[@charlessalzman4377]

@recoil53 you do know that there's no spokesperson for the industry, right? I've heard the Edison thing as well and that the mob had less reach and the environment. You can look up those last 2 as well.

[@billsager5634]

Before "Hollywood", the "Palisades" (In NJ, along the Hudson River) were the center of the film industry. But, as @charlessalzman points out "the mild weather and sunny days meant that films could be shot year round and would rarely be interrupted by poor weather" would definitely be a major factor. Additionally, think cost. California was still very cheap, while the NYC area was expensive. No dry, desert landscapes in the NYC area, making filming westerns difficult. Basically, Los Angeles (Hollywood) had everything the new and growing film industry needed, and at a lower cost than the NYC area.

[@recoil53]

@@charlessalzman4377 You realize even without a spokes person, people do keep track and look up history, right? And since you admit there is no spokesperson, you should recognize there is no central planning for the industry either. Nobody was thinking they needed access to all those location types.

[@charlessalzman4377]

@recoil53 you stated that "the industry said." I pointed out that there is no spokesperson for the industry. And yeah, they totally knew they could use the different environments in SoCal. Anywhere on the West Coast would have served the purpose of getting away from Edison. They didn't choose Seattle, or Portland, or San Francisco. They chose a place with mild year-round weather that had numerous environments nearby.

[@ThePattyO]

Another one to add: Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis was founded at St. Anthony Falls, the most significant natural waterfall on the Mississippi River. Minneapolis is the head of navigation for the Mississippi; it's the furthest upriver that barges and boats can travel. The falls were harnessed to directly power Minneapolis's mills. Northern Minnesota forests were cut down and floated downriver to be cut at Minneapolis, and wheat grown throughout the Midwest was carried by train to Minneapolis to be ground into flour. By the mid-1880s, Minneapolis was the largest producer of flour in the world. (General Mills and Pillsbury [later a subsidiary of General Mills], two of the most well-known food producing companies, both got their start as Minneapolis flour mills.) Minneapolis also became a center of banking and finance due to the milling industry, and banking is still a major part of the regional economy.

[@tescherman3048]

Plus, Minneapolis is still the headquarters of the world's 3rd-largest private corporation: Cargill. It's the largest private corporation in the US. With revenues of +$165 Billion It is estimated that more than half of the world's grain flows through Cargill's hands.

[@jpkotta]

St. Paul was the head of navigation when the region was being settled (by non-natives). St. Paul was twice as big (10k) as Minneapolis (5k) in 1860. There almost certainly would have been both a St. Paul and a Minneapolis even if the falls and the head of navigation were far apart, but they were coincidentally close so we have Twin Cities. It's kind of weird that they were always so close in population.

[@chiron14pl]

What made Chicago important was the coincidence of having a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. The building of the Erie canal brought commerce up the Hudson and then to the Great Lakes. Then the Illinois & Michigan canal expanded Chicago's role as a transportation hub. Once railroad began to be built they naturally filled in the role of the next major transportation means and kept Chicago as the major hub

[@MarsJenkar]

Basically, Lake Michigan formed a "wall" blocking east-west travel over land, and the only way to go on land around it (and stay in the US) was to circle around the south shore of the lake. That's mostly true even today, so it's still a bit of a pinch point for east-west travel in the US even if it's not a full-blown choke point.

[@srschriver]

Chicago is at the southernmost point of the Great Lakes, meaning that railroads being built from the eastern half of the country westward pretty much needed to go through Chicago (because, you know, it wasn't as though they could build bridges across Lake Michigan or Lake Superior or something...)

[@MarsJenkar]

Like I said, a significant pinch point. If your westward destination was anywhere in the northern third of the country, you basically had to go through Chicago, or make a special effort to avoid it if you _really_ didn't want to go there for some reason. And that still holds true today if you're traveling over land, whether by train or by car. Not even the Mackinac Bridge over the strait connecting Lake Michigan to Lake Huron really changed that.

[@ARabidPie]

Some other's to add to this list: Seattle-Tacoma - Located on the Puget Sound, a massive natural harbor. Gateway to the Alaskan gold rush. Terminus of the northern transcontinental railway. Massive timber resources. Denver - Basically exists because it's the last stop before crossing the Rocky Mountains and sits near the head of the South Platte River which flows into the Missouri river. 1858 Gold Rush. Detroit - Located on the Detroit River connecting the upper and lower Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. St. Luis - Located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Was the gateway to the west. El Paso - Railroad hub, Rio Grande river, US-Mexico border crossing. Outside the US, but nearby you also have: Montreal, Canada - Located on a river confluence. The core of the city is on an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence, making it incredibly defensible. Its location on the St. Lawrence makes it a major port for Canada and the Great Lake region. Calgary, Canada - Extremely fertile soil. Oil.

[@bothellkenmore]

Huge Navy presence in Puget Sound area, sub base, 2 carrier groups, naval air station and a shipyard in addition to an Army/Air Force base.

[@JSibs17]

Adding Minneapolis/St Paul to this list. St Paul is the furthest upstream on the Mississippi a barge can go before being stopped by waterfalls, and Minneapolis is just a few miles away on St Anthony Falls, a perfect waterfall for milling. This made the two cities ideal for milling the grain grown in the upper Midwest and Dakotas and shipping it around the entire watershed of the Mississippi by barge

[@schs1977]

Denver, Yes. I lived in Seattle from 1997 to 1999. I'm glad I left that dump! The Leftist Socialist has destroyed a once great city.

[@sydhenderson6753]

St. Louis was one of the largest and most prosperous cities in the US around 1900 which is why it (and Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago) had two major league baseball teams. New York had three, counting Brooklyn. It's as close as you can get to that confluence without sinking in mud. That may be why there isn't a major city where the Ohio and Mississippi meet: you have to go to Memphis which is on firmer ground.

[@thepaintingbanjo8894]

Lived in both Seattle and Denver. You can tell they're really important cities because traffic is unrelentingly terrible.

[@jackmclaughlin9911]

Chicago was probably the best on this list because A. Chicago is almost immune to natural disasters and flooding because it lives in the interior of the USA B. The place its located is amazing in general with enough land to expand in. And C. It drinks from a stable freshwater lake instead of imported salt water

[@drivernjax]

Actually, Chicago isn't immune to natural disasters. It's only a couple of hundred miles from the New Madrid fault in western Kentucky and experiences regular, if minor, earthquakes.

[@jackmclaughlin9911]

@@drivernjax Yeah, thats why I said almost. But I will say that chicago is one of the best placed cities if you don’t want major flooding or hurricanes.

[@drivernjax]

@@jackmclaughlin9911 Oops. I read your comment twice before I replied and I didn't see "almost" either time. (Either that or it didn't register in my brain.) My apologies for my mistake.

[@jackmclaughlin9911]

@@drivernjax it’s alr

[@patricksmith2274]

I live in Chicago and wouldn't consider it the best because of the heatwave and blizzards. I like living here but is looking forward to moving back home to New York in 2025😊

[@MercenaryJedi]

The Fall Line on the Eastern Seaboard is an excellent example of geography determining the location of major cities. Because the waterfalls and rapids limit how far upstream boats can proceed, there are two locations on all of the major rivers where waterborne traffic must stop: the mouths of rivers, where oceangoing ships must transfer to river boats, and the Fall Line, where cargo must be moved overland or transferred to ships above the falls. As a result, major cities are found near these locations. Nearly every state along the Fall Line has its capital located on the line, as well as Washington, DC. Georgia used to have its capital along the Fall Line, but the rise of railroads resulted in the capital being moved to the hub of Atlanta.

[@TracyII77]

Due to the geographic advantages that you described, Chicago is the home to many freight companies, including UPS. It is also home to many distribution centers for a variety of companies and a popular choice for foreign companies to set-up there US sales offices. Thanks to the same water system as Chicago and access to many nearby resources (farming, forests, mines, and oil), Detroit became a manufacturing hub early on. This then led to it being the center of car manufacturing in the US and a key to WWII production. For a short time after WWII, Detroit was the richest city in the world. What made Detroit a better choice for major manufacturing over Chicago is its proximity to Pennsylvania, especially Pittsburgh. At the beginning of the 1900's, Pennsylvania was one of the top producers of oil and steel.

[@normanhairston1411]

The popular narrative about Gary, IN, adjacent to Chicago, is that the steel industry collapsed, leaving the city derelict. The truth is, precisely because of its excellent location, US Steel closed down virtually all of its primary steelmaking in Pennsylvania and other locations and consolidated into Gary. However, with that consolidation came massive automation, increasing steel production in Gary while cutting the workforce by over 80%. In addition to the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watershed transportation, Gary also boasts 2 of the 3 coast-to-coast interstates (80 & 90), one of the three Great Lakes to Gulf Coast interstates (65), an international airport, commuter rail access to Downtown Chicago, and 8 of the 12 major east-west rail lines pass through the area. This is not to mention a temperate climate that can better accommodate some degree of global warming and the fact that it sits on the Great Lakes which are 20% of the world's liquid fresh water. Location, location, location.

[@justjay6445]

I’m from Chicago and people like to crap on Gary, IN. I have feeling that this place will eventually turn around since there’s hardly any affordable housing for the middle class in decent areas. It would be great for Gary, IN to promote the hell out of “worker’s cottages” and bungalows for the working class.

[@hm5142]

And with machine learning, automation has barely begun. in 25 years, I am not sure there will be any commercially useful work that humans can do better than machines. We will need a new economic model for that world.

[@mihaiazimioara6591]

Very interesting video, as always! One point that you might have missed regarding Houson: until 1900, the neighboring Galveston was the more important and famos city. After the hurricane that year, Galveston was devastated and Huston took its place in the region.

[@kevinblatter2369]

Being a SF Bay Area native, I feel a need to correct a few things: 1) The western terminus of the transcontinental RR was Sacramento, not SF. A passenger could take a ferry from Sacramento to SF though. 2) SF is in close proximation to Central Valley and California Delta which has some of the most fertile farmland in the world. 3) San Jose, not SF was the hub of the technology boom of the latter half of the 20th century. SF was a financial hub, not a technology hub. 4) In the 21st century, SF has indeed become a tech hub, but that is only in the last 25 or so years.

[@combusean]

Tbf, the ferries were also owned by the railroads and some ferries were built to hold rail cars, so the lack of rails is a technicality. The western terminus was accordingly the Oakland wharf, not Sacramento.

[@leechjim8023]

WRONG!!!👎 SF is a SHIT hub in the 21st century!!!👎👎👎😭

[@SagaciousSilence]

I think it’s important to point out that the West Coast is VERY limited on developable land because the entire coastline is made up of mountains that run right along the water. It’s no coincidence that in every part of the West Coast that has a bigger space of flatter land capable of supporting housing developments, cities have formed. LA is the biggest West Coast city because it’s basically the only part of the coast with a massive swath of flat land. The SF and Seattle area are very hilly but still sufficient to support housing. I think the West Coast has the nation’s best weather and so anywhere people are capable of building houses on it, they will.

[@danielzhang1916]

especially the weather this year, it's past Thanksgiving and still in the 60s, no heat wave either

[@kathleenhudson8429]

One of the big reasons for population growth in Los Angeles has always been attraction to the climate.

[@gregshonle2072]

One very important thing missing from the criteria: viable overland transportation (i.e. the railroads, back in the day). Back then, if there weren't a river for transportation, the only other option was getting a major railroad to extend their tracks to your city. If the Dallas/Fort Worth area had not been able to orchestrate the ending of cattle drives with the railroad routes arriving, it is likely that neither would be a major city today. Denver likely only rose to significance due to gold discoveries in the area. Much of Colorado's development was due to the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad's expansion through the state.

[@kalebwieland4938]

Do a part two! I'd love to see some of the other large (but somewhat not large cities compared to the other large cities like Grand Rapids, MI or El Paso, Texas.

[@royjohansen3730]

Your videos are SO well reseached and presented. Learning stuff is fun. Thank you!

[@NavassaProject]

Denver is an extremely well place city out of sheer necessity. It is by far the largest metro in a thousand mile (roughly) radius. It has an excellent fresh water source provided by the continental divide, and flat terrain East of the Rocky mountains for ease of development. These factors combine to make Denver an essential hub in the interior of the Western United States. Also it has the 3rd busiest airport in the US

[@bathtubzen]

I was also surprised about that. Also when he brought up military uses/easiness to defend, i was thinking the springs deserved a mention, even if it loses points due to lack of water and distance from major metro hubs besides denver

[@rpgbb]

Actually it’s not circumstantial that Hollywood developed in LA. Originally the movie industry was based in New Jersey but because of the weather, they eventually moved to LA

[@grahamturner2640]

And I’m pretty sure Edison’s patents weren’t helping New Jersey’s industry either.

[@AlexCab_49]

Chicago is definitely well placed and I also think it'll do better with climate change as the other cities will face more severe heat waves, flooding droughts or wildfires.

[@MA1NMANMA1N1AC]

Climate changes every day.

[@allstar2709]

Chicago cold as motherfucker

[@blamont6863]

Cincinnati is almost directly west of dc by 500 miles. It’s 500 miles north of Atlanta. Less than 500 miles from Chicago. Ohio river leads directly into the gulf. Less than 2 hrs from Columbus and Indianapolis. We can drive to Toronto and Atlanta relatively in the same time frame.

[@jamesleyda365]

Seattle/Tacoma are awesomly located for many reasons not mentioned in this show. They are used to being ignored too

[@iowablackbird811]

don't forget portland/vancouver wa !!! which existed as functional settlements before seatttle and tacoma. but shhhhh..... don't give people any ideas.

[@jamesgabele4221]

Correct. Dallas should not be as large as it is. Dallas relies upon Fort Worth. Fort Worth is the railroad hub for the region and grew from the Chisholm Trail in the 19th Century used for sending cattle to market. Today, Fort Worth is the headquarters for BNSF Railroad which is one of the three transcontinental rail lines. Dallas and Fort Worth are the home to tow major US airlines - American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. DFW is the second busiest airport in the world. Fracking has caused Dallas and Fort Worth to grow in the past 20 years.

[@robthetraveler1099]

Uh... I've lived in the DFW area for 20 years now. There are many reasons why DFW has grown so much over that time, but fracking is not high on the list.

[@RafaquaQuetta]

DWF gonna be the 4th largest metro by 2050 and hopefully 3rd by 2070 with over 15 million.

[@princecharles757]

Dfw is the 2nd busiest airport in America but not the 2nd busiest airport in the world. Dfw metro does have a good location, with industries from cotton to oil that helped it grow. The proximity to the Trinity River also helped.

[@dallaz7]

Dallas does NOT rely on Fort Worth and it is quite the opposite. Dallas' economy is the reason for growth in the region. 62% of Fort Worth residents travel outside of the city to Dallas or Dallas County for work. Most of the economic growth is happening in Dallas or its suburbs. It is so bad, that The City of Fort Worth commissioned a study to keep the city from becoming a suburb. Just look at downtown Fort Worth's very small size. It only has 8 million sq ft of office space downtown for a city of nearly 1 million people. Uptown Dallas alone has built over double the amount of office space in the last 10 to 15 years. Residential growth is completely outpacing commercial growth in Fort Worth and that's why the city is panicking so it doesn't get classified as a suburb by the federal government. The only major company that Fort Worth has is American Airlines. But Dallas has Comerica Bank, AT&T, Southwest Airlines, CBRE, Frontier Communications, Texas Instruments, etc. Dallas is a business city and reflects that with how the city is built up. Fracking is not the reason why The Metroplex is growing. Honestly, do you even live here or are you just making stuff up? Dallas has the 3rd most diversified economy in the USA. This isn't Houston, Dallas doesn't even have any fossil fuels. One segment of Dallas' economy is finance, that's why the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas is located here. Also, another reason why Goldman Sachs is building its 2nd largest office outside of NYC in Uptown Dallas. All of this is happening, without any reliance on Fort Worth and it has been this way for a century or more.

[@jamesgabele4221]

@@princecharles757 I am using this as my source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_airports_by_passenger_traffic

[@malepositivemedia7937]

Anchorage, Alaska is outside the contiguous USA, but is part of the continental USA. Otherwise quite interesting.

[@Beakyaaasss]

general knoweldge is so informative, i watch his new video every week, thanks

[@General.Knowledge]

Thank you!

[@christopherbolander2596]

Chicago was just taking off as a railway hub when the 1871 fire hit, making it doubly important for transportation. Years later came air travel and again Chicago was perfectly located to become America's first busiest airport.

[@mariowalker9048]

Yup even till this day. Chicago is where all the cross country Amtrak lines meet up. Chicago is also a Greyhound hub to.

[@SurgicalStrike41]

Pittsburgh is quite well located. It's at the source of the Ohio River, where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers converge, and thus was the site of first a French fort, Fort Duquesne, and then the British Fort Pitt. It was an early hub of westward expansion following the War of 1812 (often forgotten but basically the US trying to take advantage of Britain being too distracted by Napoleon, met with mixed results but forced the British to withdraw from the Ohio River valley).

[@bernadettegreen7134]

Baby Boomer outside of Pittsburgh, Pa. Great location especially for NFL fans, schools, outdoor activities, airports.

[@linuxman7777]

Almost all American cities that are large have some connection to the water as to why they were built. Pittsburgh although in a hilly area was and still is very important because it is at the intersection of navigable rivers.

[@musicaleuphoria8699]

It seems very much a city located between the regions of the Great Lakes industry, Appalachian Mtn country, more urban East Coast, and somewhat the Southern farming communities.

[@chrisk5651]

Chicago is connected through the Great Lakes to the Erie Canal to New York City and later the St. Lawrence Seaway.

[@HollywoodF1]

The film and lighting technology in 1910-20 was such that the film needed full sunlight to work at all. Indoor sets actually had no roof to allow enough sunlight to expose the film. They needed a location in the US with reliable sunshine in addition to reasonable temperatures since they were always outdoors.

[@wkent02]

Norfolk, Virginia is one that goes under the radar for most rankings of best US cities by location. If you look at it on a map, you begin to see why it is so important.

[@XaloGunner]

Agreed! Much of that area - Tidewater - has great ports and other conditions for building and passage of ships, so no wonder it's always been a key waterway and even now is a US Navy station and shipbuilding area.

[@MrChadperkins]

It seems to me St Louis rivals Chicago in location. It's where the Mississippi meets the Missouri river. Plus the winter is more mild than Chicago.

[@UserName-ts3sp]

st. louis is probably the best located city not on a coast or great lake

[@raydunn8262]

Fun facts: 1. Jacksonville actually has farms within the city. 2. When one flies over Jacksonville, pilots announce that they're over the largest US city. This dumfounds some because they think of NY.

[@markmh835]

Other cities that should have been on your list: If you decided to include Anchorage, then you should have included Honolulu, located on Pearl Harbor -- one of the world's greatest natural harbors. ***St. Louis: a geographic hub (like Chicago) located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Certainly a more important city than Houston and Dallas. (Texas has no important cities.) St. Louis hosted both a World's Fair and the 3rd Olympic Games in 1904. It's a city that didn't fully grow to its true potential like Chicago. ***Washington DC: a city whose location was selected by George Washington itself. A unique city in America with a unique history. ....And so may more....

[@JellyAntz]

Washington DC is along the Potomac river

[@thepaintingbanjo8894]

Denver: Gold had every bit of importance there as San Francisco. With further resource mining going further into the Rockies, along with being the gateway to the western half of the country, it's also the most centrally-located metropolis in the continental US. Which helps everything to make Denver Int Airport be the 3rd busiest airport in the world.

[@renatoe9648]

a version of this for each continent would be cool

[@catenaris]

Very interesting! I'd love to see such videos about the cities in european countries!! (or even elsewhere after Europe...)

[@charlesmaurer6214]

Noticed your cover map had several off like philly is not on the coast and one from OH was shifted south and west around new madrid.

[@attemptedunkindness3632]

Cairo, Illinois is an example of a perfectly placed but poorly mismanaged settlement.

[@SansevieriaMedia]

Could still be one day if someone buys the cheap real estate up and cleans it up. Reasonable proximity to multiple large cities and where the Ohio and Mississippi meet.

[@attemptedunkindness3632]

@@SansevieriaMedia Yeah, someone tries that every five years or so. They run up taxes, they get ran off, Cairo gets more ran down. It's busted through the other side of it's death spiral and is dragging surrounding communities down with it at this point.

[@WillHellmm]

I did a project on this on my channel. Once I graduate, maybe I'll be that guy

[@jonathanstensberg]

Cairo, IL, is the perfect example of a city where technological changes have made its location less valuable. While it was important hub for freight and passenger traffic on the rivers, improved transportation technologies have made it unnecessary to stop at Cairo. Today, Cairo is just a small town in the middle of a vast flood plain-not a particularly great spot for a city.

[@attemptedunkindness3632]

@@jonathanstensberg For real, if you're traveling New Orleans> STL or vise versa, you're stopping at Memphis; city of song and food; not the flood-flattened Illinois corruption sink that sends Star Wars Jawas after your barge trying to steal shit from you at Nobody-Cairos Illinois. Not even Bill Gates wants the farmland there and that dude is buying any soil that will take his GMOs and fertilizers like his life defends on it, so it goes beyond tech because Cairo was bombing itself pretty much day one.

[@augustmyers339]

Great video, I’d love to see one on boomtowns in the US!

[@General.Knowledge]

Great idea! Really interesting topic

[@raymondpeterson952]

great vid!!!

[@ReeceMarshallPersonal]

Very wrong to say that “Los Angeles’ film industry is not as big as it is due to its location” as that is literally the sole reason the industry was moved there. Production studios, big and small, were able to save lots of money due to the climate and sunlight that lit the studios and made filmmaking much easier and cheaper. There was a scramble in the film industry to get land in Los Angeles!

[@dispergosum]

There was also a benefit of avoiding some funny government jurisdictions and enforcements

[@deleted3554]

Another banger video here

[@dennisenright9347]

New Orleans and Montreal exist for the same reason: they were as far as an ocean going sailing ship could go up a major river that gave access to the center of North America. Chicago's position was inevitable, being where those to waterway networks are pnly a few miles apart. And New York had both an excellent natural harbour and was the only site on the eastern seaboard with a river that ciuld give acces to the center of the continent

[@sydhenderson6753]

New York actually has more than one natural harbor. It's a bit like Sydney, Australia in that respect.

[@jasonreed7522]

Of course the state of New York had to put in some work to fully realize the potential of NYC. The naturally navigable water stopped at Albany where the Mohawk river joined the Hudson, the Erie canal was built by expanding the Mohawk river and then extensive earthworks and bridgeing to make a navigable waterway connecting lake Erie to the Hudson and therefore the North Atlantic. Before "Clinton's Folly" was finished the biggest city on the east coast was probably going to be Boston or Philadelphia. But instead a canal was built and NYC became the gateway between the ocean and great lakes. (The St. Lawrence had rapids in Cornwall plus the US and Canada weren't exactly friends back then, not to mention Niagra Falls between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. And sailing from New York to Chicago via New Orleans is quite the detour.)

[@killerkn9786]

Your downplay of deep water ports is egregious. The deep water ports are what led those resources to be traded and allowed significant movement of people on the sea via the ships that could be harbored there--civilian or military.

[@azriel724]

I lived in threee coastal cities -Seattle, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Now I’m currently living in Chicago. I’m pinpointing relocating to either Los Angeles or middle sized city of Portland, OR

[@stephenmcnally8583]

I love your videos. So informative and professionally delivered. Is there a word for the study of countries and states? If not then we need to make one ❤

[@ohhi1134]

Geography and history

[@General.Knowledge]

Thanks! :)

[@BrendanGeormer]

I don't know how I remembered 0:40 being a map of Galveston, but I guess it just clicked and made sense in regards to the mention of cases other than the main ways a city exists in a good location.

[@PaintedCloudsStudio]

I am glad you did not mention Seattle, Washington. There are advantages for being "under the radar"

[@joshoetken5846]

Love that you put the marine corps hymn in there, thank you

[@lenajk2004]

the city I was born in, Eau Claire is at the confluence of two major Wisconsin rivers one of which empties into the St Croix River which itself empties into the Mississippi

[@formwiz7096]

One word - trade. Where a major river meets the sea - NY, Philly, Nawlins, where 2 rivers meet to form a much larger river - Pittsburgh, terminus of a major river - St Paul, St Lou, where an important resource can be found - Denver, Sacto, where important land routes meet - Hotlanta.

[@jasonreed7522]

Pretty much, between trade and important resources most city locations can be explained. Realistically a settlement can be expected at the mouth of a river, and the head of navigation of that river. The mouth is usually a good natural harbor (sometimes sediment is am issue), and the head of navigation is where the boat stops and cargo must be moved to land. Confluences are another prime location as an intersection of trade routes and naturally defensive location. And also waterfalls and rapids are good locations for more advanced civilizations because the hydropower can be used for either mechanical power or electric power. Probably 90% of all settlements in the eastern US can be explained by water. (Atleast partially, anyway. I'm curious if anyone has figured out this exact statistic yet.)

[@sgrant9814]

Also not mentioned in the video is the creation of the champlain canal linking nyc with montreal via the Hudson river and lake champlain and thus the st. lawrence river and the Atlantic. This, coupled with the erie canal contributed to the growth of nyc

[@mattmz1366]

Chicago became very important with the transcontinental railroad connecting East to west same as it does with flights today. Chicago was also the birthplace of the skyscraper

[@pacmanqwerty1325]

You should do a best and worst located cities around the world following the theme of this video 😇

[@davidcollinsjr4288]

To me, the investigation into how Dallas and similar cities overcame their geography is really interesting

[@michaellopez68]

In your map of New York City what you have listed as Queens is actually Brooklyn. Queens is just north of that

[@chaosXP3RT]

This is refreshing. I don't often hear compliments about the USA. Its usually just criticism or ridicule.

[@officialmycrazyamericanfat7811]

L.A.'s geography was instrumental in the development of Hollywood. Not only does it have sun most days of the year making it great for filming. It was also very far away from New York and Edison who held patents for many cameras. So they film devs would go there to get away from him.

[@stevelapointe180]

Props for mentioning Civ!

[@chrisk5651]

The American Film Industry started in New York but due to LA’s climate with its lack of rainy days.

[@Col_Crunch]

The fact that there is a dot on that map for Brockton is wild, since it is in no way major. Also the dot for it is in RI for some reason when it should be roughly within the P of Providence. The two major cities in MA that should have been listed instead of Brockton would be Worcester and Springfield.

[@jasonreed7522]

Similarly i find it weird that Amsterdam NY, Watertown NY, and Platsburg NY are all shown but Syracuse NY and Utica NY are not. I understand name placement / interference issues, but that should end up with bigger and more historically important cities crowding out their smaller neighbors. I'm sure people familiar with the rest of the country can find more instances of these map errors and weird choices.

[@StLouis-yu9iz]

You should have discussed St. Louis at the confluence of the two largest rivers on the continent.

[@ChesnokOrNot]

Yes.

[@danielbosch7444]

True, there's a reason St. Louis was one of the largest cities in the country before the railroads made it West. Geography was important enough to make it onto the city's flag which I'm fairly certain is not true for any of the cities in the video (possible exception is Jacksonville if you count the Duval county outline).

[@cheapme1850]

Seems like Detroit and maybe Buffalo should be added to this list. Freshwater resources and international borders would seem to be top of the list items.

[@jasonreed7522]

Historically that particular international border was not very friendly until around 1900 when the US and Great Britain stopped being rivals. A lot of cities in the eastern US should be added due to their access to navigable waters. Either naturally like ports on the great lakes or major rivers, or artificially like those who benefited from major canals like the Erie Canal in New York. Today we are on much better terms and worked together to build the St. Lawrence Seaway system of locks and dams to make the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes watershed navigable to ocean going "Seaway Max" vessels. Basically all cities on the great lakes get the benefit of being ocean ports without the downside of the ocean. What Detroit and Buffalo definitely have is being the land trade natural routing paths into Southern Ontario from the US. (Southern Ontario having around a third of all of Canada's population)

[@SimonTimbers]

Hollywood being in LA was no coincidence and had a lot to do with location actually. California has a variety of beautiful natural areas that look very different from one another as well as a major city to film in and lots of relatively flat land to build studios on top of, as well as weather that the most successful actors and celebrities want to live in.

[@j.callieisking136]

Good video as Usual I just have one beef where is Brooklyn in your NYC map

[@Nightshade-dh9fm]

Militarily and strategically, Denver is probably the most well naturally fortified major city in America. In fact, if the US were to ever move its capital for strategic reasons, I believe Denver would be the number one candidate. SLC would be a good candidate as well. Jackson WY may be a great location too however Jackson's infrastructure would not be able to currently support that kind of development, besides I like seeing wild moose running around not wild politicians. Anchorage is going to be the underrated global trade powerhouse in the coming decades.

[@dtilford206]

Great video. I’d like to know more about Seattle.

[@jamesfung3347]

Major US cities were established at the estuary or confluence of rivers due to the importance of navigational waters in the 19th century.

[@londonwebster5176]

I feel like Atlanta is good one to add aswell it great location like for it airport. It in best spot where every major city is lil around 2 hour flight, plus I say somethink like railroad history and climax there a lot more but basics say.

[@KCAlbak]

An awful lot of east coast cities are on rivers passing over the Fall Line, from Alabama to Philadelphia. Ocean traffic unloads at a port, and barges carry freight upriver cheaply to cataracts and waterfalls at the Fall Line. Then it was unloaded into warehouses, where cities developed, such as Richmond, Raleigh, Fayetteville, and on down into Alabama. Others dependent on key points on rivers were Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis,

[@abdulazizalamri9768]

Make a video please about sultanate of oman 🇴🇲 from the beginning until today. You will find a lot of interesting information about it like it was one of the oldest countries as Egypt and how it has become almost as strong as the British Empire fleet during oman empire era. Please like it if you support this content 😊

[@stevenleslie8557]

Can you do another one of these featuring other major cities like my Phoenix?

[@larsedik]

@6:37 Henry Hudson was late in his discovery of the Hudson River, as it had already been named by the Iroquois and the Mohicans. It's unfortunate that the original names were not kept.

[@richardadamski581]

At approximately the 3 minute mark of this video, you apologized for such a long intro. Why? It was fascinating. Apology not accepted. This is an awesome video. I wrote down notes to help me use this information in fantasy role playing games. I have always wondered why this city or that city chose this location or that. I tried to figure out why Phoenix was formed in its location and why its population is so large. I salute you, General Knowledge!

[@loganpeters7543]

I love the Civilization reference.

[@montecorbit8280]

At 6:09 Chicago.... You forgot that is a major hub for the railway system....

[@BBQPorkSandwich3]

Atlanta and Miami wouldve had to be on there then Resources and Natural Location are key

[@jonathaneby1440]

DFW was a major railroad hub connecting cattle to major markets. Much like Chicago was in the 19th century for the Midwest.

[@allocated_capital]

Lincoln, NE the capital city of the state is not built on a major river and its growing fast enough that they are running out of water and are having to construct a pipeline to carry the water from the Missouri River which is 45 miles away

[@LeftysLefty]

You need to include Baltimore on the map of well located cities

[@Caribeanlero]

Love ur vids can wait to watch this one!

[@pfcrow]

Funny seeing Fairfield, ID listed as a major city with a population of 463. I grew up in Idaho, and I've never heard of it, even though I've driven through it (it's between Craters of the Moon and Boise). Someone was just having fun with that map, pulling out random towns anywhere there was too much blank space, and ignoring cities where there isn't room.

[@code_theelevatedone8280]

Exactly Oakley Kansas doesn’t even have 5000 people and the only business of note that is actually in Oakley is a Casey’s general store a dollar store and a Pizza Hut

[@hpsauce1078]

Another interesting video you could make might be 'the largest cities that are big dispite having terrible geography' Heres my list off off the top of my head- -Pheonix Arizona (no water and few strategic connections but still huge) - Beijing (Not bad but an odd choice for a capital city when so much of china is very fertile and has good trade links, beijing has neither of these naturally and has sub par farmland compared to other cities in China) - Shenzhen (massive city that has no obvious natural harbour or fresh water supply with much more strategically positioned cities nearby, its only there because its next to Hong Kong) -Moscow (Very cold and no natural defences and not on a particularly strategic point on the Volga river) -Riyadh (biggest city with no water whatsoever, no port etc) - Bucharest (I just don't know why they built it so far from the danube) - Brazilia, Napyitaw, Abuja, Ankara & TBC Nusantara (Capital cities built for good political reasons, however the previous capitals are far better located for trade, agriculture and getting a pleasant climate. -Manaus (built slap bang in the middle of the Amazon somehow) -Miami (not terrible but will almost certainly flood in the next century) - Honorable mentions Karachi, Sao Paulo, Kuala Lumpur, Lima, Dallas (all cities in ok locations but there are arguably much better spots for a city of that size very close by. (Karachi - close to the mouth of the indus, but just far enough away not to intersect with it whilst also being in a desert, Sao Paulo - A massive city close to a coast line but not actually on the sea (due to the great escarpment), Kuala Lumpur - Similar to Sao Paulo, Lima - seems to be built in a desert without a major river or much of a natural harbour. Chimbote looks like it would have made for a slightly better location for a capital, Dallas - its a fine place for a city, theres just no obvious reason why its grown to such a large size given its geography is just ok, I don't think it would exist at such a size without the motor car))

[@David001]

Moscow - (Very cold, no natural defenses) Very cold. Natural Defense.

[@combusean]

Phoenix was deliberately located at the center of an expansive farming community, and contrary to there being no water, the Salt River constantly flooded so it was located on higher elevation a few miles north. The Salt also fed the canals that were originally built 1200 years ago. It grew because the dry climate was suitable for asthmatics and tuberculosis sufferers which was a major thing in the early 20th century and had a four growing season climate and excellent soil.

[@hpsauce1078]

@@David001 Nevertheless , Moscow has still been sacked or conquered by a foreign army at least six times in its history, thats quite a lot for a city of that size.

[@grahamturner2640]

@@combuseanand for Phoenix’s case, there was also a nearby mining town that needed food when Phoenix was first founded. And in WW2, the arid climate was perfect for training pilots.

[@stevejohnson3357]

Many cities had big fires in the 19th century. Vancouver had 1 about 10 years after Chicago. I guess it comes higher concentrations of people then we had had before and still having to burn things for heat and light.

[@MarsJenkar]

The very day Chicago burned, there were a number of other fires in the Midwest, including a particularly deadly one near Peshtigo, Wisconsin (it had an even greater loss of life than the Chicago fire and is to this day the deadliest fire in US history). Basically, the Midwest was a tinderbox ready to go up, and conditions were particularly bad on the day it actually happened.

[@TracyII77]

One of Detroit's mottos is Resurget Cineribus It means "It will rise from the ashes". The ashes refer to the Great Fire of 1805 which wiped out a huge chunk of the forests in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Actually, a large amount of the midwest near the Great Lakes used to be heavily forested and not the boring farmland we think of today. So yeah, tinder boxes for sure and yeah the heavy use of fire during that time. These two elements still exist in California, so no surprise it has so many wildfires.

[@lukew1383]

Anchorage is so crucial due to weight to fuel ratios for cargo flights between Asia and the West. Planes can carry more cargo if they refuel in Anchorage, rather than fly directly from Tokyo to LA for example. More money saved on transportation is more profit for companies. And think of all the stuff coming to America from Asia. There is a great chance the phone in your pocket (if you're American), made a stop in Anchorage before it reached the store you bought it from. Anchorage also played a crucial role for passenger flights during the cold war as it was the only hub between Western Europe and Asia due to the no-fly zone over the USSR.

[@lennysmom]

Pittsburgh is pretty easy to figure out, coal nearby and rivers for transport.

[@BrentParsons-qr6kj]

I am from Kentucky. I find it interesting that Lexington (the second largest city in the state) is not on the map of KY, but Bowling Green and Frankfort are. Frankfort is the smallest of the four (Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, Frankfort), and Bowling Green is still smaller than Lexington. Although Frankfort is the capital and Bowling Green is a significant economic hub, both are insignificant compared to Lexington.

[@Mottleydude1]

My home State of Ohio has three well located cities. Cleveland on Lake Erie has access to the Atlantic Ocean, the entire Great Lakes system and, via the Great Lakes, the entire Mississippi River system. It’s no wonder the Northeast part of Ohio is the most populated region in the State at 3.8 million. Cincinnati comes next with its position on the Ohio River and access to the entire Mississippi River system and thus a large part of the interior of the US. Third comes Columbus with it central location in the State and a short distance to both Lake Erie and the Ohio river. It is also the second largest cross roads city in the Great Lakes region after Chicago and due to its central location in the State is the most diverse city in Ohio with it being a center for Government, Finance, Industry, agriculture, education, R&D and technology. It’s also the fastest growing metro area in the State.

[@WillHellmm]

As a chicagoan with a mom from Detroit and a Dad from Cincinnati, Midwest is Da Best

[@UserName-ts3sp]

columbus is arguably the worst located of the major cities in ohio honestly. dayton and akron both are fairly easy to get to river-wise from major cities, even youngstown to a lesser extent. toledo being a port city. and obviously cleveland/cincinnati. columbus is relatively isolated geographically, the scioto and olentangy don’t connect to any major population centers but it makes sense as a smaller connection for crops being sent from the interior of the state. politically however, it’s advantageous, and it has other good features like flat land and nearby fresh water aquifers, which is why it’s grown to be on par with cleveland and cincy

[@TR-zx1lc]

There are also some places that should have major cities due to extremely strategic locations... Coos Bay, Oregon comes to mind. The only deepwater port between San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound.

[@Buzzardthunder]

Can u make a video of future countries being underwater, like the current countries that are above water today

[@michaelscheel9533]

The film industry moved from a snowy cold & cloudy New Jersey. Most cities and towns west of Chicago are based on the railroads. Some were established before the railroads and later the highways were built along the railroads. My city was part of a river crossing here. The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River. I could go on. BTW where Cedar Rapids is shown on your map is actualy Iowa City, Cedar Rapids is about twenty miles to the north. NASA in Houston is because Lyndon Johnson was Vice President, it could of been either at what became Cape Kennedy or aome other NASA centers.

[@billsager5634]

"The film industry moved from a snowy cold & cloudy New Jersey.". The film industry was based along the Palisades, a high ridge overlooking the Hudson River. Cold yes, especially during the winter, Can be very breezy as well. Snowy? Not so much, although snowfall can be very variable, winter to winter, from less than 2" of measurable snow to several feet of snow. Besides, almost impossible to find anything east of the Mississippi that can replicate the dry, arid landscape of the western states. Remember, Westerns became the staple of Hollywood from the 1920's through the 1970's.

[@calvinhoward3808]

Isn't Florida (or Puerto Rico) best for space since they're closest to the equator?

[@orthrus4490]

Dallas technically has a natural freshwater supply: the trinity river. The problem is that the metro grew way larger than the trinity could supply, so the lake resivoir system had to be used as a supplement. Oh and the trinity is polluted as shit since theres a ton of industry on it in fort worth.

[@Neversa]

0:05 Winnemucca is a major city now

[@AntiCommunistHungarian]

The us geography continuing to be based🗿

[@Ma_Zhongying]

The United States is the only country with rivers.

[@arden7713]

Baltimore deserves a mention its set on the Chesapeake a great natural harbor

[@Buzzardthunder]

Part 2 plz

[@CrystalClearWith8BE]

Some cities in the US didn't make the list such as Seattle, Denver, Detroit, Atlanta, Washington DC and Boston, just to name a few.

[@charlesmaurer6214]

Charleston WV once was 3rd on moscow's Hit List after DC in New York because of the chemical Valley.

[@awedelen1]

Necessity brings importance. Even in 2023 if New Orleans and its ports didn't exist in defiance of the elements then all the goods & resources of the middle of the country would absolutely struggle to reach world markets.

[@josephharrison5639]

Should do this again include seattle and Denver

[@Alkalus]

Nice new intro.