American agriculture in 1922
Let's start with a bit of fun. This gorgeous map, found by Redditor Sverdrupian, was published by the meatpacking firm Armour and Company in 1922. It purports to show the principal agricultural products across the country at that time. Records were worse then, and the mapmakers admit the difficulty of the project. "It has been impossible to locate with geographic accuracy within state lines, all of the principal products of some of the states," they write. "Nonetheless, the principal products of each state are indicated, and the geographic location of the principal products in the divisions of the United States have been effected with a fair degree of accuracy." The broad message of the map, though, is right at the top: America's strength as a nation was substantially derived from its strength as an agricultural power. The huge expanse of American land and the vast number of climates across the country allowed the US to grow a more diverse set of crops and raise more kinds of animals than our competitors. "The United States is the most self-sustaining nation in the world," Armour and Co brag.