The State Of Cochise: America’s Forgotten Mega-State

As long as I've been alive, the United States of America has had 50 states in the union. It's a nice, round number and has been the standard since Hawaii was admitted in 1959.

That's likely not changing any time soon, but most people don't know how drastically different America, and by relation, Arizona could have looked.

Read More: Check Out Arizona's "City of the Future"

The 38 States of America

In 1973, a geography professor at Cal State by the name of George Etzel Pearcy drew up a radical revision of the U.S. map. The 50 states merged together, to create 38 completely new states, with completely new borders.

The idea was to create borders that held as few major cities as possible. The reasoning? With less major cities vying for tax dollars, the money could begin to be distributed to communities that desperately need it.

His plan made it to Washington D.C., but was shot down by the men and women on Capitol Hill.

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The State of Cochise

Aside from a sliver of the western portion of Arizona being given to the State of San Gabriel, most of Arizona falls within the State of Cochise. This hypothetical state also encompasses most of New Mexico, and corner of Texas.

Named after the legendary Apache leader, Cochise was meant to encompass Phoenix as its major city, with resources allotted to Tucson, Albuquerque, and El Paso. In fact, it's the only state on the proposed map to have four major cities within its borders.

While this plan was never put into place, it proposes an interesting question: is there a better way to look at the U.S.A., and if there is, can we look past our comfort of conformity and make a change?

[Mental Floss]

[@TownsUsa via Twitter]