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Posted in USA March 15, 2016 by OnlyInYourState Staff

12 Rare Maps Of The United States That Will Blow Your Mind

As Americans, we all grow up looking at the same map of the United States. Some of us might even be able to label all 50 states without looking them up. But below you’ll see that so much of how you view the country is due to limited perception from the same traditional map. These 12 maps of the US will open your eyes to the past and possibly even the future.

Note: if you’re on a small device, you can click the image to see the full size.

1. How the population has increased each decade.

2. If all the cities kept their original names.

3. How much space the Great Lakes would take up if they were in Europe.

4. What the country would look like if borders were redrawn to evenly distribute population.

5. And another take on the same concept.

6. A map showing light pollution across the US.

7. How Google Auto-complete describes the 50 states.

8. What New Yorkers complain about, by area.

9. The never-going-to-happen USA highspeed rail system map.

10. A rare map from 1814 showing a US that could've been.

11. Breaking it down by most popular surname.

12. And finally, an awesome map of the United States drawn as if it's from a fantasy novel.

Hopefully this made you see our country in a new light.

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OnlyInYourState Staff

Researched and written by our staff writer who enjoys contributing about their state for our site.