Southern Illinois, also called Little Egypt, refers to the southern third of Illinois. There is controversy over where the southern region of the state officially begins.[1] Lots of people say Southern Illinois starts from Springfield and southward. A number of others Carbondale north to Springfield don't lay claim to that region of Illinois as being that of Southern Illinois, though.[2] Illinois is in the Midwestern United States. But Southern Illinois has been called far more typical for the Upland South, similar to nearby Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee, rather than the Midwest.[3] Locals (Illinois' people) from certain small towns have been part of a movement to completely expel/remove Chicago from the state so a commonwealth can be set up with similar politics to Missouri, Kentucky and Indiana. These small Illinois towns include Athens, Mount Vernon, Urbana and Effingham. The movement is called New Illinois. Under the movement, Southern and Downstate Illinois would be entirely separated from Chicago. The large city would become the 51st state in the United States.[4]
There are lots of cities or towns with a large number of people in Southern Illinois. These include, dependent on references and views of the population of the area and those outside: Springfield,[5] Alton, O'Fallon, Collinsville, Carbondale, Cairo and Mount Vernon. The region also involves St. Louis and Cape Girardeau (both in Missouri), Memphis and Nashville (both in Tennessee), and Evansville, Indiana.
Southern Illinois was covered by the Shawnee National Forest. The area also contains hilly landscape.[6]
The Southern Illinois area has almost 1.2 million people. Most of them live near/in rural settings that are in farm areas. Others, however, live in/near Carbondale–Marion, the Illinois region of the St. Louis metro area, in the Urbana–Champaign region and in/near the Springfield area.[7]
- ↑ "How Do You Define Southern Illinois". Southern Illinoisan. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ↑ "Downstate". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ↑ "What's it Mean to Be an Illinoisan Anyway". Chicago's Magazine. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ↑ "If Downstate Illinois Seceded". Chicago's Magazine. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ↑ "Illinois' South-Culture and Identity in Southern Illinois" (PDF). The Western Illinois University Historical Review Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ↑ "Illinois-The History, Facts, Capital, People and Cities". Britannica. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ↑ "The Census Shows Downstate Illinois' Population Decline, Sets a Stage for Redistricting". Pantagraph News Illinois. Retrieved October 3, 2021.