26 Facts About Southern Illinois

Southern Illinois, known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64.

Much of Southern Illinois is still culturally affiliated with the Mid-South: Western Kentucky, Southwestern Indiana, West Tennessee, and the Missouri Bootheel.

Southern Illinois settlers wanted more control over their own affairs and Southern Illinois became a separate territory in 1809.

The first building used solely to house a bank in Southern Illinois was built in 1840 in Old Shawneetown and was used until the 1920s.

Southern Illinois is gaining a cultural identity apart from its neighbors, as previously-dispersed rural populations become more concentrated around the cities of Marion and Belleville.

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Egypt was the land to escape, and central Illinois represented the biblical Canaan, with Egypt being a treacherous southern Illinois.

In 1858, debating in northern Southern Illinois, Douglas had threatened Lincoln by asserting that he would 'trot him down to Egypt' and there challenge him to repeat his antislavery views before a hostile crowd.

Southern Illinois's weather gave it good crops, so it could ship grain and corn north.

Many Southern Illinois residents consider the area along and south of Interstate 70 as the dividing line between the Central and Southern parts of the state.

The geography of Southern Illinois becomes gradually hillier as one travels farther South.

Chester Illinois within West-Central Southern Illinois is noted as the "Home of Popeye", where many of the influences for the characters were located.

Least populated region, Southeastern Southern Illinois is marked by being within the Shawnee Hills and the Shawnee National Forest.

Southern Illinois is home to a variety of television and radio sources.

Southern Illinois has been partially covered at times by continental ice sheets.

Specifically, Southern Illinois was only partially covered by continental ice sheet during the Illinoian Stage and not at all during the Wisconsin Stage.

Areas of Southern Illinois are more similar to the Ozarks than to central or northern Illinois.

Southern Illinois has been affected on more than one occasion by particularly damaging tornadoes.

Southern Illinois sits upon the verging point of two major fault systems, the New Madrid Seismic Zone and the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone.

Southern Illinois has 4 major interstate freeways that connect with Missouri, Indiana, and Kentucky.

Democratic roots in Southern Illinois relate to the region's shared culture with the South, where the Democratic Party before the American Civil War and after Reconstruction was dominant until the 1960s.

However within the last decades, Southern Illinois has trended GOP due to nationwide support for the GOP among rural areas, while Northern Illinois due to outward migration from Democratic-leaning Cook County has trended Democratic.

Southern Illinois is the home to aquaculture, beef, swine, equine, sheep, goats, and other livestock production.

Southern Illinois has significant coal deposits; however, since the late 1980s, the coal industry has suffered significant decline due to the decreased demand for high-sulfur coal, which causes more pollution.

Manufacturing in Southern Illinois is typically clustered in the largest towns of each county, with the people of smaller towns and villages often commuting to work in the factories.

Southern Illinois is influenced culturally by the rest of Illinois, neighboring Missouri, and Upper Southern states like Kentucky and Tennessee.

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Additionally, Southern Illinois is the oldest part of the state with many historical landmarks to be seen in the area and numerous historical markers dotting the counties.