American City States

How could North America be divided into city states, or lots of very small countries? But not Native American ones for small countries.
 
Generally speaking, not possible. City states are dead and have been dead for a while. Don't tell Singapore.
 
I think it's interesting that you posed this question, cuz I was just thinking something similar. I was thinking, should some kind of breakdown of the USA should happen, at least after the 1960's to present, the successor states wouldn't be based off the states, but instead the large cities. I think the big cities and the counties surrounding them would end up being the new nations. I tried to draw out a map of it using the county lines instead of state lines, because if the US fell anytime soon, i imagine long distance communication lines would break down pretty soon. Looks pretty gnarly. I definitely don't want to see that day come
 
LOL, we basically already have a city-state of sort..............Washington, D.C.!

{Although I did hear rumors that somebody in NYC wanted it to become the fabled 51st state..................}
 
Perhaps if the Constitution is never ratified and the US remains a confederation of loose states, as population densities rise, you'd start seeing a trend of large cities becoming separate entities from the more rural states they were originally part of, with separate governments and influence in TTL equivalent of Congress. Eventually, should this confederation fail, these little cities remain independent entities.
 
The Tri-Insulia (Manhatten, Long Island, & Staten Island) does succeed during the Civil War. Other metro regions follow their example.
 
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Carson City is kind of a city-state, or rather city-county. It's an independent city, not inside of any of Nevada's counties.
 
Well, it kind of was for the early part of colonization iotl. Many states, particularly in the West, were basically city x and a giant, unsettled hinterland, city y, rinse and repeat.

If you mean looking something like the Greek city-states... a coupling of increased resistance by natives to pandemics and diseases (more co-ordination and earlier adoption of some western military tactics doesn't hurt), less interest by European states in colonizing the Americas as well as more nations participating in what minimal colonization there is... you'd end up with something perhaps, remotely resembling a city-states for a time. There'd be large ports, maybe a few inland cities and tons of dotted settlements and farmland, constantly in flux with raids by native populations, rustlers etc.

States might then be based out of cities, perhaps warped by land-grants through the colonizers: but they'd fundamentally be dominated mostly by some central colonial polity. For a time at least.
 
I had an idea once for New Orleans as a city state. Basically a TL where the Louisiana Purchase is delayed (or happens differently) and is contested by Britain.
Britain and the US go to war somewhere between 1807-1812. Britain wins decisively. At peace the US is allowed to keep most of Louisiana but New Orleans is established as a "free port" or sorts. So it basically grows into its own city state. Of course this has very interesting effects later on during the Civil War.
 

DISSIDENT

Banned
I had a TL where the percussion cap was invented early, leading to different military structures in renaissance Europe and the aborting of the modern nation state as a concept with city-states and large multi-ethnic dynastic empires predominating.

The New World gets colonized by Venice, Genoa, Florence and other Italian city states and they colonize on the Greek model, with the daughter city politically independent but tied economically and culturally to its trans-Atlantic founder and merging to some extent with the surrounding Native Americans, forming hinterlands.
 

archaeogeek

Banned
If you mean like Singapore, it's unlikely, but if you mean like the ancient city-states of Phoenicia or Greece, then it's easier: early colonisation in New England was basically that, until the colonies were consolidated and royal control was reasserted over the northern colonies. Maybe have the European powers become less interested in their colonies after the 30yw than OTL would help.
 
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