This was posted to /r/MapPorn earlier today.
I noticed that major rivers in the north (Connecticut, Hudson, Susquehanna) run north/south to the coast, while major rivers further south (Potomac, Rappahannock, York, James) run east/west.
Did this have any bearing on anything? Industry, culture, politics, trade, military, whatever. Were there any advantages to one orientation over the other? How did this help shape American history?
I'm sorry if the question is too broad, or my sample size of rivers too small, but I'm really curious how, specifically, the direction of rivers has played a part in early American history.
I think you are correct in your assumption that the geography of rivers played a major part in the history of North America.
None of the rivers flowing into the Atlantic on the Eastern Seaboard of North America offered a good transportation route into the interior of the continent except the St. Lawrence.
None of the other Eastern Seaboard Rivers breached the Appalachian barrier.
The fact that the French controlled the two rivers that gave access to the continental interior (the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi) gave their colonies a great strategic advantage, which the English (later British) colonies on the Eastern Seaboard found difficult to overcome, despite a great advantage in population.
The St. Lawrence and the Mississippi rivers were by far the most strategically important rivers on the Continent. The next most important was the Hudson River and its tributary the Mohawk. (Even though these rivers were not really navigable by sea going ships all the way into the interior¸they were navigable by ships for some distance and by canoes or barges (with a few portages) thereafter.)
The Hudson River not only connected New York harbor to the St. Lawrence (via a few portages and Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River) but its tributary, the Mohawk River connected (via portage) to the Great Lakes (the route later followed by the Erie canal), creating the best water transport route South of the St. Lawrence from the East Coast into the interior and the Great Lakes.
The Hudson valley corridor was fought over in the French and Indian Wars, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812. If the Rebellious colonies had been successful in either persuading Canada to join them, or in militarily occupying Montreal, it is possible that Montreal, not New York would have been the premier city in North America rather than New York due to its superior river transport links. As it was, New York, especially after the construction of the Erie Canal, became the U.S. city on the Eastern Seaboard with the best links to the interior of the Continent, and it became the premier city.
