I’m open to being corrected, but my guess would be the long time gap between the original colonization of the east coast and the spread west of there. In 1776 US borders extended to Pennsylvania, so when settlers started moving to Ohio and beyond I imagine they would have called it “The West” until they realized how much west there really was.
I live in the Midwest and I still don’t really understand why half of it is on the eastern part of America.
I’m open to being corrected, but my guess would be the long time gap between the original colonization of the east coast and the spread west of there. In 1776 US borders extended to Pennsylvania, so when settlers started moving to Ohio and beyond I imagine they would have called it “The West” until they realized how much west there really was.