Why does the earth look like perfectly cut out squares from an air plane?

Answer 1

Because of the township system. Many of the states were subdivided into townships, with so many plats within each township, and they tended to make those townships and plats as square as possible, for accuracy of measurement.

Answer 2

you must be flying over the mid-west or west? Those states are setup on grids with township and county roads. Its a much more logical way to divide a state. If you fly over Massachusetts you will something much different we paved the old cow paths and nothing is straight, which make navigation a real pain. basically the newer states where planned, which means the layout of roads, townships, and counties was done logically.

Answer 3

The reason is simple, the acre. An acre is 360 feet by 360 feet square. Most settlements in the civilized parts of our planet are laid out in this fashion, therefore it would stand to reason that over time and ownership, the land would take on the characteristics of mans settlement style, the square.

Answer 4

The previous guy is dead wrong. First of all an acre is 208.7103 ft on a side and has nothing to do with what you see from an airplane.

Townships are 36 sq miles historically and they were delineated quite well in the 18th century, but I doubt know you will see this kind of demarcation today unless you are over a very rural area.