What is Southern Illinois?
'''Southern Illinois''', also called '''Little Egypt''', refers to the southern third of [[Illinois]]. There is [[controversy]] over where the southern region of the state officially begins.<ref>{{cite web|title=How Do You Define Southern Illinois|publisher=Southern Illinoisan|url=https://thesouthern.com/news/local/how-do-you-define-southern-illinois/article_64f318ea-1199-56e6-b0b8-fa94c44f91cc.html|access-date=October 3, 2021}}</ref> Lots of people say Southern Illinois starts from [[Springfield, Illinois|Springfield]] and southward. A number of others [[Carbondale, Illinois|Carbondale]] north to Springfield don't lay claim to that region of Illinois as being that of Southern Illinois, though.<ref>{{cite web|title=Downstate|work=Encyclopedia of Chicago|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/4.html|access-date=October 3, 2021}}</ref> Illinois is in the [[Midwestern United States]]. But Southern Illinois has been called far more typical for the [[Southern United States|Upland South]], similar to nearby [[Kentucky]], [[Missouri]] and [[Tennessee]], rather than the Midwest.<ref>{{cite web|title=What's it Mean to Be an Illinoisan Anyway|work=Chicago's Magazine|url=https://www.chicagomag.com/news/august-2019/whats-it-mean-to-be-an-illinoisan-anyway|access-date=October 3, 2021}}</ref> Locals (Illinois' people) from certain small towns have been part of a [[social movement|movement]] to completely expel/remove [[Chicago]] from the state so a [[commonwealth]] can be set up with similar [[politics]] to [[Missouri]], [[Kentucky]] and [[Indiana]]. These small Illinois towns include [[Athens, Illinois|Athens]], [[Mount Vernon, Illinois|Mount Vernon]], [[Urbana, Illinois|Urbana]] and [[Effingham, Illinois|Effingham]]. The movement is called New Illinois. Under the movement, Southern and Downstate Illinois would be entirely separated from Chicago. The large city would become the 51st state in the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite web|title=If Downstate Illinois Seceded|work=Chicago's Magazine|url=https://www.chicagom