American History |
Stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific and encompassing more than 3.79 million square miles, the United States of America has a remarkable diversity of landscapes and climates, including the Southern swamps and Everglades, the immense Great Lakes, the soaring Rocky Mountains, the windswept Great Plains, the arid deserts of the Southwest and over 12,000 miles of coastline. More than 10,000 years before Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492, ushering in an era of European colonization of the New World, the nomadic ancestors of modern Native Americans began settling across the North American continent. In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, immigrants who came to America seeking economic opportunity or religious freedom struggled to build thriving communities in the uncharted wilderness, often to the detriment of indigenous peoples. By the 1770s, some 2.5 million European colonists had settled in America. In 1776, those living in Great Britain’s 13 colonies declared their independence, sparking the Revolutionary War and transforming the United States of America into an autonomous nation. During the 19th and 20th centuries, 37 new states were added as the country expanded from coast to coast and beyond, even as internal conflicts such as the Civil War and the fight for equal rights for all citizens threatened to divide the population. In the 20th century the United States played a major role in both world wars and emerged as a leading global power. Today it boasts the largest economy on the planet and is home to 310 million people; California, Texas and New York are its most populous states.
The States 0f America
The United States of America comprises 50 states and the federal district of Washington, D.C., each with its own geography, traditions and history. The largest state in the country is Alaska, and the smallest is Rhode Island.
The American Revolution
The American Revolution (1775-83) is also known as the American Revolutionary War and the U.S. War of Independence. The conflict arose from growing tensions between residents of Great Britain's 13 North American colonies and the colonial government, which represented the British crown. Skirmishes between British troops and colonial militiamen in Lexington and Concord in April 1775 kicked off the armed conflict, and by the following summer, the rebels were waging a full-scale war for their independence. France entered the American Revolution on the side of the colonists in 1778, turning what had essentially been a civil war into an international conflict. After French assistance helped the Continental Army force the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1779, the Americans had effectively won their independence, though fighting would not formally end until 1783 part of the United States of America at its inception, while others entered the union at various stages of its history.First World War
In late June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia. An escalation of threats and mobilization orders followed the incident, leading by mid-August to the outbreak of World War I, which pitted Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire (the so-called Central Powers) against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan (the Allied Powers). The Allies were joined after 1917 by the United States. The four years of the Great War--as it was then known--saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction, thanks to grueling trench warfare and the introduction of modern weaponry such as machine guns, tanks and chemical weapons. By the time World War I ended in the defeat of the Central Powers in November 1918, more than 9 million soldiers had been killed and 21 million more wounded. The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, determined post-war borders from Europe to the Middle East, established the League of Nations as an international peace organization and punished Germany for its aggression with reparations and the loss of territory. Tragically, the instability caused by World War I would help make possible the rise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and would, only two decades later, lead to a second devastating international conflict.
Second World War-
The instability created in Europe by the First World War (1914-18) set the stage for another international conflict–World War II–which broke out two decades later and would prove even more devastating. Rising to power in an economically and politically unstable Germany, Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist (Nazi Party) rearmed the nation and signed strategic treaties with Italy and Japan to further his ambitions of world domination. Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939 drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany, and World War II had begun. Over the next six years, the conflict would take more lives and destroy more land and property around the globe than any previous war. Among the estimated 45-60 million people killed were 6 million Jews murdered in Nazi concentration camps as part of Hitler's diabolical "Final Solution," now known as the Holocaust.
Throughout the 400-year history of the United States, Americans have fought on battlefields both near and far, in clashes both large and small, alone and with allies at their sides. From the American Revolution of the late 18th century to the Iraq War in the early 21st, these conflicts have shaped the country’s policies, influenced its culture, defined its borders and cost thousands of lives.
Landmarks & Famous Places
The National Park System, part of the Department of the Interior, maintains 394 park areas across the United States, encompassing more than 84 million acres. In addition to its vast and beautiful wilderness areas, the United States contains many large cities, entertainment venues and historic landmarks that attract millions of tourists each year.
Topics of Interest:
- Grand Canyon
- Plymouth Colony
- White House
- Alamo
- Statue of Liberty
- Ellis Island
- Brooklyn Bridge
- Hoover Dam
- Erie Canal
- Mount Rushmore
- Alcatraz
- Hollywood
- Las Vegas
