USA Describe the territorial expansion of the USA in the first half of the 19th century
USA. Geographical position and adv-disadv.
The United States of America is the world's third largest country with an area of 9.6 million square kilometers, the population — over 300 million people (2007). Most of the country is in the central part of North America. It is bordered by Canada on the north and Mexico on the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.
Due to its geographical position and administrative division the United States is one of the few fragmented countries in the world. Of the fifty states of the country forty-eight states are conterminous, or enclosed within one common boundary. The other two states, Alaska and Hawaii, are located apart from the rest of the country. Alaska is located in the far northwestern part of North America, bordering western Canada. Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean to the south and west of mainland North America. The United States occupies a favourable geographical position. The Atlantic Ocean is of great importance for the country's sea communications with Europe, Africa and South America. The sea routes to Asia and Australia pass over the Pacific Ocean. The sea route through the Panama Canal, which connects the two oceans, runs over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
The physical geography of the United States is as varied as that of any other country in the world. There are huge forests, large areas of flat, grassy plains, and deserts. An average elevation of about 762 meters masks some great variations. These variations range from a low of 86 meters below sea level in California to a high of over 6,000 meters above sea level in Alaska.
The people of the United States are descended from many, many different groups of people from around the world. It is a country of immigrants. The first inhabitants came from Asia, crossing the Bering Strait into Alaska during the last Ice Age. Almost 40,000 years later, Spanish adventurers entered what is now the southwestern United States by way of Mexico. From that time, migrations have continued — Europeans, Africans, Asians, and other people from the Americas entering the country to live and work, adding their cultures to that of the nation.
The United States is spread over a huge area of the Western Hemisphere. For example, the total distance between the most eastern Florida Key and most western island of Hawaii is 9,418 kilometers. The conterminous United States stretches some 4,664 kilometers from Maine in the east to California in the west. From the northern border of North Dakota to the southern border of Texas, it is 2,585 kilometers.
It is little wonder that within a country so large there can be found so many different landscapes.
The country can be divided from the point of view of physical geography into nine regions. These are: (1) the Coastal plains, (2) the Appalachian Highlands, (3) the Interior Plains, (4) the Interior Highlands, (5) the Rocky Mountains, (6) the Intermontane Plateaus and Basins, (7) the Pacific Coastal Ranges, (8) Alaska, and (9) Hawaii.
USA Describe the territorial expansion of the USA in the first half of the 19th century.
The DSA having won the War of independence began to develop rapidly. In 1790 according to the census the population of the USA was nearly 4 million people. The country was growing quickly; industry was making progress, the shipping industry developed. But the main energy of the Americans was directed to the west. The Americans continued to explore and colonize the western lands. In 1803 America bought the huge territory lying west of the Mississippi and called Louisiana from France. By this purchase the territory of the US stretched to the Rocky mounts. After the war of 1812-1814 a national network of roads and cannels was built, steamboats moved along the rivers, and the first steam railroad opened in Baltimore (ML) in 1830. In 1829 Andrew Jackson became elected president of the US, he formed the Democratic party - a coalition of the farmers, workers, immigrants. Jackson supported the settlers in colonizing the western lands, and he also forced the Indian tribes to move west to the Mississippi. Thousands of the Americans were settling in Texas, which then was a part of Mexico. People were displeased with the rules of the Mexico and in 1835 formed the Republic of Texas. In 1845 the US invaded Texas and included it into the US. In may 1846 the American Congress declared war on Mexico & in 1847, the American army took Mexico city. Mexico had to give the US a huge territory - most of what is today California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico & Colorado. In 1846 the US settled a long dispute with British Canada & received the southern part of the Oregon Country - the present states of Oregon, Washington & Idaho The UA bounders now stretched from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific. In 1848 gold was discovered in California £ a great gold rush started. Thousands of settlers went to.California to find gold so the gold rush led to an intensive colonization of the west.
10USA.The development of the USA after the CIVIL WAR. The monroe doctrine. American expansionism at the end of the 19 century.
The victory of the North contributed to further development of the US. The country began to make great progress in the development of industry, trade, agriculture. Life in the whole country began to change rapidly. More & more immigrants began to come to America attracted by better working conditions in the towns. In the countryside the settlers could easily get land & start farming. Capitalism began to make rapid progress. In December 2, 1823, address to Congress, 'President James Monroe articulated United States' policy on the new political order. The statement, known as the Monroe Doctrine, was little noted by the Great Powers of Europe, but eventually became a longstanding tenet of U.S. foreign policy. Monroe drew upon a foundation of American diplomatic ideals such as disentanglement from European affairs and defense of neutral rights as expressed in Washington's Farewell Address and Madison's stated rationale for waging the War of 1812. The three main concepts of the doctrina- separate spheres of influence for the America and Europe, non-colonization, and nonintervention. Monroe's administration forewarned the imperial European powers against interfering in the affairs of the newly independent Latin American states or potential united States territories, While Americans generally objected to European colonies in the New World, they also desired to increase united States influence and trading ties throughout the region to their south. Monroe outlined two separate spheres of influence: the Americas and Europe. The independent lands of the Western Hemisphere would be solely the United States' domain. In exchange, the United States pledged to avoid involvement in the political affairs of Europe, and not to interfere in the existing European colonies already in the Americas.
Expansionism in America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century shared many similarities and differences to that of previous American expansionist ideals. In both cases of American expansionism, the Americans believed that we must expand our borders in order to keep the country running upright. Also, the Americans believed that the United States was the strongest of nations, and that they could take any land they pleased. America also felt that they were more powerful than, ever, with the addition of an improving navy, turning their attention to the seas for conquer. During the earlier attempts of expansion, America had virtually no navy, which made oversea conquest out of their reach, leaving them only the surrounding areas for taking. America now had the opportunity at such territories as Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines, due to their navy and its power. Also, during the expansion of the late nineteenth century, there was much more outside resistance towards American expansion. Because of the locality of the first expansion, there were not very many disputes over land as there were when America took their hopes for land overseas. In the new expansion of the American Empire, the Americans, as they did in earlier expansion, saw themselves as only "helping" those who they took under their power. President Roosevelt thus stated this in his Annual Message to Congress of 1904, where he says, "All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous." This was also believed in expansion of the 1840's, where the U.S. pushed the Native's aside, presumably "helping" them, and making way for what rightfully belonged to the Americans, eventually dwindling the Nave American population to next to nothing.-This idea of Americans being the "end all be all" of the world, would last throughout history, nearly causing many wars and conflicts because of it. Alaska -1867.