How America became the No.1 Superpower? | Reality of USA | Sohail khan

Which country is the most powerful in the world?

Which country is the biggest Superpower? If you can't answer this question easily, then think  Which country's economy is the largest? Which country's GDP is more than $20 trillion? Which country's companies are the most famous? Which country's films have affected the world most? Which country has won the most Nobel prize? And which country has won the most Olympic medals? Which country has the strongest military power? The answer to all these questions is America. America! and AMERICA! But the question is How did the USA become a Superpower? What did they do to become so powerful?

Friends, this chart shows the history of the last 2,000 years.

The contribution of each country to the Global GDP.

You'd see that before the 1800s,

India and China were the two biggest superpowers in the world.

Most of the trade and economic activities revolved around India and China. And it remained so for 1,800 years.

But after the 1900s, in the last 100 years only,

The USA started gaining dominance. And established such a large share in the global GDP.

How did it become possible? We need to delve into history to understand it. In the year 1492, the Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus,

discovered some Caribean islands near North America.

After this, the Europeans got to know of America.

And the colonization of America started.

By the Europeans. During this time, Red Indians lived in America.

They're also known as Native Americans. There were numerous different tribes. South America was mostly colonized by Spain.

It is known as Latin America today. This is the reason why in most of the South American countries, Spanish is spoken.

Britain established its first colony in America around the 1600s.

France started colonizing too. Initially, these were the three main powers.

Britain, France, and Spain. They colonized North America.

In the years that followed the population of the Native Americans living in America

reduced by 80-90%. There are several reasons for it.

But the biggest reason is the diseases that the European colonizers brought with them. Diseases like smallpox and influenza.

The Native Americans hadn't developed the immunity to fight against these. Several decades later,

on 4th July 1776, the American revolutionaries declared their Independence from the Britishers. And thus, America became a new country. Here, the United States of America was born.All of these are major stories in their own rights.

But let's jump to post 1850.

Because, if you'll see the chart,

America's graph started rising only after 1850.

This was the era when the British, French, and Spanish colonizers,

had occupied several territories around the world.

India was also a colony of the British Raj.

In this circumstance, the country of the USA

had already become a democratic country.

So if any new country,

thought about amalgamating with the USA,

or becoming a part of the British, French, or Spanish colonies,

every country would've preferred to join the USA,

because they would get the same freedom and democracy

that several States of the USA were starting to get.

This is why, the States like Florida, Illinois, and Ohio

preferred to join the United States of America.

Instead of remaining a colony under the Spanish or British government.

In 1836, Texas was a state that

got its freedom from Mexico

But Mexico was still tormenting them so much that

they chose to join the USA.

Similarly, the States, one after the other,

kept on joining the USA

and the United States of America kept on growing.

Every State had a reason to join the USA.

But don't mistake America to have been completely harmless.

It was a democratic country, sure,

but America's intention was to expand its territory as much as possible.

For this reason, in 1867

the Alaskan territory was bought by America from Russia

at the price of $7.2 million.

There's also the State of Hawaii.

It's in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

Today, you'd think that the territory is so far from the USA

how can it be a part of the USA?

Because the USA annexed it.

In 1898, the USA overthrew the Kingdom of Hawaii

and occupied its territory.

Theoretically, the USA was not a colonizer

like Britain, France, and Spain.

But it sure behaved like them.

If seen from the perspective of some places.

The areas of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines

were also annexed by the USA in 1898

By the US President William McKinley.

The USA paid $20 million to Spain

to annex the Philippines.

But today, the Philipines is an independent country.

Because in 1946, the Philippines got its independence from the USA.

All that money was wasted.

By the 1900s, the USA had become a large country.

Numerous territories were a part of the USA.

And obviously, the bigger the country,

the bigger is the economy and the GDP.

This is the reason

the USA occupied a significant portion of the global GDP on the graph.