[SOUND] Hello and welcome back to the course, contemporary geopolitics. We will start our case studies with the United States because of several very obvious reasons. First of all, the United States is the strongest state in contemporary world. It is the only superpower. Second, it occupies a unique geopolitical location. We will discuss it in several minutes. Third, it has long-lasting geopolitical traditions that go back to the end of the 19th century. Finally, the United States today continue geopolitical strategy of the United Kingdom. They dominate in maritime power trying to control main trade routes and main points and to dominate the whole world. We currently know the United States as a relatively big country. However, in the end of the 18th century, it started as a much smaller state that declared its independence as a Unity of 13 Colonies in the eastern coast of Northern America. Then the United States the 13 colonies decided to expand the influence in the continent and this became the first characteristics of geography of the US enlargement. The continental enlargement from the East to the West. The US continental expansion started with the frontier. The line between the populated part of the continent occupied by the 13 colonies and the rest of the continent and the movement of this line westwards became the first geopolitical concept in history of the United States in this map. You can see the new areas that were added to territory of the rising United States of America and the year when this happened. Once the American Nation reached the western coast, there were two main directions of the further enlargement. The first was the Alaska Purchase and Alaska became another state of the United States of America the Northern Territory that give to the United States access to the Arctic Ocean. Once the American Nation reached the western coast of the continent. There were two main directions of further expansion. First was the northern direction meaning the Alaska Purchase. Alaska was sold to the United States by The Russian Empire and became another state of the United States of America. With the Alaska Purchase the continental expansion of the United States finished. The other territories were already occupied by different countries. And therefore the only option for the United States due to continued expansion as you see in this map was the overseas expansion meaning establishment control over the outer territories islands and so on. Some of these territories where the United States established their control were in the Caribbean Basin in Atlantic Ocean. However, most of them as you see in this map were in the Pacific Ocean and Pacific area became the third element of geography of the US enlargement. The final stage of this enlargement was inclusion of the 50th state of the United States, which was Hawaii Islands. Looking at the history of enlargement of the United States and at geography of this enlargement, we can find several interesting and even unique characteristics of this country. First of all a greater Mississippi Basin which allowed to establish direct connection between different parts of the country and contributed to trade within the country. Second, the fact that this area is separated from other land masses by two oceans. The United States also had no natural enemies in the east or in the west because of this separation by two oceans from the other land masses. And finally the fact that neither Canada nor Mexico represented existential threats to the United States and their manifest destiny. The desire to expand their country continentally and then in the Pacific region.
