How Geography Made The US Ridiculously OP
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- čas přidán 30. 08. 2022
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The Accidental Superpower, by Peter Zeihan. Order your own copy here: www.amazon.com/Accidental-Sup... (this is not an affiliate link)
The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations, by Daniel Yergin. Order your own copy here: www.amazon.com/New-Map-Energy... (also not an affiliate link)
I know this is a super long video, but there's really just too much to cover. I could've spent hours on this subject. Anyway, if you want to watch another 40-minute long video covering the entire US War in Afghanistan from beginning to end, you can check it out here on Nebula: bit.ly/3B05iUU. You can watch that one for free, and if you want to watch some of the other 15 episodes I have in the Modern Conflicts series, the best way to get access is just by signing up for the Nebula/CuriosityStream bundle for $14.79 a year here: curiositystream.com/?coupon=reallifelore New episodes in that series are releasing every single month on Nebula!
Thanks,
Joseph
I apologize for spamming in your former video. I am a disgraceful troll. I am a changed man now.
Would love to support you and sign up but no option for paypal. :(
Finally I Could Do Something For 40 MINUTES!
Hi 😁 ur vids are cool
but super good! thanks joseph
21:55 I remember someone once saying that, while the US has many great allies, their staunchest, most reliable allies are the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
Great quote
In addition to that, Canada and Mexico. Canada is one of our greatest allies and while our relationship with Mexico isn't quite as stable, we really have no worries of being invaded by a foreign army through our northern or southern borders.
And the top allies from the US POV are the ones that act as bastions to guard the far shores of those oceans - NATO, Japan, Korea, Australia, dare I say Taiwan.
@@theax40 the geography of the north and southern borders would make it a logistical nightmare anyways.
@@theax40 Canada is the US's bitch. Not even worth calling an ally. Its basically wordplay to say theyre two different countries.
To be fair, if you get an nearly an entire continent as your country, with only allies and oceans sorrounding you, your geography tends to be pretty OP
*Edit:* to all those saying Australia, I'm not counting it because it doesn't nearly have as much variety in biomes and natural resources. It's more one big island than a real continent. The Americas have every natural resource in one self contained landmass.
yeah, especially having an equally as big country thats hard to invade due to the snowy terrain as your ally and the uk n stuff too
What does OP mean?
@@JosieCote "OP" stands for "Over Powered" in this context, though it can also mean "Original Poster" on online forums.
@@oriontigley5089 thanks for the explanation. It’s kind of confusing because “over powered” means that something/someone is weak and less powerful than others. So maybe it means “overly powerful”? That would make a lot more sense to me, because USA is rather quite powerful 🤔
@@JosieCote When used as a verb, sure. But in this case, it's used as an adjective. I've never heard of anyone associating "over powered" in descriptive contexts with weakness.
I've always compared it to words like "over clocked" and "over charged"
I believe the original etymology comes from Video Game slang, where a player character would be unfairly "overpowered", as in given too much power by devs in comparison to others, thus making the game unbalanced.
Don't forget about Alaska and Hawaii's importance for military, resources, and research: both states are considerably well placed far from the lower 48, but are also either gigantic landmasses naturally defended by extreme cold and mountainous terrain with tons of coal and gold in Alaska, or is isolated from the rest of the world in the heart of the Pacific Ocean in volcanic islands making for a perfectly placed Naval harbor or space research labs in Hawaii.
It takes eight hours to fly from Fairbanks Alaska to Born Germany, over the pole as the condor airlines ad used to say. Alaska’s anchorage international airport was a major hub before the fall of the Soviet union, which led to the opening up of Soviet airspace.
General purging said something to the effect of heating that controls Alaska controls the world.
What he meant by this is that it’s location in the northern hemisphere, where most of the land is, makes it so you can go from a place like Fairbanks to almost anywhere quicker than you could across the Atlantic or pacific. By quicker I mean less mileage sorry flat earthers.
Also you can’t forget the monopolistic corporations that took over and fucked our social systems leading us down an endless capitalist path!🔥💯👍
Demographics for hard times that are coming, America and Canada have the energy, food and mostly the resources, but Europe is in trouble, Asia mostly China is going to be desperately challenged!😮 China, imports energy, food and most resources! Belligerent attacks on trading partners, zero sum game of Chinese CCP, that's not working?
Alaska coal? ROFL. Yes, it has coal, technically. So? Compared to rest of USA it may as well not even be mentioned. Gold? Not worth mentioning. Yes, a pittance of gold. Copper, NG, and other minerals could be mentioned though.
I have been to all 50 united states and over 6000 towns and cities and almost all of the nation parks. This country is crazy from a geography standpoint. It is absolutely amazing that we where able to cross that on foot, wagon and horse only a few centuries ago. It is very hard to believe.
If I were to ask you, which state would you say has the best/most beautiful city? In your opinion. And which state is the best/most beautiful as well?
@@troyjusticecabrera7284 That is such a incredibly hard and complicated question. I'm actually not sure I could answer. I really like Florida but I've been here most of my life so my bais of Tampa FL is high. I think a better question would be what are you looking for in a city. How big do you want it. Do you want steeples for miles like new York, or something that isn't too grown. What night life's are you looking for. What laws are you concerned about exc.
Recently went out to the midwest and I was in awe at the beauty and was wondering how tf did people cross these mountains on foot
This is Eden
It'll be the same with the galaxy.
As a Canadian, I am incredibly thankful to border the USA. Despite its problems, I can't think of a better neighbour we could possibly have.
Soviet Canuckistan is a socialist hell.
Canada will be a future American territory. Same with Greenland.
@@sargonassarg4356 I hope your joking, Biden is an utter joke. You believe the news networks with their “MAGA extremists” push is pathetic. The US and the world are doing worse since Biden has taken office ffs.
The USA is also lucky to have a small, friendly, stable neighbour to the north.
Aww... Sad Denmark here.
It makes total sense that any downfall of the United States would not come because of an external threat owning to its geographic, geological or geopolitical strengths, but instead because of its domestic weaknesses. The Roman Empire collapsed from within.
We are a super spoiled society that has resorted to fighting each other out of boredom. Most we have ever been united was ww2 been going down hill ever since
@@frenchonion4595 yea I wouldn't be surprised if the people of the USA got manipulated into voting for an another country's leader.
Yes, i can see it very clear that American society is rotting and hard to make happy family.
The radical left, the Big pharma, industrial complexes, the Tiktok subversion, the destabilization by the CCP and Russia, are all threats that everyone needs to wake up to and ostracize.
@@frenchonion4595 Thank propaganda and the political parties that intentionally divided the ppl so they can be busy fighting each other as a distraction so the elites can get away with stuff like corruption and dishonesty
I’ve not seen many of your videos, but so far I’ve never seen you take a side, or demonize one side of a conflict, you simply give us the facts, and I thank you so much for that!
He does a great job at making his videos. I've watched a bunch of his videos.
I feel like there’s a pretty obvious right and wrong. I’ll give you a hint, as an American, there is zero question why our country is so dominant. It’s the same reason monopolies become monopolies. The USA doesn’t care about anyone besides it’s own well-being and the pockets of the elites.
As a New Orleanian, I’m both proud and terrified of our strategic importance
"Rivers are basically free to use." Every civil engineer hearing this immediately starts to twitch in disbelief.
@@viper2148 True 😂
@@Go_40subscribers.no you didnt
@@kentuckyfan0619 I made one about Qatar Going to make more soon fam💯 it’s in the works
@@kentuckyfan0619 gotchu bro preciate it 💯
And every indigenous person when they heard "given to the United States."
You could have also mentioned the easy access to vast deposits of coal, copper and iron in Appalachia and Great Lakes which allowed for the quick and early industrialization of the region. And that even the parts of the county without navigable rivers (i.e. the southwest) has a vast mineral wealth to make up for it.
Also, the majority of the country is flat, making it easier to build roads, infrastructure and train rails. In a mountainous country, building this kind of transportation infrastructure can cost three or four times more, plus the seasonal weather causes less damage to infrastructures (this is an advantage of all countries with seasons). In an equatorial country, where one day can be sunny, another rainy, others cold or hot, these changes in weather and temperature severely punish the infrastructure, making it even more costly to build and maintain.
among us
among us
@@MsGazpugh among us
i swear the founding fathers made a deal w/ the devil or smthng. The US has vast amounts of every single profitable and essential resource like how?
This is the longest I have actually water a video without skipping any part, I always loved history and this is amazing!
I love watering videos.
@@butter7734remember to fertilize that subscribe button
Simply the best educational video I've ever seen on CZcams. Incredibly amazing!
Incredible that people already have something to say about a 40 minute video 10 minutes after it was released
It was posted on Nebula yesterday. So many of us have already seen it and maybe they just want to comment on what they say yesterday?
That's crazy bro
@@Eagledelta3 Ah good to know about 👍
@@Eagledelta3 Possible but usually it's just people who want to immediately comment based on their initial perception of the video.
All us nebula subs just itching to comment.
We always talked about the importance of the Nile or the Danube in school, but we really should have been talking about the Mississippi this whole time.
Well, unlike the Nile the Mississippi doesn’t flow in the middle of a freaking desert and unlike the Danube it isn’t soaked in blood over thousands of years of international strife. Yes, the Mississippi may be the greatest river in terms of navigation and commerce, but its history other than the civil war is rather boring. Not too much drama to where the Nile and Danube have epic stories surrounding it.
@nole 89 eh, they're all three important, just for different reasons. U.S. education just frequently fails to teach economics beyond specific events.
Talking about the Mississippi river would involve hours of talking about Mosquitoes.
@@mrbisshie - And the Army Corps of Engineers.
History in us schools never cover Liberia. It's astounding that they do not, especially with so much race politics
This video showing the vast waterways within the continental US should have been made decades ago and shown in the US schools. There are too many of us here in the US who have zero knowledge of the river systems and their strategic importance. Well done putting this video together.
LOL speak for yourself.
What a great and interesting video. Awesome narration as well. I really enjoyed it!!
The great ancient superpower - one of the first advanced civilizations - was Egypt. It's really interesting to look at the parallels between ancient Egypt and today's USA. While the United States is surrounded by oceans, all of Egypt's enemies first had to cross the desert to attack it. I always remembered that. But you have now shown me the parallel between the Nile and the Mississippi. Geography is sooo awesome for superpowers...
I think the point of the video is how there aren’t any parallels. Egypt borders the Mediterranean, and they have been attacked and conquered all throughout there history. Most of the Egypt you learn about today was when they were in fact under subjugation from other great powers. And the fact that they were so easily invaded and conquered kind of makes them not comparable.
It's an impediment but getting a "military operation" worth of food/preparation would be difficult across an ocean, as opposed to said deserts or Meditarianian - from what I understand Germany trying to make association with Mexico circa mid-20th century was the closest conceivable option.
Kemet*
It's why we have a city called Memphis, it's located on a river delta just like it's Egyptian counterpart. Also have a city named Cairo, though they pronounce it Kay-row.
@@sofa_king_kool Cairo is also in an area of the mississippi river delta referred to as "Little Egypt"
I question if the civilisation start point in North America would still have inevitably turned into a global dominant super power (as you mentioned at the start of the video) if it were split into many countries like in Europe. I would argue that the geopolitical movement turning North America into the one nation is by far the greatest advantage.....complimented by a great piece of land.
Very doubtful, especially if it was split into different countries with different languages and cultures. That's what's baffling about people calling for secession nowadays: They don't realize how vulnerable a fractured USA would be and how many benefits of being one nation would go down the drain, but the US's enemies are very aware of it and like to stoke the flames of discord.
Changing the civilization start point would just dramatically change so much. But i can see one constant being a strong power or two centered around the Mississippi throwing around a lot of weight
@@julioalvarez9650 I think the exact opposite. For the sake of cultural coherency and less conflict, I think the USA (and Canada) should break up into 4-5 countries. Each country would have their own sovereignty but also their own cultures and specialization. One single administration for 325 million people is untenable.
@@Simboiss Generally speaking, a single administration over a larger amount of people is more stable than smaller divisions. It is more likely to be moderate in its social, political, and economic policies because it is harder for an extreme faction to dominate a larger population than a smaller one. It is also much less likely to be invaded and taken over by an outside power. The US government under its current constitution is at the top of the list for oldest continuous governments currently in existence, and if you look at longest uninterrupted forms of governments in historical times, most of them are the largest states/empires of their time.
I've seen videos talking about the various high speed rail systems in Europe and how they stop at the border and you have to use trams or local links to get from one contry's high speed to the next - it prevents them from having a continental world class high speed rail system which they could if they had a single regulatory agency and bidding/contracting system and funding mechanism/subsidies
What an excellent early schooling education. Compiled so as to explain things so easily. Even if you’re well aware of these issues, having the continent put together in one video like this is really interesting. LET YOUR KIDS WATCH IT!
Brexit was about banks and corporations keeping more, with less regulations, from EU, they corporate suits stoked the elderly conservatives with nationalism, and who votes the most? Cilodynamics, study of how civilizations collapse, disparity between the rich and poor, leads to collapse, along with too many entitled elites, and resources collapse! Prof. Peter Turchin! (Definitely going to get worse and worse, wage disparity!) Rich vs. poor! 3,000 year's of patterns, 400 civilizations! ↘️⬇️ Look at the military, not paid enough to matter?
The "OP" acronym should be defined in the title since google offers the definitions "Surgical Operation" and "Military Operation".
I hate when gamer lingo makes it into serious things
@@zeldamaniac3188 OP stands for Over Populated ?
Totally agree with you. What the **** does the title mean, please?
overpowered
The North Sea coast in the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark also has barrier islands similar to the US. Except that Long Island alone is three times larger than all the Frisian Islands combined.
And the Dutch once colonized it.
@@draphotube4315 uh cool no shit
Long Island ,NY , is bigger then most European Countries
😆
@@TheGecko213 No it's not. Belgium is 10 times bigger.
@@TheGecko213 67 times smaller than UK.
10 times smaller than Belgium
I’d say North America In general is geographically incredible. Canada has 20% of the world fresh water and is rich in valuable minerals.
That stat is amazing. Also, I don’t know if fresh water was ever as important as it is now. So many are running out of it.
*only 5 percent is habitable. 95% is useless.*
🇨🇦 > 🇺🇸 always. And I'm not Canadian.
@@mangos2888 Pfft. I’m American and i’ve never even been to Canada, yet I like Canada more
@@saturn6563 Then go there
When you mentionrd the head of navihation being Minneapolis-St Paul, I reminded of one of Garrison Keillor's "News from Lake Wobegon" segments which featured the crackpot uncle of one of the regular character's, who built a pretty fair size sailboat in his barn. He became the laughing-stock of the town, until...a cataclysmic rainstorm came. As the flood waters backed up to his property, he demolished the end of his barn, and launched the craft into the lake. When the dam burst, the craft together with the uncle, sped downstream into the Mississippi River, into the Gulf of Mexico. He then navigated to an island in the Carribbean, where he began a new life!
Another enormous boon is how quickly the USA was established as a single united entity. If the USA's history had been as long as Europe's, it would be as divided and multilingual as Europe, fractured into a myriad of states unable to even speak to each other. Having a common language across the continent is a MASSIVE boon. When I first went to the USA from the UK, the first relief I had was that I could speak the language. It's a total nightmare going anywhere else.
@Tilveran Good overlooked point. Also, the system where states could have some of their own policies that made them less likely to break away. (civil war notwithstanding).
not excatly. the reason why Europe has so many language is because of its geography. linguistically speaking geography and isolation are what causes languages to develop and change. while at the same time in modern times the US is more diverse and multilingual. the US doesn't have an official language for a reason. and there's maps that show the 2nd and 3rd most spoken language in each state. and on another note majority of the world is bilingual or multilingual. so the odds that someone in another country speaks English or another language that you do are pretty fair. so to say that a united language is also what made the country what it is today is only partly true.
@@Roxadus460 re: “the US doesn’t have an official language for a reason.” Okay, sorry but the official language of the US is English. It’s required at the federal level for all government business. It’s also required for private citizens in order to function and prosper in American society. If you move here, learn it.
@@randallturner9094 OFFICIALLY the US does not list a national language. The CIA World Factbook and other government sources confirm this. English is the de facto language of the country, meaning it’s not official in a legal or legislative way, but in a “everyone just knows it” unofficial way.
@@coreypayne9401 re: “not official in a legal or legislative way” - are you serious? Oh, there’s just a bit of legislation involved. You’re required to learn English to become a US Citizen, comrade. “Officially”. For a reason, as you put it. 🙄 The CIA factbook and all those “other government sources” are REQUIRED, by law, to be in ENGLISH, gomer. Officially.
Dude, you’re basically dishonest. “Does not list a national language.” You’re arguing semantics. You’re a liar. And worse, frankly, but that’s off-topic and it’s too much work to do a proper fisking.
i knew USA is amazingly diverse geography, & when i had small talk with a co-worker, i was like, "this country is massive", what i really meant was its got every climate, every geography, every everything, that other countries can dream of. what continents have, but not every countries have
edit: dear Americans. I get it, you have rainforests. I think at this point the entire population of the Mid-West has replied to tell me how wrong I am.
For the record, and this is on me, I should have clarified that America doesn't have any *tropical* rainforests (like the Amazon, as an example). But I have learned there's more than one type of rainforest, so silver linings.
hasn't got rainforests
@@KountKristyl and soon nowhere will
@@starlight4130 Sadly true
The size of Western Europe with a population to match
@@starlight4130 no, thankfully, contrary to belief rainforest soil actually is NOT fertile. Not for what we want to do with it our farmland
My father told me this fact. America's real longest war was the conflict against Indigenous Americans, called the American Indian Wars, which most historians characterize as beginning in 1609 and ending in 1924 or 313 years, mainly over land control.
Thats like a hundred separate conflicts against a hundred separate foes spread out over hundreds of years with lots of stops and starts and a lot of other things going on. Its really not accurate to call that one continuous conflict, although you might lump it together as a planned genocide
Cooool…
I have a cookie recipe:
Granulated Sugar (1 cup)
1 cup light brown sugar (packed) or 2 cups powdered sugar or 3/4 cup honey (reduce liquid in recipe by 1/4 cup)
All-Purpose Flour (1 tablespoon)
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch, potato starch, rice starch, or arrowroot starch or 1 tablespoon granular tapioca or 2 teaspoon quick-cooking tapioca
Baking Soda (1 teaspoon)
4 teaspoons baking powder or 1 teaspoon potassium bicarbonate
Baking Powder (1 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 cup sour milk, buttermilk, or plain yogurt or 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice used with sweet milk to make 1/2 cup
little by little , one or two tribes at a time. some we bought land from , made friends with, married them, made truces, made treaties, and some kept thousands or millions of acres of land... now are citizens of our nation as well a s keep thier sovereign tribal nations. they are still great warriors fighting for this country in the military. this land is their Mother, so they say. it's ours too if we've been here for many generations. we admire them and thier arts, wisdom, etc , they were a worthy foe back in the day. Glad we are at peace now all of us including all those tribes with each other. We are just their white brother, they are our red brother. i heard one of their sages say we need to keep our tech in check. i know that's true.
@@McFish-ts5jj 😂😂😂
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"The Americans are a very lucky people. They're bordered to the north and south by weak neighbors, and to the east and west by fish." - Otto Von Bismarck
Wait until the fish evolve into Gyrados
@@Goober_80 Joke's on them-- America has the water stones.
@@seanmcgrady8688 welp looks like no scary fish demons are attacking Murica today
@@seanmcgrady8688 the fish evolve at level 20 without water stones
I mean and we’re arguably pretty close with both despite what the divisive media makes it seem
I work on the Mississippi River in Louisiana, they have a lot of traffic that comes through every day, it's just so remarkable to see so many ships and cargo moving along the big river.
First reply
It is much less important today than a hundred years ago.
The US geography is simply too good, it's so blessed with having the most arable land on the planet along with it's overall geography and access to bodies of water coast to coast making it almost impossible to attack
@@juzoli Is it, though? America's heartland is still basically the center of its' entire industrial base. And shipping by boat is infinitely cheaper than shipping by any other method in the world, as the video points out. The Mississippi will never NOT be important. How the hell was it more important a hundred years ago, at a time when shipping out our food and industrial resources to the entire world was not yet a thing?
Even better is how much traffic can go through Louisiana and how the corruption can make it so poor.
Damn! That's a very high quality video.
Great content. The enormous amount of research you’ve put in this video is very much appreciated.
Basically the opposite of Australia. Our biggest river, the Murray, was only discovered in the 1800s and is so shallow at its mouth that ships can't enter from the sea.
Oh really, Murray? **SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC INTENSIFIES**
@@chungusmaximus526 Everything about USA is ridiculous.
Part 2 to this video here: "How The US Should Have Spent The Afghanistan War Budget" by 'Second Thought'.
Australia still has some of the best geography and is effectly an island continent, and has large amount of almost every resource.
Its location is probably arguably better moving forward past the 1900s and into the 2100s in the world.
As mentioned a river system like the USAs is also a weakness, now at the moment/ in our life time's the usa is good, but things won't always be like they are now.
Bad management can also effect a nation look at Argentina for an example.
@@brianlong2334 dude the US and Australia are on so fondamentally different planes this isn’t really an apt comparison
I’d say the US has truly become one of the worlds great civilizational states.
Over the course of their history they’ve built not just a state, but a country, not just a country, but a nation. And not just a nation but a civilization.
Unmoored by ties of blood or faith or ancestry but bound by an Ideology, the most dominant political ideology of the Post enlightenment world.
There’s an Americanism to the way the people of that continent live that makes them more comparable to say China than to most regular countries.
Although I fear they might be tearing it apart.
That’s why the US managed to have 14 times Australia’s population in a similar land area
Two things. 1) On the topic of agriculture: during the Cold War, after the development of imaging satellites, the USSR thought it was nigh impossible for a geographic place to have so much agriculture, as it was so unlike anywhere else in the world. They had a number of theories, but one that contributed to Soviet policies was that several farms and rural towns were deception, and were actually biological weapons research facilities. This caused the USSR to overspend on biological warfare research in order to outdo what they thought was a massive US advantage. When in reality, the Soviet bio-warfare program was quite a bit more advanced than the US's.
2) Even if a foreign military managed to land ground forces on US soil with millions of soldiers, the US has ~40% of the ~1 billion firearms in the world. ~70% of US adults have fired a gun, including more than half of those that have never even owned one. That's a bit beyond the geography topic of the video, but worth pointing out as an aside :p
YUP. even if they could wipe out our government and military, what followed would be the biggest, longest, bloodiest guerilla war of all time. Could you imagine? There’s actually declassified Soviet files that talk about this, and even they came to the conclusion that the US is unconquerable
Sadly most of the gun lunatic Americans are so vulnerable to misinformation they already support traitor trump and would support a joint Sino Russian invasion of America
When I was a teenager one of my first stories was about a Latin American Hannibal/Napoleon persona who unites a huge part of Central/South America and then invades the US with surprising success and asymmetric tactics. He relies on support from disaffected political groups within the US to maintain his lines of supply and threatens to take the Mississippi and Great Lakes, splitting the nation in two. Instead of pouring resources into those areas he gets bogged down in the South (trying to take Texas and Florida) and he fights a Pyrrhic retreat back to Mexico City. I still think effort would ultimately fail much like Hannibal's own, for much of the same reasons. US Navy and Air Force allows the US to give up a lot of territory and hit you in the flanks when you overstretch.
@@travelhog lol🤣
Not to mention that the geography of the US is extremely hostile to invading armies the Pacific Northwest is mostly forrests and mountains. The Southwest is mostly vast empty desert. The south is predominantly forrests and/ or swamps. The north east is fairly forrested, and the Appalachians in the area as well. Finally, the north is mostly wide open plains which means any potential invasion is not going to have anywhere to hide from the Air Force.
Proud to be an American. So lucky to be part of this great story.
As we all should be.
@@psychologymajorptsd62it’s all pov.
Incredibly well done! I actually learned a lot even as an American!
I remember moving cross country from west to east as a kid. I was absolutely *floored* by the sheer size of the Mississippi River. It is *insanely* wide
Yes me too! Never seen anything like it.
I grew up next to it.
The Rio Grande was not so grand in my estimation. It's a large stream.
I'd love to drive across country and see it someday. Check out the Great Lakes to. Even more so after this.
@@johnbainbridge9034 the Rio Grande is hardly a river anymore. It sometimes goes completely dry by the time it reaches El Paso
I live in Memphis so... yea it is a big ass river.
I am a tugboat captain on the Mississippi and Intracoastal Waterway, so I’ve known this for a long time. The leaders of our industry are always baffled that more Americans don’t know how important our waterways are to our economy. Great video.
damn, tugboat captain, that sounds like a pretty nice job
They don’t teach it in school, I learned all this from this video at the age of 27. I also live in Arizona, so we don’t really think about rivers that much here.
I always knew how historically important the river system was to our economy, but I wasn’t aware of the sheer scale (I always assumed the coastal ports, railways and interstate systems were the main factor in the modern day) or how relevant it still is until this day. As a “coastal elite” surrounded by business people I always hear about coastal ports when it comes to logistics and rarely, if ever, about the Midwest and when I do it’s mostly in reference to trains and trucking.
Also, The Great Lakes contribute to the US being a powerhouse also. It is the largest freshwater system on the planet.
@@xxxBradTxxxya learn in AP US history
Cool video. I can’t do the hyperbole/delivery of it, but it was an informative video for sure.
Thanks so much for the great video. The music in this was fire.
Do you know the name of the music?
This was my entire 8th grade history class condensed into around 40 minutes with a better step by step explanation
I can tell you were not paying attention in class.
@@happybobjr1or the teaching is not up to quality
@@Iosinyhrhalways someone else’s fault mentality
@@fernandosapiens3871knowing the American education system, it might as well be true
Kudos to your 8th grade history teacher. I shudder to think what most kids are being taught in history classes today.
I’m an American, my wife and I live on a 60’ sailboat. We sailed from Cincinnati, OH to the Mississippi delta during COVID and ended up just continuing on up the coast and into the intercoastal waterway back to the Great Lakes. It’s a trip called the Great Loop. It was the most interesting trip we’ve ever made. I was blown away by all the infrastructure. We’ve sailed the Med and Caribbean and the Loop was easily the most logistically simple trip we’ve ever done.
I want to do the great loop. Its craczy how nautical our land nation is. Way nore than places like mongolia. Plus we have alaska and hawaii so if you leave from the west coast you have entirely different options its a wholleee lotta freedom i can go to all thes eplaces without showing a passport or even an ID unless I get caught in violation of a law. If yiu try to go from britain to spain thsyre going to ID you. Its a whole different world. Theyll just search you for no reason just because. Im usa i can go from arizona to michigan to florida to texas and no one bats an eye
@@censored4christ162 We are leaving for Hawaii (and then onto Nuku Hiva and Hiva Oa) from San Diego on Friday. But it is a much more difficult passage logistically. You should definitely do the Loop. Its an absolute blast.
You are very fortunate. Good for you. Boating is very expensive; consequently, those who own boat and decide to live on the boat is because it is very expensive to own a boat in addition to owning a house. Ownership of most big durable items requires insurance and maintenance; thus, it becomes a lifestyle and a owner needs to develop maintenance skills unless one is very, very wealthy. However, I wish I could at least once in my life travel the United States riverways and coastal-ways and the Great Lakes.
@censored4christ162
Please Note: A, Partial Listing of: your copious Typo Errata:
1.: *crazy;...
2.: *more;...
3.: *Mongolia;...
4.: *Alaska;...
5.: *Hawaii;...
6.: *options.It's;...
8.: *freedom.I;...
10.: *these places;...
11.: *you;...
12.: *Britain;...
13.:*Spain;...
14.: *they're;...
15.: *they'll;...
16.: *In the U.S.A.;...
17.: *I can go from;...
18.: *Arizona;...
19.: *Michigan;...
20.: *Florida;...
21.: *Texas;...
Dude, that's incredible! I'm honestly quite jealous! 😂 Happy for you though. Keep livin' the good life!
This is incredibly well done 👍🏻
I love how how you use the resource icons from Sid Meier's Civilization VI in these videos when talking about resources.
I randomly started looking at the waterways in America... It's honestly broken af from a infrastructure standpoint. We can get goods basically anywhere with these systems. Crazy.
Also, imagine what would happen if we found a huge cobalt area.
Unfortunately our current government policies make this harder than need be. If only we got rid of the Jones Act and made a continental version of Conrail.
@@TheSpecialJ11 What's the jones act?
There is in Minnesota but has been protected from mining as its part of millions of acres of national forest/ recreational canoe water lands
@@TigerWave01 Thanks!
@@TigerWave01 Most of the people who gripe about the Jones Act are Hawaiians. 🏖
Just thinking out loud (and I'm Aussie)... maybe one of the reasons why the USA has done well is because it was a (mostly) united country? Europe also has great natural resources but they've just fought with each other the last thousands of years?
Yeah that's a pretty good point. All the power we have from the geography would be useless if we weren't so united. But at the same time that unity wouldn't be as impactful in a less geographically rich area. So, I guess it's which ever you find more valuable
Can you list all of these natural resources or make a list of the natural resources?
@@johngutwald8454 Talking from the Northern mid-west (North & South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin) point of view, we have a vast majority of everything you need. Lumber, Coal, Oil, Gold, Iron ore, and some of the best soil for farming on Earth, etc...
Oh yes... the (mostly) unified country aspect is every bit as important as the resources, Mississippi River basin, etc.
So are other things... like NOT being communist/socialist.
There's no doubt it was instrumental to our nation's development. If it was divided, say France never sold the Louisiana purchase & it survived potential subsequent wars, they would own have owned from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, partly controlling the river. This along with a portion of the oil & gas fields in parts of Texas & Oklahoma & that field located up along the Canadian border, plus all the great farmland in the west/upper midwest like Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, the Dakotas & part of Minnesota. That alone would have been a powerful country unto itself.
Did bro use the CIV 6 resource icons in the animation? Haha Great video!
Great video thanks!!
140 years ago, Mark Twain wrote extensively about the history of the Mississippi basin and how it was utilized and developed via emerging technologies of the time.
That is the most boring thing I have ever read in my entire life
And, what better reading could there be about this than Twain? 😊
If you go up to Minnesota you can walk across it. I forgot the place
@@kidfox3971 You mean about Twain, or about where to walk across?
@@diane9247 Everything, I unironically killed myself while reading the above comment.
This guy makes the best videos with information and entertaining. We appreciate it my friend.
The thing that made me truly appreciate that North American geography is absurdly favorable was the metric for steel production capacity immediately before World War 2: if I remember correctly it was vastly in the lead, potentially as much as every other combatant combined.
And so long as the US keeps control of the Western Hemisphere, there is essentially no power on Earth that could win a war of conquest over the USA (which doesn't involve reducing the continent to rubble first).
I believe the majority of the steel was produced in the Hoover mason trestle located in Pennsylvania. It located right by the Appalachian mountains and on the Lehigh river.
There's a time after WWII where the US literally produced half of everything in the world. It's production capacity is insane when it's needed to be.
I don't it's possible for another to "win" by turning North America into dust, as by doing so they themselves would certainly also get obliterated.
It’s been modeled that the US could fight conventionally against the rest of the world, simultaneously, on many fronts, and still win.
It was demonstrated that logistics, the Navy, overseas bases/ballistics, surveillance, & self reliance on resources are the pillars of modern warfare. By surgically crippling adversarial capacity to wage war through disruption of fuel and supply chains to deployed militaries & their homelands, the only option is to sue for peace.
The US has a lot of vulnerabilities, but all out conventional warfare isn’t one.
“Vastly in the lead”
I'm from America and I approve this video. Quite an epic production. Keep at it
Hands down one of my favorite videos on youtube. ✌️
5:30 Don't forget economies of scale! Ships are one if the few modes of transportation that becomes more efficient the bigger it gets. The more stuff you can put on a boat, the cheaper it is to ship per unit. Whereas work land based transportation, the bigger it gets, the more engineering problems you encounter and the more expensive they get to fix, a bigger ship mostly just means spreading the operating costs out over more cargo. Physics is actually on our side on this one.
trains also work that way. it could be that all forms of transport do if they are in a line.
Not only does a larger volume mean cheaper per unit shipping costs, but the longer (bigger) a ship is the faster it can go before the wake it produces starts to really create a lot of drag, so they can either use less fuel or can move the goods faster. The economies of scale benefits just compound and compound with ships.
@@andrewjensen7454 That I didn't know, but makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
Amazing
I learned a lot from your statement.
Was so curious if Mississippi river carries that much volume so I searched it up.
The global cargo volume was 1.85 billion Tons in 2019 and the M. River carried 500 million tons in 2021. That's 27% of the GLOBAL cargo volume!
Insane.
I grew up in the twin cities mere blocks from the Mississippi. There's a constant stream of barges coming up and down at that point. And thats at the northernmost industrial point.
I gotta visit sometimes fascinating!
Part 2 to this video here: "How The US Should Have Spent The Afghanistan War Budget" by 'Second Thought'.
@@billhicks6449 I’m from mn too
@@billhicks6449 good ole Twin Cities. I'm down in Ste Genevieve where I can see the levee's from my livingroom lol
Incredibly factual, and conclusions as fair and reasonable as any I've read or heard. Thank you so much. We are all starved for this kind of reporting.
now this is some lore worth listening to
The country's so op they had to nerf it with an education system that makes 16% of the population believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows
Edit: the comment section makes the Russia-Ukraine war like a tea party, enter at your own risk
At least thats something we can change. Geography is fixed.
Where do you other 84% think it comes from?
Just to clarify, not brown cows, they must be chocolate cows.
Lol is this real ? 😂
That's because more weight is put on fairy tales like the Bible than real education.
When discussing the Great Lakes as a transportation route, there was simpler engineering at an earlier time that provided a large portion of present-day capabilities. The Erie Canal was completed in 1825 and connected eastern Lakes Erie to the Hudson River, and thus the port of New York City and the navigable connections between Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan. The first version of the "Soo" Locks were completed in 1855, adding access to Lake Superior
And there's the Great Lakes' route through to the St. Lawrence Seaway and VS. So, e.g., Chicago has a water route to the Atlantic. And all the betweens and links such as the Ohio river to Mississippi River.
Not to forget the canals linking the Chesapeake to the Delaware and the Delaware to the Hudson, which of course led to the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes! Of course, one could also continue north from the Hudson entrance to the Erie canal, heading upstream the Hudson River to the Champlain canal, then heading across Lake Champlain and downstream to the St Lawrence Seaway. One could travel from Duluth to Norfolk VA via Albany NY, then head north to Montreal without ever facing an open sea. Those canals sure changed things. A lot of iron ore moved from the upper Midwest to smelters, foundries, and plants throughout the eastern US, helping the US economy to boom. I suspect you know that, but other readers might not know that. :-)
Voice over guy is competing in a word-stress competition.
Right?
Thank you for making work pass by fast 🎉
Ok, major historical oversight about the opening of the Great Lakes to global commerce. While it is true that the St. Lawrence Seaway, which was completed in the 1950s, opened the Great Lakes to trans-oceanic commerce, the lakes themselves have been opened to global shipping since the 1850s. This development was made possible thanks to the completion of the following projects: The Erie Canal in the 1820s (Albany to Buffalo), The Illinois and Michigan Canal (connected Lake Michigan with the Illinois River via Chicago) completed in 1848, and the Soo Locks (Connecting Lake Superior to Lakes Huron and Michigan) in 1855.
I was thinking something more like the 1850's!
And even without the full Seaway trade was still possible, just using smaller vessels and either older canals or offloading cargo to bypass rapids.
And after the seaway a ton of hydroelectric power became available to both the US and Canada. (The Moses-Sounders dam in Massena/Cornwall has 2 separate generation plants that combine to about 2GW of installed capacity) I assume the rest of the greatlakes region also have several GW of capacity from dams along the watershed (like how much of the niagra river doesn't go over the falls, only enough to be pretty as a tourist destination/heritage site).
As an additional note sailing vessels stayed in commercial service longer on the Great Lakes than basically anywhere else in US because the lakes were so navigable. Steam tugboats were used to get these sailing vessels up the Detroit River across the St Clair flats and up the St Clair River.
The great lakes and Erie Canal paved another way for great trade
It’s important to note that the US has two friendly neighbours.
You need to highlight the Panama Canal as well. This marval even though no longer under US control allows free shipping between the Atlantic and the Pacific effectively increasing the ease of trade from the Mississippi basin & intercoastal to the Western coast.
It wouldn’t exactly be difficult to take over the Panama Canal by force if necessary.
I still think Carter made a mistake turning it over.
I’d be ok with Panama and America co-owning it together.
Panama and Suez Canal are by far the biggest man made structures to improve global trade. I agree that it should have been covered
@@Kaiserboo1871 ,
You have to remember that Carter is a Socialist Liberal Democrat. The ONLY aim of that Party is to gain political and social power. If it comes at the expense of the United States , well.....
@@Captainaceguy00
*covered.
@Kaiserboo1871
You may be right, but, what you think or feel "OK about" the issue, is: totally -->>irrelevant; since, who are you; anyhow-????
When you talk like that you communicate 1 thing: disgusting arrogance!!!.
Why do you think that you are so darn important-????!!!!!!!!!!.
6:27 I love how he used the icons from Civilization VI 😂
Thank you Peter Zeihan for writing all your books and speeches over the last 20 years. He is the true source of all this information.
I'm embarrassed to admit that this video taught me a shit ton of facts I didn't know about my own country... and I've seen a lot of these coastlines, too.
Welcome to America dude. It's huge.
And welcome to the American school system. It‘s lacking.
Maybe if you didnt have to worry about getting shot in class then the teaching quality would be better, not so great america anymore
I live on the Chesapeake, and I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that it has more coast line than India. Like I straight up called BS when I first heard that.
😐
*Another thing not mentioned besides the United States river system* is the fact that the U.S. has the world's largest road and rail network of any country on Earth. The United States has 4 million miles of roads that span across it today. And it has 140,000 miles of freight railroad track that spans across it as well. So you have the world's largest road system, the world's largest navigational river system, the world's largest railroad system, and the world's largest airplane and airport industry to move goods all across the U.S. and abroad.
It's a whole ecosystem of transportation that the U.S has. 🙂
Forreal, while U.S. passenger trains leave much to be desired, our freight train system is unmatched.
All the reason we are so perfect to be, is the main reason China has been trying to steal America from with in !!!! Why we need to guard our Backs !!!
@@cripple9860 Go look up the dynamics of passenger/freight rails -- they are directly competing with each other. The reason for passenger rails being no good is because they use the same rails as freight trains and freight takes priority over passenger rails. And often, there is only a small window of time allotted to passenger trains to run so when the time is up -- no more rides for the day. Only freight.
Road and rail systems are not mentioned because this video focuses on natural geographic features contributing to the USA's strategic and economic strengths.
@@BAPK1602 It's a trade off between freight or passenger rail. The existing infrastructure works so well with freight that we might as well stick with it. In order to have high speed rail, you'll need completely new infrastructure to support it. Which is simply not justifiable considering there's not a big enough population density except for very certain parts of the country; the east coast, parts of the Midwest, a Texas triangle, and the Pacific Coast? Most of the country is just too big and empty for high speed passenger rail. Once you hit that 500 mile mark, you might as well fly. If you look at places with efficient passenger rail networks, you'll see that odds are, they're very densely populated.
I could watch and listen for hours. Incredibly fascinating ❤❤❤
Good video.
This brings me back so many memories of the geopolitics lessons I used to attend. Sometimes it's not just the size of the territory but also where it is located, which reminds me of the strategic locations the British Empire used to own during its maximum expansion.
Lol...Wuz this USED 2 OWN, English?
Falklands, Gibraltar, Diego Garcia, Ascension...You may not have the Suez, A.T.M. but British bases are sitting upon a large swath of Cyprus nearby the Suez.
You just need to own Singapore again and U instantly win at Super-Strategic Tiny Island BINGO
@@czdaniel1 Montevideo could easily have been yet another such strategic point. It was captured and occupied by the British in 1807. Would have been a South American version of Halifax!
Logged in to Nebula about an hour ago to see if there were any new uploads to Modern Conflicts and was pleasantly surprised to see the latest video. After watching that I jumped over to CZcams to see if there was anything new here and got to enjoy even more great content! Thank you for your amazing work!
Jumping into Nebula isn't wise, no oxygen or water. Amazing you survived
@@robertbones326 bro mightve just saved me my friends convinced me to go nebula diving later today 💀
@@robertbones326 damn that's my weekend ruined
Thanks!
Your videos are fun.
the Bakken field saved my dad from a lot of debt. He was on heavy debt and decided to risk it and he moved there himself but we stayed in Idaho. Once he made enough money we moved there with him. we bought a house. eventually he got a better job offer and we moved to Iowa. The ND oil boom saved my family that I can guarantee.
Saved alot of us my friend
I’m an engineer in Texas and used to travel up to ND to support the Bakken fields. I always tried to make my trips between May and September, first to avoid the cold and second to get a break from the Texas heat. I’m glad the Bakken gave your family a solid opportunity
I come from a Minnesota farm south of the twin cities. The Mississippi river is a mighty river indeed. Fuels everything, home to so many bald eagles. Been the head waters of the Mississippi river aa few times, nice area to hike. America is an amazing country and living here is kick ass. From that small farm in southern Minnesota to a software engineer this place lets you become anything you want. Family migrated here and in 1 generation we went from farmers to engineers, still got plenty of farmers in the family though. Never going to give that farm up.
Farmington?
You don't live close enough yo diversity.
I'm from Central Minnesota myself. My favorite thing about the headwaters of the Mississippi is just how humble it all begins. A normal person can jump across it. I've seen it multiple times where it's not more then a foot deep. It's really humbling to be reminded that the only reason the Mississippi is so big is because of all the other rivers that flow into it, 1 of which I myself live on currently. It truly would be nothing without all of the other rivers and lakes the feed it water.
I saw a Bald Eagle driving southbound in Texas' Rio Grande valley. Long strait open highway with VERY WIDE open medians between the North & Southbound lanes. The Bald Eagle swooped down to the deck, landed among the grass & shrubs in that wide open median space.
I'm told it was probably a Mexican bald eagle that I saw, which is a little smaller than the American Bald Eagle you see around the Mississippi
@@preussianblau5595 the shield
As for water shipping being much cheaper, the Erie Canal was huge in the early 19th century development of New York state for the same reason
I'm normally a big fan of RealLifeLore, but I really, really disagree with what he says at 2:47. The United States becoming a superpower was not 'almost inevitable' due to its geography. There are many examples of geographically blessed countries ending up as failed states. I believe that the main reasons for the USA's success are related to the properties of its dominant culture, as pointed out by de Tocqueville all the way back in 1835 when he wrote Democracy in America.
This video has done more to help me understand American history and politics than any one source of information ever has. Thank you for helping put the pieces together. Wonderful video.
Did this video help you understand why Biden's energy policies are historically stupid? Do you see a correlation between what is happening to the American economy today and the economy during the 70's oil embargo? It's like the democrats, and every voter who voted for him, have never read a history book🤓
This is propaganda.
@@l.w.paradis2108u jealous?
@@ESkog Why? Is the producer married to someone I'm in love with?
@@l.w.paradis2108YES
Your content is some of the rare stuff that makes me excited to have the internet again, like when it was newer when we were younger. This is quite literally, the content I signed up for(your work as a whole, not just this particular video). Thank you for bringing some joy and knowledge into my life.
Beautifully said
Definitely one of the rare youtubers where you watch every single thing they put out because it's all so high quality.
Well said
That was the Sanibel lighthouse at 7:25 unfortunately the houses next to it are no longer due to hurricane ian
26:40 Barnett Shale mentioned...hey that's us! Thank you.
Getting me hyped about geography is hard to do but wow. The amount of positive fun facts in this video is unmatched.
Search . ' The Geopolitics of World War 3 . '
Really governments can be bought and traded just like modern-day slave trade
Check out Atlas Pro. Everything he produces is based on geography basically and most is his vids are facinating.
Wow. I've never looked at the world through this lens before. This is like the Rosetta Stone to geopolitics. Thank you for this well made and enlightening documentary.
Read “The Accidental Superpower” by Peter Zeihan
Read "Guns Germs and Steel." It goes a long way in explaining why the world's most powerful nations developed where they did.
Yay, 128th like!
If you enjoyed this look up Peter zeihan he is a geopolitical analyst the information he puts out is extremely important and informative
I studied ancient history at university. I had something of an epiphany when my professor began explaining history from the perspective of economics. We often think of civilizations by their monuments, art, or battles they fought. But all that glory is rooted in the strength of its economy.
Knowledgeable!! Way to DRAMATIC!
I love these videos
I love how he uses Sid Meier's Civilization resource icons for crops and materials
Bro I used command F to find this comment
I think its key for Americans who are intent on amplifying our internal differences to understand how weak we are when we are split apart. Our strength comes from our unity and connectedness across the continent. Our differences are not that important, our prosperity is assured and we can have a century of prosperity and peace if we just remember how important we are to each other. Consider how much our dissolution as a nation would benefit our mutual enemies, and you start to reconsider the motivations and allegiances of those who openly call for these things.
How about FUCK NO. Any American who calls himself a Socialist can go to hell.
No wonder the global elites want to divide and conquer us. We the people need to stand as one.
It feels like a monumental uphill battle when so many of our elites in power appear to be compromised.
Would be nice for the US to continuesly stay in power and dictate world politics huh. Because yall definitely are good with politics and not being evil.
@@HowIsAsh if you did not intend sarcasm, I read it in anyways as it should be.
The US isnt evil. MAN IS EVIL. power corrupts completely. Whoever has it, will follow in US steps. No question.
Bravo. A masterpiece.
I really like the use of civ icons.
"The Americans are very fortunate. They're bordered to the north and south by weak neighbors, and to the east and west by fish". Otto von Bismarck , German chancellor
Didn't he also say "God protects bums, drunks and the US Army??
I was a Geography major in college nearly 20 years ago. I learned SOME of what you covered in this video, but not all of it--and only piecemeal. I've never heard such a clear, thorough explanation of how the USA's geography has influenced its prosperity. You do marvelous work! I followed your link to Nebula and subscribed. Thank you for the wonderful content!
Check out “How the States got their Shapes”… I think you would like it. It was on the History channel about ten years ago. It’s an awesome series like this video but broken down by all the states boundaries and how they came to be defined.
This is hands-down one of the most fascinating history/geography lessons I've ever gotten. I can't wait to annoy my wife with stuff I've learned from this video. Thanks!
Loving the Civ Icons
When you add the varied biomes within America. Any invader would need to have the gear for nearly every kind of terrain to get through.
@@thedarkmajesty1773 that's pretty hilarious, Mexico annexing the usa. 400000000 guns in the hands of the American citizens might have something to say about that
For sure the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian mountains act as a barrier and the Great Lakes so the middle would be most protected unless they invade through Mexico but they would not even reach us cuz Mexico would already alert the USA
I believe I had read that nearly every biome on earth exists within the US border with a few exceptions such as tropical rainforest (Florida gets close being subtropical)
@@clownworld4655 Hawaii has a tropical rainforest biome.
Does the US have Tundra?
As an immigrant to the US, I have to say this land is a miracle to exist in every sense of the word. Not just geographically, but it is very rare to have had such a brilliant group of founding fathers fight and win one of the very few successful revolutions in history, and established such a well-rounded republic on top of it (and yes, I know they owned slaves and yada, yada, just like everyone else in that era- it still doesn’t detract from there accomplishments). That said, I hope this wonderful nation of cultural diversity is able to get over its political, culture, gender, and ideological wars going on at the moment. Perhaps this country was so blessed with good geography that over time people lost there sense of appreciation for the land they were born in, and begun to fight over useless arguments. Too much of that can lead even the most powerful empires down a hole - I just hope we come back to our senses before it happens here.
Couldnt agree more, I think that the reason for all these ideological problems is directly from just how good americans have it. First world problems, gotta have something to be mad about
I’m so glad you love it here. It’s great to see someone born outside the US that doesn’t hate it just for the stereotypes. It is the greatest country in the world, and I’m glad you’re here with us🇺🇸
Well said. Absolutely well said.
@@imdarling17 American exceptionalism strikes again, an empire sustained on the oppression, interventionism and bloodshed provoked against the global south. You live in a bubble, no wonder the rest of the world largely regards Americans as exceptionally ignorant, including Europe.
@@angelxxsin I’m showing patriotism towards my fellow Americans, you obviously watch CNN too much
Your use of civ 6 symbols definitely earned you a sub.
I love the use of Civilization 6 icons lol
- Basically a continental fortress, isolated from any threat with geography that would be an invading force's nightmare.
- Incredible amount of natural resources.
- Modern starting point, from a beginning as self-sufficient colonies.
Yeah, it really isn't fair.
Then why didn't the American Indians dominated the world? They've been here 10x longer than the US Americans. It's not so much about the territorial advantage as the people and ideology. Another example of this is Israel being surrounded by enemies in the middle of desert yet managed to survive and thrive more than their neighbors.
@@The15iceiceice15 You've answered your own question. Both were sponsored by empires, and had a starting point in the modern era. The Mississippians didn't have gunpowder or the Industrial Revolution, but the US was basically a custom-built nation that gained independence in the midst of a technological spike. Yes, ideology played a role (in that it fostered industry and the settlement of a vast territory), but as I pointed out in my original comment, the US had the technology to build an empire.
I hoped this cleared up any confusion.
@@dionadair8195 Great answer, and I'd further add that the reason that native Americans did not have the technology the Europeans had was that the basic plants and livestock needed to develop the sort of large scale sedentary agriculture that we saw arise in the middle east 10,000 years ago simply didn't evolve there in a usable way until later. There aren't many large livestock native to the Americas, which is a serious handicap, and the llama alone cannot make up for not having sheep, pigs, bovine, etc. Thus, Mesoamerica wasn't able to build it's first true cities until several thousand years after Mesopotamia had gotten the ball rolling.
@@The15iceiceice15
A little off subject of what you're talking about, but I wonder, if the Europeans never arrived in the America's weather or not the natives already in the Northern section would have survived long, as the Aztec's were slowly moving in?
I wonder if, eventually, the Northern natives would have met a similar history, along the same time, but from the Southern American's?
The thinking game, the Chinese chess so the speak, is the board game Go. It's target is to slowly surround the opponent, than strangle it slowly.
I don't like China much, but I can see them developing that strategy by slowly taking over the dominant Western role in financing major projects all over Africa, Asia, Latin America, even Eastern Europe. With their free trade & neoliberalism ideology, the West has handed over the focal points of economy, production and finance, to China and Arabia, to a lesser extent. We'll see whether the West can develop the kind of longer term strategic thinking, a central feature of Western development before WW2.
The thinking behind all "Third Way" ideology of the nineties ( Blair & Clinton) seems to have been blind to the effect of turning over such important part of economy to China and S/E Asia. That strangling job has only just begun. Putin's war is just a preliminary exercise, aimed to sort out how strong get the West still is.
One other minor critique of your analysis: Although I agree that New Orleans is critical to US commerce, even if it was destroyed or captured US commerce would not shut down as you have stated that the Mississippi basin is also connected to the great lakes and trade could be rerouted through there to reach the Atlantic. It would suck but the US heartland would still be connected as an oceanic port.
You are oh so very smart
True, it wouldn’t wipe out the mississippi river trade line but it would definitely cripple it substantially
the problem with this theory is that much of the production/refining capability is also located on the mississippi.
I think another issue is if New Orleans was somehow captured, we’d have no way to defend the river if someone uses it to attack upstream
The thing with North America is it just keeps getting better and better not only do we have all these terrific waterways, but when the New Englanders and New Yorkers realized they were going to lose political and economic power to Louisiana they built the area Canal, and all sorts of railroads crossing the country and that good old protestant fashion with nature doesn’t obey you you simply whip the shit out of it and make it do your bidding. Do you know back when men or men, and not ruled over by foreigners and usurpers. Hell, they even kick their own, English countrymen out of the country and get rid of their own king, calling him a foreigner, because he was from Hannover Germany. He didn’t put up with the kind of shit we put up with today they were ready to go to war, over a penny in taxes if they did not feel represented today, we let them steal elections from us and do nothing. New wine and a full belly take away the heart.
I love Canadians. Oh and by the way, what a great episode. man. I had no idea great job. I need to join nebula, thank you.
Leave your sex life out of it.