Exploring the History of the United States Through a Map: An Overview of Key Events in US History

Map of the USA

The US is the world’s leading economic and military power with global interests and an unmatched global reach.

America’s gross domestic product accounts for almost a quarter of the world’s total, and its military budget is estimated at almost as much as defense spending for the rest of the world combined.

The country is also a major source of entertainment: American television, Hollywood films, jazz, blues, rock and rap music are major components of global popular culture.

The United States emerged from a revolution that separated it from the British Crown. The constitution, drafted in 1787, established a federal system with a separation of powers that has changed little since its inception.

Chairman: Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden

Democratic nominee Joe Biden defeated Republican President Donald Trump to win the presidency in the 2020 election. A former vice president with decades of experience in Congress, Mr. Biden sat down on a platform following the divisive presidency of Mr. Trump, a right-wing businessman to promote national unity and the resumption of international diplomacy.

US-based web services like Google, Facebook and Twitter are changing the news

The US has the most developed mass media in the world. His dramas, comedies, soaps, animations, music videos and films have global audiences and are staples for broadcasters worldwide.

Television is the most popular medium, although the amount of content consumed via live TV broadcasts is declining as video-on-demand platforms thrive.

The US is the home of the internet, and access is unlimited.

European settlers rebelled against British rule in 1775, beginning the War of Independence

Some important dates in US history:

1565 – First permanent European settlement in North America – St. Augustine, present-day Florida – founded by the Spanish.

1607 – Jamestown, Virginia, founded by English settlers who started growing tobacco.

1620 – Plymouth Colony, near Cape Cod, founded by the Pilgrim Fathers, followed by other English Puritans in New England.

17-18 century – Hundreds of thousands of Africans were kidnapped and sold into slavery to work on cotton and tobacco plantations.

1775 – American Revolution: George Washington leads the Continental Army colonists to fight against British rule.

1783 – Britain accepts the loss of colonies in the Treaty of Paris.

1787 – Founding Fathers work out new constitution for the United States of America.

1803 – France sells Louisiana territories to the United States.

19th century – Resistance from indigenous peoples is crushed as immigration from Europe reaches mass proportions and settlers move west.

1846-48 – The US acquires vast chunks of Mexican territory, including California and New Mexico, in the wake of the Mexican War.

1861-1865 – US Civil War: Federal forces defeat pro-slavery Confederate states in South. Slavery will be abolished.

1898 – USA gains Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines and Cuba after the Spanish-American War. The US annexes Hawaii.

1920 – Women get the right to vote.

1929-33 – About 13 million people will be out of work after the Wall Street stock market crash triggered the so-called Great Depression.

1933 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt launches a “New Deal” reconstruction program that includes major public works.

1941 – Japan attacks the US fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, hastening US entry into World War II.

[1945[1945– The US drops two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrenders.

1947 – The United States proclaims its policy of aiding nations it considers threatened by Communism in the so-called Truman Doctrine. The Cold War with the Soviet Union begins.

1950-54 – Senator Joseph McCarthy leads a crusade against suspected communists in government and public life; The campaign and its methods are known as McCarthyism.

1954 – School segregation becomes unconstitutional; Beginning of civil disobedience campaign to secure civil rights for African Americans.

1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: an unsuccessful attempt to invade Cuba by Cuban exiles, organized and funded by Washington.

1962 – The USA forces the Soviet Union to withdraw nuclear weapons from Cuba in the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis.

1963 – President John F. Kennedy assassinated; Lyndon Johnson becomes President.

1964 – The US is stepping up its military intervention in Vietnam. Civil Rights Act enacted; it aims to end discrimination based on race, colour, religion and nationality.

1968 – Black civil rights activist Martin Luther King assassinated.

1969 – US astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to set foot on the moon.

1973 – Armistice agreement signed with Vietnam.

1989 – US troops invade Panama, overthrow its government and arrest its leader, former Central Intelligence Agency whistleblower General Manuel Noriega, on drug trafficking charges.

1991 – US forces play a dominant role in the war against Iraq, triggered by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and ending with the expulsion of Iraqi troops.

1995 – Bomb by far-right activists in Oklahoma kills more than 160 people.

1999 – The US plays a leading role in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in response to Serb violence against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo province.

2001 – Coordinated suicide attacks on various high-profile targets by the jihadist al-Qaeda group, prompting the US to launch a “war on terror” that includes invading Afghanistan and Iraq.

2003 – Rocket attacks on Baghdad mark the beginning of a US-led campaign to overthrow Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. US forces are advancing rapidly into central Baghdad.

2008 – Turmoil in US and international financial markets as major Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers collapses and other major US financial players face mounting difficulties from the “credit crunch”.

Barack Obama is elected the first black President of the United States.

2016 – Reality TV host and real estate tycoon Donald Trump wins back the presidency for the Republicans on a populist platform.

2021 – Joe Biden is inaugurated amid unprecedented security a week after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington DC.

New York City: US commercial capital and global cultural center

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