How did the U.S. rise to a global superpower in only 250 years but counties that have been around for 1000s of years are still under-developed?

Question

The U.S. was a developing country for *maybe* only 100-150 years. After that, the U.S. became arguably the largest economic, military, academic, manufacturing powerhouse the world has ever seen.

Yet, countries that have been around since ancient times are still struggling to even feed or house their population.

How is that possible?

In: 17182

Answer 1

I mean, it’s not like the US started from the caveman era. They had the same tech as Britain (you know, the “sun never sets” empire) when they started, so it’s kind of unfair to compare them to under-developed nations when their starting line was completely different.