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
The US is basically everything you could ask for geographically to make a superpower.
Secure borders (sea two sides’ a friendly and far weaker neighbour to the north and a neighbour to the south they quickly established dominance over.) All other nearby countries are economically and militarily weak. Any time a country can focus on its navy it’s in a good position to exert power abroad.
Lots of fairly flat and fertile land to farm. The easily navigated Mississippi river providing cheap transport both throughout the land and to the sea. Loads of various natural resources making them dependent on noone.
Add into that the initial advantages of being a european settlement – technology and good trade opportunities – and you have a nation that got rich quick. Wealth and security = power.
Edit: Please stop with all the ‘but slavery’ comments. Yes slavery was exploited by the US to help it grow. No it was not a deciding factor in the country becoming a superpower. Most countries in the world have exploited slave labour at some time or another. Very few had some let alone all the above advantages (and miles of coastline full of natural harbours as another pointed out) to become the dominant global power. There is a reason the middle east – which has a far longer history of African slavery – has no country with the power of the US.
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