#长文创作激励计划#
In December 2023, the United States State Department held a press conference and unilaterally announced that it would extend the continental shelf of United States in the Arctic continent, after which the United States had already extended the coordinates of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean region.
United States' unilateral move to extend the Arctic continental shelf quickly attracted the attention of other countries.
The first to bear the brunt is Russia, Russia and United States have regional division contradictions and confrontation in the Arctic field, and the sudden statement of the United States State Department undoubtedly added fuel to the fire.
Russia diplomat bluntly said: "United States move will undoubtedly exacerbate regional tensions and is not conducive to the joint development and utilization of the Arctic region." ”
United States' territorial planning and management initiatives have been well-organized, or rather methodical.
Since the founding of the United States, they have been expanding their territory step by step and increasing their strength little by little.
When the United States was founded, there were only 13 states, which is known as the "Founding Thirteen States". But how many states are there in United States today? There are 50 states, plus Guam and many other islands, which together form the current territory of the United States.
United States since the founding of the country, the territory has expanded more than seven times, and some of the places they fancy have also been incorporated into the territory of the United States through various means, and this process may range from decades to centuries.
So when it comes to United States territories, what is the first thing that comes to mind? It is estimated that many people think of the Hawaiian Islands, which are beautiful and strategically located.
Today, we will explore how the Hawaiian Islands, which are 3,700 kilometers away from the mainland of United States, are included in the territory of United States.
1. Changes in the United States territory and their impacts
Not only United States, but any country attaches great importance to its territorial integrity, sovereignty and development interests, especially the territorial area, which is the foundation of its own development.
After all, Qiaonu is a rice cooker, without such a large territory area, your population, natural resources, urban construction and industrial development and so on do not have a corresponding foundation, without this foundation do you still want to develop and grow? It's going to be tough.
So we don't talk about a few hot wars in the world right now, let's look at history. Some of the world's most famous powers, what is the first thing they do when they become powerful? Expand outwards and plunder resources.
Even if they are not very powerful but want to become stronger, all of them will use foreign expansion and plunder as a springboard for themselves to become stronger.
Historically, the same is true United States, United States power is inextricably linked to his path of territorial expansion.
The Declaration of Independence, signed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, by representatives of United States circles, is considered a symbol of United States's independence.
Dear readers, the author's income is so meager that he had to include a short 5-second ad in the text, and you can read the full text for free by watching it. I know it might be a little intimidating, but it does help me increase my income and keep writing. Your understanding is my biggest motivation! I'll try to bring more quality content!
In less than 250 years from 1776 to the present, United States has gone from being a bullied country in the world to becoming the number one power.
United States gained independence from British and French colonists in 1776, but subsequent national disputes and civil conflicts are interspersed with United States history.
Because as an important North American colony of Britain and France, the independence of United States was unacceptable to them, but after several years of struggle, United States still became independent.
Not only that, but United States also acquired most of the land on the North American continent from United Kingdom, France and other countries through various means such as preemption, purchase, and annexation, which also laid the foundation for the current United States territory.
Why does the United States not hesitate to spend huge manpower, material and financial resources to seize land from other countries? We can talk about this point, the more land a country occupies, the more objectively powerful it will be for their future development.
First of all, this huge scale of land is a huge resource in itself.
He objectively expanded the territorial area of his country, so that more people could live on the continent, which is the direct benefit of a large land area.
Secondly, there are resources in the vast land of Fuyuan that need to be explored.
If there are no other scarce and important resources, it will not be said, and if there is, the resource must belong to the land owner.
Especially in the 21st century, the importance of resources to a country's development is self-evident.
So is there any harm in blindly expanding the land? There must be, because there will be two sides to everything, just like the introduction said that the United States and Russia have had huge contradictions and differences over the Arctic continental shelf, and this is where the harm lies.
But from the perspective of United States, international contradictions are not worth mentioning in terms of land, population, resources, and national security.
That's why the United States will try to assign land that it considers important to its territory, no matter how difficult the process is.
This is where there is a real-life example of taking part of the land from Mexico and Alaska from the USSR.
So how did the Hawaiian Islands, another isolated territory of the United States, come about? Is he also the proceeds of purchases?
2. How did the Hawaiian Islands become United States territory?
To understand how Hawaii came to be a United States territory, we have to talk about the history of Hawaii's existence.
The change of Hawaii's belonging from the historical context of Hawaii can better let us see the importance of strategic place to a country.
And from the historical context, we can also see that it is not easy for a country to expand its territory.
Due to the combination of historical and realistic, economic and political factors, territorial expansion is becoming more and more difficult.
1. Early Hawaiian History
On January 18, 1778, United Kingdom explorer Captain Cook discovered Hawaii and its archipelago, a continuation of the Great Geographical Discovery.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the new sea routes were opened, famous figures such as Columbus, Magellan, Vasco da Gama, and Dias all made a historic contribution to the future world by taking risks and sailing.
Captain Cook's discovery was not so transitive, but the discovery of a new geographic coordinate in the Pacific Ocean was undoubtedly a milestone achievement, and the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands led to the migration of large numbers of people from Asia and Europe.
It was not until 1795 that Hawaiian Chief Kamehameha unified the Hawaiian Islands, and Hawaii existed as an independent state.
But there were unforeseen circumstances, and this strategic place was soon targeted by other countries.
2. The United Kingdom conquered Hawaii by force
At the beginning, United Kingdom was still the famous "empire on which the sun never sets", and United Kingdom's overseas colonial areas and affiliated areas could circle the earth before and after, and the industrial revolution brought United Kingdom great self-confidence, territorial expansion and resource support.
As a result, United Kingdom's self-confidence exploded during this period, and his self-confidence was concentrated in continuing to expand its colonies.
Above we said that the United Kingdom navigator Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, which is why the United Kingdom used this as a reason for an armed invasion of Hawaii.
They claim that Hawaii was discovered by the United Kingdom and that they rightfully have Hawaiian sovereignty.
This was certainly not a matter for the Hawaiian authorities, so the war was imminent, but the outcome of the war was undoubted, and United Kingdom won.
Although after the United Kingdom occupied the Hawaiian Islands, United States and France tried to force United Kingdom to give up their rule over Hawaii through diplomatic representations and threats of force.
But in the end, the American and French ideas fell through, and Hawaii fell into the hands of United Kingdom.
3. Years of planning, United States get Hawaii
United States was obsessed with Hawaii, and around the twentieth century, United States finally waited for an opportunity.
At the end of the 19th century, the world's major capitalist countries entered the imperialist stage one after another, and the contradictions between these countries (such as Britain and France) intensified.
On the one hand, they vigorously develop their own industry and commerce, and on the other hand, they are preparing for the next conflict.
Europe, represented by Britain and France, began a long period of conflict, and the United States, seeing that the time was ripe, began to prepare to occupy Hawaii.
But instead of armed occupation, the United States adopted a policy of encroachment, allowing native Hawaiians to voluntarily join the United States.
Around 1880 United States took advantage of the situation to incite ethnic antagonism and struggle within Hawaii, and the Hawai United States ian monarch was ousted.
In 1884, the United States stationed troops in Hawaii in the name of human rights protection, reminding that this was not a direct armed invasion.
Although it was not completely annexed in one step, Hawaii was now a United States overseas possession, and in 1898, United States officially annexed Hawaii.
However, this is not the end of the world, Hawaii at this time is only the international community "has to recognize" the United States territory, until 1959 Hawaii officially became the 50th state of the United States, so far this strategic 3,700 kilometers away from the United States mainland is really United States territory.
3. Follow the steps and seize the opportunity to act
United States annexation of Hawaii taught us that we must have a plan for everything we do, and we must achieve the unity of regularity and purpose, and only then can we succeed in the end.
The strategic position of Hawaii is not clear to Britain and France? The reserves of strategic resources in the waters near Hawaii are not known to Britain and France?
They knew, but in the end, because they United States seized the gap in the confrontation between European countries and made Hawaii out of European control and into the United States with lightning speed, they didn't have the time and energy to react, which is also United States clever place.
This reminds people of Japan's attempt to invade and occupy Northeast China, create a series of North China incidents to invade and occupy North China, and then seek all of China, and Japan's strategic presupposition is also very terrible.
If you want to do great things, you must have a long-term strategic plan, have a firm goal, and persevere in your continuous struggle.
This is illustrated by the fact that the Hawaiian Islands were included in the territory of United States.
In the face of the strength of Britain and France, they did not attack them, and when they had no time to take care of the Hawaiian Islands, they immediately launched an action, and took it directly in one go.
This is the forbearance and decisiveness of those who have achieved great things, and it is quite accurate to grasp the timing.
Resources:
1. https://baike.sogou.com/v69642.htm?ch=frombaikevr&fromTitle=%E5%A4%8F%E5%A8%81%E5%A4%B7%E7%BE%A4%E5%B2%9B (Sogou Encyclopedia: Hawaiian Islands)
2. https://tv.cctv.com/2023/12/28/VIDE2yRZnu24vmMlCZWmHPNt231228.shtml (CCTV: United States Territory Expanded)