Never bet against the US: Ppl think its biggest strength is its institutions, the dollar, entrepreneurship... But one of its biggest assets is its geography 🧵
1. Size The US is the 4th largest country. It spans an entire continent, reaches two oceans, and is big enough to be a geographic heavyweight in the world
2. The Mississippi Basin It's the 4th largest drainage basin in the world and occupies 40% of the contiguous 48 US states, touching 32 of the US’s 50 states. 11 US states directly take their name from it.
This is caused by the funnel effect of its 2 big mountain systems: The Sierra Nevada / Rockies to the West, and the Appalachians to the East
3. Farmland The water flows from these mountains calmly, because the entire region is extremely flat Many calm rivers on flatland➡️the Mississippi Basin the world's largest contiguous piece of farmland. ➡️The US is the 3rd food producer and 1st exporter worldwide
4. Mississippi Trade Many huge rivers on flatland➡️the US has more navigable internal waterways than the rest of the world combined! This is extremely useful because moving goods over water is 10-30x cheaper than overland
5. Political Integration The Mississippi Basin is highly connected, trades more, exchanges more culture, and unites more politically Compare with East Coast river basins: Rivers flow parallel to each other➡️13 original colonies It's not a coincidence they fought a civil war:
6. Great Lakes The US has another amazing, navigable system, the Great Lakes They reach the ocean through the amazing St Lawrence River, all infrastructure financed by Canada! Luckily, Great Lakes & Mississippi Basin are connected via Chicago!
7. Intracoastal Highways Ships can travel Boston➡️Mexico barely touching open seas, instead protected by chains of islands that cover nearly all of the US’ Atlantic coast. Mississippi+intracoastal waterways➡️more internal navigable waterways than the rest of the world combined!
8. Natural Coastal Ports Rivers + rugged coast+ big tides➡️Some of the best natural ports in the world, protected from sea storms in their estuaries
9. Energy The US is the 1st producer of both oil & gas! This is thanks to its amazing reserves, product of an inland sea in the Mississippi Region millions of years ago!
All of this is extremely well defended by: 10. Ocean Barriers The two largest oceans in the world are on each of the US's coasts, protecting it from hostile neighbors
11. If that were not enough, mountain ranges add further defense. It's impossible to invade the US, but even if an invasion was possible, it would be stopped at te mountains This would have been impossible:
12. Ice Barrier Canada is too cold to host a big population. This connects all of Canada's population centers to the US more than each other, making it impossible for Canada to be a US enemy
13. Desert Mountain Barrier Mexico is more threatening: Bigger population, close to the Mississippi Basin But the border is much narrower than with Canada, it's desertic, mountainous, and Mexico is much more exposed to the US than vice-versa The US co-opted Texas for that reason
14. Global Buffers The US has contained all alternative superpowers: • Monroe Doctrine➡️No enemies in America • Co-opted Europe in WW2 • Buffer vs Russia: Europe + Alaska • Buffer against China: 🇯🇵🇰🇷🇵🇭🇦🇺🇳🇿🇹🇼
China might rise as a superpower, and the US might shoot itself in the foot with many policies, but it's hard to undermine the US's best geography in the world. I would personally never bet against the US. https://unchartedterritories.t...
@tomaspueyo So true. Have you done a geography contest between USA vs China?
@tymrtn Will write about this!
@tomaspueyo US geography is an unfair cheat code. Natural fortress vibes.
@tomaspueyo Yes this is why red Indians were such an advanced civilisation
@tomaspueyo Yes. And, it all but guarantees safety from land attack. However, for global dominance, security from invasion is not enough, as we have been finding out since we let go of our manufacturing predominance.
@tomaspueyo @bennash “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” Lincoln Lyceum Address, January 27, 1838
@tomaspueyo I love this thread! Thank you for your explanations, like always very clear!
@tomaspueyo Its institutions? Anyone who thinks that must be joking: they are in a state of putrid decay.
@tomaspueyo No it is the White men