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In 1776 the US gains independence from Britain.

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In consequence of Daniel Boone starting to explore what is now western America new territories were made accessible. His actions inspired many to come after him and to expand into native lands, what led to the ruin and banishment of the native Americans.

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In consequence of the Mexican war from 1846 to 1848 the US occupies Mexico City and annexes the north of Mexico. These territories will later become the states of California, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.

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In 1854 the US begins annexing small pacific islands. The  guano islands provided the country with "white gold", bird excrement that had been building up on the Islands for years. It was a necessity for the farming of exhausted US soil.

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In 1898 the US interferes in the revolts of Spanish colonies for independence against their suppressor Spain. But the revolutionists fight only leads to being handed over from one empire to another. At the end of the war the US occupies Cuba and buys the Philippines for 20 Million USD. After being colonized again the Filipinos fight another bloody war for their independence. This war exhausts the US so much that after they stop annexing new territory for more than a decade.

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In 1917 the US purchases the US Virgin islands from Denmark.

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The synthetic revolution that began in the 1940s and evolved during WW2 soon rewrites the rules of geopolitics. Due to new chemical knowledge the US is now able to produce many of the goods that would before be imported from colonies artificially. Because of this new found independence colonies are more burden that helpful and can be replaced by chemistry. The US practices now domination without annexation through new technologies.

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After WW2 the US surprises the world by setting a huge part of their empire free: on July 4th 1946 Filipinos celebrate their independence. Shortly after in 1952 Puerto Rico becomes a commonwealth and governs itself. In addition Alaska and Hawai'i become states. Other people living in regions occupied by the US get more rights too, such as the US Virgin Islanders who become US citizens in 1927 and Guamanians who gain citizenship in 1950.

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It may seem that after the war the US abandoned its empire. That is not the case, it just got rid of large colonies and invested in military bases. During WW 2 the US held two thousand overseas base sites, today this number has shrunk to the, still impressive, number of roughly 800 oversea bases. Through these bases the US remains an immense influence all over the world. The American domination shows itself in the establishment of English as the world language as well. By 1950 English had become the language of the air and spread slowly through science and the internet.