Wei Bei 56 Recruitment

Observing the expansion of the United States to Zhang Zhilu can really be said to be an inspirational story. At the beginning of American independence, there were 13 states along the Atlantic coast, but by the end of 19, it had become a territorial power across Sanyo.

The United States is a rare Sanyo country in the world today, with coastlines in the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. The coastline of the Arctic Ocean is the shortest, only in the northern part of Alaska, that is, between longitude 140 and longitude 170. The Atlantic coastline is in the middle, from Maine in the northeastern United States to southern Texas in the Gulf of Mexico, that is, between 25 degrees north latitude and 49 degrees north latitude, 80 degrees west longitude and 95 degrees west longitude.

The longest coastline in the United States is the Pacific coastline, which can be said to be extremely overbearing, from eastern Alaska to the US-Mexico border. But this coastline is not a complete line, and some of it is interrupted by Canada, so the American Pacific coastline can be divided into two parts.

One part is the coastline of Alaska, from 70 degrees north latitude to 56 degrees north latitude, in which 70 degrees north latitude and 60 degrees north latitude are the main parts of Alaska, and 56 degrees north latitude and 60 degrees north latitude are the narrow parts of Alaska. From north to bottom, this long and narrow land completely blocks the mouth of Yukon in Canada and the place facing the Pacific Ocean in northern British Columbia, which can be said to be very overbearing.

The other part is the Pacific coastline of the United States, that is, the west coast of the United States, from 3 1 degree north latitude to 49 degrees north latitude. It can be seen that there are only seven latitudes between the west coast of the United States and Alaska, and these seven latitudes are British Columbia, Canada. If the United States occupies this land, the American Pacific coastline will be integrated, spanning 39 latitudes from 70 degrees north latitude to 3 1 degree north latitude. If so, the United States can be as long as Chile, whose north-south span is 18 degrees, and the south latitude is 57 degrees, which is also 39 degrees. But Chile has reached its limit, and the United States still has a chance to grow.

This opportunity for the United States is to occupy the Baja California Peninsula, which is located in the northwest of Mexico, between the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean, bordering the United States in the north, extending from northwest to southeast 1.223 kilometers, with an average width of 75 kilometers and an area of 1.437 million square kilometers. It looks like a thin arm, blocking most of Mexico's coastline facing the Pacific Ocean.

Baja California Peninsula extends from the US-Mexico border to 265,438+0 degrees north latitude. If the United States occupies this land again, its Pacific coastline can extend from 70 degrees north latitude to 2 1 degree north latitude, which is equivalent to dominating the northeast Pacific coastline. This is undoubtedly a great temptation for the United States, which has a strong sense of sea power. So why didn't the United States occupy these two lands in the process of expansion?

First, we can't beat Canada. The United States and Canada are both British colonies. After American independence, the territory continued to expand westward. By the beginning of the19th century, the United States had purchased Louisiana, France. At that time, Britain was fighting Napoleon of France in Europe, so Americans thought that Canada was definitely a "good bone" at this time. Therefore, in order to expand northward, the United States officially declared war on Britain in 18 12, which provoked the Anglo-American war. The result of this war is still fresh in the memory of Americans. After the British and Canadian allied forces defeated the invading American troops, they went all the way south, entered Washington and set fire to the White House. Since then, the United States has completely abandoned its territorial claim to Canada and began to look to Mexico in the south for territorial expansion.

Second, the United States at that time did not want to go to the California Peninsula. After the defeat of the Anglo-American War, the United States turned to the US-Mexico War, and Mexico's strength was naturally not as good as that of Britain. In this war, the United States won a great victory and occupied a large area of land in northern Mexico, including California and Texas. For Baja California Peninsula, the United States is not rare. This is because, at that time, the southern part of the United States was a slave-holding state, and the southern part advocated occupying Texas and California mainly to develop slavery and grow cotton to sell money. Baja California, on the other hand, is barren and narrow, which is obviously not suitable for slavery. Therefore, the slave owners in the southern United States did not want this land. On the other hand, the northern part of the United States believes that California has completed the war goal of expanding its territory to the Pacific Ocean, and the northern part does not want to continue to embezzle Mexican territory, because the influx of Latin population will also erode the interests of Americans while acquiring land. So Baja California stayed in Mexico, and the Pacific coastline of the United States became what it is today.