Why American History Is Not The Same As U.S History

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There exists this thought that American history is the same as the history of the United States. This simply is not true for 3 major reasons. Saying that American history is the same as U.S history is akin to saying that the history of the Roman Empire is the same as the history of Europe.

There are 3 reasons why American history is not the same as the history of the U.S. First, the United States is a single state in the whole of the Americas. Second, the United States is a modern nation while the history of the Americas is thousands of years old. Third, the U.S is only in North America while the history of the Americas includes both north and south America.

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Without further ado, here is why American history is not the same as U.S history.

The U.S Is One Nation While The Americas Has 35 Nations

One of the main reasons why U.S history is not the same as American history is because the United States is only one country.

Today there are 35 independent nations across both North and South America. Each one of these nations has a rich history that rivals the history of the United States.

Saying that U.S history is the same as American history is simply wrong.

For example, in South America there are famous revolutionary figures such as Jose De San Martin and Simon Bolivar. Neither one of these famous revolutionary leaders were from the United States. As such if you were to say that U.S history is the same as American history where would you put these two generals?

This goes for every nation in the Americas. Countries such as Canada, Mexico, Argentina, and Columbia each have a rich history and culture that is completely separate from the history of the United States.

There are parallels that exist between all the countries of the Americas. However, even with these parallels it is wrong to state that one country’s history represents the rest of the 35 countries.

As such one of the main reasons why American history is not the same as U.S history is because the United States is one of 35 independent countries in the Americas.

The United States Is A Modern Nation While The History Of The Americas Is Thousands Of Years Old

Another reason why American history is not the same as U.S history is because the United States is a modern nation while the Americas are thousands of years old.

U.S history can only be traced back to the early 17th century with the settlement of Jamestown in Virginia at the earliest. The actual United States is only 276 years old as of 2022. This means that U.S history is relatively new when compared to histories of other nations/regions of the world.

The history of the Americas on the other hand is thousands of years old. The first humans arrived in the Americas sometime 15,000-20,000 years ago. That means that there is thousands of years of history before the United States was even a concept.

When we consider the history of the Americas historians are likely referring to only the last 2,000 years. This is because we don’t have many sources which refer to previous times outside of legend.

However, every year historians are uncovering more and more about the history of the Americas. One example of this is the recent discovery that the Iroquois Confederacy might have been formed during the 12 century AD almost 200 years older then previously thought!

Saying that U.S history is the same as the history of the Americas would completely sideline the thousands of years of history that existed before the foundation of the United States.

As such, one of the main reasons that U.S history is not the same as American history is because American history has existed for thousands of years before the United States.

U.S History Focuses On North America While The History Of The Americas Is of Both North And South America

One of the main reasons why U.S history is not the same as American history is because U.S history only encompasses a select portion of North American history.

When historians study the history of the United States it is often through the lens of how the United States interacted with itself and other peoples in the Americas. As such the history of the United States is often limited to just its people and the other cultures which surrounded the culture of the U.S

When you study the Americas as a whole you are looking at how all cultures have created a shared history including the history of the United States. This means that historians have to take cultures and histories of both North and South America to form a universal history of the Americas.

As such, the history of the United States only plays a small part of the overall history of the Americas. This is because U.S history only tends to remain in North America for a majority of its time. Only recently have historians begun to look at how other cultures of the Americas have influenced the development of the U.S.

As such one of the reasons why American history is not the same as U.S history is because U.S history tends to focus upon just North American and its relation to the United States.

Conclusion

There you have it; an entire article answering the question of why American history is not the same as U.S history.

Here at The History Ace I strive to publish the best history articles on the internet. If you enjoyed this article then consider subscribing to the free newsletter and sharing around the internet.

Further, you can check out some of the other articles below.

Sincerely,

Nick

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