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Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in North America in 1492, the continent was inhabited by peoples thought to have been descended from nomadic Mongolian tribes. The first wave of European settlers, mainly English, French and Dutch, crossed the Atlantic in the 17th century and colonised the Eastern Seaboard. The restrictions on political rights and the punitive taxation which the British government imposed on the American colonists led to the American War of Independence (1775-1783), with the Declaration of Independence being signed in 1776. A period of settlement, purchases from the French and Spanish, and annexation of Indian and Mexican lands followed.
By 1853, the boundaries of the United States were, with the exception of Alaska and Hawaii, as they are today. Economic activity in the southern States centred on plantation agriculture dependent on slavery. Attempts by liberally inclined Republicans, led by Abraham Lincoln, to end slavery were fiercely opposed. The election of Lincoln to the presidency in 1861 precipitated a political crisis in which seven southern States (joined later by three others) seceded from the Union, leading to the American Civil War. The more powerful and better equipped Union forces prevailed over the rebel Confederacy after four years of fighting. After the war, the country entered a period of consolidation, building up an industrial economy and settling the vast interior region of America known as the Midwest.
The mid- and late 19th century also saw the development of an American foreign policy: formal diplomatic and trading links were established with the old colonial powers; and the USA sought to assert itself as the dominant power on the American continent. In Europe, US intervention in 1917 proved decisive for the Allies and signalled the emergence of the USA as a global power.
Driven by free-market economic policies and innovative developments in technology and production methods - notably the growth of the motor industry - the USA had by this time undeniably become the world's leading economy. The USA entered WWII following the Japanese attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbour.
WWII saw the birth of nuclear weapons and the superpower conflict that long dominated modern international relations. The essence of post-war US foreign policy was the struggle against the spread of communist influence. The Korean War of the 1950s, the ill-fated Vietnam War and the Middle East have all seen US troops engaged while many other countries have experienced the effects of military forces financed and supported by discreet US backing.
The Reagan administration, which came to office in 1980, reinvigorated the ideological struggle against communism. However, relations between the USA and the former USSR improved greatly after 1985 owing, almost entirely, to the new Soviet foreign policy adopted by the Gorbachev government.
With its principal enemy vanquished, American foreign policy needed overhauling. Under the aegis of the 'New World Order', Bush senior launched two major, largely successful military campaigns against Panama and Iraq. But his neglect of domestic matters, especially the economy, was exploited by his main political opponent. This was Bill Clinton, the relatively unknown Democratic Governor of Arkansas who went on to win the 1992 presidential election.
After a shaky start, Clinton served two terms. His administrations' principal legacy was a healthy economy, fuelled by eight years of steady growth, and two key trade agreements which laid the foundations of what has come to be known as 'globalisation': the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); and the Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) from which emerged the World Trade Organisation.
Clinton's foreign policy record was mixed. It started badly with the disastrous and humiliating US involvement (through the UN) in Somalia; Haiti almost went the same way although the position was later recovered. Thereafter, the Dayton accord that ended the Bosnian civil war was a success, favourably contrasting decisive US diplomatic and military action with the vacillations of the Europeans. In the Middle East, the 1994 Israeli-Palestinian accord was derailed by mutual suspicions while the 'dual containment' strategy designed to keep the twin pariahs, Iran and Iraq, in check had mixed results.
The 2000 presidential election pitted Clinton's Democratic Vice-president, Al Gore, against George W 'Dubya' Bush, governor of Texas and son of former President George Bush. The contest was ultimately decided in favour of Bush, in circumstances that are still bitterly disputed, by an extremely narrow margin in the state of Florida.
Soon afterwards, the USA announced its intention to abrogate several arms control agreements. It also embarked on a controversial research programme to develop a defensive system against ballistic missile attack and a substantial increase in defence spending to fund it. In general, US foreign policy took a more aggressive and nationalistic bent: the main enemy was defined as the 'axis of evil', a group of countries including Iran, Iraq, Libya and North Korea who were perceived as implacably opposed to the US and its policies. Then came 9/11.
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, which claimed over 3,000 lives, made for a defining moment in American history. The impact on the American people and its body politic was immense. Bush immediately despatched a substantial force to tackle and destroy the perpetrators: the al-Qaeda movement headed by Osama Bin Laden and its hosts, the Taleban regime in Afghanistan. He also assembled a diplomatic coalition of some 40 countries including the Western allies, Russia and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, India and Pakistan to wage an International War Against Terrorism.
The Taleban were brought down within weeks. Some senior al-Qaeda personnel were captured, including Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged organiser of 9/11, but others, including Bin Laden himself, eluded capture. The Bush administration then turned its sights upon the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein. With support from Britain and others, the Americans sought to use Saddam's possession of 'weapons of mass destruction' to justify an invasion of Iraq. This was completed in 2003 after three weeks of fighting. However, no 'weapons of mass destruction' were found, a fact which caused some political embarrassment for Bush and his allies.
The Iraq campaign was an undoubted military success. Most of the leading figures from Iraq's brutal Ba'athist regime were captured, including Saddam Hussein himself, or killed. But American and allied forces have since been confronted by a dogged insurgency which, using paramilitary tactics, has claimed hundreds of soldiers' lives and continues to destabilise efforts to rebuild Iraq according to the American blueprint.
National security in general is a major issue for the USA. President George W Bush secured a second term at the presidential election in 2004 but mid-term election results in 2006 showed a turnaround of public opinion. The election of November 2008 saw a record turnout and victory to Democrat candidate Barack Obama who has been President of the United States since January 2009.
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