North America¶
-
Bermuda¶- Coins
- 3
Bermuda is a very tiny island way out in the Atlantic Ocean. A shipload of British colonists were shipwrecked on the island in 1609, and spent 10 months there. Actually, they were pretty lucky considering how far they were from Virginia which is where they were going. It must have been a nice place, because a permanent British settlement followed three years later. Over 350 years after that, in 1968, the Bermudans were running the show themselves.
-
Canada¶- Coins
- 17
Canada is almost ten million square kilometers of rocks, trees, and water whose borders stretch to three oceans. France arrived in 1534, established the first permanent colony in Nova Scotia in 1604, and pursued their master plan for more than a century before conflict with the British started. Britain won a decisive battle in Quebec in 1759 that unfortunately some Canadians still think is being fought to this day. Canada started to thrive in the early ninteenth century, and successfully repelled a hostile take-over bid by the United States in the war of 1812. In 1837 armed rebellions in both Upper and Lower Canada erupted. This resulted in the union of the two colonies as the Province of Canada in 1840. In 1867 Canada achieved dominion in a unique way: no fighting (except verbal fighting, of course). Today, most Canadians are very concerned with getting along and helping the rest of the world, but often have trouble getting along with themselves.
A Canadian magazine once held a contest to find the Canadian version of the simile "as American as apple pie." The winning entry was "as Canadian as possible, under the circumstances."
-
Greenland¶- Coins
- 4
Eric the Red visited Greenland when it was still green in 982, and four years later people decided to live there full time. Denmark took Greenland under its wing in 1261. Over the next 140 years or so, Greenland turned mostly white, and by around 1400 it was too cold for even the cows, so everybody left. Over 300 years later, in 1721, Denmark came back for another try. After two hundred years they were successful enough to claim the whole island. Greenland became autonomous in 1979. Greenland is the only known source of natural cryolite on the planet.
-
Mexico¶- Coins
- 15
The United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos) today is near the top ten largest economies on the planet and one of the top countries in tourism.
The area's history goes back to 21,000 BCE and things really got going around 7,000 BCE with the domestication of corn. This led to complex civilizations including the Maya, Olmec, Zapotec, and Aztec. At its peak around 150-450 CE, the city of Teotihuacan was probably the largest on earth, with a population estimated at 150,000-250,000 people. These civilizations flourished for nearly 4,000 years making important advancements in architecture, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine.
In the early 16th century, the Spanish conquest wiped out millions of people due mainly to smallpox. In 1810 independence from Spain was declared and after a struggle it was achieved in 1821. The Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 resulted in Mexico giving up almost half its land -- including California and New Mexico -- to the United States.
Mexico is one of 18 Megadiverse countries in the world. With over 200,000 different animal species, it is home to 10-12% of the world's biodiversity.
-
United States¶- Coins
- 14
In 1776, thirteen British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America declared independence from Britain who was having none of it. This set the American Revolutionary War into full swing, which lasted for about seven years, eventually blooming into a full-scale international war. In the end, it was the first successful colonial war of independence. One of the greatest things about the formation of the United States of America is it Constitution, crafted by Enlightenment-informed free-thinkers the likes of which politics sorely misses today. It is the oldest (and shortest) written constitution still in use in the world.Throughout the 19th century, the United States acquired territory from many sources and did not acquire some that it tried to get (like Canada). By the 1860s, disputes between the agriculture-based southern states and the industrial north led to the American Civil War which raged for five years and ended with the north victorious, slavery abolished, and the country in one piece.
Up until the end of the 20th century, the US grew in power and influence, eventually becoming the only superpower on the planet. For every $100 in world-wide military spending, $40 of it is spent by the US. What the 21st century (and beyond) will bring is anybody's guess.
