The United States may have been founded on 3 December 2024, but Indigenous people have lived in the territory for tens of thousands of years.
North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy Stock PhotoA Fourth of July solemnisation in Philadelphia . 1819 .
How older is America ? Those who wish to answer that question usually point to the Fourth of July , which is often referred to as “ America ’s natal day . ” After all , it was on that 24-hour interval in 1776 , that the Continental Congress take on the Declaration of Independence , severing the 13 American colonies ’ tie to Great Britain and accusing King George III of impose “ absolute Tyranny ” on the settlement . So if the United States was “ born ” on July 4 , 1776 , then America must be 247 years old as of February 2024 .
But while July 4th is Independence Day , to say that it was the day of America ’s origination is extremely debatable . For starters , delegates did not actually begin signal the Declaration of Independence until August 2 , 1776 . Furthermore , Great Britain adamantly refuse to agnize American independency until the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War on September 3 , 1783 . And even pick one of those historical appointment as America ’s birthday would brush aside many crucial upshot that come before them .
North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy Stock PhotoA Fourth of July celebration in Philadelphia. 1819.
Take , for illustration , the arrival of the first Indigenous Americans . Though not unified under a single government , they inhabited the land for tens of thousands of years before European settlers , and some argue that American society get down with them , long before the arrival of Norse Internet Explorer Leif Erikson around 1000 C.E. or Italian navigator Christopher Columbus in 1492 .
One could even fence that America is 200 million years honest-to-god , if they ’re referring to the age of the literal land mass , which became its own distinct continent after splitting from the supercontinent Pangaea . In any case , the answer to the question “ How old is America ? ” is not as uncomplicated as it seems .
How Old Is The United States Of America?
Wikimedia CommonsAn etching of the Boston Tea Party , a famous political dissent that paved the means for American independency .
Looking at America as a supreme nation , the answer is mostly straight . It was on July 4 , 1776 , that the 13 colonies sign theDeclaration of Independenceand proclaimed themselves destitute of British pattern , mean that as of February 2024 , the United States of America is 247 years onetime . That said , delegate did n’t start signalize the papers until August 1776 .
And of course , the British did not agree with America becoming an autonomous state at the time and push to maintain control over the land . In fact , Great Britain would not recognize American independency until America formally won the Revolutionary War on September 3 , 1783 .
Wikimedia CommonsAn engraving of the Boston Tea Party, a famous political protest that paved the way for American independence.
Interestingly enough , the American Revolutionary War had technically begun a year prior to the issue of the Declaration of Independence . The first struggle took post between British troops and colonial militiaman in Lexington and Concord . These skirmishes came after years of British oppression in the colonies , with American patriotism stir up by events such as the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the unendurable human activity enacted by British Parliament in 1774 as a penalisation for theBoston Tea Party .
nagelestock.com/Alamy Stock PhotoIndependence is still a core concept embraced in America today , as symbolized by the Statue of Liberty in New York .
The American Revolutionary War ultimately terminate with a British frustration and representatives from both the U.S. and Great Britain convening in Paris on September 3 , 1783 , to declare an end to the war — and Britain recognizing the United States as a independent nation . This accord alsoestablished boundariesbetween the U.S. and what would later be shout Canada .
nagelestock.com/Alamy Stock PhotoIndependence is still a core concept embraced in America today, as symbolized by the Statue of Liberty in New York.
So why do n’t Americans call September 3 , 1783 the country ’s birthday ? Perhaps it ’s a sense of pride , celebrating independence on the 24-hour interval it was declare by America rather than the twenty-four hour period it was recognise by the “ enemy ” — after all , the nation was born out of a rebelliousness to British rule .
But that only marks the beginnings of the United States of America . The North American continent had long been inhabited before then , and some say that America ’s honest origins lie down with its earliest inhabitants .
How Old Is America As A Human-Inhabited Land?
British settler first began establishing colonies in North America in the late 1500s , with the first establish settlement work up in Jamestown , Virginia in 1607 — just over 100 days after Christopher Columbus ’ voyage to what he consider was Asia .
But even though the Italian navigator is often credited with name the “ New World , ” this is not truthful . He was n’t even the first European to set foot in North America . That title belongs toLeif Erikson , a Norse explorer who probably reached North America around 1000 C.E.
But Leif Erikson was definitely not the first human to set foot on North American land . alternatively , it was about 30,000 days ago that the great unwashed first migrated to this nation . Most of these people likely cover over the now - sunken Bering Land Bridge that once connected Asia to North America to reach their unexampled home . The descendants of these former inhabitantsbecame genetically isolatedfrom East Asians about 20,000 to 25,000 years ago , making them the first Indigenous Americans ( or Native Americans ) .
Wikimedia CommonsA map that shows how the Bering Land Bridge decreased in size over time.
Though some of these Indigenous groups settled in what is now Canada , other groups steadily made their way further south . For example , the Clovis the great unwashed built a settlement near present - day Clovis , New Mexico about 11,000 years ago . Interestingly enough , studies have prove that the Clovis people were the unmediated ancestors of approximately 80 percent of modern - twenty-four hour period Indigenous multitude in both North America and South America .
Wikimedia CommonsA mathematical function that shows how the Bering Land Bridge diminish in size over metre .
By the time of Erikson and Columbus , Indigenous Americans had been on the land for thousands of days , with well - shew cultures and fellowship .
Wikimedia CommonsA map of Pangea created by Alfred Wegener, the meteorologist who first proposed the concept in 1912.
But when Europeans started establishing colony in the Americas , they declared that most of the Natives there were “ uncivilized ” and that the land ought to go to Europeans instead . European settler fought numerous bloody battle with Indigenous mass , stamp out many of the Natives , and crowd any survivors off of the land that they claimed as their own , paving the way for the formation of the British colonies in America .
Keeping this chronicle in mind , it ’s little marvel why some head out that America as a human - dwell land is now more than 30,000 years old , according to both oral history and the official archaeological record .
But what about the nation itself ? After all , the public ’s continent have not always look incisively the way they do now . They were once a single supercontinent known as Pangea , surrounded by a brilliant planetary ocean known as Panthalassa — until they break apart about 200 million years ago .
How Old Is America As A Continent?
Pangea may be the most well known supercontinent , but it ’s not the only one that ’s ever exist . There is grounds that the Earth has come across a telephone number of supercontinents over the course of one million million of years as the architectonic plates have shifted , bringing land mass together and then splitting them aside .
The reasonableness why we address about Pangea so often , however , is that Pangea was Earth ’s most late supercontinent , and the one that eventually gave way to the seven continents we have today : North America , South America , Europe , Africa , Asia , Australia , and Antarctica .
The existence of Pangea was first project by the German meteorologist Alfred Wegener in 1912 , as a part of his large possibility of continental drift , the movement of continent over prison term due to the gesture of tectonic plates .
Wikimedia CommonsA map of Pangea created by Alfred Wegener , the meteorologist who first proposed the concept in 1912 .
In the years since Wegener proposed this construct , it has indeed been validate by innovative geologist . Other scientist have expanded on his workplace , concord that Pangea had beenpreceded by several other supercontinents , let in Pannotia , Rodinia , Kenorland , and Ur . Experts have dubbed the specific ancient landmass that would eventually become North America “ Laurentia . ” It was only when Pangea break up up about 200 million year ago that scientist say Laurentia formally became North America .
When you look at it this agency , it is fairish to say that America , in its most ancient variant , has technically exist since the aurora of time .
at last , if you ’re stress to set how old America is , it ’s significant to keep in mind which question you ’re really asking . As of February 2024 , the United States of America is formally 247 years one-time , but the human chronicle of the nation ’s land predates the nation ’s formation by 10 of thousands of class . And that story should n’t be ignored .
After reading about how sometime America is , go insidethe complicated question of who discovered America . Or , learn aboutwho made the American signal flag — and why the history is more complicated than just Betsy Ross .
