Category: Politics and Geopolitics

You’ve all probably heard of the uproar regarding H-1B Visas as of recently. What began from a far-right activist, Laura Loomer, critiquing President Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishna as an advisor on AI turned into a broad debate between longtime supporters of President Trump and new supporters in the tech industry, such as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, regarding immigrant rhetoric and the reliance on the government’s H-1B visa. A more significant trigger for this nasty debate was Mr. Ramaswamy’s tweet regarding American culture, leading to some rather uncomfortable discussions. But as an Indian American who has experienced what Mr. Ramaswamy has seen and, has Indian immigrant parents, I feel that I should share my opinion on this. 

What are H-1B visas?

H-1B visas are one of the different types of visas foreigners can acquire to enter stay, or leave a country. There’s a tourist visa (B-2), business visa (B-1), work visa (H-1B), student visa (F-1), immigrant visa (Green Card), or a spouse/family visa (K-1), to name a few. Of course, these are the ones listed specifically for the United States, as each country has their own specific eligibility requirements documentation, and processing times. But for today’s topic, as I said, we’re focusing on H-1Bs- the worker visa.

An H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa ¹in the U.S. that allows employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations requiring temporary specialized knowledge. (IT, engineering, finance, and healthcare) The initial duration is typically three years and extended for a maximum of six years. It was introduced in 1990 under the Immigration Act of 1990 and aimed to fill gaps in high-skilled labor markets. With this, Congress has limited 4th number of H-1Bs made available each year. The current annual cap is 65,000 visas per fiscal year, with 20,000 additional visas for foreign professionals who graduate with a master’s degree or doctorate from a U.S. institution of higher learning. However, this hasn’t stopped the growing demand and approved cap from growing and exceeding this limit over the past years. In the 2023 fiscal year, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received over 780,000 applications for 85,000 available slots². There’s also an H-1B visa lottery, allowing the USCIS to allocate H-1B visas when the demand exceeds the annual cap. 

With this, we wonder why there has been such a demand for foreign workers. The world is continuously adapting and moving towards a very technological-based society. Especially in the rapidly expanding United States tech industry. Tech companies are having difficulty finding enough domestic talent with expertise in areas, such as software development, AI, cybersecurity, and data analytics, turning to H-1B visa holders. Furthermore, many H-1B applicants are international students earning advanced degrees from U.S. institutions and often bring in a diverse skill set and perspectives that are highly valued in a globalized economy. The majority of H-1B visa recipients are Indians, making up approximately 74.1%³ of all approved H-1B petitions, with China in second comprising about 12.4%. The countries that also make up this demographic are Canadians, South Koreans, and Filipinos. ⁴

The start of the debate

Beginning with Laura Loomer, triggered an anti-Indian backlash on social media when Trump named Sriram Krishna as his advisor on AI policy, saying that it was “…alarming to see the number of career leftists who are now being appointed to serve in Trump’s admin when they share views that are in direct opposition to Trump’s America First agenda,” ⁵while selecting out his past posts and podcasts to characterize him as an India loyalist to increase guest worker visa and green card caps for Indians in a bid to exploit the US at the expense of native-born Americans.⁶ This tweet was followed by several racist attacks and posts on India and Indians, while also directed towards Elon Musk, a South African immigrant. Elon Musk defended Trump’s choice and argued that the United States needs to start attracting the best and the brightest from all over to maintain its global primacy, and further endorsed that skilled immigrants and Indian Americans have contributed significantly to the U.S. economy.⁷ This then leads us to Vivek Ramaswamy’s similar tweet which talks about American culture and the celebrated mediocrity. 

You can see where the outrage began.

The original tweet is linked above, but to summarize, Mr. Ramswamy said that America has a cultural problem that has been ingrained over time, focusing primarily on celebrating ‘mediocrity’ over ‘excellence’ such as Prom King & Queen rather than the valedictorian, and this needs to change by starting now to begin a new American era. 
And this is where I agree.

American Culture: My viewpoint

I’m an Indian American with Indian immigrant parents. I’ve grown up here and experienced and seen American culture firsthand from the same viewpoint Mr. Ramaswamy describes. In  American high schools, invisible hierarchies and categories are between students. It’s the stereotypical jocks and cheerleaders that are praised and hold popularity; and are celebrated, rather than the typical nerds, valedictorians, and Math Olympiad winners. And most of the time, we accept it. I know I have, unknowingly. I’ve recognized and accepted that I wasn’t that popular- or more deeming that those who are popular were some athletes or cheerleaders, and I wouldn’t be that. I didn’t mind. But the more I think about it, it’s silly that we should be popularizing or praising something as simple as that compared to others who have accomplished something more remarkable. Celebrating and making a big deal out of prom king and queen or who was the football team star as the most outstanding achievement, when in reality, they aren’t.

America has become a global power and incredibly renowned for many reasons. The biggest reason is that it was built by immigrants. With the word immigrant, we picture Indians or Asians, or more generally, ‘non-white people’. But if we think back to the 1700s, it was Europeans (white) who immigrated to the Americas in search of a better life. They are technically immigrants, as the very first Americans on this land were Native Americans. From those immigrants, we created colonies, came up with ideas and innovations, created our country’s founding principles and beliefs, and have gotten to where we are today. In the 19th century, when immigration started to become a central problem in the United States, we saw immigrants coming from all countries. This moment in America’s history has served as a monumental turning point, changing American society through urbanization, industrialization, and immigration. Changes in education began with the addition of kindergarten, a concept borrowed from Germany. There was also a rise in higher education, as major universities began to follow the model of German universities, emphasizing free inquiry and research. You see that America succeeded as a global superpower, a nation from World War 2, where its nuclear weapons were developed by immigrant scientists such as Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer.  The Jews contributed to civil rights and labor movements.  Discipline and family values have been upheld by Asians. Fashion, film, art, food, and other parts of our daily lives were influenced by immigrants. They’ve become a founding cornerstone of what makes America so unique. We’ve been called a melting pot nation for this reason. However, in terms of jobs and accepting foreigners to work in ‘American fields’, it’s different. 

Back to culture, let me elaborate more on Mr. Ramaswamy’s post. Immigrant families have taught their children to work hard, no matter what. Asian communities heavily emphasize education. Kids are pushed to excel in every subject, top the classes, be in every extracurricular, or succeed in every championship. There’s a constant push and fuel to do more because of the many opportunities and capabilities possible. As a kid, you are never taught to settle for what you have but always go for more. In a joking manner, the Asian grading scale is A for average, B for below average, C for can’t eat dinner, D for don’t come home, and F for finding a new family. As a kid, and even now, I’ve been pushed to get full marks. When I got lower, even if I got a 98, it was always a ‘What did you lose points in? Go talk to your teacher.” Getting straight As was expected from us. It was the bare minimum. We needed to do more and strive for more. This mindset is what strongly differentiates many Americans from immigrant families.  There were limitations on hours of TV to watch or parties and social gatherings to go. There was always something more significant. This mindset has led there to be more immigrants at the top, to have higher educations, and to be the ones making more money.  They’ve put in the work and understood from the beginning of their lives that they must work hard and that there is no settling for less.  Today, despite reaching the top, they continue to work hard and push because there is still something more.  

The American culture has moved away from this mindset over time. Generations of immigrants who arrived centuries ago rather than a decade ago have started to take these privileged opportunities for granted. Believing they are entitled to such luxuries and the benefits that many others would dream of. And as such, they do little to achieve them. Knowing it’s there for them, they are content at the bare minimum and are so used to being placed at a higher level they can’t stand anything lower. But immigrants who don’t and work hard from the bottom, take anything they can to work hard and rise. Another factor is how they’ve grown up, as I’ve stated many times. It always starts young. When you are young, base on what you’re taught and exposed to will shape who you are in the future. And this is what Vivek Ramaswamy is pointing out. We have to start from the root, with the children, and change the usual norms so we can excel and be a better America. One major thing is the American education system. Or even how schools are funded. My school district faces a budget deficit and projected shortfall of approximately $14.93 million for the fiscal year 2024-2025. As a result, there is a loss of important academic cases and extracurriculars. However, we are starting a new infrastructure development regarding building new home stadiums at my high school and another, to seat about 7,000 spectators,  updating the current main stadium, and upgrading the Fine Arts performing centers. With this, why is so much money going into renovating and building new stadiums, when it could be to support the academic classes and extracurriculars we are losing? This isn’t just in my district but for many other schools across the nation.

Although high school budget allocation can vary across districts, there tends to be a high allocation if budgeting for athletics compared to academic subjects. In some cases, spending per student-athlete can be higher than per academic student, in particular universities, it can be $92,000 per athlete, and for a full-time academic student, less can be $14,000. Academic programs are typically funded from state and federal sources and are generally lower, compared to athletic spending for athletes. Furthermore, when there are budget cuts, a number of programs are reduced- a majority being academic subjects and some sports offerings. Not only that, there are already community and booster support-supplementary funding directed towards athletic programs. With this, there’s an obvious imbalance in how money is being distributed in most schools. And that shows that we’re focusing on the wrong things. Sports, or the frivolities of prom king and queen, are of little significance in the real world. Athletes, no matter how good, won’t always be an athlete later on in life. There will always be a better star athlete who will get into the NFL or the major sports league. Then what? You spent your whole life on sports and giving little interest to academics, and now you’re not the greatest anymore. These people end up being coaches. And yet, even being high end coaches who are excellent at their jobs, they will still be earning less than the lower end of the tech-related fields. And then again, there’s a complaint that someone who is in a low-end tech field makes more than a high-end athletic coach. Well, those are two different fields with two different skill sets and required education levels and experience levels needed. 

And then, coming down to it all, there’s the conflict with the immigrants taking American jobs. Companies are more inclined toward foreign labor because they are more willing to work longer for less and take low-paying and lower-level jobs just because it’s something. They aren’t picky nor feel entitled and are accepting of anything. They’re more highly educated or are going for higher education. These people have master’s and doctorate-level degrees and are coming to work in these high positions. They have a more prominent education level, and experience, and are coming to America where there is so much opportunity and offer where they can apply and even learn more than they ever could in their home countries. Americans complain that immigrants are taking their jobs, and that’s because there is not enough domestic talent or adequate domestic labor that could deliver the same output foreigners are producing today. These Americans, who would have average educations would deliver a different outcome compared to the foreigners who give their all regardless. And that makes a massive difference. If we were to provide the current level of Americans, no foreigners, the positions that foreigners have right now, I can guarantee that there wouldn’t be the same quality to things. It just wouldn’t be the same. Consumers won’t be happy, but we can’t do anything about it because people aren’t willing to go beyond, to supersede laziness to work a little harder to do better. American culture has become too laid back, too accepting of the final luxuries and benefits their immigrant ancestors have worked hard to give them, and for that reason, companies are returning to foreigners who still have that drive. And this is the point that Vivek Ramaswamy has been making. This point; which I am astounded to have found out that Marjorie Taylor Greene has also agreed with this. The point that Elon Musk has made, and what many Americans, including Laura Loomer, are failing and even refusing to recognize and acknowledge. It is the truth. America has always been built from immigrants and is where it is today because we have taken others’ cultures, ideas, beliefs, and perspectives and used that to put ourselves forward to where we are today. The backlash against Indians appointed to these high positions is not an argumentative viewpoint toward the decisions but flat-out racism. Ms. Loomer could have stopped at her initial remark, but going as far as to make racist remarks and comments towards Indian culture and Indians shows that her problem is Indians and not immigration as a whole. 

But really, in all of this, Ms. Loomer may have a point. Apart from her outlandish and inappropriate remarks, of course. There is a lack of so-called ‘availability’ for American jobs that Americans can obtain. However, this is for a different reason. More often than not, when we see the eligible spots for an H-1B, 85,000, that’s the number we keep in mind. However, it feels wrong that such a small number of foreigners can cause such an impact. And that’s true. Because, in reality, there’s a greater number of immigrants getting jobs than we think. Every year there’s another 85,000 workers coming in, so by the time the first ‘group’ has reached date maximum time for their visa, there are already 510,000 foreign workers at the moment. Furthermore, for each of those 85,000 immigrants, a good majority of them would be married. Let’s say 60%. And if these are skilled, high-education immigrants we are hiring as workers, it would be reasonable that they too owed marry someone who would also be of high-education and also a skilled worker. With this, originally while those on a spouse visa could not work, the United States started allowing them to get a job. With this, this makes up about (60% of 510,000) 306,000 additional workers. However, these workers would’ continue to stay on a visa forever. They’d immediately apply for a Green Card. The Green Card process has 4 steps, and when done they can permanently live in that foreign country. So you have those original 510,000 and the additional 306,000 (which can go up to 501,000 as they’d get married at the end) that are still foreigners, but are permanent residents that are getting jobs, as well as the continuous incoming cycle of workers on H-1Bs each year. Not to mention the student visas, business visas, and others that allow foreigners to take up a job or do some work in the country. With this, there is a greater number of foreigners that are getting American jobs than the original 85,000 you would first imagine. This is the feeling that Ms. Loomer is feeling when she talks about immigrants taking American jobs, but the way she described it was anything but.

Conclusion

If we want to make America great again, we need to transform American culture as a whole. The reason why immigrants are getting so-called American jobs is because Americans have become entitled and picky towards what is available, and are willing to settle for less when there is so much opportunity before them. Rather than always chastising and complaining about immigrants, it would be best to learn from them and use what they have learned and grown up doing to implement it into our culture so that we don’t need to rely so much on immigrant labor. This way, we can truly become American sustaining. And yet, the whole argument that we don’t need immigrants or the opposition against immigrants is ridiculous altogether, especially when America has been a country founded by immigrants and has grown because of immigrants. It is what America itself is, and to take that away would lead to rather severe results, and would no longer make it the same. 

Other References used:

1. Musk and Ramaswamy are sparking a debate over the H-1B visa. Here’s what to know about the visa⁸
2. The H-1B visa program and its impact on the U.S. economy. ⁹
3. The H-1B cap lottery, explained. (2024, April 5). Boundless.¹⁰
4. X.com. (n.d.). X (formerly Twitter)¹¹
5. Cache://x.com/GavinWax/status/1872331492409696632 – Google search. (n.d.).¹²

Direct References:

1. S.358 – 101st Congress (1989-1990): Immigration Act of 1990. (1990, November 29). https://www.congress.gov/bill/101st-congress/senate-bill/358 ↩︎
2. Kumar. (2010, January 14). H1B visa cap reach dates history FY 2000 to 2025 – Graph – USCIS data. RedBus2US. https://redbus2us.com/h1b-visa-cap-reach-dates-history-graphs-uscis-data/?utm_ ↩︎
3. Kably, L. (2023, June 5). US H-1B visa: With 3.20 lakh H-1B visas bagged in FY 2022, Indians continue to top USCIS charts | – Times of India. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/us-canada-news/with-3-20-lakh-h-1b-visas-bagged-in-fy-2022-indians-continue-to-top-the-charts/articleshow/100772292.cms?utm_ ↩︎
4. (n.d.). USCIS. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/data/h-1b-petitions-by-gender-country-of-birth-fy2019.pdf?utm_ ↩︎
5. Nytimes.com. (2024, December 27). The New York Times – Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/27/technology/trump-musk-immigration-h1b-visa.html ↩︎
6. Rajghatta, C. (2024, December 26). Racist rants and resentment against Indians in US after MAGA meltdown over Trump’s AI pick – Times of India. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/racist-rants-and-resentment-against-indians-in-us-after-maga-meltdown-over-trumps-ai-pick/articleshow/116689263.cms ↩︎
7. Just a moment... (2024, December 26). Just a moment… https://www.axios.com/2024/12/26/maga-civil-war-ramaswamy-musk-loomer-cernovich ↩︎
8. Musk and Ramaswamy are sparking a debate over the H-1B visa. Here’s what to know about the visa. (2024, December 27). CBS News | Breaking news, top stories & today’s latest headlines. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musk-vivek-ramaswamy-h1b-visa-maga-immigration-what-to-know/ ↩︎
9. The H-1B visa program and its impact on the U.S. economy. (2023, August 18). American Immigration Council. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/h1b-visa-program-fact-sheet ↩︎
10. The H-1B cap lottery, explained. (2024, April 5). Boundless. https://www.boundless.com/immigration-resources/h-1b-lottery-cap-explained/
    ↩︎
11. X.com. (n.d.). X (formerly Twitter). https://x.com/GavinWax/status/1872124852695679189 ↩︎
12. Cache://x.com/GavinWax/status/1872331492409696632 – Google search. (n.d.). https://x.com/GavinWax/status/1872331492409696632 ↩︎

Look, it’s undeniable that Europe can be linked to anything seen today. Current on-going wars, current social states, population, etc. Europe’s almost everywhere, which is quite remarkable for the number of landlocked, jammed together countries in the small continent. How did Britain, a mere island, manage to colonize a number of countries and nations, and manage to create a vastly powerful empire for so many years? How did so many of these countries manage to colonize the majority of Africa? How could they take over populations and groups of pre-living races, creating a product of their own will and control so easily? But more than that, why? What was the need to do so? Why did these countries feel so obligated to take from others for their own sole benefit? The answer to this is both simple and complicated. While these European powers simply had better plans, resources, and strategies, there were also other factors. Internal turmoil within these nations, amongst some. Being easily trusting, for another. Despite this, at the end, it was the Europeans who chose to take advantage of this to reap their own benefit. The outcome being a boost to their empire’s power, wealth, influence, and expanse. But once again, we ask, what was the need to do so? Power is a reason for anything, even wealth, but why did these things exactly matter at the time? What was going on for these European powers to set out and colonize the majority of the world? Here’s the answer: necessity.

European colonialism all stemmed from one major thing- and that fueled over 5 centuries of exploitation and influence of other countries. It’s because Europe lacked. For starters, Northern Europe doesn’t necessarily have the most ideal growing climates. With harsh weather of severe seasonal changes in temperature and light, prevailing winds, and months of cold, snow, and shortages, Europeans needed to take new measures to survive. Even today, to make ways of living easier or to solve any problem, we create new things. We adapt, advance, and create. It’s part of our nature, and exactly what Europeans did. These problems faced would have led them to start creating and planning for these things. They would have had to experiment with new techniques, tactics, resources, and much more. The way they solved this was by using trade routes. Trade routes would have been extremely crucial for most Europeans, as it linked them to other countries with needed resources, and also to sell what resources they had in return. Taking advantage of this, Europeans focused on civilizations near the Equator, as they had more consistent climates and stable weather patterns with year-round food. Europeans utilized this, and built ships. Specific ships that could sail against the prevailing winds, and allowed them to go anywhere.

Essentially, the lack of resources for Europe allowed it to develop further than other countries. They were able to create new machines, inventions, and ideas to support themselves and solve their problem given the pressure put upon them to survive. Furthermore, they were allowed to go through different movements that introduced new ideas into their culture. Religious movements dominated, with political and economic movements also following. Literacy and wealth grew, essentially boosting European powers and giving them an advantage. With the rise of these trade routes, Europeans became dependent on Asian goods such as silk, spices, and pottery. However, with the rise of the Ottoman Turks in power and the decline of the Mongolian Empire, these traditional trade routes were under threat. Alongside this, there were further improvements made in shipbuilding and navigation, allowing Europeans to travel further for longer periods of time. With this, a new competition began: to secure better trade with Asia and finding new routes by sea to get there. In this, a little slogan also developed, if you’re familiar; ‘God, gold, and glory.’

The story of Christopher Columbus is familiar to many, if not, the majority of Americans. Why else would there be a holiday named after him? The legendary explorer who set out to find a quicker path to India for spices ended up discovering something completely different: the Americas. New unclaimed land with potential for expansions and resources? It was almost beckoning for the Europeans to come. However, the problem was that it was already inhabited. Natives, all of different tribes, cultures, lifestyles, and personalities who had created a sense of peace on these continents for generations long before the Europeans came. Not a problem. In fact, it served as an even greater benefit to the Europeans. ‘God; the first g. The idea to set out and convert others to Christianity had some good intention, but served as rather cruel to others. Converters wanted others to have a place to go to after death, heaven, and with many Native cultures this idea didn’t necessarily exist. They, the converters, felt it to be for the best to convert the natives so they could be safe. But with this, rather cruel approaches were taken. Discrimination, the stripping away of one’s identity into someone new, and even slavery. Amongst the countries that colonized the Americas- Spain, France, Britain, and the Netherlands- France had the best relations. For starters, they sought out to trade for fur, and treated the natives with respect. They did little to impose on their culture and homes, keeping peaceful separate lives. The British on the other hand were worse. At first, the British struggled to survive. They faced poor results in crop growth, and little unity amongst the group to survive. Given this, some natives helped them out, showing them ways to farm in the weather conditions. This eventually led to a friendly relationship between the two, and the first Thanksgiving dinner- a tradition still widely celebrated today. However, this wholesome dinner ended up being a betrayal, for shortly after the British continued to take land from the natives. Even after the American colonists declared independence from the British, they continued to encroach on native territory. Despite agreements and treaties being made between tribes and the U.S. on property restrictions, the U.S. continued to take. Manifest destiny and Westward Expansion served no help to this, as it further fueled the desire to control the continent. What vast land the native groups once had diminished exponentially. Today, they live in outskirts of cities built on their ancestral land, and suffer more than Americans do today. Today, when we celebrate Thanksgiving happily with families and good food, they’re reminded of the harsh betrayal that led to the loss of their homes, culture, and people. Gold came along the way, surging with the California Gold Rush in 1848 and even before that in small traces. And Glory did show up. Christopher Columbus being the most notable, but other discoveries and small accomplishments also were recognized. The Hudson River, an abundance of fish, other alternate attempts and routes to India by other explorers, and much more. And, the Americas aren’t the only to experience this. So have the Aboriginals in Australia.

Another way Europe developed further was through revolution. Now, hearing that word may lead you to think over overthrowing governments and rebelling. To challenge the norm and go a different way. And, yes, I guess that is true. But here, we’re talking about the Industrial Revolution. Not necessarily an insurrection, but rather a change and turn against the norm: agriculture. The Industrial Revolution was, well, revolutionary. With this event, they once agrarian and handicraft economy everyone depended on to make money from changed to become one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing. New, novel ways of working and living fundamentally transformed society. It made it better, faster, efficient, and more demanding. Demanding in the way that more resources were needed. This further called for exploration to other parts of the world to gain these resources.

One example of this is the Berlin Conference of 1884. European nations saw Africa as a reservoir for raw materials, labor, and even territory for future settlement. And so the Berlin Conference of 1884 took place, drawing lines across the land and between groups and families of people to mark each country’s claim. These countries only left when satisfied, or if they came upon a problem they had created. Alongside the development of machines, there also was the increased usage fo gunpowder. Although Europe was not the first to discover gunpowder, it was the one to utilize it more than other civilizations. Gunpowder became important to conquer new territory, as it allowed a small number of people to exercise a lot of influence. Europeans standardized the usage of gunpowder in warfare, and it gave them an advantage over their less prepared enemies. (This includes the Africans, natives, Indians, and other civilizations) Along with this, the European countries had predominantly looked towards becoming the most powerful among the others. They weren’t really unified as one- Europe- but were individually active, and each fought to increase their power and influence. They took different methods to succeed, which wasn’t really seen by these other countries before. One of these methods was to take advantage of the internal affairs at play. Many European countries exploited the internal feuds of many in order to gain an advantage over them. Methods such as bribes, offers of power and supplies in return for some position in the country, etc, they easily made their way into a different country this way.

And, really, you know the rest of the story. Slowly, as these colonized civilizations began to develop, they rebelled and declared independence from their European rulers. But the last influence is still heavily seen today, even if they have passed their colonization days. For starters, we see democratic institutions and systems of government, established human rights, increased literacy rates, poverty, and even today’s wars. Israel-Palestine (Hamas) had to do with European influence. Both World Wars began in Europe due to European issues. The Ukraine-Russia War is between two European countries. Many African countries are in their current state following the Berlin Conference, and the genocides that took place happened due to the divisions created between families and groups by the Europeans. The United States based its founding principles on European (British) actions. The list goes on.

But, what if we were to prevent all this from happening? What if we could stop a point in all of history, knowing of today’s current events and status, and change the current worlds? Well, the best way to do that would be to backtrack in time and stop European exploration from happening. The best way to do this would be to prevent the Ottomans from taking control of the Silk Route and other trade routes. This would have delayed the European expansion for a few decades or so, as there would be little need at the time to find alternate routes to Asia. However, due to the growing religious movements that were taking over the majority of Europe, along with the improvements in shipbuilding and navigation that would take place, there is no guarantee they wouldn’t have still sought to colonize other countries. However, there could have been some more development in other civilizations before then, allowing them to grow. Although it is possible they may not have been able to reach the Industrial Revolution until much later. One other thing we could attempt to change is Christopher Columbus’s success in the discovery of the New World. If he had never come back, then it’s possible the Americas wouldn’t have been discovered or colonized for a while, as other explorers may not have further tried his route to reach Asia. With this, there would be a thriving native population, but no development of the United States. The United States probably wouldn’t have existed for another few centuries or so, and wouldn’t be at the current state it is now. In fact, let’s say the natives had been able to stop the Europeans. Well, we wouldn’t have the United States today, unless the Europeans had attempted to come back again. The same goes for South America. But I wouldn’t even be here. In fact, the vast majority of the entire United States population wouldn’t be here, as most come from generations of immigrants or are immigrants themselves. However, it is also likely, more likely actually, that they would have been just fine. Considering Europe solely came to these continents for resources, imagine what would have happened if those civilizations had found and utilized these resources for themselves instead. They probably would have, at one point or another, advanced and probably could have created a powerful nation. Europe would be pretty much distraught and would struggle, maybe being the ones in poverty and suffering. The roles could reverse. There would be a relatively homogenous population with some to little diversity, though, depending on whether different groups either unify or clash to become more powerful. The idea of any group of people not being able to develop is almost impossible, since Europeans were the same. But, going back to the idea of European colonization never happening, there would be far more cultural and linguistic diversity today. More cultures and ethnicities would have thrived and presumably would have had a bigger influence on the world. There would be many more different political boundaries and power dynamics. One country could end up becoming a number of smaller ones, or a number of smaller ones could become a larger one. There might still be a greater number of empires today. Furthermore, there would likely be a much more different interconnectedness between nations. Given that colonialism linked many countries together in more ways than one, the relationships would be far different. In a way, European exploration has been more profound and integral in our world history than we realize. What a strange amount of influence from a small continent.