tenses - “Has been” vs. “was”

Should one use has been or was in the following sentence, and why?

• For many years the USA has been a British colony.


• For many years the USA was a British colony.

Answer

"Was" is the correct word to use. Why?

If we were to rearrange the sentence a little, we would see why:

1. The USA has been a British colony for many years


2. The USA was a British colony for many years.

Example 1 indicates that the USA is still a British colony, and has been a British colony for many years.

Example 2 indicates that USA used to be a British colony, but possibly is no longer.

Thus, "was" would be more appropriate in this case.

For many years, the USA was a British colony.