| Location |
North America |
| Coordinates |
38° 0' N 97° 0' W |
| Capital
| Washington DC (Pop: 0.6) |
| Main Cities |
Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle |
| Area |
9631418 km2 |
| Boundaries (km) |
12,034 - Canada 8,893 (including 2,477 with Alaska), Mexico 3,141 |
| Coastline (km) |
19,924 |
| Timezone (GMT) |
-5 to -8 (mainland), -9 (Alaska) |
| Population |
295.734 million |
| Public Holidays |
Independence Day, 4 July (1776) |
| Currency |
Dollar (US) |
| GDP |
$US 11750 billion |
| Main Exports |
capital goods, automobiles, industrial supplies and raw materials, consumer goods, agricultural products |
| Climate |
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains |
| Natural Hazards |
tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquake activity around Pacific Basin; hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts; tornadoes in the midwest and southeast; mud slides in California; forest fires in the west; flooding; permafrost in northern Alaska, a major impediment to development |
| Physical Features |
Great Lakes, Rocky Mountains, Appalachian Mountains, Sierra Nevada mountains, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Lake Superior (82,260 km2), Lake Huron (59,580 km2), Lake Michigan (58,020 km2), Lake Erie (25,710 km2), Mississippi river (6,020 km), Great Basin desert (492,000 km2), Sonoran desert (310,000 km2), Ribbon waterfalls, Niagara Falls, Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier, Lassen Peak volcano, Katmai volcano (Alaska). Hawaiian islands feature Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes and Mauna Kea mountain |
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Britain's American colonies broke with the mother country in 1776 and were recognized as the new nation of the United States of America following the Treaty of Paris in 1783. During the 19th and 20th centuries, 37 new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the North American continent and acquired a number of overseas possessions. The two most traumatic experiences in the nation's history were the Civil War (1861-65) and the Great Depression of the 1930s. Buoyed by victories in World Wars I and II and the end of the Cold War in 1991, the US remains the world's most powerful nation state. The economy is marked by steady growth, low unemployment and inflation, and rapid advances in technology.