Information about the USA.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

The United States of America is a federal republic which shares borders with Canada and Mexico and extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean with its capital named Washington, D.C. It consists of 50 states and one federal district(the federal District of Columbia); it also has numerous overseas territories.
The United States has maintained a liberal democratic political system since it adopted its Articles of Confederation on 1 March 1781 and the Constitution, the Articles' replacement, on 17 September 1787.

NAME

The name “America” is a feminized version of the Latin name of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (Americus Vespucius) (from the book named “Cosmographiae Introductio” by Martin Waldseemüller).
The Americas were also known as Columbia, after Columbus, prompting the name District of Columbia for the land set aside as the U.S. capital. Columbia remained a popular name for the United States until the early 20th century. A female personification of the country is also called Columbia.
The term "united States of America" was first used officially in the Declaration of Independence, adopted on 4 July 1776. On 15 November 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first of which stated "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America.'"

GEOGRAPHY

The United States is the world’s third largest country by land area, after Russia and Canada. It is bounded by the North Atlantic Ocean to the East, the North Pacific Ocean to the west, Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Canada to the north. Alaska also borders Canada, with the Pacific Ocean to its south and the Arctic Ocean to its north. West of Alaska, across the narrow Bering Strait, is Russia. The state of Hawaii occupies an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, southwest of the North American mainland.

TERRAIN

The U.S. has an extremely varied geography, particularly in the West. The eastern seaboard has a coastal plain which is widest in the south and narrows in the north. The coastal plain does not exist north of New Jersey, although there are glacial outwash plains on Long Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. In the extreme southeast, Florida is home to the ecologically unique Everglades.
From the west slope of the Appalachians(which rise above 6,000 feet), the Interior Plains of the Midwest are relatively flat and are the location of the Great Lakes as well as the Mississippi-Missouri River, the world's 4th longest river system.
The abrupt rise of the Rocky Mountains, at the western edge of the Great Plains, extends north to south across the continental U.S., reaching altitudes over 14,000 feet (4,270 m) in Colorado. In the past, the Rocky Mountains had a higher level of volcanic activity; nowadays, the range only has one area of volcanism (the supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, possibly the world's largest volcano). At the southwestern end of the Great Basin, Death Valley lies 282 feet (86 m) below sea level, the second lowest dry land on Earth.
Many national parks, such as Arches, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Zion are situated on the Colorado Plateau.

CLIMATE

The climate of the U.S. is as varied as its landscape. In northern Alaska, tundra and arctic conditions predominate, and the temperature has fallen as low as minus 80 °F (−62 °C). On the other end of the spectrum, Death Valley, California once reached 134 °F (56.7 °C); the second-highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.
On average, the mountains of the western states receive the most snow and are among the snowiest places on Earth. Along the northwestern Pacific coast, rainfall is greater than anywhere else in the continental U.S.
In central portions of the U.S., tornadoes are more common than anywhere else on Earth and touch down most commonly in the spring and summer. Deadly and destructive hurricanes occur almost every year along the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

The United States is the longest-surviving extant constitutional republic, with the oldest wholly written constitution in the world. Its government operates as a representative democracy through a congressional system under a set of powers specified by its Constitution.
There are two major political parties: the Republican Party (socially conservative and economically classical) and the Democratic Party (socially liberal and economically progressive).

FOREIGN RELATIONS AND MILITARY

The United States has vast economic, political, and military influence on a global scale. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and consulates around the country.
Recently, the foreign policy of the United States has focused on combating terrorism as well as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Other transnational issues include immigration reform and the shipment of illegal drugs into the country.
The United States is considered to have the most powerful military in the world.

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS

Except for the fifty states, the U.S. also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia—which contains the nation's capital city, Washington—and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands.
In addition to the actual states and territories of the United States, there are also nations which are associated states of the U.S. The Federated States of Micronesia (since 1986), Palau (since 1994), and the Marshall Islands (since 1986) are associated with the United States under what is known as the Compact of Free Association, giving the states international sovereignty and ultimate control over their territory. However, the governments of those areas have agreed to allow the United States to provide defense and financial assistance.

ECOLOGY
FLORA AND FAUNA

The U.S. has over 17,000 identified native plant and tree species, including 5,000 just in California (which is home to the tallest, the most massive, and the oldest trees in the world).
Over 400 species of mammal, 700 species of bird, 500 species of reptile and amphibian, and 90,000 species of insect have been documented.
Many plants and animals are very localized in their distribution, and some are in danger of extinction. The U.S. passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973, to protect native plant and animal species and their habitats.
In 1872, the world's first National Park was established, at Yellowstone. Another 57 national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks and forests have since been designated.

ECONOMY

The economic history of the United States is a story of economic growth that began with marginally successful colonial economies and progressed to the largest industrial economy in the world in the 20th and early 21st century.
The economic system of the United States can be described as a capitalist mixed economy, in which corporations, other private firms, and individuals make most microeconomic decisions, and governments prefer to take a smaller role in the domestic economy, although the combined role of all levels of government is relatively large, at 36% of the GDP.
Economic activity varies greatly across the country. For example, New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film and television production.
The United States is an influential country in scientific and technological research and the production of innovative technological products. The technological progress was epitomized by the first visit of a man to the moon, when Neil Armstrong stepped off of Apollo 11 in July 1969.
In the sciences, Americans have a large share of Nobel Prizes, especially in the fields of physiology and medicine.

DEMOGRAPHICS

As of August 2006, the United States' population was estimated at 299,059,138, with an annual growth rate of about 0.59%.This figure includes persons living in the U.S. without legal permission to do so, estimated at 12 million, and excludes U.S. citizens living abroad, estimated at 3 million to 7 million.
In the 2000 census, the country had 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, with numerous others represented in smaller amounts.
white Americans – 80,4%;
non-Hispanic whites – 67,4%;
European ancestry: German – 15,2%; Irish – 10,8%; English – 8,7%; Italian – 5,6%; Scandinavian – 3,7%;
Slavic countries: Poland, Russia, French Canada;
African Americans – 12,9%;
Native Americans and Alaska Natives – 1,5%.

LARGEST CITIES

The United States has dozens of major cities, which play an important role in U.S. culture, heritage, and economy. In 2004, 251 incorporated places had populations of at least 100,000 and nine had populations greater than 1,000,000, including several important global cities, such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. In addition, there are fifty metropolitan areas with populations over 1,000,000.

LANGUAGE

Although the United States has no official language, English is the de facto national language. In 2003, about 214.8 million, or 81.6%, of the population aged five years and older spoke only English at home. Three states also grant official status to other languages alongside English: French in Louisiana, Hawaiian in Hawaii, and Spanish in New Mexico.

RELIGION

The United States government keeps no official register of Americans' religious status. However, in a private survey conducted in 2001 and mentioned in the Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract of the United States, 76.7% of American adults identified themselves as Christian; about 52% of adults described themselves as members of various Protestant denominations, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1.3%); Roman Catholics, at 24.5%, were the most populous individual sect. Judaism (1.4%) and other faiths also have firm places in American culture. About 14.2% of respondents described themselves as having no religion. The religious distribution of the 5.4% who elected not to describe themselves for the survey is unknown.

EDUCATION

Students are generally obliged to attend school starting with kindergarten, and ending with the 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18, but many states may allow students to drop out as early as age 16. Besides public schools, parents may also choose to educate their own children at home or to send their children to parochial or private schools. After high school, students may choose to attend universities, either public or private.
There are many competitive institutions of higher education in the United States, both private and public. The United States has 168 universities in the world's top 500, 17 of which are in the top 20. There are also many smaller universities and liberal arts colleges, and local community colleges of varying quality across the country with open admission policies.

HEALTH

Unlike most Western governments, the U.S. government does not guarantee publicly funded health care to its citizens. Consequently, a high number of people have little or no access to proper healthcare. Private insurance plays a major role in covering health care costs. Health insurance in the United States is traditionally a benefit of employment. However, emergency care facilities are required to provide service regardless of the patient's ability to pay. Medical bills are the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the United States.

CULTURE

The culture of the United States began as the culture of its first English colonists, but quickly evolved as an independent frontier culture supplemented by indigenous and Spanish–Mexican cowboy culture and by the cultures of subsequent waves of immigrants, first from Europe and Africa and later from Asia.
An important component of American culture is the American Dream: the idea that, through hard work, courage, and self-determination, regardless of social class, a person can gain a better life.
American cuisine, embraces native American ingredients such as turkey, potatoes, corn, and squash, which have become integral parts of American culture. Such popular icons as apple pie, pizza, and hamburgers are either derived from or are actual European dishes.
Music in the United States: rock and roll, hip hop, country, blues, jazz and popular music.
The birth of cinema, as well as its development, largely took place in the United States. In 1878, the first recorded instance of sequential photographs capturing and reproducing motion was Eadweard Muybridge's series of a running horse, which the British-born photographer produced in Palo Alto, California, using a row of still cameras.
The "Big Four" sports are baseball, American football, ice hockey, and basketball. Other sports, including auto racing, lacrosse, soccer, golf, and tennis, have significant followings. The United States is among the most influential regions in shaping three popular board-based recreational sports: surfboarding, skateboarding, and snowboarding.

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