Quick Facts
Capital
Washington, D.C.
Government federal republic
Currency US dollar (USD)
Area
3,755,241 miles2 (9,631,418 km2)
Population 301,139,947 (July 2007 est.)
The United
States of America is a large country in central and north-western North America, often referred to as the "USA," the "U.S.,"
the "United States," "America," or simply "the States". It has a land area of about 9.6 million sq km (about half the size
of Russia and about the same size as China). It also boasts the world's third largest population after China and India, with
over 300 million people. It includes both densely-populated cities with sprawling suburbs, and vast, uninhabited and naturally
beautiful areas. With its history of mass immigration dating from the 17th century, it is a "melting pot" of cultures from
around the world.
Regions
The United
States is composed of 50 states, as well as the city of Washington D.C., a federal district and the nation's capital. Below
is a rough grouping of these states into regions, from the Atlantic to the Pacific:
New England (Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont)
Home to gabled churches, rustic antiques, and steeped in American
history, New England offers beaches, spectacular seafood, rugged mountains, frequent winter snows, and some of the nation's
oldest cities, in a territory small enough to tour (hastily) in a week.
Mid-Atlantic (Delaware,
Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania)
Ranging from New York in the north to Washington D.C., the Mid-Atlantic is
home to some of the nation's most densely populated cities, as well as historic sites, rolling mountains, the New Jersey Pine
Barrens, the Lehigh Valley, and seaside resorts like the Long Island beaches and the Jersey Shore.
South (Alabama, Arkansas,
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia)
The South
is celebrated for its hospitality, down-home cooking and its blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll, and country music traditions. This
lush, largely subtropical region includes cool, verdant mountains, agricultural plantations, and vast cypress swamps.
Florida
Northern Florida is similar to the rest of the South, but not so the resorts of Orlando, retirement communities,
tropical Caribbean-influenced Miami, the Everglades swamp, and 1200 miles of sandy beaches.
Midwest
(Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin)
The Midwest is home to farmland, forests, picturesque
towns, industrial cities, and the Great Lakes, the largest system of freshwater lakes in the world, forming the North Coast
of the U.S.
Texas
The second biggest state in the nation, it's like a whole other country (and in fact, once was). The terrain
ranges from southeastern swamplands to the cattle-ranching South Plains to the sandy beaches of South Texas to the mountains
and deserts of West Texas.
Great Plains (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska,
Kansas, Oklahoma)
Travel westward through these supposedly flat states, from the edge of the eastern forests through the
prairies and onto the High Plains, an enormous expanse of steppes (shortgrass prairies) as desolate as in the frontier days.
Rocky Mountains (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming)
The spectacular snow-covered Rockies offer hiking, rafting,
and excellent snow skiing as well as deserts, and some large cities.
Southwest (Arizona,
New Mexico, Nevada, Utah)
This area was once under Spanish and Mexican rule and is heavily influenced by Spanish and Mexican
culture, the arid Southwest is home to some of the nation's most spectacular natural attractions, and flourishing artistic
communities. Although mostly empty, the region's deserts have some of the nation's largest cities.
California
Like
the Southwest, California has a history under Spanish and Mexican rule, and is heavily influenced by Spanish and Mexican culture.
California offers world-class cities, deserts, rain forests, snowy mountains, and beaches. Northern California (around the
Bay Area) and Southern California (around Los Angeles) are culturally distinct.
Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon)
The
pleasantly mild Pacific Northwest offers outdoor pursuits as well as cosmopolitan cities. The terrain ranges from spectacular
rain forests to scenic mountains and volcanoes to beautiful coastlines to sage-covered steppes and deserts.
Alaska
One fifth as
large as the rest of the United States, Alaska reaches well into the Arctic, and features mountainous wilderness.
Hawaii
A volcanic archipelago
in the tropical Pacific, 2,300 miles south west of California (the nearest state), laid-back Hawaii is a vacation paradise.
Geography
The contiguous
United States (the 48 states other than Alaska and Hawaii) are bound by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Pacific Ocean
to the west, with much of the population living on these two coasts. Its only borders are shared with Canada to the north,
and Mexico to the south.
The country has three
major mountain ranges. The Appalachians extend from Canada to the state of Alabama, a few hundred miles west of the Atlantic
Ocean. They are the oldest of the three mountain ranges, and offer spectacular sightseeing and excellent camping spots. The
Rockies are the highest in North America, extending from Alaska to New Mexico, with many areas protected as national parks.
They offer hiking, camping, and sightseeing opportunities. The combined Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges are the youngest.
The Sierras extend across the "backbone" of California, with sites such as Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park, then give
way to the even younger volcanic Cascade range, with some of the highest points in the country.
The Great Lakes define
much of the border between the United States and Canada. Formed by the pressure of glaciers retreating north at the end of
the last Ice Age, the five lakes touch the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania
and New York. The lakes span hundreds of miles, and their shores vary from pristine wilderness areas to industrial "rust belt"
cities. They are the second-largest bodies of freshwater in the world, after the polar ice caps.
