United States

United States of America
United States of America
	Flag Coat of arms
	Motto: ; E pluribus unum (1789 to 1956); (Latin: "Out of Many, One"); In God We Trust (1956 to present)
	Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner"
	Location of the United States
Capital	Washington, D.C.
Largest city	New York City
Official languages	None at federal level;; English de facto
Government	Federal republic
Independence
• Water (%)	4.87
Population
• 2006 estimate	298,540,066 (3rd)
• 2000 census	281,421,906
GDP (PPP)	2006 estimate
• Total	$13.049 trillion (1st)
• Per capita	$43,555 (3rd)
HDI (2003)	0.944; very high (10th)
Currency	Dollar ($) (USD)
Time zone	UTC-5 to -10
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 to -10
Calling code	1
ISO 3166 code	US
Internet TLD	.us .gov .edu .mil .um
	1.) Area rank is disputed

The United States of America (the U.S., the U.S.A., the U.S. of A., the States, the United States, or America^[1]) is a federal republic in North America.

The U.S. originated from 13 colonies in British North America that declared their independence in 1776 and fought a revolution to achieve it. The former colonies proceeded to form one of the first constitutional republics in the world. Since then, the country has expanded its borders and obtained greater wealth and influence in global affairs. However, the path to development did not come without a price as American history is tainted with cruelties such as slavery, and the forced migration of millions of Native Americans out of their homelands and onto reservations.

In the decades after the Second World War, the United States became a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, cultural, scientific and technological affairs. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, it stands today as the world's sole superpower. The influence of the United States is, like any other nation, nonetheless limited by international agreements and the realities of political, military and economic constraints.

History

Before European colonization in the late 1400s, the land of what is now the United States was inhabited by Native Americans, who arrived on the continent by crossing the Bering land bridge some time between 48,000 BCE and 9,000 BCE. In 1607, the first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established, which was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast.

In 1775, George Washington led the American Revolution against colonial rule by Great Britain, which led to the Declaration of Independence by the thirteen colonies in 1776. The former colonies existed as an informal alliance of independent states with their own laws and sovereignty, while the Second Continental Congress was given the nominal authority by the colonies to make decisions regarding the formation and founding of the Continental Army, but it did not have the authority to levy taxes or make federal laws. Later, the United States Constitution was ratified by the Constitutional Convention in 1787 to establish a federal union of sovereign states and the federal government to operate that union.

In the 1800s, many new states were added to the Union as the nation expanded across the North American continent. This came as a result of the Eastern states' growth as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country and the population needed new territory for growth. The belief in Manifest Destiny also fueled the country's desire to expand. In the process, the U.S. displaced most Native American nations residing in the area.

In the mid-19th century, the nation was divided over the issue of states' rights, the role of the federal government, and the expansion of slavery, which led to the American Civil War when, following the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, South Carolina became the first state to declare its secession from the Union. Six other Southern states followed, forming the Confederate States of America early in 1861. At the time, the Northern states were opposed to the expansion of slavery, while the Southern states saw the opposition as an attack on their way of life, since their economy, especially the cotton industry, was so dependent on slave labor. The Civil War effectively ended slavery, as well as the question of whether a state has the right to secede from the country, with an Union victory in 1865. The event is widely accepted as a major turning point in American history, with an increase in power for the federal government.

The technological advances made during the Civil War, combined with an unprecedented wave of immigrants who helped to provide labor for American industry and create diverse communities in previously undeveloped areas, hastened the industrial development of the United States and its rise to international power. The country subsequently made many imperialist ventures abroad, including the annexation of Puerto Rico after a victory in the Spanish-American War.

With the start of the First World War in 1914, the United States at first decided to maintain its neutrality, but eventually entered the war against the Central Powers and helped turn the tide of battle. American investors and the federal government had invested a large amount of money in Europe including loans granted to Great Britain and the Allies. Thus, one of the main reasons that the United States entered the First World War was to protect its interests in Europe and colonies governed by the European powers. Public outrage over the German practice of unrestricted submarine warfare, which resulted in a loss of American life when ships operating in the waters around Europe were sunk. American sympathies, due to historical reasons, were also very much in favor of the British and French. However, a sizable number of citizens, mostly Irish and German, were staunchly opposed to U.S. intervention. Nonetheless, American involvement in the war brought the country much wealth and prestige, even though much of Europe laid in ruins.

After the war in 1918, the United States Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles imposed by its Allies on the defeated Central Powers, which would have consequently pulled the U.S. into European affairs. Instead, the country chose to pursue unilateralism, if not isolationism.

During most of the 1920s, the United States enjoyed a period of unbalanced prosperity as farm prices fell and industrial profits grew. The boom was fueled by a rise in debt and an inflated stock market, which resulted in a crash in 1929. The Great Depression followed, which led the government, under Franklin Roosevelt, to abandon its Laissez-faire economic policy. The recovery, however, was not complete until the Second World War, where the United States joined the side of the Allies against the Axis after a surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The ensuing war became the most costly war in American history, but it helped to pull the economy out of depression as it provided much needed jobs both at home and at the front.

The post-war era in the United States was defined internationally by the beginning of the Cold War in the late 1940s, when the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) attempted to expand their own global influence, with the U.S. representing democracy and capitalism, and the USSR Communism and a centrally planned economy. The actions of both sides, however, were checked by each side's massive nuclear arsenal. The result was a series of conflicts, including the Korean War, the massively unpopular Vietnam War, and the tense nuclear showdown of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Within the United States, the Cold War prompted concerns about Communist influences, which created the Red Scare of the 1950s. The space race between the two world superpowers resulted in government efforts to encourage greater math and science skills.

Meanwhile in the country, urbanization was completed and Amercan society experienced a period of sustained economic expansion. At the same time, discrimination across the United States, especially in the South, was increasingly challenged by a growing Civil Rights movement led by prominent black American leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr, which led to the abolishment of the Jim Crow laws that legalized racial segregation between whites and blacks in the South.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, the United States continued to involve itself in military action overseas as demonstrated by the Gulf War. Following his election in 1992, President Bill Clinton oversaw the largest economic expansion in American history, thanks to sound economic policies that helped to stoke the digital revolution and new business opportunities created by the Internet.

At the beginning of the new millennium, following the September 11, 2001 attacks orchestrated by Osama bin Laden, the United States found itself vulnerable to terrorist attacks. In response, under the administration of President George W. Bush, the country declared the War on Terror. With the support of most of the international community, the armed forces invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban regime, which was considered to be a safe haven for terrorism activities in the Middle East. More controversially, President Bush continued the "War on Terror" by invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam's regime in 2003. This second invasion proved relatively questioned or disapproved amongst the international community, even amongst long-time American allies such as France and Germany, which resulted in a wave of anti-American sentiment. Most recently, this discontent with the war has spread to the home front, as a majority of Americans are now dissatisfied with its prosecution. Nonetheless, over 30 nations supported the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in what became known as 'the coalition of the willing.'^[2]

As of 2006, the political climate remains polarized as debates continue over issues such as the increasing trade deficit, a rising health care cost, illegal immigration, the separation of the church and the state, abortion, free speech, gay rights, as well as the ongoing war in Iraq.^[3]

Politics

The United States is a constitutional republic, meaning that its government is composed of and operates through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Each level enjoys certain exclusive powers and obligations, and the precise division of these powers has been a matter of considerable ongoing debate. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Almost all electoral offices are decided in "first-past-the-post" elections, where a specific candidate who earns at least a plurality of the vote is elected to office, rather than a party being elected to a seat to which it may then appoint an official.

Suffrage

Suffrage has changed significantly over time. In the early years of the United States, voting was considered a matter for state governments, and was commonly restricted to white men who owned land. Direct elections were held only for the Federal House of Representatives (the "lower house" of a bicameral parliament, or Congress) and state legislatures, although this varied from state to state. Under this original system, the Senate (the "upper house" of Congress) was chosen by a majority vote of their state's legislature. Now, since the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, members of both Houses of Congress are directly elected.

Today, partially due to the Twenty-sixth Amendment, U.S. citizens have almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth, and both Houses of Congress are directly elected. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are as well.

Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC, in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government of the United States is comprised of a Legislative Branch (led by Congress), an Executive Branch (led by the President), and a Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, as well as the protection of human rights. All other government powers theoretically repose in the individual states. However, in addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government has gradually extended its power into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "Necessary and Proper" and "Commerce" clauses of the Constitution. The constitutionality of this extension of powers has been ruled on by the Supreme Court on numerous occasions, citing the above clauses.

Legislative branch

The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators (as there are currently 50 states), who serve six-year terms (one third of the Senate stands for election every two years). Each House has particular exclusive powers—the Senate must give "advice and consent" to many important Presidential appointments, and the House must introduce any bills for the purpose of raising revenue. However, the consent of both Houses is required to make any law. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the "necessary-and-proper clause", which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

Executive branch

All executive power in the federal government is vested in the President of the United States, although power is often delegated to his/her Cabinet members and other officials. The President and Vice President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D.C.) in both houses of Congress.

The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. While the President can directly propose legislation (for instance, the Federal Budget), he must rely on supporters in Congress to promote and support his or her legislative agenda. After identical copies of a particular bill have been approved by a majority of both Houses of Congress, the President's signature is required to make these bills law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote from both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote (by two-thirds majority in favor). The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton.

The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress from time to time (usually once a year). (The Constitution does not specify that the State of the Union address be delivered in person; it can be in the form of a letter, as was the practice during most of the 19th century.) Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations.

Judicial branch

The highest court is the Supreme Court, which currently consists of nine justices. The court deals with matters pertaining to the Federal Government, disputes between states, and interpretation of the United States Constitution, and can declare legislation or executive action made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law.

Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. The supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question (an issue arising under the U.S. Constitution, or laws/treaties of the United States). The relationship between federal and state laws is quite complex; together, they form the law of the United States.

State, tribal, and local governments

The state governments have the greatest influence over most Americans' daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution, government, and code of laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between individual states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the voters of the state. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, the highest being the state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. See state court for more information.

As a result of the Supreme Court case Worcester v. Georgia, Indian tribes are considered "domestic dependent nations" that operate as sovereign governments subject to Federal authority but, generally, outside of the influence from state governments. Hundreds of laws, executive orders, and court cases have modified the governmental status of tribes vis-à-vis states, but have kept the two officially distinct. Tribal capacity to operate robust governments varies, from a simple council used to manage all aspects of tribal affairs, to large and complex bureaucracies with several branches of government. Tribes are empowered to form their own governments, with power resting in elected tribal councils, elected tribal chairpersons, or religiously appointed leaders (as is the case with pueblos). Tribal citizenship (and voting rights) is generally restricted to individuals of Native descent, but tribes are free to set whatever membership requirements they wish.

The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate in a direct democratic fashion, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Foreign relations and military

The immense military and economic strength of the United States has made its foreign relations an especially important topic in international politics. Reactions towards American foreign policy by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from admiration to fierce criticism. The same range of opinions is also found within the United States, with many Americans either supporting or strongly criticizing United States foreign policy.

Traditionally, the greatest military ally of the United States has been the United Kingdom, though the earliest alliance the nation formed was with France (see Franco-American relations).

The United States presently occupies 702 military bases worldwide in 132 different countries. The United States military is currently deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and an intervention in Haiti. It has also embarked upon a global War on Terrorism.

The United States currently enjoys a particularly positive relationship with the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and Poland, among several others, in that these nations are participating as active military allies with, or logistical supporters of, the United States in all theaters. Currently, Canada, Germany, and other nations, are participating in the Afghanistan theater under the command of NATO, but not in Iraq.

Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in times of war.

The combined United States armed forces comprise 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Conscription ended in 1973. The United States armed forces are considered to be the most powerful (of any sort) in the world and their force projection capabilities are currently unrivalled by any nation or collaboration of nations.

The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, an increase of 4% over 2004 and 35% since 2001, with over 50% being spent in research & development. The 2006 defense budget will amount to nearly $440 billion, the highest ever. U.S. defense expenditure is estimated to be greater than the next twelve largest national military budgets combined, although citing this figure can be controversial since it does not take into effect local-currency purchasing power ratios.

It should be noted that the United States' focus on military expenditures has ranged very broadly, due to regularly changing ideologies inherent in its political system. The American military, in terms of physical resources, is actually smaller now than it was twenty years ago, despite being larger than it was five years ago, for example.

Human rights

Several states maintained slavery until 1865, and various forms of ethnic and other discrimination were not prohibited until the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The effects of this discriminative history are still apparent in the social structure.

The United States is sometimes criticized for interventionist policies in Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere, and for aid (financial, military and otherwise) given to repressive governments and warlords. Its military tactics have been questioned, such as in the Vietnam War in which U.S. explosives and chemical weapons left much of the region defoliated and uninhabitable to the local people. During the Cold War, aid policies were considered a counterweight to the aid the Soviet Union was giving, but American foreign support has been criticized as profit-driven, such as support to Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines), Saddam Hussein (Iraq), the Shah of Iran, Suharto (Indonesia), Saudi Arabian dictators, as well as number of dictatorships in Latin America. Recently, civilian devastation caused by U.S. military use of internationally banned chemical weapons in Iraq operations, secret prisons and some widely known concentration camps such as in Guantanamo Bay, torture and restrictions on the free press have been among the international questions. Domestically the United States is currently criticized for violations of children's rights, the death penalty, torture, discrimination against sexual minorities, immigration and treatment of non-citizens, worker's rights, police brutality, prison conditions, racial discrimation, and women's rights. Traditionally, however, the U.S. has still been committed to the Western ideology to pursue civil liberties.

In the early 21st century, following the September 11, 2001 attacks and the ensuing War on Terror, issues regarding intrusions upon privacy, invasive inspections, detentions under the USA PATRIOT Act, secret courts, and refusal to apply due process, and restrictions on freedom of expression are currently debated questions. While opponents see them as a dangerous decline in human rights and democracy, supporters see them as positive and necessary actions for 'security'.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be polities modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the Union; in response, President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the Union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the Union as a whole.

In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to Western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities, and townships.

The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The 50 states are divided into distinct sections:

the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous, or contiguous United States
Alaska, an exclave, which is physically connected only to Canada
the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean.

The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which contains the nation's capital city of 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. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States's only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. Islands gained by the United States in the war against Spain at the turn of the 20th century were no longer to be considered foreign territory; on the other hand, the United States Supreme Court declared that they were not automatically covered by the Constitution and that it was up to Congress to decide what portions of the Constitution, if any, applied to them. This had been the precisely the quarrel between American colonies and Great Britain that resulted in the founding of the United States. Seen like this, the Supreme Court in 1901 would have decided in favor of George III of the United Kingdom.

The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types—with three "alpha" global cities: New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, New Orleans, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The ten largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Rank	City	Population within city limits	Population Density per sq mi	Metropolitan Area		Region
Rank	City	Population within city limits	Population Density per sq mi	millions	rank	Region
1	New York City, New York	8,104,079	26,402.9	18.7	1	Northeast
2	Los Angeles, California	3,845,541	7,876.8	12.9	2	West
3	Chicago, Illinois	2,862,244	12,750.3	9.4	3	Midwest
4	Houston, Texas	2,012,626	3,371.7	5.2	7	South
5	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1,470,151	11,233.6	5.8	4	Northeast
6	Phoenix, Arizona	1,418,041	2,782.0	3.7	14	West
7	San Diego, California	1,263,756	3,771.9	2.9	17	West
8	San Antonio, Texas	1,236,249	2,808.5	1.8	29	South
9	Dallas, Texas	1,210,393	3,469.9	5.7	5	South
10	San Jose, California	904,522	5,117.9	1.7	30	West

Geography

A satellite composite image of the contiguous United States. Deciduous vegetation and grasslands prevail in the east, transitioning to prairies, boreal forests, and the Rockies in the west, and deserts in the southwest. In the northeast, the coasts of the Great Lakes and Atlantic seaboard host much of the country's population.

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast. Alaska borders the Pacific Ocean to the south, the Bering Strait to the west, and the Arctic Ocean to the north, while Hawaii lies far to the southwest of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.

Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia, is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia had also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization.

In total area (which includes inland water and land), Russia and Canada are larger than the United States, however, it is disputed whether China is larger, some sources like Britannica and all publications in People's Republic of China states China is larger, but others says the United States is larger; if inland water is excluded, China ranks second, the U.S. ranks third, and Canada ranks fourth. However, the disputed political status of Taiwan makes this problem much more complex. The United States's total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²).

The United States's landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations. The East consists largely of rolling hills and temperate forests. The Appalachian Mountains form a line of low mountains in the Eastern U.S. The five Great Lakes are located in the north-central portion of the country, four of them forming part of the border with Canada. The Southeast largely contains subtropical forests and mangrove, especially in Florida. West of the Appalachians, the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and the Midwest consist largely of rolling hills and productive farmland, stretching south to the Gulf Coast.

Stretching west from the Midwest are the Great Plains. A large portion of the country's agricultural products are grown in this region. The region consists mostly of large, heavily cultivated and very flat grassland. The Great Plains come to an abrupt end at the Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountains form a large portion of the Western U.S., entering from Canada and stretching nearly to Mexico. The Rocky Mountains generally contain fairly mild slopes and low peaks compared to many of the other great mountain ranges, with a few exceptions (such as the Teton Mountains in Wyoming and the Sawatch Range in Colorado). In addition, instead of being one generally continuous and solid mountain range, it is broken up into a number of smaller, intermittent mountain ranges, forming a large series of basins and valleys.

West of the Rocky Mountains lies the Intermontane Plateaus (also known as the Intermountain West), a large, arid desert lying between the Rockies and the Cascades and Sierra Nevada ranges. The large southern portion, known as the Great Basin, consists of salt flats, drainage basins, and many small north-south mountain ranges. The Southwest is predominantly a low-lying desert region. A portion known as the Colorado Plateau, centered around the Four Corners region, is considered to have some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. It is accentuated in such national parks as Grand Canyon, Arches, and Bryce Canyon, among others.

The Intermontane Plateaus come to an end at the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada. The Cascades consist of largely intermittent, volcanic mountains rising prominently from the surrounding landscape. The Sierra Nevada, further south, is a high, rugged, and dense mountain range. It contains the highest point in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney (14,505 ft; 4,421 m). These areas contain some spectacular scenery as well, as evidenced by such national parks as Yosemite and Mount Rainier. West of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada is a series of valleys, such as the Central Valley in California and the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Along the coast is a series of low mountain ranges known as the Pacific Coast Ranges. Much of the Pacific Northwest coast is inhabited by some of the densest vegetation outside of the Tropics, and also the tallest trees in the world (the Redwoods).

Alaska contains some of the most dramatic and untapped scenery in the country. Tall, prominent mountain ranges rise up sharply from broad, flat tundra plains. On the islands off the south and southwest coast are many volcanoes. Hawaii, far to the south of Alaska in the Pacific Ocean, is a chain of tropical, volcanic islands, popular as a tourist destination for many from East Asia and the mainland United States.

Climate

Due to its large size and wide range of geographic features, the United States contains just about every climate. Its comparatively generous climate partially contributed to the country's rise as a world power, with infrequent severe drought in the major agricultural regions, a general lack of widespread flooding, and a mainly temperate climate that receives adequate precipitation.

The main influence on U.S. weather is the polar jet stream, which brings in large low pressure systems from the northern Pacific Ocean. The Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Rocky Mountains pick up most of the moisture from these systems as they move eastward. Greatly diminished by the time they reach the High Plains, much of the moisture has been sapped by the orographic effect as it is forced over several mountain ranges. However, once it moves over the Great Plains, uninterrupted flat land allows it to reorganize and can lead to major clashes of air masses. In addition, moisture from the Gulf of Mexico is often drawn northward. When combined with a powerful jet stream, this can lead to violent thunderstorms, especially during spring and summer. Sometimes during late winter and spring these storms can combine with another low pressure system as they move up the East Coast and into the Atlantic Ocean, where they intensify rapidly. These storms are known as Nor'easters and often bring widespread, heavy snowfall to the Mid-Atlantic and New England. The uninterrupted flat grasslands of the Great Plains also leads to some of the most extreme climate swings in the world. Temperatures can rise or drop rapidly and winds can be extreme, and the flow of heat waves or arctic air masses often advance uninterrupted through the plains.

The U.S. State of Hawaii has a year-round tropical climate, and is known for its many beaches, such as this one on O'ahu.

The Great Basin and Columbia Plateau (the Intermontane Plateaus) are arid or semiarid regions that lie in the rain shadow of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada. Precipitation averages less than 15 inches (38 cm). The Southwest is a hot desert, with temperatures exceeding 100°F (38°C) for several weeks at a time in summer. The Southwest and the Great Basin are also affected by the monsoon from the Gulf of California from July-September, which brings localized but often severe thunderstorms to the region. Much of California consists of a Mediterranean climate, with sometimes excessive rainfall from October-April and nearly no rain the rest of the year. In the Pacific Northwest rain falls year-round, but is much heavier during winter and spring. The mountains of the west receive abundant precipitation and very heavy snowfall. The Cascades are one of the snowiest places in the world, with some places averaging over 600 inches (1,520 cm) of snow annually, but the lower elevations closer to the coast receive very little snow. Another significant (but localized) weather effect is lake-effect snow that falls south and east of the Great Lakes, especially in the hilly portions of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and on the Tug Hill Plateau in New York. The Wasatch Front and Wasatch Range in Utah can also receive significant lake effect accumulations off of the Great Salt Lake.

Natural disasters

The United States is affected by a large variety of natural disasters yearly. Although severe drought is rare, it has occasionally caused major problems, such as during the Dust Bowl from 1931-1942, which coincided with the Great Depression. Farmland failed throughout the Plains, entire regions were virtually depopulated, and dust storms ravaged the land. More recently, the western U.S. experienced widespread drought from 1999-2004, and signs of a major, long-term drought across the Great Plains have developed.[1]

The United States also experiences, by a large margin, the most frequent and powerful tornadoes in the world. The Great Plains and Midwest, due to the contrasting air masses, sees frequent severe thunderstorms and tornado outbreaks during spring and summer. The strip of land from north Texas north to Kansas and east into Tennessee is known as Tornado Alley, where many houses have tornado shelters and many towns have tornado sirens. Another natural disaster that frequents the country are hurricanes, which can hit anywhere along the Gulf Coast or the Atlantic Coast, particularly the central and southern Texas coasts, the area from southeastern Louisiana east to the Florida Panhandle, the east coast of Florida, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina, although any portion of the coast is at risk. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with a peak from mid-August through early October. Some of the more devastating hurricanes have included the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The remnants of tropical cyclones from the Eastern Pacific also occasionally impact the southwestern United States, bringing sometimes heavy rainfall.

Like drought, widespread severe flooding is rare. Some exceptions include the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the Great Flood of 1993, and widespread flooding and mudslides caused by the 1982-1983 El Niño event in the western United States. Localized flooding can, however, occur anywhere, and mudslides from heavy rain can cause problems in any mountainous area, particularly the Southwest. Large stretches of desert shrub in the west can fuel the spread of wildfires. The narrow canyons of many mountain areas in the west and severe thunderstorm activity during the monsoon season in summer leads to sometimes devastating flash floods as well, while Nor'easter snowstorms can bring activity to a halt throughout the Northeast (although heavy snowstorms can occur almost anywhere).

The West Coast of the continental United States and areas of Alaska (including the Aleutian Islands, the Alaskan Peninsula and southern Alaskan coast) make up part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of heavy tectonic and volcanic activity that is the source of 90% of the world's earthquakes. The American Northwest sees the highest concentration of active volcanoes in the United States, in Washington, Oregon and northern California along the Cascade Mountains. There are several active volcanoes located in the islands of Hawaii, including Kilauea in ongoing eruption since 1983, but they do not typically adversely affect the inhabitants of the islands. There has not been a major life-threatening eruption on the Hawaiian islands since the 17th century. Volcanic eruptions can occasionally be devastating, such as in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington.

The Ring of Fire makes California and southern Alaska particularly vulnerable to earthquakes. Earthquakes can cause extensive damage, such as the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake or the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake near Anchorage, Alaska. California is well known for seismic activity, and requires large structures to be earthquake proofed to minimize loss of life and property. Outside of devastating earthquakes, California experiences minor earthquakes on a regular basis.

Economy

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The United States has the largest and most diverse economy of any nation-state in the world. The United States has a per-capita annual gross domestic product of $43,555 (www.imf.org), ranking 3rd behind Luxembourg and Norway. With the 8th largest per-capita energy consumption and the 7th largest per-capita carbon footprint, the U.S. accounts for more than a quarter of the energy consumed worldwide. As in all market-oriented economies, private individuals and business firms in the U.S. make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. This is financed via taxes and borrowings in the money and capital markets. Federal borrowings are subject to borrowing caps to theoretically prevent fiscal irresponsibility. The cap as of 2006 stands at 9 trillion. (Borrowings as of November 2005 are 8.1 trillion.)

Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, this was accomplished by slashing the tax-rates for the wealthiest Americans. This signaled a departure from the past, backing away from the more interventionist Keynesian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. The United States, today, is considered to have a mixed economy.

America is differentiated from most industrialized economies, particularly those in western Europe, by its low tax rates for the wealthiest of its citizenry. As a result the United States has by far the greatest number of the richest individuals in the world - many of them who were foreign nationals but became citizens - lured by this incentive. Policy-makers often justify such policies by claiming these wealthy individuals better America because many of them have made their fortune through innovation and will make the economy more dynamic. Companies in most American states can also fire individuals for no reason due to right-to-work laws, which are attributed to making the economy more flexible.

To compensate for this, the welfare system and social safety net is relatively meager compared to others. U.S. nationals earning the federally-mandated minimum-wage of $5.15 per-hour and working full-time 40-hour work weeks have less income than western Europeans who do not work at all and live on their countries respective welfare-system. The United Nations Development Programme Report 2005 ranks the United States as the 74th most equal out of 124 countries, a low mark, as measured by the Gini coefficient. The richest 10% make 15.9 times as much as the poorest 10%, and the richest 20% make 8.4 times as much as the poorest 20%. (See List of countries by income equality.) In terms of assests the top 20% of society owns more than half of America's worth.

America's poverty line, defined for a family of four as an income of less than $19,157, is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; Native Americans and Alaska Natives have the lowest median income while Asians have the highest. Regionally, the southern states have the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England have the highest.

The largest sector of the U.S. economy is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the work force. The United States has many natural resources, including coal, oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, it is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, rice and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The manufacturing sector produces goods such as cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others.

Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being concentrated in certain cities or regions. For example, New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries. Silicon Valley is the country's largest high technology hub, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film and television production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry with Chicago as the "Capital of the Midwest," and with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry. The Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; and the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry.

Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars.

The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by the People's Republic of China (12%, data excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). About $1.1 billion worth of goods cross the U.S.-Canada border each day, making the two the largest trading partners in the world.

In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. The largest amount of tourist receipts come from Canadians.

Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1960s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few major strikes in recent years.

The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to a real annual trade deficit of $650.3 billion or 5.7% of real gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign liabilities of over $12 trillion as of 2004, and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually.

Transportation

The United States has a sophisticated and well-maintained road network, as seen by this stack interchange in Los Angeles, California.

Because the automobile industry took off very early in the United States (when compared to other Western nations), much of the development of U.S. urban areas has taken place around the concept of creating cities and residential areas to suit the needs of road vehicles. The automobile industry was quick to attain influence in government and media alike, and was also the force behind the dismantling of the electric rail transport systems or trolleys in over 40 U.S. cities through a subsidiary called National City Lines. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system. These highways were commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn system. There is also a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states.

Some cities provide usable mass-transit systems. The largest of them, New York, operates one of the world's most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world.

In comparison to Japan and Europe, the United States has an underdeveloped rail network. There exists no similar high speed rail links connecting major cities, as the TGV in France and ICE network in Germany. Ideal candidates for high speed rail links include Northeastern States, Florida, Texas, and California.

Further Information: High-speed rail in the United States

Air travel is the preferred means of travel for long distances. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Duluth, Minnesota; Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; Oakland, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Demographics

The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the West, followed by the South. Growth in some parts of the nation have been particularly extreme such as the fastest growing metropolitan area, Las Vegas, Nevada, which went from 273,288 people in 1970 to about 1,650,671 in 2004. Between 1990 and 2000, 19 of the 20 fastest-growing states were in these two regions.[2]

Major demographic trends include the mass immigration of Hispanics from Latin America into the Southwest, which is home to 60% (21 of the 35 million) of the nation's Hispanics (their numbers increased 57.9% nationally in the 1990s). The West Coast has been the residence of choice for immigrating Asians, particularly from the Philippines and China. The West Coast is now home to approximately half of all American citizens of Asian ancestry (5 of the 10 million, increasing 52.4% in number during the 1990s).

The United States is a fairly ethnically diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts.

The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who either arrived after the establishment of the first English colonies or after the period Reconstruction (1863-1877). This majority decreases each year in percentage, and is expected to become a plurality by 2050. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations come from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada.

Hispanics from Mexico are second only to the German-American population in the single-race category. Hispanics comprise 13% of the population (2000 census) which include people from South and Central America. People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census and about 66% of the Hispanic-American community. This proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades.

African Americans, or Blacks, comprise 13% (2000 census) of the American population. This percentage includes 0.6% of individuals that identified as black and one or more other race. The initial wave of people from Africa arrived as slaves particularly throughout the colonial period and infancy of the new nation (1690-1808). Today, African Americans are spread throughout the country, but the population is largely concentrated in the South and the cores of the major urban centers of the North.

Asian Americans, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, are a fourth significant minority (4% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii with a growing concentration in the New York City metropolitan area, as well as the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan.

Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as Native Americans and Inuit, make up 1% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on reservations.

For the first time ever, American citizens were able to list all of the racial, ethnic, or ancestry groups which they felt was appropriate for them in the 2000 census. For example, a person could be counted in both the Italian and the Irish ancestry group if they described themselves as being of dual ancestry.

Education

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America's 19 World Heritage Sites include Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (original library, designed by Jefferson, shown above), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, students are generally obliged to attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which is normally entered into at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18 (although in some states, students are permitted to drop out upon the age of 16 with the permission of their parents/guardians). Parents may educate their own children at home (with varying degrees of state oversight), send their children to a public school, which is funded with tax money, or to a parochial or private school, where parents must pay tuition. Public schools are highly decentralized with funding and curriculum decisions taking place mostly at the local level through school boards.

After high school, students may choose to continue their schooling at a public/state university or a private university. Public universities receive funding from the federal and state governments, as well as other sources, but students still pay tuition. The amount paid varies depending on the university, state, and whether the student is a resident of the state or not. Tuition at private universities tends to be much higher than at public universities, though financial aid tends to remedy the disparity. It is not uncommon for students to join the workforce or the military before attending college; both the military and many private employers may subsidize post-secondary education.

American colleges and universities range from competitive schools, both private (such as Harvard University and Princeton University) and public (such as the University of California, Berkeley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Virginia), to hundreds of local community colleges with open admission policies.

Public health

The United States has a health-care system which is ranked 37th by the World Health organization[3]. The United States has several public health problems: widespread obesity, cigarette smoking among over a quarter of the population, and HIV-AIDS.

While a portion of the population has access to advanced treatments, a notably high amount of people in the U.S. suffer from lack of proper healthcare. Unlike most Western governments, the U.S. government does not guarantee publicly-funded medicine to its population. Several proposals (most recently during the Clinton administration) have been made and failed to generate sufficient support among voters. Despite poor results at delivering health care, government spending on health care is the highest of any country in the world. Major programs include Medicare and Medicaid; there are also many other programs on the federal, state, and county level, as well as private charities. Since the 1980s, HMO coverage has increased as a means of controlling costs; critics charge that some HMOs make care decisions that are not in the patient's interest in order to save money; criticism has also been made of interference in the patient-doctor relationship. Health insurance in the United States is traditionally a benefit of employment, and in many cases this is mandated by law. Also by law, licensed emergency care facilities are required to provide emergency care regardless of the patient's ability to pay, but even serious conditions may remain untreated if they are not considered 'life-threatening'. Medical bills are the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the United States.

Culture

U.S. popular culture has a significant influence on the rest of the world, especially the Western world. U.S. music is heard in many places, and it is the sire of such forms as blues, jazz, and house and had a role in the shaping of modern rock and roll and popular music culture. Many famous Western classical musicians and ensembles find their home in the U.S. New York City is a hub for international operatic and instrumental music as well as the world-famed Broadway plays and musicals. Nashville, Tennessee, is the center of the country music industry. Another export of the last 20 years is hip hop music, which began in New York and is growing in influence as it branches into the fashion, food and drink, and movie industries. New York, Seattle, and San Francisco are worldwide leaders in graphic design and New York competes with major European cities in the fashion industry. U.S. movies (primarily embodied in Hollywood) and television shows can be seen in most places.

U.S. offers classical and popular music; historical, scientific and art research centers and museums; dance performances, musicals and plays; outdoor art projects and internationally significant architecture. This is a result of both contributions by private philanthropists and government funding.

American holidays are variously national and local. Many holidays recognize events or people of importance to the nation's history; as such, they represent significant cultural observance.

Language

Although the United States has no official language, English is de facto official language in goverment, media, and other aspects of life. It's the most widely spoken language, spoken by 97.5% of the population, and as a primarily language by 81.2% of the population. There have been moves in the past for English to be named as the official language of the United States, but this has been just a minor political issue for a good part of the country's existence.

Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the U.S., spoken mainly by immigrants or descendants of recent immigrants from Latin America and Spain, but also by generations-old descendants of the original settlers of the Spanish-colonized Southwest, though these citizens never amounted to a significant portion of the U.S. population. Hispanics now make up the largest ethnic minority in the country. There are also large populations of non-Hispanic Americans who speak fluent Spanish. Spanish is widely taught as a second language, especially in areas with large Hispanic populations such as the states which border Mexico, as well as Florida and New York. Younger generations of non-Hispanics seem to be learning Spanish in larger numbers, thanks to the growing Hispanic population and increasing popularity of Latin American movies and music performed in the Spanish language. Over 30 million Americans, roughly 12% of the population, speak Spanish, making the U.S. the fifth largest Spanish speaking population in the world after Mexico, Colombia, Spain, and Argentina.

Chinese, mostly of the Cantonese dialect, is the third largest language spoken in the United States, almost completely spoken within Chinese-American populations, especially in California. Many young Americans not of Chinese descent have become interested in learning the language (mostly due to a perception of increased business opportunities available in China's growing economy), though it is the Mandarin dialect that is mostly taught. Over 2 million Americans speak Chinese dialects.

French, the fourth largest foreign language, is spoken mainly by the small native French, Haitian or French-Canadian populations. It is widely spoken in Maine and in Louisiana, a former colony of France, where it is still used with English as the state's de facto official language. German, although not widely spoken, was the second official language of Pennsylvania until 1950, and Germans, if European Americans were to be divided by national origin, would make up the largest single ethnic group in the United States. Italian, Polish, and Greek are still widely spoken among populations descending from immigrants from those countries in the early 20th century, but the use of these languages is dwindling as older generations die out. Starting in the 1970's and continuing until the mid 1990's, many people from the Soviet Union and later its constituent republics such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Uzbekistan have immigrated to the United States, causing Russian to become one of the minority languages in the United States.

Tagalog and Vietnamese have over one million speakers in the United States, almost entirely within recent immigrant populations.

There are also a small population of Native Americans who still speak their native languages, but these populations are dropping and the languages are almost never widely used outside of reservations. Hawaiian, although having few native speakers, is still used at the state level in Hawaii along with English.

Religion

The First Amendment to the Constitution forbids the establishment of religion in any manner shape or form by the government or restrictions on the freedom of religious expression; however, Christianity is strongly connected to the goverment operations. The United States is overwhelmingly Christian with Protestant denominations making up the majority at 52%, followed by Roman Catholics who make up 24% of the population. The remainder is composed of Mormons (2%), Jews (2%), and other religious minorities such as Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Baha'is, Taoists, and Buddhists, among many others, that collectively form 10% of the population (but who each individually make up less than 1%). In addition, 10% of Americans claim no religion.

The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend religious services at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; regular attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast or the West Coast. In the South, Baptists constitute the largest group, followed by Methodists. Roman Catholicism is predominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to these being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from European countries such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland, or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are commonly known as Mormons, is the predominant religion in the state of Utah, with significant populations in neighboring states, as well. The rest of the country generally has a mixture of various other Christian denominations.

Sports

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The major team sports in America are home-grown. Baseball, often called the national pastime, American football, and basketball are the top three sports in America. Ice hockey is also popular in the U.S., especially in the Upper Midwest and Northeast. Although it is currently one of the most played sports amongst American youth, soccer as a spectator sport does not yet have a particularly large following in the U.S., in contrast to its extreme popularity in most of the rest of the world. Nevertheless, the U.S. did host the soccer World Cup in 1994 and the Women's World Cup in 1999 and 2003. Professional sports in America is very big business and its athletes are very well compensated. The majority of the world's highest paid athletes play team sports in America [4].

The U.S. also hosts large followings of traditional European sporting events. Horse racing is popular as a gambling event and the United States hosts several world renowned horse racing events, including the Kentucky Derby. Rugby Union has also established itself as a popular sport with a loyal following. Other European sports such as polo and cricket, while not popular, do attract players and have established leagues.

The United States hosts some of the premier events in other sports such as golf (including three of the four majors), and the U.S. Open in tennis.

In the 20th century, the United States became the center of the two most popular Western combat sports—boxing, which is popular as both a spectator sport and a gambling event, and professional wrestling, which is more scripted entertainment than a true sport. The United States has produced many champion boxers who have become public figures. Other combat sports based on martial arts, such as karate competitions, maintain large national leagues and hold frequent competitions.

The number of gun owners in America has given widespread popularity to shooting sports as an amateur pastime. Competitions on marksmanship and other firearm related skills are a regular feature at many shooting ranges. Several organizations maintain national leagues or participate in international leagues such as the ISSF. The United States also developed a shooting sport in the 1980s called cowboy action shooting.

The United States was among the most influent regions at shaping three popular board-based recreational sports—surfboarding, skateboarding, and snowboarding. Presently, they have many competitions and a large dedicated subculture.

During times of extreme popularity or prolonged domination within their respective league of competition, certain teams have been unofficially dubbed "America's team." The New York Yankees (baseball), the Chicago Bulls (basketball), and the Dallas Cowboys (American football) are examples of teams that, at one time, reached this status.

American college sports are nearly as popular as professional sports, particularly college football and college basketball; the NCAA men's basketball tournament is one of the largest gambling events in American sports. American colleges often support wide-ranging sports programs, including track and field and more eclectic sports such as water polo. Similarly, many American high schools maintain extensive sports programs, and in some areas of the country, high school football and basketball competitions are major local events.

Eight Olympic Games have been hosted in the United States. The U.S. generally fares very well in them, especially the Summer Olympics—for instance, in the 2004 Olympics, the U.S. topped the medals table with a record 103 medals (35 gold, 39 silver and 29 bronze).

Notes

^ In the U.S., America is more commonly used to describe the United States and less often to refer to the Americas, the lands of the Western hemisphere (North and South America). American as a noun to describe an inhabitant or a citizen or national of the United States, and as an adjective meaning "of the United States," has no straightforward unambiguous synonym in English. Many other words for American have been proposed, but none has been widely accepted. Also see Americas (terminology).
^ "US names 'coalition of the willing'" Steve Schifferes. BBC News. 18 March, 2003. Accessed 17 April, 2006.
^ Polling Report 2006. Accessed 17 April, 2006.

References

Detailed references available in a subpage United States/References.

External links

Government

White House - Official site of the President of the United States
Senate - Official site of the United States Senate
House - Official site of the United States House of Representatives
Supreme Court - Official site of the Supreme Court of the United States
CIA World Factbook Entry for United States
Official website of the United States government - Gateway to governmental sites
Portrait of the United States - Published by the United States Information Agency, September 1997.
The National Atlas of the United States.
U.S. Census Housing and Economic Statistics Updated regularly by U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Other

"10 days that changed America" from History Channel 9 April 2006
Historical Documents
Info links for each state
National Motto: History and Constitutionality
Historicalstatistics.org - Links to historical statistics of USA
County Maps of the United States
IMF, U.S. ranks second in PPP GDP and first in PPP GDP
WWW-VL: United States History Index
Interactive Map of U.S.A. displaying information on each state

[1] In the U.S., America is more commonly used to describe the United States and less often to refer to the Americas, the lands of the Western hemisphere (North and South America). American as a noun to describe an inhabitant or a citizen or national of the United States, and as an adjective meaning "of the United States," has no straightforward unambiguous synonym in English. Many other words for American have been proposed, but none has been widely accepted. Also see Americas (terminology).

[2] "US names 'coalition of the willing'" Steve Schifferes. BBC News. 18 March, 2003. Accessed 17 April, 2006.

[3] Polling Report 2006. Accessed 17 April, 2006.

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