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United States

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Countries; North American
Geography

   United States of America

   Flag of the United States Great Seal of the United States
   Flag                      Great Seal
   Motto: E Pluribus Unum ("Out Of Many, One") (traditional)
   In God We Trust (1956 to date)
   Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner
   Location of the United States
   Capital Washington, D.C.
   38°53′N 77°02′W
   Largest city New York City
   Official languages None at federal level
   (English de facto)
   Government Federal republic
    - President George Walker Bush (R)
    - Vice President Dick Cheney (R)
   Independence from Great Britain
    - Declared July 4, 1776
    - Recognized September 3, 1783
   Area
    - Total 9,631,420 km² ( 3rd^1)
   3,718,695 sq mi
    - Water (%) 4.87
   Population
    - 2006 estimate 300,307,297 ( 3rd)
    - 2000 census 281,421,906
    - Density 31/km² ( 172nd)
   80/sq mi
   GDP ( PPP) 2006 estimate
    - Total $13.049 trillion ( 1st)
    - Per capita $43,555 ( 3rd)
   GDP (nominal) 2005 estimate
    - Total $12.485 trillion ( 1st)
    - Per capita $42,000 ( 8th)
   HDI  (2004) 0.948 (high) ( 8th)
   Currency United States dollar ($) ( USD)
   Time zone ( UTC-5 to -10)
    - Summer ( DST) ( UTC-4 to -10)
   Internet TLD .us .gov .edu .mil .um
   Calling code +1
   ^1 Sometimes listed as 4th; the rank is disputed with China.

   Washington
   Montana
   N. Dakota
   S. Dakota
   Nebraska
   Oregon
   Idaho
   Wyoming
   Colorado
   California
   Nevada
   Utah
   Florida
   Texas
   Louisiana
   MS
   AL
   GA
   TN
   NC
   SC
   VA
   Oklahoma
   Arkansas
   Missouri
   Iowa
   MN
   IL
   IN
   OH
   MI
   WI
   KY
   WV
   DC
   MD
   DE
   PA
   NJ
   Alaska
   Hawaii
   Arizona
   NY
   VT
   NH
   CT
   RI
   MA
   ME
   New
   Mexico
   Kansas
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   The United States of America, also known as the United States, the
   U.S., the U.S.A., the U.S. of A., The States and America, is a country
   in North America that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific
   Ocean and shares land borders with Canada and Mexico. The United States
   is a federal republic, with its capital in Washington, D.C.

   At over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.5 million km²), the U.S.
   (including its non-contiguous and overseas states and territories) is
   the third largest country by total area. It is the world's third most
   populous nation, with over 300 million people, as well as the world's
   most populous Christian-majority nation, with members representing all
   major denominations.

   American military, economic, cultural, and political influence
   increased through the 19th and 20th centuries. With the collapse of the
   Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, the nation emerged as the
   world's sole remaining superpower, and today, the United States plays a
   major role in world affairs.

Name

   The earliest known use of the name America is from 1507, when a globe
   and a large map created by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller
   in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges described the combined continents of the North
   and South Americas. Although the origin of the name is uncertain, the
   most widely held belief is that expressed in an accompanying book,
   Cosmographiae Introductio, which explains it as a feminized version of
   the Latin name of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (Americus
   Vespucius); in Latin, the other continents' names were all feminine.
   Vespucci theorized, correctly, that Christopher Columbus, on reaching
   islands in the Caribbean Sea in 1492, had come not to India but to a "
   New World".

   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, when it fell into relative disuse; but it is still used
   poetically and appears in various names and titles. One female
   personification of the country is called Columbia; she is similar to
   Britannia. Columbus Day is a holiday in the U.S. and other countries in
   the Americas commemorating Columbus' October 1492 landing.

   The term "united States of America" was first used officially in the
   Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776. On November 15,
   1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of
   Confederation, the first of which stated "The Stile [sic] of this
   Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America.'" The name was
   originally proposed by Thomas Paine.

   The adjectival and demonymic forms for the United States are American,
   although the use of this term has been disputed, as it can also refer
   to inhabitants of both North and South America.

Geography

   A satellite composite image of the contiguous U.S. Deciduous vegetation
   and grasslands prevail in the east, transitioning to prairies, boreal
   forests, and the Rocky Mountains 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.
   Enlarge
   A satellite composite image of the contiguous U.S. Deciduous vegetation
   and grasslands prevail in the east, transitioning to prairies, boreal
   forests, and the Rocky Mountains 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.
   Mount Hood, a dormant volcano in the Pacific Northwest.
   Enlarge
   Mount Hood, a dormant volcano in the Pacific Northwest.

   The United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by
   total area, and the second largest by land area alone, after Russia.
   Its contiguous portion 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. The state of 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.

   Beyond the coastal plain, the rolling hills of the Piedmont region end
   at the Appalachian Mountains, which rise above 6,000  feet (1,830  m)
   in North Carolina, Tennessee, and New Hampshire. From the west slope of
   the Appalachians, 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. West
   of the Mississippi River, the Interior Plains slope uphill and blend
   into the vast and often featureless Great Plains.

   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), although rift volcanism has occurred relatively recently near
   the Rockies' southern margin in New Mexico.

   Alaska has numerous mountain ranges, including Mount McKinley (Denali),
   the highest peak in North America. Numerous volcanoes can be found
   throughout the Alexander and Aleutian Islands extending south and west
   of the Alaskan mainland.

   The Hawaiian islands are tropical, volcanic islands extending over
   1,500  miles (2,400  km), and consisting of six larger islands and
   another dozen smaller ones that are inhabited.

Climate

   Average precipitation
   Enlarge
   Average precipitation

   Due to its large size and wide range of geographic features, the United
   States contains examples of nearly every global climate. The climate is
   temperate in most areas, tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida, polar
   in Alaska, semiarid in the Great Plains west of the 100th meridian,
   Mediterranean in coastal California and arid in the Great Basin. Its
   comparatively generous climate contributed (in part) 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.

History

Native Americans

   Before the European colonization of the Americas, a process that began
   at the end of the 15th century, the present-day continental U.S. was
   inhabited exclusively by various indigenous tribes, including Alaskan
   natives, who migrated to the continent over a period that may have
   begun 35,000 years ago and may have ended as recently as 11,000 years
   ago.

European colonization

   The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor, painted by William Halsall, 1882. the
   Mayflower transported Pilgrims to the New World in 1620.
   Enlarge
   The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbour, painted by William Halsall, 1882.
   the Mayflower transported Pilgrims to the New World in 1620.

   The first confirmed European landing in the present-day United States
   was by Christopher Columbus, who visited Puerto Rico on November 19,
   1493, during his second voyage. San Juan, the United States' first
   European settlement was founded there on August 8, 1508 by Juan Ponce
   de León. Ponce de León went on to become the first confirmed European
   to arrive in the continental US when he landed in Florida on April 2,
   1513. Florida was home to the continental United States' earliest
   European colonies; these were Pensacola (founded by Tristán de Luna y
   Arellano in 1559), Fort Caroline (by René Goulaine de Laudonnière in
   1564), and St. Augustine (by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565), the
   last of which is the only one which was continuously inhabited since
   its foundation.

   The French colonized some of the northeastern portions, and the Spanish
   colonized most of the southern and western United States. The first
   successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607,
   followed in 1620 by the Pilgrims' landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts,
   then the arrival of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, started by the
   Puritans. In 1609 and 1617, respectively, the Dutch settled in part of
   what became New York and New Jersey. In 1638, the Swedes founded New
   Sweden, in part of what became Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania
   after passing through Dutch hands. Throughout the 17th and early 18th
   centuries, England (and later Great Britain) established new colonies,
   took over Dutch colonies, and split others. With the division of the
   Carolinas in 1729, and the colonization of Georgia in 1732, the British
   colonies in North America—excluding present-day Canada, and the loyal
   colonies of East and West Florida—numbered thirteen.

American Revolution

   The drafting committee presenting the Declaration of Independence to
   the Continental Congress. Painted by John Trumbull 1817–1819.
   Enlarge
   The drafting committee presenting the Declaration of Independence to
   the Continental Congress. Painted by John Trumbull 1817–1819.

   Tensions between American colonials and the British during the
   revolutionary period of the 1760s and 1770s led to open military
   conflict in 1775. George Washington commanded the Continental Army
   during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) as the Second
   Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4,
   1776. The Congress had been formed to confront British actions and
   created the Continental Army, but it did not have the authority to levy
   taxes or make federal laws. In 1777, the Congress adopted the Articles
   of Confederation, uniting the states under a weak federal government,
   which operated from 1781 until 1788, when enough states had ratified
   the United States Constitution. The Constitution, which strengthened
   the union and the federal government, has since remained the supreme
   law of the land and holds the record for the set of laws to stay in
   effect the longest in the world.

Westward expansion

   National Atlas map depicting dates of select territorial acquisitions.
   Full Oregon and other claims are not included.
   Enlarge
   National Atlas map depicting dates of select territorial acquisitions.
   Full Oregon and other claims are not included.

   From 1803 to 1848, the size of the new nation nearly tripled as
   settlers (many embracing the concept of Manifest Destiny as an
   inevitable consequence of American exceptionalism) pushed beyond
   national boundaries even before the Louisiana Purchase. The expansion
   was tempered somewhat by the stalemate in the War of 1812, but it was
   subsequently reinvigorated by victory in the Mexican-American War in
   1848.

   Between 1830-1880 up to 40 million American Buffalo were slaughtered
   for skins and meat, and to aid railway expansion. The expansion of the
   railways reduced transit times for both goods and people, made westard
   expansion less arduous for the pioneers, and increased conflicts with
   the Indians over the land and its uses. The loss of the buffalo, a
   primary resource for the plains Indians, added to the pressures on
   native cultures and individuals for survival.

Civil War

   The Battle of Gettysburg color lithograph by Currier & Ives, c. 1863.
   This battle was a major turning point of the American Civil War. The
   victory of the Union kept the country united.
   Enlarge
   The Battle of Gettysburg colour lithograph by Currier & Ives, c. 1863.
   This battle was a major turning point of the American Civil War. The
   victory of the Union kept the country united.

   As new territories were being incorporated, the nation was divided over
   the issue of states' rights, the role of the federal government, and—by
   the 1820s—the expansion of slavery, which had been legal in all
   thirteen colonies but was rarer in the north, where it was abolished by
   1804. The Northern states were opposed to the expansion of slavery
   whereas the Southern states saw the opposition as an attack on their
   way of life, since their economy was dependent on slave labor. The
   failure to permanently resolve these issues led to the Civil War,
   following the secession of many slave states in the South to form the
   Confederate States of America after the 1860 election of Abraham
   Lincoln. The 1865 Union victory in the Civil War effectively ended
   slavery and settled the question of whether a state had the right to
   secede. The event was a major turning point in American history, with
   an increase in federal power.

Reconstruction and industrialization

   Landing at Ellis Island
   Enlarge
   Landing at Ellis Island

   After the Civil War, an unprecedented influx of immigrants, who helped
   to provide labor for American industry and create diverse communities
   in undeveloped areas—together with high tariff protections, national
   infrastructure building, and national banking regulations—hastened the
   country's rise to international power. The growing power of the United
   States enabled it to acquire new territories, including the annexation
   of Puerto Rico after victory in the Spanish-American War, which marked
   the debut of the United States as a major world power.

World War I and II

   An abandoned farm in South Dakota during the Great Depression, 1936
   Farm Security Administration photography by Sloan.
   Enlarge
   An abandoned farm in South Dakota during the Great Depression, 1936
   Farm Security Administration photography by Sloan.

   At the start of the World War I in 1914, the United States remained
   neutral. In 1917, however, the United States joined the Allied Powers,
   helping to turn the tide against the Central Powers. For historical
   reasons, American sympathies were very much in favour of the British
   and French, even though a sizable number of citizens, mostly Irish and
   German, were opposed to intervention. After the war, the Senate did not
   ratify the Treaty of Versailles because of a fear that it would pull
   the United States into European affairs. Instead, the country pursued a
   policy of unilateralism that bordered at times on isolationism.

   During most of the 1920s, the United States enjoyed a period of
   unbalanced prosperity as farm prices fell and industrial profits grew.
   A rise in debt and an inflated stock market culminated in a crash in
   1929, triggering the Great Depression. After his election as President
   in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt instituted his plan for a New Deal,
   which increased government intervention in the economy in response to
   the Great Depression.

   The nation did not fully recover until 1941, when the United States was
   driven to join the Allies against the Axis Powers after a surprise
   attack on Pearl Harbour by Japan. World War II was the costliest war in
   economic terms in American history, but it helped to pull the economy
   out of depression because the required production of military materiel
   provided much-needed jobs, and women entered the workforce in large
   numbers for the first time. During this war, scientists working for the
   United States federal government succeeded in producing nuclear
   weapons, making the United States the world's first nuclear power.
   Toward the end of World War II, after the end of World War II in
   Europe, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
   Nagasaki, Japan. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were the second and
   third nuclear devices detonated and the only ones ever employed as
   weapons.

   Japan surrendered soon after, on 2 September 1945, which ended World
   War II.

Cold War and civil rights

   After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union became
   superpowers in an era of ideological rivalry dubbed the Cold War. The
   United States promoted liberal democracy and capitalism, while the
   Soviet Union communism and a centrally planned economy. The result was
   a series of proxy wars, including the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the
   tense nuclear showdown of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Soviet war
   in Afghanistan.

   The perception that the United States was losing the space race spurred
   government efforts to raise proficiency in mathematics and science in
   schools and led to President John F. Kennedy's call for the United
   States to land "a man on the moon" by the end of the 1960s, which was
   realized in 1969.

   Meanwhile, American 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 headed by prominent African Americans such as
   Martin Luther King, Jr., which led to the abolition of the Jim Crow
   laws in the South.

   After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States continued
   to intervene in overseas military conflicts such as the Gulf War. It
   remains the world's only superpower.

September 11, 2001 and the War on Terrorism

   On September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four commercial
   airplanes and flew two planes into the World Trade Centre towers, one
   plane into The Pentagon; the fourth plane was brought down by
   passengers in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. After the 9/11 attacks, U.S.
   foreign policy then focused on the global threat of terrorism. In
   response, the United States government under President George W. Bush
   began a series of military and legal operations termed the War on
   Terror. The War on Terror began on October 7, 2001 when a U.S.-led
   coalition launched military operations in Afghanistan which led to the
   removal of the Taliban rule and the expulsion of the terrorist
   organization al-Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden. The events of
   September 11 led to a preemptive policy against threats to U.S.
   security, known as the Bush Doctrine.

   In the 2002 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush
   labeled North Korea, Iraq, and Iran "the axis of evil," and stated that
   these countries "constitute a grave threat to the security of the U.S.
   and its allies." Beginning later that year, the Bush administration
   began to press for regime change in Iraq. After many failed U.N.
   resolutions and Saddam Hussein rejecting demands to surrender, the
   United States and its allies invaded Iraq in March of 2003. The Bush
   administration justified its invasion with a charge that Iraq had
   stockpiled weapons of mass destruction, and was seeking nuclear
   weapons. After the invasion, only a limited number of non-nuclear
   stockpiles were found, and the Bush administration later admitted
   having acted on flawed intelligence. As of November 2006, Operation
   Iraqi Freedom remains an ongoing event.

Government and politics

   West Front of the United States Capitol.
   Enlarge
   West Front of the United States Capitol.

Political system

   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 three levels of government: federal, state, and
   local. Officials at all three levels are either elected by voters in a
   secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Executive and
   legislative offices are decided by a plurality vote of citizens in
   their respective districts, with judicial and cabinet-level offices
   nominated by the Executive branch and approved by the Legislature. In
   some states, judicial posts are filled by popular election rather than
   executive appointment.

   The federal government comprises three branches, which are designed to
   check and balance one another's powers:
     * Legislative: The Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of
       Representatives, which makes federal law, declares war, approves
       treaties and has powers of impeachment.
     * Executive: The President, who appoints, with Senate approval, the
       Cabinet and other officers, who administers and enforces federal
       law, can veto bills, and is Commander in Chief of the military.
     * Judiciary: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges
       are appointed by the President with Senate approval, that interpret
       laws and their validity under the Constitution, and can overturn
       laws they deem unconstitutional.

   The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature. The House of
   Representatives has 435 members, each representing a congressional
   district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the
   states according to population every tenth year. Each state is
   guaranteed at least one representative: currently, seven states have
   one each; California, the most populous state, has 53. Each state has
   two senators, elected at large to six-year terms; one third of Senate
   seats are up for election every second year.
   The north side of the White House
   Enlarge
   The north side of the White House

   The United States Constitution is the supreme legal document in the
   American system, and serves as a social contract between the people of
   the United States and their government. All laws and procedures of both
   state and federal governments are subject to review, and any law ruled
   to violate the Constitution by the judicial branch is overturned. The
   Constitution is a living document. It can be amended by a variety of
   methods, all of which require the approval of an overwhelming majority
   of the states. The Constitution has been amended 27 times, the last
   time in 1992.

   The Constitution contains a dedication to "preserve liberty" with a
   "Bill of Rights" and other amendments, which guarantee freedom of
   speech, religion, and the press; the right to a fair trial; the right
   to keep and bear arms; universal suffrage; and property rights.
   However, the extent to which these rights are protected and universal
   in practice is heavily debated. The Constitution also guarantees to
   every State "a Republican Form of Government". However, the meaning of
   that guarantee has been only slightly explicated.

   Since 2001, the President has been George W. Bush, a Republican.
   Following the 2006 mid-term elections, the Democratic Party holds a
   majority of seats in both the House and Senate for the first time since
   1994, except for a Democratic plurality in the Senate in 2001–02,

Foreign relations and military

   The United States has vast economic, political, and military influence
   on a global scale, which makes its foreign policy a subject of great
   interest and discussion around the world. Almost all countries have
   embassies in Washington, D.C., and consulates around the country.
   However, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan do not have formal
   diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States is a
   founding member of the United Nations (with a permanent seat on the
   Security Council), among many other international organizations.

   The United States has a long-standing tradition of civilian control
   over military affairs. The Department of Defense administers the U.S.
   armed forces, which comprise the Army, the Navy, 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 military of the United States comprises 1.4 million personnel on
   active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves
   and the National Guard. Service in the military is voluntary, though
   conscription may occur in times of war through the Selective Service
   System. The United States is considered to have the most powerful
   military in the world, partly because of the size of its defense
   budget; American defense expenditures in 2005 were estimated to be
   greater than the next 14 largest national military budgets combined,
   even though the U.S. military budget is only about 4% of the country's
   gross domestic product. The U.S. military maintains over 700 bases and
   facilities on every continent except Antarctica.

Administrative divisions

   Map of United States, showing state names.
   Enlarge
   Map of United States, showing state names.

   The conterminous, or contiguous, forty-eight states—all the states but
   Alaska and Hawaii—are also called the continental United States. Some
   include Alaska in the "continental" states, because, although it is
   separated from the "lower forty-eight" by Canada, it is part of the
   North American mainland. All of these terms commonly include the
   District of Columbia. Hawaii, the fiftieth state, occupies an
   archipelago in the 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, 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. Palmyra Atoll is the United States'
   only incorporated territory; but it is unorganized and uninhabited. The
   United States Minor Outlying Islands consist of uninhabited islands and
   atolls in the Pacific and Caribbean Sea. In addition, since 1898, the
   United States Navy has leased an extensive naval base at Guantanamo
   Bay, Cuba.

   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.

Environment

   The Bald Eagle appears on the Great Seal of the United States.
   Protection of this once endangered species has helped save it from
   extinction.
   Enlarge
   The Bald Eagle appears on the Great Seal of the United States.
   Protection of this once endangered species has helped save it from
   extinction.

   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). With habitats ranging
   from tropical to arctic, the flora of the U.S. is the most diverse of
   any country; yet, thousands of non-native exotic species sometimes
   adversely affect indigenous plant and animal communities. 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.

   Conservation has a long history in the U.S.; 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. In some parts of the country, wilderness areas have
   been established to ensure long-term protection of pristine habitats.
   The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitors endangered and threatened
   species and has set aside numerous areas for species and habitat
   preservation. Altogether, the U.S. government regulates 1,020,779
   square miles (2,643,807 km²), which is 28.8% of the total land area of
   the U.S. The bulk of this land is protected park and forestland, but
   some is leased for oil and gas exploration, mining, and cattle
   ranching.

Economy

General situation

   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 New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, in New York City,
   represents the status of the U.S. as a major global financial power.
   Enlarge
   The New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, in New York City,
   represents the status of the U.S. as a major global financial power.

   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 Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The U.S. has a small social safety
   net, and regulation of businesses is slightly less than the average of
   developed countries. The United States' median household income in 2005
   was $43,318.

   Economic activity varies greatly across the country. For example, New
   York City is the centre of the American financial, publishing,
   broadcasting, and advertising industries, while Los Angeles is the most
   important centre for film and television production. The San Francisco
   Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest are major centers for technology.
   The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy
   industry, with Detroit serving as the historic centre of the American
   automotive industry, and Chicago serving as the business and financial
   capital of the region. The Southeast is a major area for agriculture,
   tourism, and the lumber industry, and, because of wages and costs below
   the national average, it continues to attract manufacturing.
   A farm near Klingerstown, Pennsylvania. Farming accounts for less than
   1% of the total GDP of the United States but still is a major economic
   activity.
   Enlarge
   A farm near Klingerstown, Pennsylvania. Farming accounts for less than
   1% of the total GDP of the United States but still is a major economic
   activity.

   The largest sector in the United States economy is services, which
   employs roughly three quarters of the work force.

   The economy is fueled by an abundance in natural resources such as
   coal, petroleum, and precious metals. However, the country still
   depends for much of its energy on foreign countries. In agriculture,
   the country is a top producer of corn, soy beans, rice, and wheat, with
   the Great Plains labeled as the "breadbasket of the world" for its
   tremendous agricultural output. The U.S. has a large tourist industry,
   ranking third in the world, and is also a major exporter in goods such
   as airplanes, steel, weapons, and electronics. Canada accounts for 19%
   (more than any other nation) of the United States' foreign trade,
   followed by China, Mexico, and Japan.

   While the per capita income of the United States is among the highest
   in the world, the wealth is comparatively concentrated. The per capita
   income is higher than the western European, but in 1990 income was
   distributed less equally. Since 1975, the U.S. has a "two-tier" labor
   market in which virtually all the real income gains have gone to the
   top 20% of households, with most of those gains accruing to the very
   highest earners within that category. This polarization is the result
   of a relatively high level of economic freedom.

   The social mobility of U.S. residents relative to that of other
   countries is the subject of much debate. Some analysts have found that
   social mobility in the United States is low relative to other OECD
   states, specifically compared to Western Europe, Scandinavia and
   Canada. Low social mobility may stem in part from the U.S. educational
   system. Public education in the United States is funded mainly by local
   property taxes supplemented by state revenues. This frequently results
   in a wide difference in funding between poor districts or poor states
   and more affluent jurisdictions. In addition, the practice of legacy
   preference at elite universities gives preference to the children of
   alumni, who are often wealthy. This practice reduces available spaces
   for better-qualified lower income students. Some analysts argue that
   relative social mobility in the U.S. peaked in the 1960s and declined
   rapidly beginning in the 1980s. Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman
   Alan Greenspan has also suggested that the growing income inequality
   and low class mobility of the U.S. economy may eventually threaten the
   entire system in the near future.

Innovation

   The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a manned mission to space.
   Enlarge
   The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a manned mission to space.

   The United States is an influential country in scientific and
   technological research and the production of innovative technological
   products. During World War II, the U.S. was the first to develop the
   atomic bomb, ushering in the atomic age. Beginning early the Cold War,
   the U.S. achieved successes in space science and technology, leading to
   a space race which led to rapid advances in rocketry, weaponry,
   material science, computers, and many other areas. This 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. The U.S. was also
   the most instrumental nation in the development of the Internet,
   developing its predecessor, Arpanet. The U.S. also controls most of its
   infrastructure.

   In the sciences, Americans have a large share of Nobel Prizes,
   especially in the fields of physiology and medicine. The National
   Institutes of Health, a focal point for biomedical research in the
   United States, has contributed to the completion of the Human Genome
   Project. The main governmental organization for aviation and space
   research is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Major
   corporations, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, also play an
   important role.

Transportation

   The automobile industry developed earlier and more rapidly in the
   United States than in most other countries. The backbone of the
   nation's transportation infrastructure is a network of high-capacity
   highways which carry large numbers of both passenger cars and freight
   trucks. From data taken in 2004, there are about 3,981,521 miles
   (6,407,637  km) of roadways in the U.S., the most in the world.

   Mass transit systems exist in large cities, such as New York, which
   operates one of the busiest subway systems in the world. With a few
   exceptions, American cities are less dense than those in other parts of
   the world. Low density partly results from and largely necessitates
   automobile ownership by most households.

   The U.S. had been unique in its high number of private passenger
   railroads. During the 1970s, government intervention reorganized
   freight railroads, consolidating passenger service under the
   government-backed Amtrak corporation. No other country has more miles
   of rail.

   Air travel is the preferred means of passenger 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 (ATL). 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.

   Several major seaports are in the United States; the three busiest are
   California's Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, and the Port
   of New York and New Jersey, all among the world's busiest. The interior
   of the U.S. also has major shipping channels, via the St. Lawrence
   Seaway and the Mississippi River. The first water link between the
   Great Lakes and the Atlantic, the Erie Canal, allowed the rapid
   expansion of agriculture and industry in the Midwest and made New York
   City the economic centre of the country.

Demographics

   2000 Population Density Map
   Enlarge
   2000 Population Density Map

   On October 17, 2006 at 7:46 a.m. EST, the United States' population
   stood at an estimated 300,000,000, 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. Thus any
   population estimate needs to be seen as a somewhat rough figure,
   according to the US Department of Commerce. According to the 2000
   census, about 79% of the population lived in urban areas.

   About 15.8% of households have annual incomes of at least $100,000, and
   the top 10% of households had annual gross incomes exceeding $118,200
   in 2003. Overall, the top quintile, those households earning more than
   $86,867 a year, earned 49.8% of all income in 2003.

   In the 2000 census, the country had 31 ethnic groups with at least one
   million members each, with numerous others represented in smaller
   amounts. By the federal government's categorization of race, most
   Americans (80.4% in 2004) are white. These white Americans are mostly
   European Americans—the descendants of European immigrants to the United
   States—along with some non-Europeans counted as white in government
   nomenclature (those with origins in the original peoples of the Middle
   East and North Africa). To the exclusion of Hispanic-origin European
   Americans, non-Hispanic whites constituted 67.4% of the population. The
   non-Hispanic white population is proportionally declining, because of
   both immigration by, and a higher birth rate among, ethnic and racial
   minorities. If current immigration trends continue, the number of
   non-Hispanic whites is expected to be reduced to a plurality by
   2040-2050. The largest ethnic group of European ancestry is German at
   15.2%, followed by Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and
   Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from French Canada, as
   well as from such Slavic countries as Poland and Russia. African
   Americans, or Blacks, largely descend from Africans who arrived as
   slaves during the 17th through 19th centuries, and number about 35
   million or 12.9% of the population. At about 1.5% of the total
   population, Native Americans and Alaska Natives number about 4.4
   million, approximately 35% of whom were living on reservations in 2005.

   Current demographic trends include the immigration of Hispanics from
   Latin America into the Southwest, a region that is home to about 60% of
   the 35 million Hispanics in the United States. Immigrants from Mexico
   make up about 66% of the Hispanic community, and are second only to the
   German-descent population in the single-ethnicity category. The
   Hispanic population, which has been growing at an annual rate of about
   4.46% since the 1990s, is expected to increase significantly in the
   coming decades, because of both immigration and a higher birth rate
   among Latinos than among the general population.

   Crime in the United States is characterised by relatively high levels
   of gun violence and homicide, compared to other developed countries.
   Levels of property crime and other types of crime in the United States
   are comparable to other developed countries.

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.

Indigenous peoples

   Chief Quanah Parker.
   Enlarge
   Chief Quanah Parker.

   The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 gave United States citizenship to
   Native Americans, in part because of an interest by many to see them
   merged with the American mainstream, and also because of the heroic
   service of many Native American veterans in the First World War.

   According to the 2003 census estimates, there are 2,786,652 Native
   Americans in the United States. However, numerous indigenous peoples
   from Latin American countries, particularly Mexico, have migrated to
   the U.S. over the years.

Language

   Although the United States has no official language, English is the de
   facto national language. In 2003, about 215 million, or 82%, of the
   population aged five years and older spoke only English at home.
   Although not all Americans speak English, it is the most common
   language for daily interaction among both native and non-native
   speakers. Nowadays, more languages are being used in daily life for
   mainly Spanish speakers who cannot understand English. Knowledge of
   English is required of immigrants seeking naturalization. Some
   Americans advocate making English the official language, which is the
   law in twenty-seven states. Three states also grant official status to
   other languages alongside English: French in Louisiana, Hawaiian in
   Hawaii, and Spanish in New Mexico. Besides English, languages spoken at
   home by at least one million Americans aged five years and up are
   Spanish or Spanish Creole, spoken by 29.7 million; Chinese, 2.2
   million; French (including Patois and Cajun), 1.4 million; Tagalog, 1.3
   million; Vietnamese, 1.1 million; and German, 1.1 million.

Religion

   Pisgah Baptist Church in Four Oaks, North Carolina. The Bible Belt is
   well known for its large devout Protestant Christian population.
   Enlarge
   Pisgah Baptist Church in Four Oaks, North Carolina. The Bible Belt is
   well known for its large devout Protestant Christian population.

   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. Roman Catholics, at 24.5%, were the most
   populous individual denomination. The most popular other faiths include
   Judaism (1.4%), Islam (0.6%), Buddhism (0.5%), and Hinduism (0.4%) and
   Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). 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.

   Religion among some Americans is highly dynamic: over the period
   1990–2001, those groups whose portion of the population at least
   doubled were, in descending order of growth, Wiccans, nondenominational
   Christians, Deists, Sikhs, Evangelical Christians, Disciples of Christ,
   New Age adherents, Hindus, Full Gospel adherents, Quakers, Bahá'ís,
   independent Christians, those who refused to answer the question,
   Buddhists, and Foursquare Gospel adherents.

Education

   The University of Virginia, designed and founded by Thomas Jefferson,
   is one of 19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United States. It is
   one of many highly regarded public universities supported by U.S. state
   governments.
   Enlarge
   The University of Virginia, designed and founded by Thomas Jefferson,
   is one of 19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United States. It is
   one of many highly regarded public universities supported by U.S. state
   governments.

   Education in the United States has been a state or local, not federal,
   responsibility. The Department of Education of the federal government,
   however, exerts some influence through its ability to control funding.
   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. Public universities
   receive funding from the federal and state governments, as well as from
   other sources, but most students still have to pay student loans after
   graduation. Tuition at private universities is generally much higher
   than at public universities.

   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.

   The United States ranks 24th out of 29 surveyed countries in the
   reading and science literacy as well as mathematical abilities of its
   high school students when compared with other developed nations. The
   United States also has a low literacy rate compared to other developed
   countries, with a reading literacy rate at 86 - 98% of the population
   over age 15. As for educational attainment, 27.2% of the population
   aged 25 and above have earned a bachelor's degree or higher, and 84.6%
   have graduated high school.

Health

   The World Health Organization ranks the United States' health level
   72nd among the world's nations. Overall statistics provided by the CIA
   World Factbook indicate that the United States had a higher infant
   mortality rate and slightly lower life expectancy than other
   post-industrial western nations such as Sweden, Germany or France.
   Ironically, the average salary of a physician in the US is the highest
   in the world. Obesity is also a public-health problem, which is
   estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars every year.

   Unlike many Western governments, the U.S. government does not operate a
   publicly funded health care system. Private insurance plays a major
   role in covering health care costs. Health insurance in the United
   States is traditionally a benefit of some kinds 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. The nation spends a
   substantial amount on medical research through such federal agencies as
   the National Institutes of Health.

Culture

   Elvis Presley in 1957
   Enlarge
   Elvis Presley in 1957
   American cultural icons, such as apple pie, baseball, and the American
   flag.
   Enlarge
   American cultural icons, such as apple pie, baseball, and the American
   flag.

   The culture of the United States began as the culture of its first
   English colonists. The culture 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. Overall, significant
   cultural influences came from Europe, especially from the German,
   English and Irish cultures and later from Italian, Greek and Ashkenazi
   cultures. Descendants of enslaved West Africans preserved some cultural
   traditions from West Africa in the early United States. Geographical
   place names largely reflect the combined English, Dutch, French,
   Spanish, and Native American components of U.S. American history.

   There are two dominant sociological models of cultural assimilation.
   The traditional melting pot model describes a form of homogenization.
   Immigrants from other cultures bring unique cultural aspects which are
   incorporated into the larger American culture, but then the immigrant
   populations gradually adopt the unified culture, forming a single
   "alloy". A more recently articulated model is that of the salad bowl,
   in which immigrant cultures retain some of the unique characteristics.
   Instead of merging with a unified American culture, they intermingle,
   forming a heterogenous mixture, not unlike a salad composed of
   different vegetables. There is considerable contemporary political
   debate over the merits of cultural assimilation versus pluralism or
   multiculturalism.

   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.

Cuisine

   American cuisine uses 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.
   Burritos and tacos have their origins in Mexico. Soul food, which
   originated among African slaves, is popular in the U.S. as well.
   However, many foods now enjoyed worldwide either originated in the
   United States or were altered by American chefs.

Visual arts

   In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries American art took most
   of its cues from Europe. Painting, sculpture, and literature looked to
   Europe as a model, and for approval. By the end of the U.S. Civil War,
   a more native voice had emerged in American literature. Mark Twain,
   Emily Dickensen, and Walt Whitman all spoke in an American vernacular
   and voice. Visual art was slower to find its own distinct American
   expression. The 1913 Armory show in New York City, an exhibition which
   brought European modernist artists' work to the U.S., both shocked the
   public and influenced artmaking in the United States for the remainder
   of the twentieth century. The exhibition had a two-fold effect of
   communicating to American artists that artmaking was about expression,
   not only aesthetics or realism, and at the same time showing that
   Europe had abandoned its conservative model of ranking artists
   according to a strict academic hierarchy. This encouraged American
   artists to find a personal voice, and a modernist movement, responding
   to American civilization, emerged in the United States. Alfred
   Stieglitz (1864–1946), photographer, Charles Demuth (1883–1935) and
   Marsden Hartley (1877–1943), both painters, helped establish an
   American viewpoint in the fine arts. The Museum of Modern Art in New
   York, founded in 1929, became a showcase for American and International
   contemporary art. Following the conclusion of the Second World War, a
   shift occured with the decline of Paris as the world's art center and
   the emergence of New York as the centre of contemporary fine art for
   the U.S. and the world.

Music

   Music also traces to the country's diverse cultural roots through an
   array of styles. Rock, soul, hip hop, country, blues, and jazz are
   among the country's most internationally renowned genres. Since the
   late 19th century, popular recorded music from the United States has
   become increasingly known across the world, such that some forms of
   American popular music are heard almost everywhere.

Cinema

   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. Since then, the
   American film industry, based in Hollywood, California, has had a
   profound effect on cinema across the world. Other genres that
   originated in the United States and spread worldwide include the comic
   book and Disney's animated films.

Sports

   Pro Bowl, 2006. American Football is the most popular spectator sport
   in the United States.
   Enlarge
   Pro Bowl, 2006. American Football is the most popular spectator sport
   in the United States.

   Sports are a national pastime, and playing sports, especially American
   football, baseball, and basketball, is very popular at the high school
   level. Professional sports in the U.S. is big business and contains
   most of the world's highest paid athletes. The "Big Four" sports are
   baseball, American football, ice hockey, and basketball. Baseball is
   thought of "the national pastime"; but, since the early 1990s, American
   football has largely been considered the most popular sport in America.
   Hockey has also lost its popularity recently.

   Other sports, including auto racing, lacrosse, soccer, golf, and
   tennis, have significant followings. The United States is among the
   most influential countries in shaping three popular board-based
   recreational sports: surfboarding, skateboarding, and snowboarding.
   Eight Olympiads have taken place in the United States; in medals won,
   the United States ranks third all-time in the Winter Games, with 218
   (78 gold, 81 silver, and 59 bronze), and first in the Summer Games,
   with 2,321 (943 gold, 736 silver, and 642 bronze).

Navigation

      History Timeline ( Colonial Era | American Revolution | Westward
   Expansion | Civil War | World War I | Great Depression | World War II |
   Cold War | Vietnam War | Civil Rights) | Foreign relations | Military |
                       Demographic and Postal history
       Politics Law ( Constitution and Bill of Rights | Declaration of
       Independence) | Political parties ( Democrats & Republicans) |
       Elections ( Electoral College) | Political scandals | Political
                 divisions | Red state vs. blue state divide
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      Senate) Executive branch ( President & Vice-President | Cabinet |
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   Intelligence: CIA | DIA | NIMA | NRO | NSA) | Judicial branch ( Supreme
    Court) | Military ( Army | Navy | Marines | Air Force | Coast Guard )
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   Generation) | Visual arts ( Abstract expressionism) | Cuisine | Dance |
                                Architecture
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      Anti-Americanism | American exceptionalism | American Folklore |
     American English | United States Mexico barrier | Passenger vehicle
                                  transport

                  Political divisions of the United States
                        Capital District of Columbia
   States Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado |
        Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho |
     Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine |
       Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi |
    Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey |
       New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio |
     Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina |
       South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia |
              Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming
      Insular areas American Samoa | Guam | Northern Mariana Islands |
                        Puerto Rico | Virgin Islands
   Minor outlying islands Baker Island | Howland Island | Jarvis Island |
       Johnston Atoll | Kingman Reef | Midway Atoll | Navassa Island |
                         Palmyra Atoll | Wake Island

   United States: Membership in International Organizations US Flag
   AfDB • ANZUS • APEC • ARF • AsDB • ASEAN (dialogue partner) • Australia
   Group • BIS • CE (observer) • CERN (observer) • CP • EAPC • EBRD • FAO
   • G5 • G7 • G8 • G10 • IADB • IAEA • IBRD • ICAO • ICC •
   ICCt (signatory) • ICFTU • ICRM • IDA • IEA • IFAD • IFC • IFRCS • IHO
   • ILO • IMF • IMO • Interpol • IOC • IOM • ISO • ITU • MIGA • MINUSTAH
   • NAM (guest) • NATO • NEA • NSG • OAS • OECD • OPCW • OSCE • Paris
   Club • PCA • United Nations • UN Security Council (permanent member) •
   UNCTAD • UNESCO • UNHCR • UNITAR • UNMEE • UNMIK • UNMIL • UNMOVIC •
   UNOMIG • UNRWA • UNTSO • UPU • WCL • WCO • WHO • WIPO • WMO • World
   Trade Organization • ZC
                              Life in the United States
   Arts and entertainment • Culture • Economy • Crime • Education •
   Educational attainment • Geography • Health care • Holidays • Household
   income • Homeownership • Human rights
   Labor unions • Languages • Middle class • Passenger vehicle transport •
   Politics • Poverty • Racism • Religion • Social issues • Social
   structure • Sports • Standard of living

   Countries and territories of North America

   Sovereign states

   Antigua and Barbuda • Bahamas • Barbados • Belize • Canada • Costa
   Rica • Cuba • Dominica • Dominican Republic • El Salvador • Grenada •
   Guatemala • Haiti • Honduras • Jamaica • Mexico • Nicaragua • Panama •
   Saint Kitts and Nevis • Saint Lucia • Saint Vincent and the
   Grenadines • Trinidad and Tobago • United States

   Dependencies

   Denmark:  Greenland   •   France:  Guadeloupe • Martinique •
   Saint-Pierre and Miquelon   •   Netherlands:  Aruba •
   Netherlands Antilles  • United Kingdom:  Anguilla • Bermuda •
   British Virgin Islands • Cayman Islands • Montserrat • Turks and
   Caicos Islands   •   United States:  Puerto Rico • U.S. Virgin Islands
   UN Security Council Members
   Flag of the UN

   Permanent Members: China • France • Russia • United Kingdom • United
   States

   Term ending 31 December 2006: Argentina • Denmark • Greece • Japan •
   TanzaniaTerm ending 31 December 2007: Congo-Brazzaville • Ghana • Peru
   • Qatar • Slovakia
   Group of Eight (G8)

   Flag of Canada  Canada · Flag of France  France · Flag of Germany
   Germany · Flag of Italy  Italy · Flag of Japan  Japan · Flag of Russia
    Russia · Flag of United Kingdom  United Kingdom · Flag of United
   States  United States
   Countries on the North Atlantic Ocean

   Eurasia-Africa: Benin • Cameroon • Cape Verde • Côte d'Ivoire •
   Equatorial Guinea • France • Gabon • Gambia • Ghana • Gibraltar •
   Guernsey • Guinea • Guinea-Bissau • Ireland • Isle of Man • Jersey •
   Liberia • Mauritania • Morocco • Nigeria • Portugal • São Tomé and
   Príncipe • Senegal • Sierra Leone • Spain • Togo • United Kingdom •
   Western Sahara

   Americas: Aruba • Bahamas • Belize • Bermuda • Brazil • Colombia •
   Canada • Cayman Islands • Costa Rica • Cuba • France (French Guiana •
   Saint-Pierre and Miquelon) • Guyana • Haiti • Honduras • Mexico •
   Montserrat • Netherlands Antilles • Nicaragua • Panama • Saint Kitts
   and Nevis • Suriname • Trinidad and Tobago • Turks and Caicos Islands •
   United States • Venezuela

   North-west approaches: Greenland • Iceland
   Countries and territories on the North Pacific Ocean

   Americas: Canada • Colombia • Costa Rica • Ecuador • El Salvador •
   Guatemala • Honduras • Mexico • Nicaragua • Panama • United States

   Eurasia-Oceania: Brunei • Cambodia • Mainland China • Guam • Hong Kong
   • Indonesia • Japan • Kiribati • North Korea • South Korea • Macau •
   Malaysia • Marshall Islands • Micronesia • Northern Mariana Islands •
   Palau • Philippines • Russia • Singapore • Taiwan • Thailand • Vietnam

   Between: none ( Hawaii: a state of the United States)

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