United States
hideThe United States of America (commonly referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 306 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and third largest by land area and by population. The United States is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of US $14.3 trillion (23% of the world total based on nominal GDP and almost 21% at purchasing power parity).
The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence. The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.
In the 19th century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over states' rights and the expansion of the institution of slavery provoked the American Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s, the national economy was the world's largest. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union left the United States as the sole superpower. The country accounts for approximately 50% of global military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.
For more information about United States, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with united states
The impact of the diffusion of maize to the Southwestern United States
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 08, 2009 |
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An international group of anthropologists offers a new theory about the diffusion of maize to the Southwestern United States and the impact it had.
Widowed facing higher mortality risk, researcher finds
Dec 02, 2009 |
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Married people in the United States are living longer these days, but the widowed are experiencing a higher mortality rate, according to new research by a Michigan State University sociologist.
Acculturation influences smoking cessation by Latino men
Dec 03, 2009 |
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Latino men who are more adapted to U.S. culture are more likely to quit smoking than their less-acculturated counterparts, according to research by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center published ...
Popular diet product recalled in US amid bacteria fears
Dec 05, 2009 |
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Millions of cans of a popular ready-to-drink diet product are being recalled in the United States after tests showed the liquid meals could be tainted with bacteria, the manufacturer said Friday.
Search results for united states
US residents gorging on data bytes: study
2 hours ago |
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If the data devoured in the United States last year were converted to text there would be enough books to bury the country under a pile seven feet (two meters) deep, according to a study released Wednesday.
Ubiquitous in U.S., Google struggles for market share in China
3 hours ago |
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In China, Google means underdog. While the Mountain View company dominates the search market in the United States, it is not part of the pop lexicon on the other side of the Pacific. In its nine years in China, ...
Decline of hormone therapy decreases breast cancer cases, analysis finds
3 hours ago |
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The declining use of hormone therapy among women has led to 6,000 fewer invasive breast cancer cases a year, according to an analysis by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The research quantifies and advances ...
AOL going public after Time Warner divorce
4 hours ago |
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AOL finalized its divorce from Time Warner on Wednesday, ending one of the most disastrous marriages in corporate history and leaving the Internet pioneer facing an uncertain future.
Disagreement Over Mammography Task Force Study
4 hours ago |
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When a government-appointed panel of experts released new guidelines last month calling for fewer routine mammograms, they were met with public confusion, political outrage, and a media storm that left women ...
How to encourage big ideas
5 hours ago |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study suggests certain types of funding -- which provide more freedom and focus less on near-term results -- lead to more innovative and influential research.
3 Questions: Henry Jacoby on Copenhagen
5 hours ago |
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The co-director of MIT’s Global Change program discusses what to expect from the U.N. Climate Change Conference, and the effects of 'Climategate.'
Robot completes first underwater crossing of Atlantic Ocean
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
7 hours ago |
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Spain on Wednesday handed back to the United States a robot which last week completed the first underwater crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to help monitor climate change by tracking temperatures.
Energy efficiency technologies offer major savings
7 hours ago |
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Energy efficiency technologies that exist today or that are likely to be developed in the near future could save considerable money as well as energy, says a new report from the National Research Council. Fully adopting ...
UAF chooses shipyard to build Alaska Region Research Vessel
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
9 hours ago |
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More than three decades ago, marine scientists in the United States first identified the need for a research vessel capable of bringing scientists to Alaska's icy northern waters.
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