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United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Usa) "United States of America", "America", "US", "U.S.", "USA", and "U.S.A." redirect here. For the landmass encompassing North and South America, see Americas. For other uses, see America (disambiguation), US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation). Coordinates: 40°N 100°W

United States of America Flag	Great Seal Motto: "In God we trust"[1][2] Other traditional mottos [show] Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner"

MENU0:00 March: "The Stars and Stripes Forever"[3]

MENU0:00 Projection of North America with the United States in green The contiguous United States plus Alaska and Hawaii The United States and its territories The United States and its territories Capital	Washington, D.C. 38°53′N 77°01′W Largest city	New York City 40°43′N 74°00′W Official languages	None at federal level[a] National language	English[b] Ethnic groups	72.41% White 12.61% Black 9.11% Other/Multiracial 4.75% Asian 1.12% Native[4][c] Demonym	American Government	Federal presidential constitutional republic • 	President	Barack Obama • 	Vice President	Joe Biden • 	Speaker of the House	Paul Ryan • 	Chief Justice	John Roberts Legislature	Congress • 	Upper house	Senate • 	Lower house	House of Representatives Independence from Great Britain • 	Declaration	July 4, 1776 • 	Confederation	March 1, 1781 • 	Treaty of Paris	September 3, 1783 • 	Constitution	June 21, 1788 • 	Last polity admitted	March 24, 1976 Area • 	Total area	9,833,517 km2[5][d] (3rd/4th) 3,796,742 sq mi • 	Water (%)	6.97 • 	Total land area	9,147,593 km2 3,531,905 sq mi Population • 	2016 estimate	324,099,593[6] (3rd) • 	2010 census	309,349,689[7] (3rd) • 	Density	35/km2 (180th) 90.6/sq mi GDP (PPP)	2016 estimate • 	Total	$18.558 trillion[8] (2nd) • 	Per capita	$57,220[8] (10th) GDP (nominal)	2016 estimate • 	Total	$18.558 trillion[8] (1st) • 	Per capita	$57,220[8] (6th) Gini (2013)	40.8[9][10][11] medium HDI (2014)	Increase 0.915[12] very high · 8th Currency	United States dollar ($) (USD) Time zone	(UTC−4 to −12, +10, +11) • 	Summer (DST)	 (UTC−4 to −10[e]) Date format	MM/DD/YYYY Drives on the	right[f] Calling code	+1 ISO 3166 code	US Internet TLD	.us  .gov   .mil   .edu a.	^ English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans aged five and older. It is the official language of at least 28 states; some sources give higher figures, based on differing definitions of "official."[13] English and Hawaiian are both official languages in Hawaii, and English and 20 Native American languages are official in Alaska. Cherokee is an official language in some Native-controlled lands in Oklahoma. French is a de facto, but unofficial, language in Maine and Louisiana, while New Mexico law grants Spanish a special status.[14][15][16][17] b.	^ In five territories, English as well as one or more indigenous languages are official: Spanish in Puerto Rico, Samoan in American Samoa, Chamorro in both Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Carolinian is also an official language in the Northern Mariana Islands. c.	^ Not including Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, see Race and ethnicity in the United States for more information. d.	^ Whether the United States or China is larger has been disputed. The figure given is from the U.S. Census and United Nations.[18] e.	^ See Time in the United States for details about laws governing time zones in the United States. f.	^ Except the Virgin Islands. The United States of America (USA), commonly referred to as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a federal republic composed of 50 states, the federal district of Washington, D.C., five major self-governing territories, and various possessions.[fn 1] The 48 contiguous states and federal district are in central North America between Canada and Mexico, with the state of Alaska in the northwestern part of North America and the state of Hawaii comprising an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million km2)[18] and with over 320 million people, the U.S. is the world's third largest country by total area (and fourth largest by land area)[fn 2] and the third most populous. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries.[24] The geography and climate are also extremely diverse, and the country is home to a wide variety of wildlife.[25]

Paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago,[26] with European colonization beginning in the 16th century. The United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775. On July 4, 1776, as the colonies were fighting Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, delegates from the 13 colonies unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence. The war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by the Kingdom of Great Britain, and was the first successful war of independence against a European colonial empire.[27] The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1781, were felt to have provided inadequate federal powers. The first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties.

The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century,[28] displacing American Indian tribes, acquiring new territories, and gradually admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848.[28] During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of legal slavery in the country.[29][30] By the end of that century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean,[31] and its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar.[32] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power. The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower.[33]

The United States is a highly developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal and real GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage,[34] human development, per capita GDP, and productivity per person.[35] While the U.S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services, the manufacturing sector remains the second largest in the world.[36] Though its population is only 4.4% of the world total,[37] the United States accounts for nearly a quarter of world GDP[38] and almost a third of global military spending,[39] making it the world's foremost military and economic power. The United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations.[40]

Contents [hide] 1	Etymology 2	History 2.1	Indigenous and European contact 2.2	Settlements 2.3	Independence and expansion (1776–1865) 2.4	Civil War and Reconstruction Era 2.5	Industrialization 2.6	World War I, Great Depression, and World War II 2.7	Cold War and civil rights era 2.8	Contemporary history 3	Geography, climate, and environment 3.1	Wildlife 4	Demographics 4.1	Population 4.2	Language 4.3	Religion 4.4	Family structure 5	Government and politics 5.1	Political divisions 5.2	Parties and elections 5.3	Foreign relations 5.4	Government finance 5.5	Military 6	Law enforcement and crime 7	Economy 7.1	Income, poverty and wealth 8	Education 9	Culture 9.1	Food 9.2	Literature, philosophy, and the arts 9.3	Music 9.4	Cinema 9.5	Sports 9.6	Media 10	Infrastructure 10.1	Transportation 10.2	Energy 10.3	Water supply and sanitation 11	Science and technology 12	Health 13	See also 14	Notes 15	References 16	Bibliography and further reading 16.1	Website sources 17	External links Etymology See also: Naming of America, Names for United States citizens, American (word), and Names of the United States In 1507 the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci (Latin: Americus Vespucius).[41] The first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq., George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army. Addressed to Lt. Col. Joseph Reed, Moylan expressed his wish to carry the "full and ample powers of the United States of America" to Spain to assist in the revolutionary war effort.[42]

The first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776.[43][44] The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the 'United States of America.'"[45] The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America'".[46] In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence.[47][48] This draft of the document did not surface until June 21, 1776, and it is unclear whether it was written before or after Dickinson used the term in his June 17 draft of the Articles of Confederation.[45] In the final Fourth of July version of the Declaration, the title was changed to read, "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America".[49] The preamble of the Constitution states "...establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The short form "United States" is also standard. Other common forms are the "U.S.", the "USA", and "America". Colloquial names are the "U.S. of A." and, internationally, the "States". "Columbia", a name popular in poetry and songs of the late 1700s, derives its origin from Christopher Columbus; it appears in the name "District of Columbia".[50] In non-English languages, the name is frequently the translation of either the "United States" or "United States of America", and colloquially as "America". In addition, an abbreviation (e.g. USA) is sometimes used.[51]

The phrase "United States" was originally plural, a description of a collection of independent states—e.g., "the United States are"—including in the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1865. The singular form—e.g., "the United States is"— became popular after the end of the American Civil War. The singular form is now standard; the plural form is retained in the idiom "these United States".[52] The difference is more significant than usage; it is a difference between a collection of states and a unit.[53]

A citizen of the United States is an "American". "United States", "American" and "U.S." refer to the country adjectivally ("American values", "U.S. forces"). "American" rarely refers to subjects not connected with the United States.[54]

History Main articles: History of the United States, Timeline of United States history, American business history, Economic history of the United States, and Labor history of the United States Indigenous and European contact Further information: Pre-Columbian era and Colonial history of the United States

An artistic recreation of The Kincaid Site from the prehistoric Mississippian culture as it may have looked at its peak 1050-1400 AD. The first inhabitants of North America migrated from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge and arrived at least 15,000 years ago, though increasing evidence suggests an even earlier arrival.[26] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies.[55] After the Spanish conquistadors made the first contacts, the native population declined for various reasons, primarily diseases such as smallpox and measles. Violence was not a significant factor in the overall decline, though warfare did reduce the population of specific tribes.[56][57][58][59][60][61] In the Hawaiian Islands, the earliest indigenous inhabitants arrived around 1 AD from Polynesia. Europeans under the British explorer Captain James Cook arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778.

In the early days of colonization, many European settlers were subject to food shortages, disease, and attacks from Native Americans. Native Americans were also often at war with neighboring tribes and allied with Europeans in their colonial wars. At the same time, however, many natives and settlers came to depend on each other. Settlers traded for food and animal pelts, natives for guns, ammunition and other European wares.[62] Natives taught many settlers where, when and how to cultivate corn, beans and squash. European missionaries and others felt it was important to "civilize" the Native Americans and urged them to adopt European agricultural techniques and lifestyles.[63][64]

Settlements Further information: European colonization of the Americas and Thirteen Colonies

North America, 1602. Globe by Willem Blaeu.

The signing of the Mayflower Compact, 1620. After Spain sent Columbus' on his first voyage to the New World in 1492, other explorers followed. The Spanish set up small settlements in New Mexico and Florida. France had several small settlements along the Mississippi River. Successful English settlement on the eastern coast of North America began with the Virginia Colony in 1607 at Jamestown and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. Early experiments in communal living failed until the introduction of private farm holdings.[65] Many settlers were dissenting Christian groups who came seeking religious freedom. The continent's first elected legislative assembly, Virginia's House of Burgesses created in 1619, and the Mayflower Compact, signed by the Pilgrims before disembarking, established precedents for the pattern of representative self-government and constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies.[66][67]

Most settlers in every colony were small farmers, but other industries developed within a few decades as varied as the settlements. Cash crops included tobacco, rice and wheat. Extraction industries grew up in furs, fishing and lumber. Manufacturers produced rum and ships, and by the late colonial period Americans were producing one-seventh of the world's iron supply.[68] Cities eventually dotted the coast to support local economies and serve as trade hubs. English colonists were supplemented by waves of Scotch-Irish and other groups. As coastal land grew more expensive freed indentured servants pushed further west.[69]

Slave cultivation of cash crops began with the Spanish in the 1500s, and was adopted by the English, but life expectancy was much higher in North America because of less disease and better food and treatment, leading to a rapid increase in the numbers of slaves.[70][71][72] Colonial society was largely divided over the religious and moral implications of slavery and colonies passed acts for and against the practice.[73][74] But by the turn of the 18th century, African slaves were replacing indentured servants for cash crop labor, especially in southern regions.[75]

With the British colonization of Georgia in 1732, the 13 colonies that would become the United States of America were established.[76] All had local governments with elections open to most free men, with a growing devotion to the ancient rights of Englishmen and a sense of self-government stimulating support for republicanism.[77] With extremely high birth rates, low death rates, and steady settlement, the colonial population grew rapidly. Relatively small Native American populations were eclipsed.[78] The Christian revivalist movement of the 1730s and 1740s known as the Great Awakening fueled interest in both religion and religious liberty.[79]

In the French and Indian War, British forces seized Canada from the French, but the francophone population remained politically isolated from the southern colonies. Excluding the Native Americans, who were being conquered and displaced, those 13 colonies had a population of over 2.1 million in 1770, about one-third that of Britain. Despite continuing new arrivals, the rate of natural increase was such that by the 1770s only a small minority of Americans had been born overseas.[80] The colonies' distance from Britain had allowed the development of self-government, but their success motivated monarchs to periodically seek to reassert royal authority.[81]