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The United States of America (also called the
United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the
States) is a federal constitutional republic
comprising fifty states and a federal district. The
country is situated mostly in central North America,
where its forty-eight 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 the 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 in the Pacific and
Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and
with over 312 million people, the United States is
the third or fourth largest country by total area,
and the third largest by both land area and
population. It 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 world's largest national
economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of
$15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over
19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity).
Indigenous peoples descended from forebears who
migrated from Asia have inhabited what is now the
mainland United States for many thousands of years.
This Native American population was greatly reduced
by disease and warfare after European contact. The
United States was founded by thirteen British
colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. On
July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of
Independence, which proclaimed their right to
self-determination and their establishment of a
cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated
the British Empire in the American Revolution, the
first successful colonial war of independence.
The current United States Constitution was adopted
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.
Through the 19th century, the United States
displaced native tribes, acquired the Louisiana
territory from France, Florida from Spain, part of
the Oregon Country from the United Kingdom, Alta
California and New Mexico from Mexico, and Alaska
from Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and
the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the
agrarian South and industrial North over the
expansion of the institution of slavery and states'
rights provoked the 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, its national economy
was the world's largest. The Spanish–American War
and World War I confirmed the country's status as a
military power. It emerged from World War II as the
first country with nuclear weapons and a permanent
member of the United Nations Security Council. 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 41% of global
military spending, and is a leading economic,
political, and cultural force in the world.
Transportation
Personal transportation is dominated by automobiles,
which operate on a network of 13 million roads,
including the world's longest highway system. The
world's second largest automobile market, the United
States has the highest rate of per-capita vehicle
ownership in the world, with 765 vehicles per 1,000
Americans. About 40% of personal vehicles are vans,
SUVs, or light trucks. The average American adult
(accounting for all drivers and nondrivers) spends
55 minutes driving every day, traveling 29 miles
(47 km).
Mass transit accounts for 9% of total U.S. work
trips, ranking last in a survey of 17 countries.
While transport of goods by rail is extensive,
relatively few people use rail to travel. Light rail
development has increased in recent years but, like
high speed rail, is below European levels. Bicycle
usage for work commutes is minimal.
The civil airline industry is entirely privately
owned and has been largely deregulated since 1978,
while most major airports are publicly owned. The
four largest airlines in the world by passengers
carried are American; Southwest Airlines is number
one. Of the world's thirty busiest passenger
airports, sixteen are in the United States,
including the busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta
International Airport.
Language
English is the de facto national language. Although
there is no official language at the federal level,
some laws—such as U.S. naturalization
requirements—standardize English. In 2007, about 226
million, or 80% of the population aged five years
and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish,
spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the
second most common language and the most widely
taught second language. Some Americans
advocate making English the country's official
language, as it is in at least twenty-eight
states. Both Hawaiian and English are official
languages in Hawaii by state law.
While neither has an official language, New Mexico
has laws providing for the use of both English and
Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.
Other states, such as California, mandate the
publication of Spanish versions of certain
government documents including court forms. Many jurisdictions with large numbers of
non-English speakers produce government materials,
especially voting information, in the most commonly
spoken languages in those jurisdictions. Several
insular territories grant official recognition to
their native languages, along with English: Samoan
and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and
Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are
recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish
is an official language of Puerto Rico.
Food
Mainstream American cuisine is similar to that in
other Western countries. Wheat is the primary cereal
grain. Traditional American cuisine uses indigenous
ingredients, such as turkey, venison, potatoes,
sweet potatoes, corn, squash, and maple syrup, which
were consumed by Native Americans and early European
settlers. Slow-cooked pork and beef barbecue, crab
cakes, potato chips, and chocolate chip cookies are
distinctively American foods. Soul food, developed
by African slaves, is popular around the South and
among many African Americans elsewhere. Syncretic
cuisines such as Louisiana creole, Cajun, and
Tex-Mex are regionally important.
Characteristic dishes such as apple pie, fried
chicken, pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs derive from
the recipes of various immigrants. French fries,
Mexican dishes such as burritos and tacos, and pasta
dishes freely adapted from Italian sources are
widely consumed. Americans generally prefer coffee
to tea. Marketing by U.S. industries is largely
responsible for making orange juice and milk
ubiquitous breakfast beverages.
The American fast food industry, the world's
largest, pioneered the drive-through format in the
1930s. Fast food consumption has sparked health
concerns. During the 1980s and 1990s, Americans'
caloric intake rose 24%; frequent dining at fast
food outlets is associated with what public health
officials call the American "obesity epidemic".
Highly sweetened soft drinks are widely popular, and
sugared beverages account for 9% of American caloric
intake.
Measurement systems
The nation retains United States customary units,
comprising mainly former British imperial units such
as miles, yards, and degrees Fahrenheit. Distinct
units include the U.S. gallon and U.S. pint volume
measurements. The United States is one of only three
countries that do not rely primarily on the
International System of Units. However, metric units
are increasingly used in science, medicine, and many
industrial fields.
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