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Etymology
Common names and abbreviations of the United States of America include the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the U.S. of A., the States (informal), and America (colloquially). The earliest known use of the name America is attributed to the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller who, while working in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in 1507, created a globe and a large map showing North and South America.[10] According to the Library of Congress "Waldseemüller christened the new lands "America" in recognition of Vespucci’s understanding that a new continent had been uncovered as a result of the voyages of Columbus and other explorers in the late fifteenth century."[11] 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; it is still used poetically, and appears in various names and titles.[12][13] One female personification of the country is called Columbia.[14] The phrase "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 of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America.'" The name was originally proposed by Thomas Paine. The most common adjectival and demonymic form for the United States is American; this term is used for U.S. citizens living abroad, and for cultural characteristics ("American language," "American sports") and is rarely (at least not in English) used to refer to people not connected to the U.S.Geography
The United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by land area alone, after Russia and China and just ahead of Canada.[15] 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. Alaska (the largest state in area) is bound by Canada to its east, with the Pacific Ocean to its south, the Arctic Ocean to its north, and the Bering Strait to the west. The state of Hawaii occupies an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, southwest of the mainland. Deciduous vegetation and grasslands prevail in the eastern U.S., 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.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 6,000feet (1,830m) 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.[16] 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 14,000feet (4,270m) in Colorado.[17] 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.[18] 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.
Climate
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, deserts in the Southwest, 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 droughts 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 peoples, 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.[19] While the current country declared its independence from Great Britan in 1776, the histories of different U.S. states vary considerably.European colonization
American Revolution and Early Republic
Westward expansion
Civil War
Reconstruction and industrialization
After the Civil War, an unprecedented influx of immigrants hastened the country's rise to international power. These immigrants 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. The growing power of the United States enabled it to acquire new territories, including the annexation of Puerto Rico and the Philippines after victory in the Spanish-American War,[24] which marked the debut of the United States as a major world power.
World Wars I and 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 officially promoted liberal democracy and capitalism, while the Soviet Union officially promoted communism and a centrally planned economy. Both sides sometimes supported politically convenient oppressive regimes. 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[30] 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.[30] 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.[31] 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.War on Terrorism
After the terrorist attacks of September11, 2001, which killed nearly 3,000 people, U.S. foreign policy focused on the global threat of terrorism, and the government under President George W. Bush began a series of military and legal operations termed the War on Terror. It began with military operations in Afghanistan which led to the removal of the Taliban from power and the attempted expulsion of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. The administration formed a preemptive policy against threats to U.S. security known as the Bush Doctrine. In his 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." Later that year, the Bush administration began to press for regime change in Iraq, and in 2003, the United States and its allies invaded Iraq, removing Saddam Hussein from power, but igniting sectarian civil strife.Government and politics
Political system
The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. Its government relies on representative democracy through a congressional system under a set of powers specified by its Constitution, which was a replacement of the original constitution, the Articles of Confederation, which was in effect from 1781-1788. However, it is "not a simple representative democracy, but a constitutional republic in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[32] Citizens are usually subject to three levels of government, at federal, state, and local levels, although most areas are subject to multiple local governments, such as county or metropolitan governments in addition to municipal government. 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 and the purse.
- 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, which interpret laws and their validity under the Constitution and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional.
Foreign relations
Military
Further information: Military of the United States 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,[37] 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,[38] even though the U.S. military budget is only about 4% of the country's gross domestic product.[39][40] The U.S. military maintains over 700 bases and facilities, distributed throughout every continent except Antarctica.[41]Administrative divisions
Environment
Economy
| Median income | $32,611 for individuals $46,326 for households |
| Top 20% | $52,500 for individuals $91,705 for households |
| Bottom 20% | $12,500 for individuals $20,000 for households |
| Unemployment | 4.5%[51] |
| GDP growth | 3.4% |
| CPI inflation | 2.5%[52] |
| Gini index | 46.9% |
Income
According to the US Census Bureau, median household incomes ranged from $33,000 in West Virginia to $57,000 in New Hampshire,[60] with an overall national median of $46,000.[61] These income levels are similar to those found in other post-industrial nations such as Switzerland ($54,000),[62] the United Kingdom ($39,000)[63] and New Zealand ($40,000).[64] As 42% of US households had two or more income earners, there is a discrepancy between personal and household income. The median income for an individual age 25 or older in the labor force with earnings was $32,000 in 2005.[65] 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.[66] The long-term trend for wages of middle-income Americans has largely been stagnant since the 1970s and fallen for low-income earners, despite substantial gains in hourly labor productivity.[67][68] Yet household incomes as well as standard of living have increased, due to women entering the labor force.Socio-economic class
While the social class structure of the United States remains a vaguely defined concept, sociologists point to social class as the perhaps most important societal variable.[6] Social classes are groups consisting of those who share similar positions within the economy.[69] Occupation, educational attainment and income are used as the main indicators of socio-economic status.[6] Sociologist Dennis Gilbert of Cornell University has proposed a system, adapted by other sociologists,[7] with six social classes. He identified an upper (capitalist) class consisting of the wealthy and powerful, an upper middle class consisting of highly educated professionals, a middle class consisting of semi-professionals and craftsmen, a working class consisting of clerical and blue-collar workers, and two lower classes. At the bottom he identified a class of the working poor and an underclass. The former consists of service and low-rung blue collar workers and the latter of those who do not participate in the labor force.[7][70] Other sociologists such as William Thompson and Joseph Hickey combine the bottom two classes into a five class model.[6] Social mobility is another issue of debate, especially when attempting to conduct international comparisons. While some analysts have found the US to have a relatively low social mobility compared to Western Europe and Canada,[71][72][73] others point out that bottom quintile households are more likely to rise to the top fifth than to remain near the bottom.[74] Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan has suggested that the growing income inequality and low class mobility of the U.S. economy may eventually threaten social stability in the future.[75] The locally funded education system, is stipulated to provide lower quality education to those in poor jurisdication than to those in more affluent jurisdictions.[76][77]Innovation
The United States is an influential country in scientific and technological research and the production of innovative technological products. The bulk of Research and Development funding (69%) comes voluntarily from the private sector, rather than from taxation.[78] During World War II, the U.S. led the Allied program to develop the atomic bomb, ushering in the atomic age. Beginning early the Cold War, as a response to USSR's space program, the U.S. pursued a wide and successful space program of its own. This competition between the two superpowers, dubbed the Space Race, led to rapid advances in rocketry, material science, computers, and many other areas. The U.S. was also the most instrumental nation in the development of the Internet, developing its predecessor, Arpanet. The U.S. also controls much of its infrastructure.
Transportation
The United States is home to a variety of freeway and highway systems, multiple large international airports as well as an extensive freight rail network. The automobile industry developed early and more rapidly in the United States. As the largest developed nation, the US is home to more roadways that any other country in the world.[79] While mass transit systems are commonplace in some large cities, these systems tend to be less extensive than in other developed nations.[80] Air travel is the preferred mode of transport 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. The airline industry is privately owned, however most airports are government owned. Several major seaports are in the United States, on the east, west and gulf coasts.[81] 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 center of the country.Demographics
| Population | 300,000,000 |
| Population growth | 0.59% |
| Undocumented immigrants | 12,000,000 |
| Citizens abroad | 3,000,000 to 7,000,000 |
| White | 74.67% |
| African American | 12.12% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 4.46% |
| Other | 5.99% |
| Persons w/ six figure incomes | 5.63% |
| Top 10% of individuals | $75,000 |
| Households w/ six figure incomes | 17.2%. |
| Top 10% of households | $118,200. |
| English (only) | 214.8 million |
| Spanish | 29.7 million |
| Chinese | 2.2 million |
| French incl. Creole | 1.4 million |
| Tagalog | 1.3 million |
| German | 1.1 million |
| Vietnamese | 1.1 million |
General situation
On October 17, 2006 at 7:46 a.m. EST, the United States' population stood at an estimated 300,000,000[82] This figure excludes persons living in the U.S. without legal permission to do so. Due to the nation's size any population estimate needs to be seen as a somewhat rough figure, according to the US Department of Commerce.[87] According to the 2000 census, about 79% of the population lived in urban areas.[88] The United States has a highly diverse population, being home to 31 ethnic groups with more than a million members.[89] Among racial demographics, Whites, most of whom are of European ancestry remained the largest racial group[83] with German-Americans, Irish-Americans and English-Americans constituting the three largest ethnic groups.[90] The percentages of whites among the general population is, however, declining.[8] African Americans who are largely the descendants of former slaves constituted the nation's largest racial and third largest ethnic minority.[83][91] 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 the second largest ethnic group in the country.[92] It is estimated that with current population trends non-Hispanic Whites will become a plurality by 2040 to 2050. In the four "majority-minority states" such as California,[93] New Mexico,[94] Hawaii[95] and Texas[96] such is already the case. Crime in the United States is characterized by relatively high levels of gun violence and homicide, compared to other developed countries.[97][98] Levels of property crime and other types of crime in the United States are comparable to other developed countries.[99]Indigenous peoples
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 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.Languages
Although the United States has no official language at the federal level, 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.[100] English is the most common language for daily interaction among both native and non-native speakers. Knowledge of English is required of immigrants seeking naturalization. Nowadays, more languages are used in daily life. Spanish is the second most spoken language and the most widely taught foreign language.[101][102] Some Americans advocate making English the official language, which is the law in twenty-five states.[103] Three states also grant administrative status to languages other than English: Hawaiian in Hawaii (where it is granted official status by the Hawaiian Constitution), French in Louisiana, and Spanish in New Mexico (where the languages are not official but are promoted and preserved through several legislative acts).[104][105][106]Largest cities
The largest cities of the United States figure prominently in the economy, culture, and heritage of the U.S. In 2005, 254 incorporated places in the U.S. had populations greater than 100,000, nine cities had populations greater than one million, and four global cities had populations greater than 2 million (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston).[107] The United States has 53 metropolitan areas with populations greater than one million.[108]| |
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| 1 | New York City, New York | 8,143,197 | 26,720.9 | 18,747,320 | 1 | Northeast |
| 2 | Los Angeles, California | 3,844,829 | 8,198.0 | 12,923,547 | 2 | West |
| 3 | Chicago, Illinois | 2,842,518 | 12,750.3 | 9,443,356 | 3 | Midwest |
| 4 | Houston, Texas | 2,016,582 | 3,371.7 | 5,280,077 | 7 | South |
| 5 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 1,463,281 | 11,233.6 | 5,823,233 | 4 | Northeast |
| 6 | Phoenix, Arizona | 1,461,575 | 2,782.0 | 3,865,077 | 14 | West |
| 7 | San Antonio, Texas | 1,256,509 | 2,808.5 | 1,889,797 | 29 | South |
| 8 | San Diego, California | 1,255,540 | 3,771.9 | 2,933,462 | 17 | West |
| 9 | Dallas, Texas | 1,213,825 | 3,469.9 | 5,819,475 | 5 | South |
| 10 | San Jose, California | 912,332 | 5,117.9 | 1,754,988 | 30 | West |
Religion
Education
Health
The overall performance of the United States health care system was ranked 15th by the World Health Organization.[117] The United States far outspends (combined private and public expenditures) any other nation in healthcare, measured in terms of both per capita spending and percentage of GDP.[118]. This spending has not correlated with a high ranking in many public health metrics. The CIA World Factbook indicates that the United States has a higher infant mortality rate and slightly lower life expectancy than some other post-industrial western nations such as Sweden,[119] Germany[120] or France.[121][122] The average salary of a physician in the US is the highest in the world.[123] Obesity is a public health problem, estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars annually.[124] Unlike some other Western countries, the U.S. healthcare system is not fully publicly-funded, instead relying on a mix of public and private funding. In 2004, private insurance paid for 36% of personal health expenditure, private out-of-pocket payments covered 15%, and federal, state, and local governments paid for 44%.[125] In 2005, 41.2 million people in the U.S. (14.2 percent of the population) were without healthcare insurance for at least part of that year.[126] Many of these people may have been between jobs for part of the year, which could leave them without coverage as health insurance is often provided as a benefit of employment. Not all those without insurance were unable to afford it — approximately one third of the 41.2 million who were without insurance for part of the year lived in households with annual incomes over $50,000, with half of these having an income of over $75,000.[127] Presumably some of these people chose not to purchase insurance, for example because they perceived themselves as being at low risk of serious illness. Another third of the 41.2 million were eligible for public health insurance programs but had not signed up for them.[128] This leaves substantially fewer than 41.2 million people who were without access to healthcare insurance because they could not afford to purchase it privately. Although emergency care facilities are required to provide service regardless of the patient's ability to pay, medical bills remain the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the United States.[129] The nation spends a substantial amount on medical research, mostly privately-funded. As of 2000, non-profit private organizations funded 7% (such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute), private industry funded 57%, and the tax-funded National Institutes of Health funded 36% of medical research in the U.S.[130] As of 2003, the NIH funded 28% of medical research funding; funding by private industry increased 102% from 1994 to 2003.[131]Culture
The United States is a diverse and multicultural nation, home to a wide variety of ideologies, customs and ethnic groups.[6][8] Mainstream American culture evolved from that of colonial Dutch and English settlers and later became a melting pot of various European cultures.English, German, and Irish cultures and later from Italian, Greek and Ashkenazi cultures were the perhaps most significant influences on modern American culture. 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, German, Spanish, and Native American components of U.S. history.[8] There are two main theories regarding the current evolution of American culture. In the traditional melting pot, immigrants from other cultures bring unique cultural aspects which are incorporated into the larger American culture and adopt features of the mainstream culture. A more recently articulated model is that of the salad bowl, in which immigrant cultures retain some of their unique characteristics. Cultures intermingle, forming a heterogeneous mixture, not unlike a salad composed of different vegetables.[132][8] 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.[133]
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 Dickinson, 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 art making in the United States for the remainder of the twentieth century. The exhibition had a twofold effect of communicating to American artists that art making 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.Literature
Americans have produced much notable literature across genres. The phrase 'Great American Novel' is often used to describe a work which captures the American essence in its narrative. Among some of the masterworks to which this title has been applied are Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. American-born or naturalized citizens have won the Nobel Prize in Literature twelve times, the most recent winner being Toni Morrison in 1993.Music
Music also traces to the country's diverse cultural roots through an array of styles. Rock, pop, 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.[134]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
