USA

The United States of America (USA) is a federal republic located primarily in North America, bordered by Canada to the north, Mexico to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It also includes the non-contiguous states of Alaska in northwestern North America and Hawaii in the central Pacific, along with numerous territories and possessions in the Caribbean and Pacific. Washington, D.C., serves as the national capital, while New York City is the country’s largest city. The United States encompasses an extraordinary range of geographic regions, including Arctic tundra, temperate forests, fertile plains, deserts, mountain ranges, tropical islands and more than 95,000 miles of coastline. Major physical features include the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains, the Great Plains, the Mississippi River system, the Great Lakes, the Colorado Plateau, the Mojave Desert and Alaska’s vast wilderness. The nation consists of 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several inhabited territories, covering approximately 3.53 million square miles of land. With a population of 331,449,281 at the 2020 census, it is the world’s third most populous country and the largest economy by nominal gross domestic product. Formed through the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and governed under the U.S. Constitution since 1789, the United States is a federal constitutional republic with powers divided among national, state and local governments.