United States of America

United States of America

Flag of the United States
Flag
Great Seal of the United States
Great Seal
Motto: 
"In God We Trust"fn 

Other traditional mottos  show

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a federal republic composed of  states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions.fn  At . million square miles (. million km) and with over  million people, the United States is the world's third- or fourth-largest country by total areafn  and the third-most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous and in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's  megadiverse countries.

Paleo-Indians migrated from Russia to the North American mainland at least , years ago. European colonization began in the th century. The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in , and the subsequent Declaration of Independence in . The war ended in  with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in , with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in  to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, and gradually admitting new states until it spanned the continent by . During the second half of the th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery. By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, and its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. 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