United States - Wikipedia. Coordinates: 4. 0. 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 extremely diverse geography, climate and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 1. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, and is home to the world's largest immigrant population. The United States emerged from 1. British colonies along the East Coast.
Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the Seven Years' War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1. On July 4, 1. 77. American Revolutionary War, the colonies unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence. The war ended in 1. United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1.
The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 1. 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 1. United States as the world's sole superpower.
Though its population is only 4. The United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technologicalinnovations. Addressed to Lt. Joseph Reed, Moylan expressed his wish to carry the . Other common forms are the . Colloquial names are the .
In addition, an abbreviation (e. USA) is sometimes used.
The singular form—e. The singular form is now standard; the plural form is retained in the idiom . In English, the word . Europeans under the British explorer Captain James Cook arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1.
European settlements. Saint Augustine, Florida, the oldest continuously occupied European- established settlement in the continental United States (1. After Spain sent Columbuson his first voyage to the New World in 1. The Spanish set up the first settlements in Florida and New Mexico such as Saint Augustine. The French established their own as well along the Mississippi River. Successful English settlement on the eastern coast of North America began with the Virginia Colony in 1. Jamestown and the Pilgrims'Plymouth Colony in 1.
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 1. Mayflower Compact, signed by the Pilgrims before disembarking, and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, established precedents for the pattern of representative self- government and constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies.
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. English colonists were supplemented by waves of Scotch- Irish and other groups. As coastal land grew more expensive freed indentured servants pushed further west. Relatively small Native American populations were eclipsed. Excluding the Native Americans, who were being conquered and displaced, the 1. British colonies had a population of over 2. Britain. Despite continuing new arrivals, the rate of natural increase was such that by the 1.
Americans had been born overseas. Violence was not a significant factor in the overall decline among Native Americans, though conflict among themselves and with Europeans affected specific tribes and various colonial settlements.
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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. Flight Simulator Spot_ My Fs9 Full Package Read.
European missionaries and others felt it was important to . Americans had developed an ideology of . They demanded their rights as Englishmen and .
The British insisted on administering the empire through Parliament, and the conflict escalated into war. The fourth day of July is celebrated annually as Independence Day. In 1. 77. 7, the Articles of Confederation established a weak government that operated until 1. Nationalists led the Philadelphia Convention of 1. United States Constitution, ratified in state conventions in 1.
The federal government was reorganized into three branches, on the principle of creating salutary checks and balances, in 1. George Washington, who had led the revolutionary army to victory, was the first president elected under the new constitution. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and guaranteeing a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1. In the North, it energized multiple social reform movements, including abolitionism. The Trail of Tears in the 1. Indian removal policy that resettled Indians into the west on Indian reservations.
But with additional western territory and more free- soil states, tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over federalism and disposition of the territories, whether and how to expand or restrict slavery. The war remains the deadliest military conflict in American history, resulting in the deaths of approximately 6. Constitution: the Thirteenth Amendment prohibited slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment provided citizenship to the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves.
The war and its resolution led to a substantial increase in federal power. Hack Cash For Rakion Download Hack. By the 1. 89. 0–1. Jim Crow lawsdisenfranchised most blacks and some poor whites. Blacks faced racial segregation, especially in the South. The later invention of electric light and the telephone would also affect communication and urban life. Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were ceded by Spain in the same year, following the Spanish–American War.
Tycoons like Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie led the nation's progress in railroad, petroleum, and steel industries.
Banking became a major part of the economy, with J. Morgan playing a notable role.
Edison and Tesla undertook the widespread distribution of electricity to industry, homes, and for street lighting. Henry Ford revolutionized the automotive industry. The American economy boomed, becoming the world's largest, and the United States achieved great power status. In 1. 91. 9, President Woodrow Wilson took a leading diplomatic role at the Paris Peace Conference and advocated strongly for the U.
S. However, the Senate refused to approve this, and did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles that established the League of Nations. After his election as president in 1. Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, which included the establishment of the Social Security system. On December 7, 1. Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, prompting the United States to join the Allies against the Axis powers.
Though the nation lost more than 4. As an Allied victory was won in Europe, a 1. San Francisco produced the United Nations Charter, which became active after the war.
They dominated the military affairs of Europe, with the U. S. While the U. S.
American troops fought communist Chinese and North Korean forces in the Korean War of 1. Construction of an Interstate Highway System transformed the nation's infrastructure over the following decades. Millions moved from farms and inner cities to large suburban housing developments. A combination of court decisions and legislation, culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1. After his election in 1.
President Ronald Reagan responded to economic stagnation with free- market oriented reforms. Following the collapse of d. The concept of Pax Americana, which had appeared in the post- World War II period, gained wide popularity as a term for the post- Cold War new world order. Contemporary history. After the Cold War, the conflict in the Middle East triggered a crisis in 1. Iraq under Sadaam Husseininvaded and attempted to annex Kuwait, an ally of the United States. Fearing that the instability would spread to other regions, President George H.
W. Bush launched Operation Desert Shield, a defensive force buildup in Saudi Arabia, and Operation Desert Storm, in a staging titled the Gulf War; waged by coalition forces from 3. United States against Iraq ending in the successful expulsion of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, restoring the former monarchy.
The goal of the agreement was to eliminate trade and investment barriers among the U. S., Canada, and Mexico by January 1, 2. Trade among the three partners has soared since NAFTA went into force. While the stimulus facilitated infrastructure improvements. The law caused a significant reduction in the number and percentage of people without health insurance, with 2.
The Republicans, who stood in opposition to Obama's policies, won control of the House of Representatives with a landslide in 2. Senate in 2. 01. 4.
Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 6. Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, is 1. The populated territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and U. S. Virgin Islands together cover 9,1. The ranking varies depending on how two territories disputed by China and India are counted and how the total size of the United States is measured: calculations range from 3,6. The flat, fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast. The lowest and highest points in the contiguous United States are in the state of California.