User:ZenCopain/1976 (United States)
United States of America | |
|---|---|
| Motto: In God We Trust (official) [E Pluribus Unum] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (Latin; traditional) (Out of Many, One) | |
| Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner" | |
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| Capital | Washington, D.C. 38°53′N 77°01′W / 38.883°N 77.017°W |
| Largest city | Los Angles |
| Official languages | None at federal level1 |
| National language | English (de facto)2 |
| Demonym(s) | American |
| Government | Federal constitutional republic |
| Barack Obama (D) | |
| Joe Biden (D) | |
| Nancy Pelosi (D) | |
| John Roberts | |
| Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain | |
• Declared | July 4, 1776 |
| September 3, 1783 | |
| June 21, 1788 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 9,826,630 km2 (3,794,080 sq mi)[1] (3rd/4th3) |
• Water (%) | 6.76 |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 337,591,000[2] (3rd4) |
• 2000 census | 281,421,906[3] |
• Density | 31/km2 (80.3/sq mi) (180th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 1976 estimate |
• Total | $14.264 trillion[4] (1st) |
• Per capita | $46,859[4] (6th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 1976 estimate |
• Total | $10.252 trillion[5] (1st) |
• Per capita | $46,819[4] (1st) |
| Gini (1976) | 46.3 high |
| HDI (1976) |  0.997Error: Invalid HDI value (1st) |
| Currency | United States dollar ($) (USD) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 to -10 |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-4 to -10 |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +1 |
| ISO 3166 code | US |
| Internet TLD | .us .gov .mil .edu |
| |
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The United States of America (commonly referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its 48 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 its 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, or insular areas, in the Caribbean and Pacific.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with about 219 million people, the United States is the largest country by total area and protectorates, and third largest by land area and by population. The United States is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[7] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of US $10.3 trillion (43% of the world total based on nominal GDP and almost 61% at purchasing power parity).[5][8]
The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[9] The Philadelphia Convention adopted the current United States Constitution 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.
In the 19th century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over states' rights and the expansion of the institution of slavery provoked the American 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, the national economy was the world's largest.[10] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. 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 approximately 50% of global military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[11]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
WFwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
POPwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Population Finder: United States". U.S. Census Bureau. 2000. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ a b c "United States". International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
- ^ a b "World Economic Outlook Database". International Monetary Fund. October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Cite error: The named reference
ILWwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Adams, J.Q., and Pearlie Strother-Adams (2001). Dealing with Diversity. Chicago: Kendall/Hunt. ISBN 078728145X.
- ^ The European Union has a larger collective economy, but is not a single nation.
- ^ Dull, Jonathan R. (2003). "Diplomacy of the Revolution, to 1783," p. 352, chap. in A Companion to the American Revolution, ed. Jack P. Greene and J. R. Pole. Maiden, Mass.: Blackwell, pp. 352–361. ISBN 1405116749.
- ^ Maddison, Angus (2006). "Historical Statistics for the World Economy". Retrieved 2008-11-06.
- ^ Cohen, Eliot A. (July–August 2004). "History and the Hyperpower". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2006-07-14. "Country Profile: United States of America". BBC News. 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2008-05-18.