Posts Tagged ‘Facts about US’

Facts

Located in the North American Continent, the United States is commonly known as the USA. It is comprised of fifty states and a federal district. It is flanked by the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans and contains the non-contiguous states of Hawaii, Alaska and the some of the islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific. It has a place of pride on the world map and is held in high esteem by people across the globe. Let us look at some interesting facts about the United States.

Facts about United States

The United States is almost entirely situated in the western hemisphere. Alaska is the largest state in terms of area. The United Sates is the third largest in population and the fourth largest nation by total area. Washington, D.C. is the capital of the US and the New York City is its largest city. The United States has a population of over 300 million people in an area of 3.79 million square miles. The US economy is the largest in the world.

Long years after the discovery of the United States by Christopher Columbus, thirteen colonies of Great Britain founded the US. The United States got independence from Great Britain and formed a cooperative union. They issued the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Today, the US is a federal constitutional republic. Read when was the United States founded and the founding fathers of the United States.

President George Bush is the outgoing president of United States. The results of the Presidential elections of November 4, 2008 declared Barack Obama as the new President of USA. He will be the first African-American President of the United States, when he takes oath in January 2009. Go through the list of Presidents of America in chronological order.

The United States is a member of the United Nations Security Council. The United Nations Headquarters are located in the New York City.

The United States welcome immigrants from different parts of the world. This has contributed to their cultural and ethnic diversity. English is the de facto national language of the United States. It is a secular nation. Apart from Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism prevail in the US. The United States is a multicultural country. You may like to read about the native American culture.

The New York City in the United States hosted the world’s first commercial motion picture exhibition. The film industry of the United States gets its name from Hollywood in California, which is the central location of the American movie industry.

United States has produced geniuses like Thomas Edison, Graham Bell and the Wright Brothers. The United States is world’s largest consumer of petroleum. US had a lion’s share in the development of the ARPANET and the creation of the Internet.

The US houses many of the world’s busiest airports. It owns majority of the world’s largest airlines, where American Airlines tops the list.

During the Spanish-American War and World War I, US emerged as a military power. After the Second World War, United States was the first nation to equip itself with nuclear weapons.

United States is today, a political, economic and cultural icon in the world.

Facts about the United States

The United States of America is one of the largest countries in the world based on both population and land area. It has a relatively short history compared to other world nations, has one of the world’s largest economies, and has one of the world’s most diverse populations. As such, the United States is highly influential internationally.

The following is a list of ten usual or interesting facts about the United States:

1) The United States is divided into 50 states. However state each varies in size considerably. The smallest state is Rhode Island with an area of just 1,545 square miles (4,002 sq km). By contrast the largest state by area is Alaska with 663,268 square miles (1,717,854 sq km).

2) Alaska has the longest coastline in the United States at 6,640 miles (10,686 km).

3) Bristlecone pine trees, believed to be some of the world’s oldest living things, are found in the western United States in California, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. The oldest of these trees is in California. The oldest living tree itself is found in Sweden.

4) The only royal palace used by a monarch in the U.S. is located in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the Iolani Palace and belonged to the monarchs King Kalakaua and Queen Lili’uokalani until the monarchy was overthrown in 1893. The building then served as the capitol building until Hawaii became a state in 1959. Today the Iolani Palace is a museum.

5) Because the major mountain ranges in the United States run in a north-south direction, they have a large impact on the climate of the country’s various regions. The west coast for example has a milder climate than the interior because is moderated by its proximity to the ocean, whereas places like Arizona and Nevada are very hot and dry because they are on the leeward side of mountain ranges.

6) Although English is the most commonly spoken language used in the U.S. and is the language used in government, the country has no official language.

7) The tallest mountain in the world is located in the United States Mauna Kea, located in Hawaii, is only 13,796 feet (4,205 m) in altitude above sea level, however, when measured from the seafloor it is over 32,000 feet (10,000 meters) high, making it taller than Mount Everest (Earth’s tallest mountain above sea level at 29,028 feet or 8,848 meters).

8) The lowest temperature ever recorded in the United States was at Prospect Creek, Alaska on January 23, 1971. The temperature was -80°F (-62°C). The coldest temperature in the contiguous 48 states was at Rogers Pass, Montana on January 20, 1954. The temperature there was -70°F (-56°C).

9) The hottest temperature recorded in the United States (and in North America) was in Death Valley, California on July 10, 1913. The temperature measured 134°F (56°C).

10) The deepest lake in the U.S. is Crater Lake located in Oregon. At 1,932 feet (589 m) it is the world’s seventh deepest lake. Crater Lake was formed via snowmelt and precipitation that gathered in a crater created when an ancient volcano, Mount Mazama, erupted about 8,000 years ago.

To learn more about the United States, visit the United States Atlas page on this website.

References

Genzmer, Herbert and Christian Schütz. (2008). Questions and Answers: Countries and Continents. Paragon Publishing: Bath, United Kingdom.

Geology.com. (n.d.). Highest Mountain in the World – Tallest Mountain Geology.com. Retrieved from: http://geology.com/records/highest-mountain-in-the-world.shtml

Infoplease. (n.d.). Fifty States and Fifty Fun Facts – Infoplease.com. Retrieved from: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0770175.html

Infoplease. (n.d.). World and U.S. Extremes of Climate – Infoplease.com. Retrieved from: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001382.html

Wikipedia. (2010, April 8). Iolani Palace – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BBIolani_Palace