United States

The United States is made up of 50 states, two of which (Alaska and Hawaii) are non-continental states. The country borders Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. Full of beauty, both natural and manmade, the United States is a major player in the global tourism industry.

Language: English
Currency: United States Dollar (USD)
Government: Federal Presidential Constitutional Republic

DID YOU KNOW?

• The United States is the world’s third largest country.
• The largest city (with respect to size, not population) in the U.S. is Juneau, Alaska, which covers 3,000 square miles.
• The oldest city in the U.S. is Santa Fe, founded in 1610.
• Hollywood, California, is the movie capital of the world.
• The United States has more tornadoes than all other countries in the world combined.

CLIMATE

Due to the size of the United States, it has a broad range of different climates. From tropical rainforests in Hawaii to the subarctic and tundra climate of Alaska, the United States has everything. The states surrounding the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes and the midwest of the country experiences regular tornadoes. In the summer, you can expect warm temperatures country-wide. In the winter, you can expect the north to experience wintery blasts while the south has a much milder season with little to no snow.

• Spring: April to June
• Summer: June to September
• Fall: September to December
• Winter: December to April

HISTORY

It is believed that the Indigenous peoples of the U.S. mainland date back to between 12,000 and 40,000 years ago. The first contact with Indigenous people in the Americas was in 1492 when Christopher Columbus reached the Bahamas; however, it wasn’t until 1513 that Juan Ponce de Leon landed on U.S. soil, which is the first document of European arrival on the U.S. mainland. For the next few hundred years, the U.S. was being claimed by both New France and New England. From 1775 to 1781, the American Revolutionary War took place, out of which came the Declaration of Independence and American Independence Day: July 4th, 1776. In the 1860s under President Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War between the slave states and the free states began. Following victory in 1865, amendments to the Constitution ensured freedom for the four million African-Americans who had been slaves. The U.S. played a key role in both of the World Wars and has since been involved in the wars in Vietnam and the Gulf War in the Middle East. In 2008, the U.S. elected its first African-American president, Barack Obama.