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United States of America
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  E pluribus unum (1789 to 1956) (Latin: "Out of Many, One") In God We Trust (1956 to present)
Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Capital	Washington, D.C.
Largest city	New York, New York
Official languages	None at federal level; English de facto
Government	Federal republic Representative democracy
Independence
• Water (%)	4.87
Population
• March, 2006 estimate	298,290,000 (3rd)
• 2000 census	281,421,906
GDP (PPP)	2006 estimate
• Total	$12.370 trillion (1st)
• Per capita	$39,496 (3rd)
HDI (2003)	0.944 very high (10th)
Currency	Dollar ($) (USD)
Time zone	UTC-5 to -10
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 to -10
Calling code	1
ISO 3166 code	US
Internet TLD	.us .gov .edu .mil .um

For other meanings, see the disambiguation pages for U.S., USA, or United States.

The United States of America is a federal republic situated primarily in North America. It is bordered on the north by Canada and to the south by Mexico. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories with differing degrees of affiliation. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, America, the U.S., the U.S.A., the U.S. of A., the States, or (poetically) Columbia.

Since the 20th century, following World War I, the United States has emerged as the dominant global influence in economic, political, military, cultural and technological affairs. It is today's sole global superpower.

The country celebrates its founding date as July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence that rejected British authority in favor of self-determination. The structure of the government was profoundly changed on March 4, 1789, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution.

History

This article is part of a series on the
History of the United States
Timeline and periods Prehistoric and Pre-Columbian Era until 1607 Colonial Era 1607–1765 1776–1789     American Revolution 1765–1783     Confederation period 1783–1788 1789–1815     Federalist Era 1788–1801     Jeffersonian Era 1801–1817 1815–1849     Era of Good Feelings 1817–1825     Jacksonian Era 1825–1849 1849–1865     Civil War Era 1849–1865 1865–1917     Reconstruction Era 1865–1877     Gilded Age 1877–1896     Progressive Era 1896–1917 1917–1945     World War I 1917–1918     Roaring Twenties 1918–1929     Great Depression 1929–1941     World War II 1941–1945 1945–1964     Post-World War II Era 1945–1964     Civil Rights Era 1954–1968 1964–1980     Civil Rights Era 1954–1968     Vietnam War 1964–1975 1980–1991     Reagan Era 1981–1991 1991–2008     Post-Cold War Era 1991–2008 2008–present     Modern Era 2008–present
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Prehistory

American history began with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge some time prior to 12,000 years ago, possibly following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2–9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before that population was diminished by European contact and the foreign diseases it brought (although both the number of Native Americans originally on the continent and the number who did not survive European immigration are the subject of continued research and thus are open to debate). Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon (and built sandstone buildings with up to 5 floors), and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200, located near present-day St. Louis, Missouri.

European settlement

External visitors including the Norse had arrived before, but it was not until after the voyages of Christopher Columbus in early 1500s that European nations began to explore the land in earnest and settle there permanently.

During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655.

This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War when the Kingdom of Great Britain and its North American Colonies fought against France and its North American Colonies. The war resulted in France ceding Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain, and Spain gaining Louisiana in compensation for its loss of Florida to Britain.

Later that year, the British government under George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 that placed a boundary upon the westward expansion of the British North American colonies. The Proclamation's goal was to force colonists to negotiate with the Native Americans for the lawful purchase of the land and, therefore, to reduce the costly frontier warfare that had erupted over land conflicts.

A tax was imposed on the colonists as it was becoming increasingly difficult for the crown to pay for its military excursions and the defense of the American colonies from native uprisings. The colonists widely resented the taxes as they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule.

Nationhood

In 1775, the American Revolutionary War against colonial rule by Britain began. In 1776, the 13 colonies declared their independence from Great Britain and formed the United States. Before the ratification of a national government, the United States existed as an informal alliance of independent individual colonies with their own laws and sovereignty, while the Second Continental Congress was given the nominal authority by the colonies to make decisions regarding the formation and founding of the Continental Army but not to levy taxes or make federal law.

The first united national political structure was a confederation proposed in 1777, and ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation, making the United States the world's first constitutional federal republic. After long debate, this was supplanted in 1789 by the Constitution, which formed a more centralized federal government. For the original 13 states, the date when they accepted the Constitution is often considered as their date of admission to the union.

Civil War

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