The United
States of America is a federal republic on the continent of North
America consisting of 48 contiguous states and the noncontiguous
states of Alaska and Hawaii. It has an area of 9,629,047 sq km
(3,717,796 sq mi) and is the third largest country in the world
after Russia and Canada. The estimated U.S. population for the
year 2001 is 278,058,880, third in the world behind China and
India.
The United States includes a number of outlying areas, such as
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands of the
United States, which are located on the Caribbean Sea, and the
islands of American Samoa and Guam, located in the Pacific Ocean.
The national capital is Washington, D.C., located along the banks
of the Potomac River between the states of Maryland and Virginia.
The 50
U.S. states vary widely in size and population. The largest states
in area are Alaska at 1,593,438 sq km (615,230 sq mi), followed
by Texas, and California. The smallest state is Rhode Island,
with an area of 3,188 sq km (1,231 sq mi). The state with the
largest population is California, followed by Texas, and New
York.
The land
that is now the United States was home to diverse cultures when
the first Europeans and Africans arrived. It was inhabited by
a variety of Native American peoples who spoke more than 300
different languages. The Europeans and Africans added their own
varying cultures to this diversity.
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The
13 colonies they founded along the eastern seaboard became the
United States in the late 18th century. During the following
century, the new nation added huge chunks of territory, and millions
of immigrants arrived, mainly from Europe and especially during
the years from 1860 to 1914. A second migration occurred in the
Southwest, where Hispanics pushed northward from Mexico. In addition,
slaves were brought from Africa to work on agricultural estates
in the South, where they formed a large percentage of the population. |
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At the
end of the 20th century, the United States is the third most
populous country in the world, after China and India. Nearly
5 percent of the earth's inhabitants live in the United States.
From
1981 to 2008, I visited the United states 12 times: July 1981,
July 1984, July 1989, January 1991, October 1991, January 1996,
April 2002, October 2004, March 2005, August 2006, April 2007
and September 2008. I chose to put only the pictures of New York
on these pages. Some of the other places I`ve been to in the
USA include Albany, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Anaheim, Boston,
Orlando and Miami among others. I am a HUGE Disney fan and I
was able to visit Disneyland and Disneyworld many times along
these years. |
Pictures
coming in 2009
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