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The United States of America, usually referred to as the United States, the USA, the U.S. or America, is a constitutional federal republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight 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, and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories, or insular areas, scattered around the Caribbean and Pacific.At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with more than 300 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and third largest by land area and by population. The United States is one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[7] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with a nominal 2006 gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$13 trillion (over 25% of the world total based on nominal GDP and almost 20% by purchasing power parity).[4][8]The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they jointly issued the Declaration of Independence, which officially declared their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union as a new nation. The rebellion was organized by the Continental Congress and succeeded in defeating Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.[9] After briefly being governed by the Articles of Confederation it became clear that a more powerful central government was needed. It was formed after a constitutional convention and the current United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments that guaranteed many fundamental civil rights and freedoms under the new government, was ratified in 1791.In the nineteenth 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. However, the Jim Crow laws passed after reconstruction allowed racism and inequality to persist.The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the nation'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. In the post–Cold War era, the United States is the only remaining superpower—accounting for approximately 50% of global military spending—and a dominant economic, political, and cultural force in the world.HistoryMain article: History of the United StatesNative Americans and European settlersMain articles: Native Americans in the United States, European colonization of the Americas, and Thirteen ColoniesThe indigenous peoples of the U.S. mainland, including Alaska Natives, are thought to have migrated from Asia. They began arriving at least 12,000 and as many as 40,000 years ago.[26] Several indigenous communities in the pre-Columbian era developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached several Caribbean islands, making first contact with the indigenous population. In the years that followed, the majority of the indigenous American peoples were killed by epidemics of Eurasian diseases.[27]The Mayflower transported Pilgrims to the New World in 1620, as depicted in William Halsall's The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor, 1882On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first documented European arrival on what would become the U.S. mainland. Of the colonies Spain established in the region, only St. Augustine, founded in 1565, remains. Later Spanish settlements in the present-day southwestern United States drew thousands through Mexico. French fur traders established outposts of New France around the Great Lakes; France eventually claimed much of the North American interior as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. The first successful English settlements were the Virginia Colony in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of migration; by 1634, New England had been settled by some 10,000 Puritans. Between the late 1610s and the American Revolution, an estimated 50,000 convicts were shipped to England's, and later Great Britain's, American colonies.[28] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch established settlements along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. The small settlement of New Sweden, founded along the Delaware River in 1638, was taken over by the Dutch in 1655.By 1674, English forces had won the former Dutch colonies in the Anglo–Dutch Wars; the province of New Netherland was renamed New York. Many new immigrants, especially to the South, were indentured servants—some two-thirds of all Virginia immigrants between 1630 and 1680.[29] By the turn of the century, African slaves were becoming the primary source of bonded labor. With the 1729 division of the Carolinas and the 1732 colonization of Georgia, the thirteen British colonies that would become the United States of America were established. All had active local and colonial governments with elections open to most free men, with a growing devotion to the ancient rights of Englishmen and a sense of self government that stimulated support for republicanism. All had legalized the African slave trade. With high birth rates, low death rates, and steady immigration, the colonies doubled in population every twenty-five years. The Christian revivalist movement of the 1730s and 1740s known as the Great Awakening fueled interest in both religion and religious liberty. In the French and Indian War, British forces seized Canada from the French, but the francophone population remained politically isolated from the southern colonies. By 1770, those thirteen colonies had an increasingly Anglicized population of three million, approximately half that of Britain. Though subject to British taxation, they were given no representation in the Parliament of Great Britain.HistoryMain article: History of the United StatesNative Americans and European settlersMain articles: Native Americans in the United States, European colonization of the Americas, and Thirteen ColoniesThe indigenous peoples of the U.S. mainland, including Alaska Natives, are thought to have migrated from Asia. They began arriving at least 12,000 and as many as 40,000 years ago.[26] Several indigenous communities in the pre-Columbian era developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached several Caribbean islands, making first contact with the indigenous population. In the years that followed, the majority of the indigenous American peoples were killed by epidemics of Eurasian diseases.[27]The Mayflower transported Pilgrims to the New World in 1620, as depicted in William Halsall's The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor, 1882On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first documented European arrival on what would become the U.S. mainland. Of the colonies Spain established in the region, only St. Augustine, founded in 1565, remains. Later Spanish settlements in the present-day southwestern United States drew thousands through Mexico. French fur traders established outposts of New France around the Great Lakes; France eventually claimed much of the North American interior as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. The first successful English settlements were the Virginia Colony in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of migration; by 1634, New England had been settled by some 10,000 Puritans. Between the late 1610s and the American Revolution, an estimated 50,000 convicts were shipped to England's, and later Great Britain's, American colonies.[28] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch established settlements along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. The small settlement of New Sweden, founded along the Delaware River in 1638, was taken over by the Dutch in 1655.By 1674, English forces had won the former Dutch colonies in the Anglo–Dutch Wars; the province of New Netherland was renamed New York. Many new immigrants, especially to the South, were indentured servants—some two-thirds of all Virginia immigrants between 1630 and 1680.[29] By the turn of the century, African slaves were becoming the primary source of bonded labor. With the 1729 division of the Carolinas and the 1732 colonization of Georgia, the thirteen British colonies that would become the United States of America were established. All had active local and colonial governments with elections open to most free men, with a growing devotion to the ancient rights of Englishmen and a sense of self government that stimulated support for republicanism. All had legalized the African slave trade. With high birth rates, low death rates, and steady immigration, the colonies doubled in population every twenty-five years. The Christian revivalist movement of the 1730s and 1740s known as the Great Awakening fueled interest in both religion and religious liberty. In the French and Indian War, British forces seized Canada from the French, but the francophone population remained politically isolated from the southern colonies. By 1770, those thirteen colonies had an increasingly Anglicized population of three million, approximately half that of Britain. Though subject to British taxation, they were given no representation in the Parliament of Great Britain.FoodMain article: Cuisine of the United States American cultural icons: apple pie, baseball, and the American flagMainstream American culinary arts are similar to those in other Western countries. Wheat is the primary cereal grain. Traditional American cuisine uses ingredients such as turkey, white-tailed deer venison, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, squash, and maple syrup, indigenous foods employed by Native Americans and early European settlers. Slow-cooked pork and beef barbecue, crab cakes, potato chips, and chocolate chip cookies are distinctively American styles. Soul food, developed by African slaves, is popular around the South and among many African Americans elsewhere. Syncretic cuisines such as Louisiana creole, Cajun, and Tex-Mex are regionally important. Characteristic dishes such as apple pie, fried chicken, pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs derive from the recipes of various immigrants. French fries, Mexican dishes such as burritos and tacos, and pasta dishes freely adapted from Italian sources are widely consumed.[218] Americans generally prefer coffee to tea. Marketing by U.S. industries is largely responsible for making orange juice and milk ubiquitous breakfast beverages.[219] During the 1980s and 1990s, Americans' caloric intake rose 24%;[218] frequent dining at fast food outlets is associated with what health officials call the American "obesity epidemic." Highly sweetened soft drinks are widely popular; sugared beverages account for 9% of the average American's caloric intake

要全方位的美国咨询，而且还可以学英语，这还是一个新闻网，里面有英语新闻的MP3下载和原稿，试试看。真的不错！ United States in the North Central and North America also includes the territory of Alaska and the Pacific northwest of the Hawaiian Islands in Central. North and the Canadian border, south through the Gulf of Mexico, west Pacific, East Bin Atlantic. Coastline of 22,680 kilometers. Most areas of continental climate, the southern subtropical climate. Big temperature difference between north-central plains, Chicago January average temperature -3 ℃, 7月24 ℃; Gulf Coast in January the average temperature of 11 ℃, 7月28 ℃. Climate The United States has almost all the world's climate types, in the main agricultural zone in rare severe drought, flooding is not uncommon, and a moderate while the temperature to adequate rainfall. Climate impact on the United States is the main Arctic air, from the Pacific each year bring a large-scale low pressure, these low pressure through the Nevada mountains, the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade range, attach a great deal of moisture, when they arrived at the central pressure Great Plains, will be able to reorganize, leading to the main air masses meet and bring a fierce thunderstorm, especially in the spring and summer. These may sometimes heavy rain and low pressure to join the other, continue to the East Coast and the Atlantic Ocean, and will become more intense storms in the northeast (Nor'easter), in the United States in the Northeast Atlantic region and New England a wide-ranging and heavy snowfall. Great Plains incomparably vast grassland has also developed a number of the world's most extreme climate change phenomenon. The Columbia River basin region and the high principle is very little rainfall and drought areas, the most drought average rainfall of less than 15 inches (38 centimeters). The United States is arid desert southwest, the hottest summer when the temperature a few weeks more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). Washbasin and the southwestern region from the Gulf of California will be the impact of the monsoon, occasionally heavy rain brought rare. California, most of the regions belong to the Mediterranean-type climate, sometimes in the annual October to April the following year triggered strong rainstorm, and the remaining months of virtually no rainfall. The brink of the Western North Pacific, while heavy rain continued throughout the year, but in the winter and spring rainfall in most. The western mountains absorb sufficient moisture, rainfall and snowfall is very heavy. Cascade range is the world's largest snowfall in one of the places, but the lower elevation snow limited coastal areas. River On the whole can be divided into three major river systems: Where in Rocky Mount, east of the river into the Atlantic Ocean are known as the Atlantic water system, a major Mississippi River, Connecticut River and in-hyuk River. A total length of 6,020 km of the Mississippi River, ranking third in the world. Where the river into the Pacific said the Pacific water system. Mainly the Colorado River, Columbia River, the Yukon River, and so on. North American Great Lakes in the eastern part of the group. Including Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario with a total area of 245,000 square kilometers, the world's largest freshwater waters, known as "North America, the Mediterranean," said Lake Michigan, which is the United States, The other four lakes for a total of the United States and Canada. Lake Superior, the world's largest fresh water lake, Lake area in the world live in the Caspian Sea after the second in the world. Biological The United States has more than 17,000 kinds of plants and native species, California alone has 5,000 kinds, from the tropics to the Arctic has distribution plant, the U.S. plant is the world's most diverse and at the same time, thousands of non-native alien species Sometimes affect the local flora and fauna. The United States has more than 400 kinds of mammals, 700 species of birds, 500 kinds of reptiles and amphibians and 90,000 kinds of insects have been found. Many plants and animals are confined to their regional divisions, while some endangered species of danger. Resources Abundant natural resources. Coal, oil, natural gas, iron ore and potash, phosphate, sulphur and other mineral reserves rank highest in the world. Other minerals are copper, lead, molybdenum, uranium, bauxite, gold, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, aluminum, bismuth, and so on. Strategic mineral resources of titanium, manganese, cobalt, chromium and other mainly rely on imports. Proven coal reserves of 35,966 million tons. 270 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves. Proved natural gas reserves of 56,034 billion cubic meters. Forest area of about 44 million mu, coverage up to 33 percent. Second, history Before the colonial period (before 1607) In more than 20,000 years ago, a group of Rangers from Asia, Central and South America through North America to these people is that the ancestors of the Indians. When Columbus discovered the New World, American Indians living in the Americas, about 20 million, of which about 100 million people now live in the north-central Canada and the United States and the rest of the vast majority now live in Mexico and the southern United States. About 1 million years ago, another group of Asians, moved to the northern part of North America, which is later Eskimos. The first white people to the Americas is probably the Vikings, they are a group of fishermen who like adventure, some people believe they are in 1000, visited the east coast of North America. The colonial period (1607-1753) 1607, about 100 people a colonial groups, begging in the establishment of the James Sha Bike beach town, which is built by the British in North America's first permanent colony, 150 years later, many have come to the Colonizers, settlers in the coastal areas, most of them from the UK, some of it from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and other countries. The mid-18th century, 13 British colony gradually formed, the highest in the United Kingdom are under the sovereignty of their own government and parliament. This 13 colonial district due to climate and geographical environment of the differences, resulting in the shape throughout the economy, political system and the concept of the difference. The independence movement (1754-1783) The mid-18th century, the British colony in the Americas and between the United Kingdom, has been a rift. Colonial expansion, so that they have a conscious, and consciously to the United Kingdom of persecution, and the initiation of an independent thought. 1774, the representatives from 12 states gathered in Philadelphia, held the so-called first meeting of the subcontinent, hoping to find out a reasonable way, with the British peaceful solution to the problem, but the British colonial King insists must be unconditional submission to the British monarch and Accept the punishment. 1775, Dianranzhanhuo in Massachusetts, in May, held the second meeting of the subcontinent, the war and an independent firm determination and made the famous declaration of independence, sufficient reasons to fight this battle, this is also the final winner of the elements . 1781, the U.S. won a decisive victory in 1783, the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the War of Independence. To form a new government (1784-1819) The success of the revolution, so that the American people have to legislate to express their political ideas opportunities. 1787, the Federation meeting held in Philadelphia, will be in Washington pushed for the President, they have adopted the principle that the central authority of a general nature, but there must be prudent regulations and that, at the same time, they also accept the fact that That is, there must be a national government revenue, casting currency adjustment commerce, declare war and the conclusion of the treaty powers. In addition, in order to prevent the excessive power and the right to take all political Montesquieu's theory that the Government set up three equal cooperation with the checks and balances of the departments, the legislative, executive and judicial powers are to reconcile each other, without any checks and balances The right to a position of control. Westward expansion (1820-1849) The early 19th century, thousands of people across the Appalachian Mountains, moving westwards, some pioneers, moved to the U.S. border, even depth of Mexico's territory, and between Alaska and California and Oregon. Portland courage, diligence and westward to seek a better life. North-South conflict (1850-1869) The reasons for the cause of civil war, is not only economic, political, and military issues, including the ideological conflict. Civil war has exposed the weakness of the United States. The existence of this country, made a test. After this test, the United States before moving towards a centralization of the modern state of easy. Between North and South, slavery issue Qizheng Zhi, in the south of the main political principle, the protection and expansion "of cotton and the slave system" represent the interests of the northern states, mainly from the manufacturing, commercial and financial centre, These need not rely on the production of slaves, the economic and political conflicts are long-standing. In the early 1860, the 11 southern states from the Federation, another government, the North said that reunification will not hesitate to pay any price. 1861, civil war broke out, the Americans face-to-face bloody war, fought four years, the South has been seriously damaged, it left deep scars. 1865, North defeated, the victory not only shows that the U.S. resumption of reunification, but, from all parts of the country is no longer the purposes of slavery. Industrialization and Reform (1870-1929) The early 19th century, the United States began industrialization, and after the civil war, then entered a mature stage. From the First World War to the civil war in less than 50 hours, she from a rural Republic of the city into the country. Machines to replace hand, a substantial increase in product. The national railway network and enhance the flow of goods. Should the public need, many new inventions should be a city. Banking loans, contributed to the expansion of industrial and commercial operations. Therefore, from 1890 to 1917 in nearly 30 years as the so-called "progressive era", 1914, the outbreak of World War II, 1917, the United States finally being caught in the midst of World War II, and in the world and try to play a new role. World War II (1930-1959) Economic panic, affecting not only the United States, all countries in the world by the attacks, economic panic, so that millions of unemployed workers, a large number of farmers forced to give up land, factories closed down shops, banks collapse, a recession. In 1932, Roosevelt was elected president, he maintained that the Government should take action to end the economic panic, although the new government to resolve the many difficulties, but the U.S. economy or to the Second World War, only to awake. After the Second World War, the Soviet Union the two countries and relations deteriorate, respectively, in the military, political, economic and propaganda in terms of stepping up preparations, as in wartime, such a state, known as the "Cold War." The mid-1970s, a time of economic recovery, but not to the 1970s period, and inflation. 1976, the 200th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the country held various celebration activities. April 12, 1981, the United States successfully launched the "Columbia" space shuttle, another human into space and a new era. In 1985, President Reagan re-election, with each passing day in the history of human development, the United States will start a new page. Third, political Government President of the cabinet system. President is the Head of State, Heads of Government and armed forces commander-in-chief. President's executive order and the law have the same effect. President through indirect elections for a term of four years. Government ministers from the cabinet and the president appointed the other members. In fact only from the cabinet and presidential aides of the role of the consultants, there is no collective decision-making powers. January 20, 2001, George Walker Bush was sworn in as president on January 20, 2005 began a second term. Vice President Richard布鲁斯切尼(Richard Bruce Cheney), Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (Condoleezza Rice). Constitution July 4, 1776 enacted a constitutional document "of Federal Regulations." May 1787 developed a draft constitution, in March 1789 the first Congress declared effective. It is the world's first one as an independent, unified country's written constitution. Two centuries, it has developed a 27 constitutional amendments. Important changes are: September 1791, adopted by Congress, including guarantees belief, expression, peaceful assembly and freedom of publication rights, the constitutional amendment before 10, after the name "bill of rights" (or "bill of rights"); 1865 And 1870 adopted on the abolition of slavery and the recognition of black civil rights of 13 and 15 amendments in 1951 through the provisions of the President can not exercise his powers as vice president he was promoted to president from the first 25 amendments. Are the main contents of the Constitution established the federal system, states have more autonomy, including the power to legislate; implementation of the political system of separation of powers, legislative, administrative, judicial departments utmost, and mutual constraints.

North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico Area: 9,629,091 sq km Climate: mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains Terrain: vast central plain, mountains in west, hills and low mountains in east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska; rugged, volcanic topography in Hawaii Population: 272,639,608 (July 1999 est.) Religions: Protestant 56%, Roman Catholic 28%, Jewish 2%, other 4%, none 10% (1989) Languages: English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority) Capital: Washington, DC

The development of the Culture of the United States of America has been marked by a tension between two strong sources of inspiration: European ideals, especially British; and domestic originality.American culture encompasses traditions, ideals, customs, beliefs, values, arts, and innovations developed both domestically and imported via colonization and immigration from the British Isles. Prevalent ideas and ideals which evolved domestically such as important national holidays, uniquely American sports, proud military tradition, and innovations in the arts and entertainment give a strong sense of national pride among the population as a whole.It includes both conservative and liberal elements, military and scientific competitiveness, political structures, risk taking and free expression, materialist and moral elements.It also includes elements which evolved from Native Americans, and other ethnic subcultures; most prominently the culture of African American slave descendants and different cultures from Latin America. Many cultural elements, especially popular culture have been exported across the globe through modern mass media where American culture is sometimes resented[citation needed]. A few[which?] of the cultural elements have remained rather exclusive to North America.