United States of America

Where is the United States of America? The United States is the world's richest country. It is in North America.

The flag has a star for each current state and a bar for each founding state. It was based on a design used by the british Hudson's Bay company at the time.
Mount Rushmore, with four US presidents carved into it to represent the first 130 years of the history of the United States.
New York.

The United States of America - sometimes abbreviated to 'US' and often simply called 'America' - occupies the central portion of North America. Canada is to the north, and Mexico to the south.

For thousands of years, the United States was home to five hundred American Indian nations.

After the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1472, it became a target for European colonists who were embarking on the 'Age of Discovery'.

Many countries claimed parts of the United States, including England, Holland, Spain and France. In a series of battles, England came to claim the east coast, while Spain claimed the south and west, and France claimed the middle area which they called Louisiana (after Louis, the King of France).

By the end of the 18th century, the colonies of Britain were prosperous, but some people in them wanted more independence. Eventually a Revolutionary War broke out. Many colonists did not agree with the war and moved north to Canada. The rest set up the United States of America, which at first had just 13 members – the original English colonies.

Gradually the people of the United States, who by now called themselves 'Americans', explored westwards, believing it was their 'Manifest Destiny' to rule the whole of middle North America 'From sea to shining sea'. To do this they took over land that was Spanish and French. Many of the American Indians were badly treated at this time and later, and they found themselves on small reservations on poor land, while the newcomers took over the good land.

The United States turned out to have enormous wealth in terms of farmland and minerals. As millions poured into America from all over the world, determined to make their fortunes, the population of the United States grew.

Things did not go well, all the time, however, and in the 1860s there was a civil war between the North and South. This was a war that involved slaves. At the end of it, slavery was abolished, but the African American people remain disadvantaged to this day.

For the time since then, America has been fortunate not to have had a war on its land, while Europe was the site of two world wars. This was one reason that the United States could develop ahead of Europe. It also had more people and a greater wealth of resources. The attitude of the people, including the immigrants was also 'get up and go'.

The United States is still a land of immigrants, with many now coming from Mexico and countries to the south. The 'Latino' population is set to become greater than the 'European' population in the future decades.


State Initial

State name

State capital

Date of statehood

AL Alabama Montgomery December 14, 1819
AK Alaska Juneau January 3, 1959
AZ Arizona Phoenix February 14, 1912
AR Arkansas Little Rock June 15, 1836
CA California Sacramento September 9, 1850
CO Colorado Denver August 1, 1876
CT Connecticut Hartford January 9, 1788
DE Delaware Dover December 7, 1787
FL Florida Tallahassee March 3, 1845
GA Georgia Atlanta January 2, 1788
HI Hawaii Honolulu August 21, 1959
ID Idaho Boise July 3, 1890
IL Illinois Springfield December 3, 1818
IN Indiana Indianapolis December 11, 1816
IA Iowa Des Moines December 28, 1846
KS Kansas Topeka January 29, 1861
KY Kentucky Frankfort June 1, 1792
LA Louisiana Baton Rouge April 30, 1812
ME Maine Augusta March 15, 1820
MD Maryland Annapolis April 28, 1788
MA Massachusetts Boston February 6, 1788
MI Michigan Lansing January 26, 1837
MN Minnesota Saint Paul May 11, 1858
MS Mississippi Jackson December 10, 1817
MO Missouri Jefferson City August 10, 1821
MT Montana Helena November 8, 1889
NE Nebraska Lincoln March 1, 1867
NV Nevada Carson City October 31, 1864
NH New Hampshire Concord June 21, 1788
NJ New Jersey Trenton December 18, 1787
NM New Mexico Santa Fe January 6, 1912
NY New York Albany July 26, 1788
NC North Carolina Raleigh November 21, 1789
ND North Dakota Bismarck November 2, 1889
OH Ohio Columbus March 1, 1803
OK Oklahoma Oklahoma City November 16, 1907
OR Oregon Salem February 14, 1859
PA Pennsylvania Harrisburg December 12, 1787
RI Rhode Island Providence May 19, 1790
SC South Carolina Columbia May 23, 1788
SD South Dakota Pierre November 2, 1889
TN Tennessee Nashville June 1, 1796
TX Texas Austin December 29, 1845
UT Utah Salt Lake City January 4, 1896
VT Vermont Montpelier March 4, 1791
VA Virginia Richmond June 25, 1788
WA Washington Olympia November 11, 1889
WV West Virginia Charleston June 20, 1863
WI Wyoming Cheyenne July 10, 1890
Video: a video of the History of the United States is available by clicking the start arrow. Many more videos are available under geography>>settlement and also individual states.

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