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Introduction | Name Origin | Geography | Environment |
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United States of America
Introduction : 
The United States of America, also known as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the U.S. of A., The States and America, is a country in North America that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and shares land borders with Canada and Mexico. The United States is a federal republic, with its capital in Washington, D.C. At over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.5 million km²), the U.S. (including its non-contiguous and overseas states and territories) is the third or fourth largest country by total area, depending on whether China's figures include its disputed areas. It is the world's third most populous nation, with over 300 million people, as well as the world's most populous Christian-majority nation, with members representing all major denominations.
The present day continental United States was inhabited for at least 15,000 years by peoples who had immigrated from Asia during the most recent period of glaciation. In the 16th century European exploration and settlement began, led by the Spanish and followed by English and French; the Dutch and the Swedes also made abortive attempts at settlement. On July 4, 1776, at war with Britain over fair governance, thirteen British colonies on the Eastern seaboard declared their independence and in 1783, the war ended with British acceptance of the new nation.
July 4, 1776, is generally considered to be the date on which the U.S. was founded.
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Name Origin :
The earliest known use of the name America is from 1507, when a globe and a large map created by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges described the combined continents of the North and South Americas. Although the origin of the name is uncertain, the most widely held belief is that expressed in an accompanying book, Cosmographiae Introductio, which explains it as a feminized version of the Latin name of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (Americus Vespucius); in Latin, the other continents' names were all feminine. Vespucci theorized, correctly, that Christopher Columbus, on reaching islands in the Caribbean Sea in 1492, had come not to India but to a "New World".
The Americas were also known as Columbia, after Columbus, prompting the name District of Columbia for the land set aside as the U.S. capital. Columbia remained a popular name for the United States until the early 20th century, when it fell into relative disuse; but it is still used poetically and appears in various names and titles. One female personification of the country is called Columbia; she is similar to Britannia. Columbus Day is a holiday in the U.S. and other countries in the Americas commemorating Columbus' October 1492 landing. The term "united States of America" was first used officially in the Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776.
On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first of which stated "The Stile [sic] of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America.'" The name was originally proposed by Thomas Paine. The adjectival and demonymic forms for the United States are American, although the use of this term has been disputed, as it can also refer to inhabitants of both North and South America.
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Geography
The U.S. has an extremely varied geography, particularly in the West. The eastern seaboard has a coastal plain which is widest in the south and narrows in the north. The coastal plain does not exist north of New Jersey, although there are glacial outwash plains on Long Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket.
The abrupt rise of the Rocky Mountains, at the western edge of the Great Plains, extends north to south across the continental U.S., reaching altitudes over 14,000 feet (4,270 m) in Colorado.[11] In the past, the Rocky Mountains had a higher level of volcanic activity; nowadays, the range only has one area of volcanism (the supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, possibly the world's largest volcano), although rift volcanism has occurred relatively recently near the Rockies' southern margin in New Mexico.[12] Dozens of high mountain ranges, salt flats such as the Bonneville Salt Flats, and valleys are found in the Great Basin region located west of the Rockies and east of the Sierra Nevada, which also has deep chasms, including the Snake River.
At the southwestern end of the Great Basin, Death Valley lies 282 feet (86 m) below sea level, the second lowest dry land on Earth. It is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere and is situated near the Mojave Desert.
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Environment :
The U.S. has over 17,000 identified native plant and tree species, including 5,000 just in California (which is home to the tallest, the most massive, and the oldest trees in the world). With habitats ranging from tropical to arctic, the flora of the U.S. is the most diverse of any country; yet, thousands of non-native exotic species sometimes adversely affect indigenous plant and animal communities.
Over 400 species of mammal, 700 species of bird, 500 species of reptile and amphibian, and 90,000 species of insect have been documented.
Conservation has a long history in the U.S.; in 1872, the world's first National Park was established at Yellowstone. Another 57 national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks and forests have since been designated. In some parts of the country, wilderness areas have been established to ensure long-term protection of pristine habitats. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitors endangered and threatened species and has set aside numerous areas for species and habitat preservation. Altogether, the U.S. government regulates 1,020,779 square miles (2,643,807 km²), which is 28.8% of the total land area of the U.S. The bulk of this land is protected park and forestland, but some is leased for oil and gas exploration, mining, and cattle ranching.
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