The United States of America, abbreviated as the
United States, is a state in North America. Area - 9.5 million km²
(4th place in the world). Population - just over 333 million people
(2021, estimate; 3rd place in the world). The United States has a
federal form of structure, administratively divided into 50 states
and the Federal District of Columbia; a number of island territories
(Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam and others) are also subordinate
to them.
The capital is Washington DC, and the largest in
terms of population is New York City. The United States borders
Canada in the north, Mexico in the south, and also has a sea border
with Russia in the west. They are washed by the Pacific Ocean from
the west, the Atlantic Ocean from the east and the Arctic Ocean from
the north.
The United States of America was formed in 1776
with the unification of thirteen British colonies that declared
their independence. The War of Independence lasted until 1783 and
ended with the victory of the colonists. In 1787, the US
Constitution was adopted, and in 1791 - the Bill of Rights, which
significantly limited the powers of the government over citizens. In
1861, conflicts between the slave-owning southern and industrial
northern states led to the outbreak of a four-year Civil War. The
consequence of the victory of the northern states was the widespread
prohibition of slavery, as well as the restoration of the country
after the split that arose when the southern states were united into
the Confederation and declared their independence.
Until the
First World War, US foreign policy activity was limited to interests
in the territories of North, Central and South America - according
to the Monroe Doctrine formulated back in 1823. After the First
World War, the United States Congress did not give consent to the
country's entry into international organizations (for example, the
League of Nations and the Chamber of International Justice under
it), which limited the role of the United States in world politics.
However, the country's participation in the anti-Hitler coalition
significantly increased the influence of the United States on the
world arena, and from the second half of the 20th century, the
country became the core of the so-called. "First World". In 1945,
the United States became the first nuclear power and the first and
only country to use nuclear weapons in hostilities (the atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), and since 1946 they were in a
state of global confrontation with the USSR, which lasted until the
early 1990s, when The Soviet Union ceased to exist.
The
United States possesses the armed forces with the most powerful
nuclear capabilities on the planet in terms of the total number of
deployed warheads, but second after Russia in the total number of
nuclear warheads, including the world's largest naval forces; have a
permanent seat on the UN Security Council with veto power; are the
founding state of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO), one of the
founders of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States (OAS) and other
international organizations.
The United States is a highly
developed country, the largest economy in the world in terms of
nominal GDP and second in terms of GDP (PPP). Although the country's
population is only 4.3% of the global population, Americans own
about 40% of the world's total wealth. The United States leads the
world in a number of socio-economic indicators, including average
wages, HDI, GDP per capita, and labor productivity. While the US
economy is post-industrial, characterized by a predominance of the
service sector and the knowledge economy, the country's
manufacturing sector remains the second largest in the world.
The country's economy accounts for about a quarter of world GDP
and generates a third of global military spending, making the United
States the world's main economic and military power. In addition,
the United States has the most political and cultural influence in
the world, is also a leader in scientific research and technological
innovation, and is currently considered the only superpower on the
planet.
In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller
published a map of the world, on which the lands of the Western
Hemisphere were named America in honor of the Italian explorer and
cartographer Amerigo Vespucci, this was the first use of the toponym
"America".
The first documented use of the name "United States of
America" is a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylen,
an aide to George Washington. In a letter to Lieutenant Colonel Joseph
Reed, Moylen expressed his desire to carry "the full and sufficient
powers of the United States of America" to Spain to assist in the
revolutionary war.
The first known publication of the name
"United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia
Gazette, published in Williamsburg, Virginia on April 6, 1776.
The second version of the Articles of Confederation (the first
constitutional document of the United States), prepared by John
Dickinson and completed no earlier than June 17, 1776, contained the
text: "The name of this Confederation shall be the United States of
America." The final version of the Articles of Confederation sent to the
states for ratification at the end of 1777 contains the sentence "The
name of this Confederation is the United States of America." In June
1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"
in capital letters in the title of his "original draft" of the
Declaration of Independence. This draft was not published until June 21,
1776, and it is unclear whether it was written before or after Dickinson
used the term "United States of America" in his June 17 draft of the
Articles of Confederation.
The short form of the name of the
country - "United States" (English United States) - is also standard.
Other common forms of country names in English are also "U.S.", the
"USA", and "America". The colloquial form is "U.S. of A." and, at the
international level, "States" (in Russian, respectively - "States"). The
name "Columbia", popular in poems and songs of the late 18th century,
comes from the name of the discoverer of America, Christopher Columbus;
in the toponymy of the United States, it was fixed in the name "Federal
District of Columbia".
Initially, the official name "United
States" had only the plural form - "the United States are", for example,
in the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1865.
The singular form - "the United States is" - became popular only after
the end of the American Civil War. The standard form is currently the
singular form; the plural form is preserved only in the idiom "these
United States" (eng. "these United States"). The difference between
singular and plural plays an important role, because it emphasizes that
we are talking about a single state.
The demonym for citizens of
the United States is "Americans" (eng. Americans). In English, the word
"American" rarely refers to topics or subjects not directly related to
the United States.
Location
The core US territory (called the
continental states) is located on the North American continent and
stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in
the west. The United States borders Mexico to the south and Canada to
the north. In addition, the United States includes 2 more states. In the
extreme northwest of the American continent is the state of Alaska,
which also borders Canada. The border with Russia runs through the
Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is located in the Pacific Ocean. The
United States also owns a number of islands in the Caribbean (eg Puerto
Rico) and in the Pacific (American Samoa, Midway, Guam and others).
Subject territories
Under one or another administration of the
United States is (but not included in them) a number of island
territories with different statuses. On the territory of the uninhabited
atoll of Palmyra, the US Constitution is fully in force. The rest of the
territories have their own basic legislation. The largest of these
territories is Puerto Rico.
Relief
On the main territory of
the country, to the west of the Atlantic Lowland, the Appalachian
Mountains stretch, behind which are the Central Plains (200-500 m above
sea level), the Great Plains plateau (600-1500 m). Almost the entire
west is occupied by the Cordillera mountain system.
Climate
Since the country is located on a large territory, almost all climatic
zones are represented in it - from the arctic climate in northern Alaska
to the tropical climate in Hawaii and southern Florida.
Nature
and natural resources
The bowels are rich in reserves of various
natural resources, including hard and brown coal, iron and manganese
ore. The Cordilleras, the Colorado Plateau, the Great Plains and the
Mexican Lowland have deposits of copper, zinc, lead, silver, chromite,
vanadium, tungsten, molybdenum, titanium, polymetallic, uranium and
mercury ores, as well as gold, sulfur, phosphates and other chemical raw
materials.
The rivers that have formed deep canyons belong to the
basins of water sources flowing into the Pacific Ocean. The Mississippi
(with a tributary of the Missouri) - one of the longest river systems on
the planet - stretches for 6420 km. On the border with Canada are the
Great Lakes - Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, Ontario.
Vegetation
The slopes of the Cordilleras are covered with dense
coniferous forests, the Appalachians - with broad-leaved forests; there
are almost no prairies left. In the north of Alaska, tundra vegetation
is common.
The abundance of moisture favors the development of
the most diverse vegetation in the Atlantic regions and the
Appalachians; and especially forest vegetation. Trees are not found only
on bare rocks or in low-lying marshy places; tall reeds and mosses grow
in the latter. The Appalachian flora is distinguished by a wide variety
of species, including tree species: American species of chestnut and
plane tree, hickory, magnolia, and tulip tree are found here.
The
forested region of New England is similar in its tree species to the
coastal provinces of Canada. In the north, it is surrounded by a region
of pines with an important representative of it, the Weymouth pine. The
region of deciduous trees extends approximately to the valley of the
Allegheny River, which serves as the limit of two vegetative regions,
Pennsylvania and pre-Mississippian, but in general the distinction is
not sharp, and the same tree species are found here in both the northern
and southern Atlantic regions, despite climate difference.
The
coastal sandy strips and swampy lowlands of the southern Atlantic states
are covered with pine forests. Here, next to the pines, huge cypress
trees with straight trunks, thickened at the base like an onion and
resting on strong processes of the aerial part of their rhizome, also
rise, while its dagger-shaped respiratory appendages stick out from the
underground part of the trunk (from which beehives were made). Cypress
branches are hung with a gray "Spanish beard". The forests of the
eastern part are rich in undergrowth, creepers and other climbing
plants; in the forests of South Carolina and Georgia there are patching,
orange trees, catalpa, wild rosemary; Florida vegetation is already
tropical.
None of the countries of the temperate zone, except for
the countries of East Asia, has such a richness and diversity of flora
as the United States. In the central basin, from the Appalachian
mountains to the prairies of Illinois, formerly endless forests, the
area of \u200b\u200bwhich was equal to the space of France, Spain and
Italy combined, and now greatly thinned out by man, consist almost
exclusively of deciduous species - oak, ash, elm, hickory and others. In
the north, they are limited by the belt of white pine, in the southern
Appalachian part, by the area of balsam fir, and further south, near
the Gulf of Mexico, by the area of pine and marsh cypress.
To the west, the forests break off already in such
pre-Mississippian states as Illinois (nicknamed the "steppe state"), and
boundless expanses of meadow steppes (prairies) begin. The predominance
of herbaceous vegetation (with the color of meadows red in spring, blue
in summer, and yellow in autumn), according to some, depends on climatic
conditions, according to others, on the powdery nature of the soil.
However, there are also places where the former prairies are overgrown
with forests - for example, in the Kentucky Green River basin and on the
Missouri plain near St. Louis. Flora of the prairies (now cut into
fields, with driveable roads) - with denser and taller vegetation. To
the west of the Mississippi are the territories of the Great Plains with
more sparse vegetation (due to dryness) than in the prairies of the
pre-Mississippi. Still further, rising to the Rocky Mountains, there are
already desert steppes, in which Chernobyl predominates, especially in
the salt marshes beyond the Arkansas River. Cactus thickets also begin
here, thanks to which the Llano Estacado area resembles the slopes of
the Mexican Sierra Madre.
Even further west, but only exclusively
in the mountains, forest areas begin again (but these are no longer
dense forests of the eastern part): the trees here are not so branched,
there is no undergrowth, lianas are rare; and the forests are more like
parks than the virgin forests of Kentucky and Virginia. In the
Mississippi Valley, due to extreme temperatures and hot summers with
heavy summer rains, almost tropical plants breed in places where the
average temperature is much lower than in other countries under the same
latitudes - for example, sugarcane, cotton, corn, yielding abundant
crops. .
The flora of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific slope
is very different: from the Upper Missouri to the highlands of Texas and
from the lowland plains of Colorado to the Sierra Nevada, cacti and
mugwort grow on calcareous and saline areas, reaching great heights on
the high uplands. In the southern parts of the same region, thorny
bushes reach a considerable height. Rising higher along the Rocky
Mountains, there is a belt of juniper, then - pines. On the Pacific
slope, due to the influence of moist westerly winds, mighty coniferous
vegetation with its giant representatives developed; it covers the high
valleys and escarpments of the Sierra Nevada, runs north into British
Columbia and Alaska, branching east into Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.
Pseudo-hemflock of Menzies prevails here, reaching up to 80 and even up
to 100 m in height. In the Coastal Ranges, a sequoia of even greater
height grows: it forms huge forests near the Russian River.
Geology
The subsoil is rich in reserves of various natural resources,
in particular, hard and brown coal, iron and manganese ore. The
Cordilleras, the Colorado Plateau, the Great Plains and the Mexican
Lowland have deposits of copper, zinc, lead, silver, chromite, vanadium,
tungsten, molybdenum, titanium, polymetallic, uranium, mercury ores,
gold, sulfur, phosphates and other chemical raw materials.
Historical dates
1565 - The Spaniards founded the
first European settlement on the territory of the modern United States -
the city of St. Augustine.
1585 - Founding of the Roanoke Colony -
the first unsuccessful attempt by the British to colonize America.
1607 - The first permanent British colony in North America, Jamestown,
Virginia, is founded.
1609 - The Spanish found Santa Fe - the
beginning of a major expansion of Spanish colonization in the Southwest
of the present-day United States.
1620 - founded the first in New
England - the historical center of the United States - a colony,
Plymouth.
1623 New Hampshire colony founded.
1626 - The Dutch
found New Amsterdam, the capital of the Dutch possessions in North
America, which later became New York.
1630 - the foundation of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony by the British Puritans, whose capital - Boston
- became the largest city of the British colonies in North America.
1634 - the foundation of the colony of Maryland by English Catholic
settlers.
1636 - Baptists, expelled from the Massachusetts Bay
Colony, found the colony of Rhode Island.
1638 - The Swedes establish
their colony in what is now the state of Delaware. In less than 20
years, the colony comes under the control of the Netherlands.
1638 -
Founding of the Connecticut Colony by immigrants from the Massachusetts
Bay Colony.
1670 - the foundation of the British colony of Carolina,
which was divided in 1729 into two colonies: South Carolina and North
Carolina.
1682 - Declaration of the Mississippi basin as the
possession of the French king.
1682 - Quaker William Penn founds the
Colony of Pennsylvania, whose first capital, Philadelphia, became the
capital of the united colonies during the Revolutionary War and the
first capital of the United States.
1701 - the foundation of Fort
Detroit - the largest point of French colonial expansion in the Great
Lakes region.
1718 - The French found New Orleans, which became the
center of the promotion of French colonization in the territory of the
modern United States.
1724 - the foundation of the southernmost
British colony in North America - Georgia.
1763 - The French found
St. Louis - the most important stronghold in the middle reaches of the
Mississippi.
1769 - The Spanish found San Diego, this is the
beginning of the Spanish colonization of Upper California.
December
16, 1773 - The Boston Tea Party begins the American Revolutionary War.
1774 - First Continental Congress - the beginning of an open
confrontation between the North American colonies and the mother
country.
1775-1783 Revolutionary War, also known as the American
Revolution.
1784 - Foundation of the first Russian settlement in the
Bay of Three Saints on Kodiak Island.
1787, September 17 - The
Constitutional Convention, convened in Philadelphia, adopted the US
Constitution.
1789, September 25 - Adoption of the Bill of Rights -
the first ten amendments to the US Constitution, guaranteeing the
fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens.
1789 - First US
presidential election. George Washington becomes the first President of
the United States with 100% of the electoral votes.
1799 - The
foundation of the Russian-American Company - the beginning of the
comprehensive development of Alaska by Russia.
1800 - Transfer of the
US capital from Philadelphia to Washington.
1803 - Louisiana Purchase
- acquisition of French possessions in North America from Napoleonic
France, as a result of which the country's territory doubled.
1804 -
Foundation of Novoarkhangelsk - the future capital of Russian America.
1812 - Foundation of Fort Ross - the southernmost point of Russian
expansion in America.
1812-1815 - Anglo-American war.
1816-1817 -
a Russian fortress was created in the Hawaiian Islands.
1818 -
Agreement with Great Britain on the definition of the border between the
United States and British possessions in the Mississippi basin, as a
result of which the United States withdrew part of the territory of
Minnesota and North Dakota.
February 21, 1819 - The Adams-Onis
agreement to purchase Florida for US$5 million is ratified.
1820 -
Missouri Compromise, which allowed the balance between North and South
to be maintained for another three decades.
1823 - The first
statement of the Monroe Doctrine as a fundamental concept of US foreign
policy.
1828 - Founding of the US Democratic Party.
May 28, 1830 -
The United States Congress passes a law deporting the Indians of the
East Coast of the United States west to the future Oklahoma.
1841
Sale of Fort Ross to US citizen John Sutter.
December 29, 1845 -
Accession of the Republic of Texas to the United States as a state.
1846 - Accession by agreement with Great Britain of the Territory of
Oregon - the northwest of the modern United States.
1846-1848 -
Mexican-American War.
1846-1848 - Migration of Mormons from Illinois
to Utah - one of the most massive and organized immigration movements in
the western United States.
1848-1855 - Gold Rush in California, which
contributed to the rapid settlement of English-speaking settlers in the
American West.
1850 - Act to capture fugitive slaves throughout the
United States as a compromise with the South on the issue of admission
to the Union of California as a free state.
1853 - The Gadsden Treaty
- the acquisition by the United States of part of the territories of the
modern states of Arizona and New Mexico. The final establishment of the
southwestern state border.
1854 - Founding of the Republican Party of
the United States.
1854, May 30 - The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska
Act by the US Congress, which upset the balance between the northern
farming and southern slave states.
1854-1856 - The Kansas Civil War,
which became a rehearsal for the Civil War.
1857-1858 War between
Mormons and federal government in Utah.
1859 - John Brown rebellion
in Virginia against slavery.
1860-1861 Secession of slave states from
the Union.
1861-1865 - Civil War.
1867 Purchase of Alaska from the
Russian Empire.
1898 - Spanish-American War, as a result of which the
United States received the Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and some
other territories. Cuba became dependent on the United States until the
Cuban Revolution in 1959.
1913, December 23 - the creation of the
Federal Reserve System (FRS).
1917
April 6 - As a result of the
so-called "Zimmermann Telegram", the United States enters the First
World War on the side of the Entente.
The Espionage Act imposed a
penalty of up to 20 years in prison for "spreading false information
about the U.S. armed forces in order to interfere with their operations,
cause a riot, or interfere with military recruitment."
1929 - The
beginning of the Great Depression in the United States - one of the most
serious shocks in American history, which had a huge impact not only on
the economy, but also on the culture of the country.
1940 - passage
of the Smith Act.
1941, December 7 - Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,
the United States enters World War II, declaring war on Japan on
December 8.
1945
August 6 and 9 - atomic bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki (Japan). About 250 thousand people die, mostly civilians.
August 10 - Japan expresses readiness to surrender to the countries of
the anti-Hitler coalition.
August 15 - Emperor Hirohito made a radio
announcement of surrender. Victory Day over Japan (V-J Day).
1950-1953 - war in Korea.
1960
August-October - the
nationalization of the property of American companies in Cuba.
1961
January 20 - John F. Kennedy takes office as President of the United
States.
May 5 - Alan Shepard's suborbital spaceflight on Freedom 7.
1962
February 3 - John F. Kennedy imposes a complete embargo on trade
with Cuba.
Caribbean crisis.
1963
May - mass demonstrations of
the Negro population of Birmingham (Alabama) against racial
discrimination.
November 22 - President John F. Kennedy is
assassinated.
1964-1973 - Vietnam War.
July 21, 1969 - Astronaut
Neil Armstrong first landed on the moon.
1973, March - 1974, August 9
- Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon leaves the White House in
disgrace.
1986, January 28 - the death of the Challenger shuttle.
1987
June 12 - Ronald Reagan, who spoke near the Berlin Wall, called
on Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy it.
October 19 - "Black Monday" (Dow
Jones fell by 22.68%).
1991 - Gulf War, liberation of Kuwait from
Iraqi occupation.
1992, April 30 - May 2 - African-American riot in
Los Angeles.
1992-1994 - peacekeeping operation in Somalia.
1999 -
military operation against Yugoslavia.
2001 - September 11 terrorist
attack.
2001 - the beginning of the military operation in
Afghanistan, which continues to this day.
2003, February 1 - the
death of the Columbia shuttle.
2003-2011 - Iraqi war.
2005
September - Hurricane Katrina caused levees to burst, flooding the city
of New Orleans, and subsequent riots and looting.
2007 - US mortgage
crisis.
2008, September - the beginning of the global financial
crisis in the United States.
2011, March - October - military
operation against Libya.
2014, September - present - US involvement
in the civil war in Syria.
2016, November - December - Protests
against Donald Trump.
2019, May - present - conflict in Iran.
2020
January - Present - The spread of COVID-19 in the United States.
2020, May - present - Protests in the USA after the killing of George
Floyd.
2021, January 6 - Capitol Capitol.
The United States of America consists of 50 states
that are equal subjects of the federation, the capital federal district
of Columbia and the incorporated unorganized territory of Palmyra Atoll.
Each state has its own constitution, legislature, executive and
judiciary. Most of the state names come from the names of Indian tribes
and the names of the kings of England and France.
The states are
divided into counties (eng. county, parish (Louisiana), borough
(Alaska)) - smaller administrative units (smaller than the state, but
not smaller than the city), with the exception of five counties
(boroughs) as part of the city of New York. In total, according to the
US Census Bureau, there are 3,141 districts in the country. Delaware has
the fewest counties (3), and Texas has the most counties (254). The
powers of the administration of the districts and the relationship with
the municipal authorities of the settlements located on their territory
vary greatly from state to state. Local life of settlements is managed
by municipalities.
The first people (Indian tribes that migrated from
Siberia to Alaska) settled in the United States about 10 thousand years
ago, and their descendants remained the predominant ethnic component
until the end of the 17th century. The modern population of the United
States, however, reflects the genetic heritage of the indigenous people
much less, since for the most part modern residents are descendants of
relatively recent (XVII-XX centuries) immigrants from Europe (mainly
West) and Africa. Only the children of immigrants born in the United
States receive the full right to be called "Americans". The country
maintains a clear division into foreigners and natives, between whom
there is a significant cultural and linguistic distance. This
difference, however, limits the internal division. Americans The United
States is a heterogeneous nation with a diverse racial composition. The
dominant race in all respects and regions (except for the state of
Hawaii) is currently the Caucasoid race - immigrants from the United
Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Ireland and other European countries. Further,
the Negroid race, the Mongoloid race, the Americanoid race and others
stand out, which account for more than a third of the population.
Population dynamics is as follows:
Languages
According to the
US Census Bureau, the most widely spoken native language in the United
States is English. In 2009, 228.7 million Americans over 5 years of age
(80.0%) spoke it as their first language. Spanish is the native language
of 35.5 million US residents (12.4%).
The Russian language ranks
9th in terms of the number of speakers in the United States - over 882
thousand people (0.31%). In terms of prevalence, it is inferior to
Chinese (2.6 million), Tagalog (1.5 million), French (1.3 million),
Vietnamese (1.3 million), German (1.1 million) and Korean (1.0 million).
).
The largest number of Russian-speaking Americans lives in the
state of New York (218,765 people, or 30.98% of all native speakers of
the Russian language), the smallest - in the state of Wyoming (170
people, or 0.02%). The top ten states where Russian is spoken also
include California, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
Washington, Florida, Maryland and Oregon. A fairly large number of
immigrants from Siberia and the Far East live in Northern California.
The highest proportion of Russian-speaking residents is in Alaska:
about 3% understand Russian to some extent, and about 8.5% profess
Orthodoxy. This is a consequence of the former belonging of the
territory of the state of Russia.
In the state of Hawaii, English
and Hawaiian are official languages. New Mexico has a law that ensures
the use of English and Spanish, in Louisiana - English and French (while
none of the languages is named official).
Insular
unincorporated territories with associated status (actually, US overseas
possessions) along with English provide official recognition to the
languages of the indigenous people: Samoan and Chamorro are
recognized, respectively, in American Samoa and Guam; Caroline and
Chamorro are recognized in the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is the
official language of Puerto Rico.
US names in major languages:
English: United States of America
Spanish: Estados Unidos de América
French: États-Unis d'Amérique
Hawaiian: ‘Amelika Hui Pū ‘ia
Cities
According to the US Census Bureau, about 82% of Americans live
in cities or suburbs (urban agglomerations), half of them live in cities
with a population of over fifty thousand people.
There are 314
cities in the USA with a population of more than 100,000 people, 10
cities with a population of more than a million inhabitants, and 4
cities with a population of more than two million people (New York, Los
Angeles, Chicago and Houston).
1 New York New York 8,336,817
2 Los
Angeles California 3,979,576
3 Chicago Illinois 2,693,976
4
Houston Texas 2,320,268
5 Phoenix Arizona 1,680,992
6 Philadelphia
Pennsylvania 1,584,064
7 San Antonio Texas 1,547,253
8 San Diego
California 1,423,851
9 Dallas Texas 1,343,573
10 San Jose
California 1,021,795
11 Austin Texas 978,908
12 Jacksonville
Florida 911,507
13 Fort Worth Texas 909,585
14 Columbus Ohio
898,553
15 Charlotte North Carolina 885,708
16 San Francisco
California 881,549
17 Indianapolis Indiana 876,384
18 Seattle
Washington 753,675
19 Denver Colorado 727,211
20 Washington DC
705,749
Religion
The First Amendment to the US
Constitution[33], adopted on December 15, 1791, proclaims the separation
of church and state, which the "Founding Fathers" understood as a ban on
the establishment of a state religion - similar to what happened in
Great Britain. According to a 2002 study by the Pew Global Attitudes
Project, the United States is the only developed country where a
majority of the population said religion plays a "very important role"
in their lives.
The American government does not keep official
statistics on religion. According to the 2018 CIA World Fact Book, the
religious composition of the United States is as follows:
Protestants
- 46.5% of the population
Catholics - 20.8% (predominant in the
southwestern and northeastern states);
Mormons - 1.6% (predominant in
Utah);
members of other Christian denominations - 0.9%;
Jews -
1.9%;
Muslims - 0.9%;
Jehovists - 0.8%,
Buddhists - 0.7%;
Hindus - 0.7%,
1.8% - others;
not belonging to any religious group
- 22.8%
According to the Pew Research Center, Protestants in the
United States are divided into religious groups as follows:
Baptists
- 15.4% of the population (49.1 million). Belong to the largest
religious organizations Southern Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist
Convention; 16.4 million people), Independent Baptists in the
Evangelical Tradition (8 million people), American Baptist Churches USA
(American Baptist Churches USA; 4.8 million people);
Methodists -
4.6% (14.7 million);
Pentecostals - 4.6% (14.7 million);
Lutherans
- 3.5% (predominant in North and South Dakota, 11.2 million);
Presbyterians, 2.2% (7 million);
restorationists - 1.9% (6 million);
Anglicans - 1.3% (4.1 million);
holiness movement - 0.8% (2.5
million);
Congregationalists - 0.6% (1.9 million);
Adventists -
0.6% (1.9 million).
The number of Orthodox in the United States
is about 0.55% of the population. In the United States, there is an
autocephalous local Orthodox Church - the Orthodox Church in America
(OCA), which received autocephaly from the Russian Orthodox Church in
1970. According to the OCA and the World Council of Churches, its
membership is 1 million people. Independent researchers estimate between
85,000 and 115,000 OCA believers in the United States. Also in the US
there are a number of Orthodox church structures of other jurisdictions;
the largest of them:
American Archdiocese;
Orthodox Church of
Constantinople;
Patriarchal parishes;
Russian Orthodox Church
Abroad.
Under the US constitution, adopted in 1787, certain
powers for the exercise of state power are transferred to the US federal
government. State powers not designated for transfer to the federal
government by the constitution are exercised by the states of the United
States.
The United States Constitution establishes the principle
of separation of powers, according to which the federal government
consists of legislative, executive and judicial bodies that act
independently of each other.
The highest legislative body is the
bicameral US Congress:
the lower house is the House of
Representatives;
the upper house is the Senate.
The highest
executive authority is the President of the United States. The president
is the head of state, commander in chief of the armed forces (see List
of US Presidents). There is also the post of Vice President.
The
highest judicial body is the US Supreme Court.
The main political
parties are Republican and Democratic. There are also many other,
smaller parties.
Foreign policy
US foreign policy is aimed at
achieving two main goals - to ensure the security of the state and its
citizens and to ensure the welfare of the country's citizens.
The US economy is the largest economy in the world in
nominal terms, accounting for at least a quarter of global GDP over the
past 50 years.
The American economy has a very high level of
transparency. Dozens of different statistical reports and economic
indicators are published by US government agencies with a frequency of
once every week, two, month, quarter and year. According to the law,
some of them are subject to revision in subsequent periods, depending on
the receipt of new data.
Reports subject to revision include, for
example, the monthly reports on GDP and personal income and expenditure
published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Revision of indicators
upwards or downwards is not uncommon.
In addition to dozens of
public ones, dozens of indicators of private (commercial and public)
organizations are published in the United States. For example, over a
long period of its existence, such indicators as the ADP Unemployment
Report, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, the
Standard & Poor’s Case-Schiller Index, etc. have earned trust.
The country's economy is one of the most diversified national economies
in the world and has been leading the world economy for the past 100
years. However, since the early 2000s, due to accelerated globalization
and the growth of the economies of developing countries, its influence
in the global economy has slightly decreased.
In 2019, consumer
spending accounted for 68% of the US economy. As of August 2010, the US
workforce includes more than 154 million people. The government is the
country's largest employer, with more than 21 million people employed by
state-owned companies and structures. The largest sector of employment
among private companies is health and social care (16.4 million people).
About 12% of workers are in trade unions (in Western Europe - 30%).
Manufacturing jobs have fallen by 5 million since 2000.
The US
economy was strengthened by the creation of a free trade area with
Canada and Mexico (NAFTA) in 1994-2008. The volume of US merchandise
exports to NAFTA countries in 1993-2013 increased by more than 5 times:
from $141.8 billion to $529.0 billion. The value of US merchandise
imports from NAFTA countries over the same period more than quadrupled:
from $150.8 billion to $625.0 billion.
The US government debt is
over $21 trillion. Since 2012, the US public debt has exceeded the
annual US GDP.
The global economic crisis of 2008 significantly
affected the United States. The number of products produced is still
below potential. The crisis provoked an increase in unemployment (which
is now declining, but is still above the pre-crisis level), a drop in
consumer confidence, an increase in the number of bankruptcies, an
aggravation of the tax crisis, an increase in inflation, and an increase
in fuel and food prices.
Industry
The US industry is
distinguished by a high level of industrial and territorial
concentration. It represents all existing industries focused on the
production of both mass and limited products.
Industry provides
(2004) less than 20% of the country's GDP (service sector - 79.4%;
agriculture - about 0.9% of GDP). According to the International
Monetary Fund, in 2012 the share of industrial production and services
in the US GDP was 22.1% ($3.23 trillion) and 76.8% ($11.2 trillion),
respectively.
Agriculture
Agriculture accounts for less than
1% of GDP, but the United States is the world's largest producer of corn
and soybeans. The United States is the main developer and producer of
genetically modified food; more than half of the world's volume of
genetically modified cereals is created here. In the 48 states, 35% of
the territory is used for pasture, 28% is covered with forest and 21% of
the territory is used for agricultural purposes.
According to the
World Bank, in 2012 the US was by far the world's top wheat exporter
(32.8 million tons worth $11.1 billion).
International trade
According to data for 2014, US exports amount to 1.45 trillion US
dollars (2nd place after China), and imports of 2.19 trillion US dollars
(1st place in the world).
Export (1.45 trillion): oil products,
cars, aircraft, helicopters, spare parts for cars, medicines.
Major buyers: Canada (17%), Mexico (13%), China (9.2%), Japan (4.6%),
Germany (4.2%)
Imports (2.19 trillion): crude oil, computers,
automobiles, petroleum products, machine parts, mobile phones, broadcast
equipment.
Main suppliers: China (20%), Canada (15%), Mexico
(13%), Japan (5.9%), Germany (5.5%), South Korea (3.2%).
The United States has a very developed transport,
engineering and other infrastructure, which in 2011 spent 2.4% of the
country's GDP, which amounted to approximately $362 billion.
Despite an increase in spending in absolute terms over the past 10
years, the country's share of spending on infrastructure remains below
the peak of 3.1% of GDP reached in the 1960s.
Car roads
The US
highway network is the longest road network in the world. Its total
length is 6,506,204 km.
It includes both federal roads (the
Interstate Highway System) and state and local roads.
Railways
Despite nearly halving railroads since the 1920s, the US still has the
longest railroad network in the world, at 226,427 km.
Air
transport
The United States has the largest number of airports and
airfields with hard runways (runways) in the world. The total number of
such air hubs is 5194.
The country is also the leader in the number
of airfields with unpaved runways. There are 9885 such objects.
The
airspace over the United States is one of the busiest on the planet. So,
according to The Guardian, in 2012, 4 of the 10 busiest airports in the
world were American.
According to a study by Hofstra University, the
US accounts for up to 70% of the world's domestic air travel.
In 2013, the United States generated 4,058 billion kWh
of electricity. According to 2012 data, the country produces 18.8% of
the global electricity production and ranks second in the world in this
indicator, second only to China.
In 2013, 67% of electricity was
generated by thermal power plants running on fossil fuels: 39% from
coal, 27% from natural gas, 1% from oil. 19% of electricity was produced
by nuclear power plants, 7% by hydroelectric power plants. 6% of
electricity generation is based on renewable energy: 1.5% - biofuel
power plants, 0.4% - geothermal energy, 0.2% - solar energy, 4.1% - wind
energy. Imports of electricity in the United States in 2012 amounted to
47 billion kWh.
The United States imports a significant part of
energy resources, but in connection with the "shale revolution" there is
a gradual reduction in the volume of purchased oil. If in 2005 the US
imported 10.1 million barrels per day, then in 2014 it was only 7.4
million barrels. At the same time, in 2010-2013, US oil purchases were
reduced in Venezuela by 33.5%, in Nigeria by 76.4%, and in Mexico by
26.1%. During this period, oil purchases were increased in Saudi Arabia
and Kuwait.
Since 2015, US gas companies have begun exporting
liquefied natural gas, and in December of the same year, the legal ban
on oil exports was lifted.
Cuisine
Starting with the traditions of English
cuisine of the 17th and 18th centuries, mixed with some of the culinary
traditions of the American Indians, American cuisine has changed
significantly over the past three centuries, becoming a synthesis of
culinary traditions from around the world, combining the cuisines of
various immigrant cultures:
in the Northeast, British cuisine and
cuisines of other European countries are popular;
in the South -
African and Mediterranean cuisines (chicken, schnitzels, seafood
dishes);
in the Southwest - Mexican cuisine (fajita, tacos,
burritos);
in the Midwest, Italian cuisine.
The traditional
and most recognizable American breakfast is bacon and eggs, pancakes
(pancakes) with maple syrup, and bread toast or sandwiches (for example,
with peanut butter and jam). The US is the home of corn flakes, which
are usually consumed with milk. Drinks include coffee and orange juice.
Lunch is usually very light and consists of salads, pasta with
tomato sauce, fast food and various sandwiches.
Dinner is quite
dense and varied. The first is usually served with soups or broths. The
second is meat and poultry dishes, sausages or seafood. All kinds of
vegetables are used for garnish (corn, asparagus, cauliflower, potatoes,
etc.).
Americans consume very little bread and other flour
products. Desserts are in great demand (fruits with whipped cream,
cakes, muffins, cookies).
Among the drinks, various fruit juices,
sodas are popular, as well as coffee (often with a huge amount of cream,
milk and sugar) and iced tea, which is usually served without sugar, but
with lemon. Half of the country's population drinks at least one cup of
coffee a day.
For alcoholic beverages, Americans prefer
California wines, bourbon, rum, or local beers (such as root beer).
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, American
literature was shaped by the influence of English and European
literature. Writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark
Twain, Henry David Thoreau, and the poet Walt Whitman were the most
significant men of letters of the mid and second half of the 19th
century. Emily Dickinson, virtually unknown during her lifetime, is now
recognized as America's most important poet.
Novels that reflect
fundamental aspects of national experience and character, such as Herman
Melville's Moby Dick (1851), Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn (1885), Francis Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), and
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) - can rightly be referred to
as the "great American novel".
11 US citizens have received the
Nobel Prize in Literature, including Toni Morrison in 1993. William
Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck are often cited as some of
the most influential writers of the 20th century.
The
Transcendentalists, led by Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, created the
first major American philosophical movement. After the end of the Civil
War, Charles Sanders Peirce and later William James and John Dewey were
leaders in the development of pragmatism.
In the 20th century,
the work of W. W. O. Quine and Richard Rorty, and later Noam Chomsky,
brought analytic philosophy to the forefront of the American
philosophical scientific community. The work of John Rawls and Robert
Nozick led to a revival of political philosophy.
The rhythmic and lyrical directions of
African-American music, heavily influenced by American music in general,
differ from European traditions. Elements from folk idioms such as the
blues and what is now known as early music were borrowed and developed
into popular genres with a worldwide audience. Jazz was developed by
musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington in the early 20th
century. Country music appeared in the 1920s and rhythm and blues in the
1940s.
Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry were among the "pioneers" of
rock and roll in the mid-1950s. In the 1960s, out-of-the-folk Bob Dylan
became one of America's most famous songwriters, and James Brown led the
development of "funk". Other American music in recent times includes
such musical genres as "hip-hop" and house music.
American pop
stars such as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Madonna have become
world famous; as well as contemporary artists such as Taylor Swift,
Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Beyoncé; as well as hip-hop artists
Jay-Z, Eminem. Rock bands such as Metallica, Eagles and Aerosmith are
among the best-selling songs in the world.
Art
A special
contribution to the visual arts in the United States was made by:
photographers Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Cindy Sherman;
artists
Gilbert Stuart, John James Audubon, Thomas Garth Benton, Albert
Bierstadt, Mary Cassatt, Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Cole, Edward S.
Curtis, Richard Diebenkorn, Thomas Eakins, Helen Frankenthaler, Arshile
Gorky, Marsden Hartley, Al Hirschfeld, Hans Hofmann , Winslow Homer,
Georgia O'Keefe, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Roy
Lichtenstein, Maurice Louis, John Marin, Agnes Martin, Jackson Pollock,
Man Ray Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Andy
Warhol, Wyeth ;
sculptors Alexander Calder, David Smith, Frank
Stella;
illustrators Frederic Remington, Norman Rockwell, Newell
Converse Wyeth;
designers Louis Comfort Tiffany, Frank Lloyd Wright
The United States has extremely rich collections of American art in
the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon Guggenheim
Museum in New York (this museum has branches in Las Vegas, Venice,
Berlin, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and Lithuania), the
Hirschhorn Museum in Washington, the Museum of Contemporary art in San
Francisco. The richest collections of samples of foreign art are
presented in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Art Institute of
Chicago, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; as well as in the museums of
San Francisco, Philadelphia, Houston.
Hollywood is the most important symbol of American
cinema. The world's first motion picture was shown in New York in 1894
using Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope. In 1895, a second film was shown,
also in New York. The United States was the country where sound films
developed best in the following decades. Since the beginning of the 20th
century, the US film industry has been "based" in Hollywood, where most
of the films were produced. But already in the 21st century, the number
of films not made there has increased.
Currently, there are
numerous film studios. The most famous among them:
20th Century
Studios,
Columbia Pictures,
dreamworks Pictures,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Miramax Films,
New Line Cinema,
paramount
Pictures,
Sony Pictures Entertainment,
universal studios,
Warner Brothers.
The most famous US cartoon studios are Walt
Disney Pictures, Pixar and DreamWorks Animation.
Some of the most
famous directors in the history of American cinema are John Ford and
John Huston.
American football is the most popular sport in the
USA. It is led by the National Football League (NFL). It has the highest
average attendance of any other sport. Millions of people around the
world watch American football. Baseball has been proclaimed the national
sport of the United States since the late 19th century. Basketball,
football and ice hockey are the leading professional team sports in the
country. Football and basketball are trying to attract a large audience.
In 1994, the country hosted the World Cup, the men's football team
qualified up to 1/8 of the World Cup. The women's team has won the
Women's World Cup three times. The market for professional sports in the
United States is approximately $69 billion, about twice that of all
countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa combined.
The
United States has hosted 8 Olympic Games. The country has won 2,400
medals at the Summer Olympics, more than any other; and 281 - in winter
(second place after Norway). The most popular individual sports are golf
and auto racing, especially NASCAR.
Television and radio broadcasting
The four main
broadcasters in the US are:
National Broadcasting Company (NBC),
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
American Broadcasting Company
(ABC),
Fox.
Cable TV offers hundreds of channels targeted at
different social groups. Americans listen to radio programs, on average,
two and a half hours a day. In 1998, the number of US radio stations
grew to 4,793; and the number of FM stations is up to 5,662. In
addition, there are 1,460 US Public Radio stations.
Most of these
stations are owned by university and government authorities and funded
by public or private funds. National Public Radio was registered in
February 1970 under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. There is its
television counterpart, PBS. NPR and PBS operate independently of each
other.
Press
Well-known national newspapers are The New York
Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. Newspapers rely primarily
on advertising and subscription revenue. With very few exceptions,
newspapers in the US are privately owned or owned by large chains such
as Gannett or McClatchy, which own dozens or even hundreds of
newspapers. Large cities often have "alternative weeklies" in addition
to daily newspapers (for example, in New York it is The Village Voice,
and in Los Angeles it is LA Weekly).
Education in the United States is largely public,
controlled and funded at three levels: federal, state, and local
governments. There is a public school system. Higher education
institutions - mostly private - attract undergraduate and graduate
students from all over the world.
The US literacy rate is 97%,
but according to the 2003 census, only 84.6% of people 25 and older had
a high school education; 52.5% have higher education, and 27.3% have a
bachelor's degree.
As of 2012, almost 12 million students studied
in the country, of which approximately 740 thousand are foreigners. The
main language of education is English, except in Puerto Rico, where the
official language is Spanish.
The science
The United States is
the absolute leader in the number of Nobel laureates. As of 2012, 331
Nobel Prizes have been awarded to US citizens.
The United States
also consistently holds the lead in investment in R&D: in 2011, the
country accounted for 34% of global spending in this area. The public
and private sectors spent $405.3 billion, which amounted to 2.7% of the
country's GDP.
Life expectancy in the United States has increased
from 75.2 in 1990 to 79.8 years. The growing problem of obesity in the
United States and improving public health in other countries have
contributed to the country's decline in life expectancy since 1987, when
it ranked 11th in the world. Obesity rates in the United States are
among the highest among other countries.
About a third of the US
adult population is obese, and another third is overweight. The
incidence of obesity is the highest among industrialized countries and
has more than doubled in the last 25 years. Obesity-related type 2
diabetes is recognized by medical professionals as an epidemic. The US
infant mortality rate is 5.8 per thousand and ranks 56th from the bottom
out of 225 countries.
In 2010, coronary heart disease, lung
cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and car accidents
accounted for the most years of life lost in the United States. Low back
pain, depression, musculoskeletal disorders, neck pain and anxiety
accounted for the largest number of years lost due to health problems.
The most harmful risk factors were poor diet, smoking, obesity, high
blood pressure, high blood sugar, reduced physical activity, and alcohol
use. Alzheimer's disease, drug abuse, kidney disease, cancer, and falls
account for the most extra years of life lost over and above the per
capita death rate obtained in 1990. Teenage pregnancy and abortion rates
in the US are significantly higher than in other Western countries,
especially among blacks and Hispanics.
The US is the world leader
in medical innovation. According to a 2001 survey of physicians, the
United States has made or significantly contributed to 9 of the 10 most
important medical innovations since 1975, while the European Union and
Switzerland together have contributed to five of them. Since 1966,
Americans have received more Nobel Prizes in medicine than scientists
from all other countries combined. Between 1989 and 2002, the amount of
money invested in private biotechnology companies in the US was four
times that of Europe. The US healthcare system spends far more than any
other nation, both on a per capita basis and as a percentage of GDP.
Health insurance in the United States is provided by the public and
private sectors and is not universal. In 2014, 13.4% of the country's
population did not have health insurance. The topic of uninsured and
underinsured citizens is one of the country's most important political
issues. In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to introduce
universal health insurance. A federal law passed in early 2010 could
have created near-universal health insurance nationwide by 2014, but the
bill and its ultimate impact remain a matter of controversy.
For 2020, the US Armed Forces are the most
combat-ready in the world, ranking first in the ranking of the strongest
armies in the world, the US military budget for 2020 amounted to 684.6
billion dollars. The armed forces include:
Ground troops
Air
Force
Naval Forces
Space forces
Coast security
As of April
2007, 1,426,700 people served in the regular units of the armed forces,
and 1,458,500 people in reserve formations.
Crime in the United States has been declining every
year since 1991, when almost 15 million crimes were committed, including
24,700 murders (9.8 murders per 100,000 inhabitants). In 2014, the
number of crimes dropped to 9 million, of which 14,249 were murders (4.5
murders per 100,000 inhabitants).
According to the Bureau of
Justice Statistics for 2009, the number of prisoners per capita in the
United States was 502 per 100,000 inhabitants. The total number of
prisoners in 2009 was 1.6 million.
By 2012, the number of
prisoners had grown to 2.2 million people, which is a world record (for
every 100,000 US citizens, there are 730 prisoners).
According to
the Prison Policy Initiative, as of March 2020, there are almost 2.3
million people in prisons, which is approximately 0.7% of the US
population.