The United States is largely regarded as the world's wealthiest and most powerful nation. The country continues to play a dominant role in the world's cultural landscape, and is famous for its wide array of popular tourist destinations, ranging from the skyscrapers of Manhattan and Chicago to the natural wonders of Yellowstone to the warm, sunny beaches of Florida, Hawaii and Southern California.
Understand
The United States is not the America of television and movies. It is large, complex, and diverse, with distinct regional identities. Due to the distances involved, traveling between regions can be time-consuming and expensive.
Geography
The contiguous United States or "Lower 48" (the 48 states other than Alaska and Hawaii) are bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west, with much of the population living on these two coasts. Its only land borders are shared with Canada to the north, and Mexico to the south. The U.S. also shares maritime borders with Russia, Cuba, and the Bahamas.
The country has three major mountain ranges. The Appalachians extend from Canada to the state of Alabama, a few hundred miles west of the Atlantic Ocean. They are the oldest of the three mountain ranges and offer spectacular sightseeing and excellent camping spots. The Rockies are, on average, the highest in North America, extending from Alaska to New Mexico, with many areas protected as national parks. They offer hiking, camping, skiing, and sightseeing opportunities. The combined Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges are the youngest. The Sierras extend across the "backbone" of California, with sites such as Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park, then give way to the even younger volcanic Cascade range, with some of the highest points in the country.
The Great Lakes define much of the border between the eastern United States and Canada. More inland seas than lakes, they were formed by the pressure of glaciers retreating north at the end of the last Ice Age. The five lakes span hundreds of miles, bordering the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and their shores vary from pristine wilderness areas to industrial "rust belt" cities. They are the second-largest bodies of freshwater in the world, after the polar ice caps.
Climate
The overall climate is temperate, with notable exceptions. Alaska has Arctic tundra, while Hawaii and South Florida are tropical. The Great Plains are dry, flat and grassy, turning into arid desert in the far West and Mediterranean along the California coast.
In the winter, the northern and mid-western major cities can see as much as 2 feet (61 cm) of snowfall in one day, with cold temperatures. Summers are humid, but mild. Temperatures over 100°F (38°C) sometimes invade the Midwest and Great Plains. Some areas in the northern plains can experience cold temperatures of -30°F (-34°C) during the winter. Temperatures below 0°F (-18°C) sometimes reach as far south as Oklahoma.
The climate of the South also varies. In the summer, it is hot and humid, but from October through April the weather can range from 60°F (15°C) to short cold spells of 20°F (-7°C) or so.
The Great Plains & Midwestern states also experience tornadoes from the late spring to early fall, earlier in the south and later in the north. States along the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico, may experience hurricanes between June and November. These intense and dangerous storms frequently miss the the U.S. mainland, but evacuations are often ordered and should be heeded.
The Rockies are cold and snowy. Some parts of the Rockies see over 500 inches (1,200 cm) of snow in a season. Even during the summer, temperatures are cool in the mountains, and snow can fall nearly year-round. It is dangerous to go up in the mountains unprepared in the winter and the roads through them can get very icy.
The deserts of the Southwest are hot and dry during the summer, with temperatures often exceeding 100°F (38°C). Thunderstorms can be expected in the southwest frequently from July through September. Winters are mild, and snow is unusual. Average annual precipitation is low, usually less than 10 inches (25 cm).
Cool and damp weather is common in the northwest (the states of Oregon, Washington and the northern part of California). Rain is most frequent in winter, snow is rare, especially along the coast and extreme temperatures are uncommon. Rain falls almost exclusively from late fall through early spring along the coast.
Northeastern and cities of the Upper South are known for summers with temperatures reaching into the 90's (32 C) or more, with extremely high humidity, usually over 80%. This can be a drastic change from the Southwest. High humidity means that the temperature can feel hotter than actual readings. The Northeast also experiences snow, and at least once every few years there will be a dumping of the white stuff in enormous numbers.
History
America was once populated by people who are believed to have migrated from northeast Asia. In the United States their descendants are known by uncomfortable appellations such as Native Americans, or American Indians. While the Indians are often portrayed living a singular, usually primitive lifestyle, in fact, prior to European arrival, the continent was densely populated with sophisticated societies. The Cherokee, for example were part of the overarching Mississippian culture which built huge mounds and large towns that covered the landscape while the Anasazi built sophisticated cliff-side towns. The primitive existence depicted of Native Americans is generally the result of mass die-outs triggered by Old World diseases — in effect they were a post-apocalyptic people.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, parts of the region were colonized by European nations including Spain, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Russia, and/or their religious missionaries. The British colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts were the kernel of what we now know as the United States of America. Religious immigrants from Massachusetts, run by a Puritan theocracy, would found most of the New England colonies, creating a highly religious and idealistic region. Virginia would become the most populous and influential of the southern slave societies. The southern areas, because of a longer growing season, had richer agricultural prospects, especially for cotton and tobacco. As in Central and South America, African slaves were forced to cultivate large plantations.
By the early 18th century, 13 colonies ranged along the Atlantic coast from Georgia to Maine.
In the late 18th century, colonists declared independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. They achieved their freedom in a War of Independence also known as the Revolutionary War. The colonies formed a federal government, with its Constitution inspired by Enlightenment-era ideas about individual liberty. The Treaty of Paris that negotiated the end of the War of Independence gave Americans all British land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River.
As American and European settlers pushed farther past the Appalachians, the United States gradually admitted new states in the Midwest. This was only enabled by the displacement and decimation of the Native American populations through warfare.
In the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 acquired a former French territory along the Mississippi River. The country fought the War of 1812 with Britain in an attempt to reassert its authority and try to capture Canada. The war ended in a virtual stalemate, and territorial boundaries between the two nations remained nearly the same. Nevertheless, the war had disastrous consequences for the western Native American tribes that had allied with the British, for now they were left completely to the mercy of the land-hungry Americans.
Florida was purchased in 1813 from the Spanish after the American military had effectively subjugated the region. The next major territorial acquisition came after American settlers in Texas rebelled against the Mexican government, setting up a republic that was absorbed into the union. The Mexican-American War of 1848 won the northern territories of Mexico, including the future states of California, Arizona, and New Mexico, giving the continental US the rough outlines it has today. The Native Americans were concentrated in the west by treaty, military force, and by the inadvertent spread of European diseases.
In mid-1800s, many Americans were calling for the abolition of slavery. The industrializing North did not need slaves anyway, and favored national abolition. Southern states, on the other hand, believed that individual states had the right to decide whether or not slavery should be legal. The Southern states, fearing domination by the North, decided to secede from the Union, sparking the American Civil War. To date, it is the bloodiest conflict in U.S history , costing hundreds of thousands of lives. The North won. Slavery was abolished, but the former slaves and their descendants were to remain an economic and social underclass in the South.
The US purchased Alaska from the Russians in 1867, and Hawaii was annexed in 1898. The Spanish-American War gained the first "colonial" territories: Cuba (granted independence a few years later), the Philippines (also later granted independence) and Puerto Rico (which voluntarily remains a US territory).
In the Eastern cities of the United States, Southern and Eastern Europeans, and Russian Jews joined Irish refugees to become a cheap labor force for the country's growing industrialization. Many Southern African-Americans fled rural poverty for industrial jobs in the North. Other immigrants, including many Scandinavians and Germans, moved to the now-opened territories in the West and Midwest, where land was available for free to anyone who would develop it. A network of railroads crisscrossed the country, accelerating development.
With its entrance into World War I in 1917, the United States established itself as a world power. Real wealth grew rapidly in this period. In the Roaring 20s stock speculation created an immense "bubble" which, when it burst in October of 1929, contributed to economic havoc, known as the Great Depression. Socialists and Communists seized the opportunity to win converts.
At the end of 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, a military base in the Pacific, plunging the United States into World War II. In alliance with the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, the U.S. defeated the fascist regimes in Italy, Germany, and Japan. At the end of this war, the United States was the dominant economic power in the world, responsible for nearly half of the world's production. It was the only force capable of containing the Communist Soviet Union, giving rise to what is now known as the Cold War.
After WWII, America experienced far greater affluence. A civil rights movement emerged that eliminated most institutional discrimination against African-Americans during the 1960s; a revived women's movement also led to wide-ranging changes in American society. Post WWII saw a shift to an economy primarily based on technology rather than agriculture. Today, many of the leading technology companies are based in the United States (especially on the Pacific Coast). The U.S. also took the lead in military and space technology, especially beginning in the 1960s.
The 1950s saw the beginnings of a major shift of population to the suburbs and largely contributed to the United States giving rise to the car culture and the convenience of fast food restaurants. The Interstate Highway System, constructed primarily from the 1960s–1980s, became perhaps the most comprehensive freeway system in the world. Major chain stores began popping up in cities across the country, and some later spread to foreign countries. The American consumer culture, as well as Hollywood movies and many forms of popular music, has arguably established the United States as the cultural center of the world.
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