United States

How is the land laid out?

The main part of the nation lies across the center of North America, between Canada and Mexico. The western third is predominantly a mixture of mountains and desert plateaus, the middle, mostly plains and the east, low mountains either reaching the sea or overlooking coastal plains.

The westernmost of the mountains, the Pacific System, consists of the coastal mountains, the Cascades, which top 4,000 meters in Mounts Ranier and Shasta, and the Sierra Nevada, which reach above 4,000 meters at Mount Whitney. The intermontane plateaus's highest point is Boundary Peak in the White Mountains. The Middle and Southern Rockies also include tall mountains. Several rivers start in these heights, or cut through them: the Columbia-Snake system, the Colorado and the Rio Grande are the longest. In the middle of the desert is the large Great Salt Lake.

The interior lowlands are bounded west by the Rockies and northeast by a set of lakes: the Great Lakes. The peninsula of northern Michigan lies outside of these flats; it is part of the Canadian Shield. The Mississippi River system, including the Missouri and the Arkansas, dominates this area. An exception to the topography is the Interior Highlands, just southeast of part of the Mississippi, and tranversed by the Arkansas.

The Appalachian Highlands bound these plains eastward, and extend from Maine to Alabama. Beyond them to the east and south is the Atlantic Coastal Plain, extending from Cape Cod to southern Texas, and including the Florida Peninsula.

The second largest piece of the nation is Alaska, northwest of Canada. The mountains of the western continent start here: the Rockies in the north, and--in the south--a set of coastal ranges, separated by rivers. The latter include several tall peaks. In the middle is the Yukon River valley. At the very north is a coastal plain: the North Slope.

The United States also include islands in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. The Hawaiian islands include two large volcanoes: Mona Loa and Mona Kea. Puerto Rico is the largest of the U.S.'s Caribbean possessions.

Who lives there?

English is the majority language of the United States, although Yupik dialects are spoken in a large area of central west Alaska and Hawaiian English, a creole, is the most important first language in Hawaii. Spanish is the majority in Puerto Rico and is the second most important language in much of the nation.

The nation is overwhelmingly Christian, mostly Protestant.

See the table for American cities on the mainland. Of these only New York and Los Angeles have over ten million residents.

Honolulu is the most important American city in Oceania and San Juan the most important American city on a Caribbean island.

Within the area

Alaska
Washington
Oregon
California
Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado
Nevada
Utah
Arizona and New Mexico
Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota
Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri
Texas
Oklahoma
Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama
Wisconsin
Illinois
Michigan
Indiana and Ohio
Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia
North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee
New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island
Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Georgia
Florida

Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Marshall Islands, Wake Island, Baker and Howland Islands, Jarvis Island, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, American Samoa, Johnston Atoll, the state of Hawaii, Midway Islands

Navassa Island, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States and Guantanamo Bay enclave