The United States (U.S.) or America,
T he United States (U.S.) or America The United States (U.S.) or America, is a federal republic consisting mainly of North America. It is a federal republic with 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 continuous states border Mexico to the south and Canada to the north, with the semi-exclave Alaska in the northwest and the Hawaiian archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also claims sovereignty over five large island coThe United States of America (USA)untries and many unoccupied islands in Oceania and the Caribbean.[j] It is a megadiverse nation, with the third-largest land area in the world[c] and the third-largest population, at over 340 million. Paleo-Indians came to North America from North Asia more than 12,000 years ago and established different civilizations. Spanish colonization founded Spanish Florida in 1513, the initial European colony in the current continental United States. British colonization then resulted from the 1607 estab...