The United States of America is a federal republic on the continent of North America and consists of 48 contiguous states and the noncontiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii as well as a number of outlying areas, such as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands of the United States, which are located in the Caribbean Sea, and the islands of American Samoa and Guam, located in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city is Washington D.C. located between the states of Maryland and Virginia.
The United States has many major cities. Major cities that are business, trade and industry centers in the United States include Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas. Cities with major ports include Baltimore, Chicago, Hampton Roads, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia.
The official language spoken is English, however Spanish is spoken amongst many Hispanic people as well as many native American Indian languages spoken amongst the native peoples. The local currency is the US dollar (US $).
The United States of America is divided into 50 states, each with it’s own capital. The states are then subdivided into counties, except for Louisiana, where comparable political units are called parishes. The U.S.A. has an area of 9,629,047 sq km and is the third largest country in the world. The largest state is Alaska followed by Texas then California. A 2000 estimate was that the United States had a population of 274,943,496 people.
The United States as of January 1, 2001 had 21.8 billion barrels of proved oil reserves from mainly four states being Texas (25% including the state's reserves in the Gulf of Mexico), Alaska (24%), California (21%), and Louisiana (14% including the state's reserves in the Gulf of Mexico). The country consumed an average of 19.5 million barrels per day in 2000 and produced around 8.1 million barrels per day. U.S. crude production for 2000 represented the lowest annual U.S. crude oil output since 1950. In 2000 43,598 oil wells were drilled as well as 20,166 gas wells. Historically in 1981 drilling activity reached it’s highest with a total of 43,598 oil wells and 20,166 gas wells drilled.
America, because of slightly lower oil production and an increase in oil demand, the country imported around 57% or 11.1 million barrels per day in 2000. The top US suppliers of oil are Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico.
The USA is the world’s leading mining nation, producing a wide variety of core commodities and minerals. It is a significant gold, copper, silver ,lead, zinc, molybdenum and coal producer. It produces nearly all major metals, except manganese and titanium.
Most of the USA’s major mines have experienced a drop in production as a result of the global commodity price drops and most companies cut back their exploration programs to focus on areas proximal to current mining operations.
The USA’s environmental agencies have been placing increasing pressure on mining and exploration companies. Mining companies have been blamed for releasing excessive amounts of pollutants into the air and water which has caused considerable public response. As a result, future exploration and development projects in the USA are required to address a list of environmental issues prior to each stage of the development process. The additional financial burden placed on companies has resulted in the curtailment of several potential mining projects.
The United States, being such a large country has an enormous variety of manufacturing industries across the whole of the country. Manufacturing includes such products as motor vehicles, motor vehicle parts, textiles, foodstuffs and industrial supplies. The country’s major imports in 1999 include capital goods excluding autos, consumer goods excluding autos, motor vehicles and parts, industrial supplies excluding oil, petroleum and products as well as various services. Major exports included motor vehicles and parts, consumer goods excluding autos, motor vehicles and parts and services.
The United States’ major trading partners include Canada, Japan, European Union and Mexico.
The international time zone in the United States is Eastern, GMT/UTC -5 hours, Central –6 hours, Mountain –7 hours, and Pacific Standard –8 hours. The international dialing code is +1. The main international airports are in Boston, New York, Washington, Miami, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Getting around the United States is not difficult with regular and fairly cheap air, bus, car and rail routes.
Most visitors to the US require a visa. However, Canadians need only proof of citizenship. A reciprocal visa-waiver program allows citizens of the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland to stay up to 90 days without a visa if they have an onward ticket.
Medical care in the United States can be very costly, but the country has no health risks.
