The United States of America (USA) is a country located in Northern America with the most dominant military and economic power in the world. Its constitution is based on the 1787 constitution, whose enlightenment ideas that were incorporated in its constitution include the constitutional government, toleration, liberty, fraternity, progress and state and church separation. It is the third largest country in the world in terms of both size and population. It borders the Pacific Ocean on the western side, the Atlantic Ocean on the eastern side, Mexico to the south and Canada to the north. The US has vast central plain and high mountains, with Mt. McKinley being the highest at 6,198 meters.
https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States
Population and size
The country’s lowest point is the Death Valley. The valley is -86 meters low. The US has an area of 3.797 million square meters with a population of about 332 million (United States Census Bureau, 2021; United States Census Bureau, 2022). The cultural imprint of the country has been spanning the world, which is led significantly by the country’s popular culture, which the US convey in movies, music and television.
The federal capital of the United States is Washington, DC, which was established on 16th July 1790. The city was thoroughly planned to be the national capital and is distinct from the rest of the states. The congress has convened in three places since it was established in 1789; Philadelphia, New York, and Washington DC. Washington DC is the permanent home of congress. The country uses the dollar as its currency. The symbol of the United States dollar (USD) is ‘$’. The USD is used by several countries, which includes the Marshall Islands,
Zimbabwe, USA, Ecuador, El Salvador, East Timor, Palau and Micronesia. The currency has great significance in international trade finance as it is the most stable currency in the world. It acts both as a medium of exchange and a store of value.
Language
The United States of America has no official language, although English is spoken by more than 75 per cent of the population. However, some states such as Oklahoma, Florida, Arkansas, Idaho and California have made English their official language, although most of the states have still not made English official language, which is the de facto official language. The nation’s diversity is due to its formation by people from different parts of the world, having more than 300 languages. These languages range from English and Afrikaans to the nation’s indigenous languages, such as Zoogocho Zapotec. (“Top languages other than English spoken in 1980 and changes in relative rank, 1990-2010,” 2021). The second spoken language is Spanish, which accounts for 62 percent of the foreign language speakers. Other languages spoken are Chinese,
German, French, Korean, African, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, French Creole, and Hindi, among many other languages.
The communication etiquette and style in the US are regarded as modern and have influenced other countries in the world with their accent of talking and communication style. The nation’s diversity makes it difficult for the country to have different native communication styles, etiquettes and cultures; hence, the country has been changing its etiquettes with time to fit the current new world and the people in it. The etiquettes are based on the modern culture, such as handshakes and saying “hello” to greet someone at any time of the day. Normally, individuals in the country are assertive and persuasive in their speeches. Individuals are expected to go straight to the point when speaking and tend to express their entire message verbally. The nation does not follow strict rules as it promotes competition and individualism as part of its culture.
Climate
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Climate-zones-in-the-continental-United-States-CCD-Cooling-Degree-Day-and-HDD_fig1_316498171
The United States of America (USA) generally has a climate that is considered to be moderate, with a few significant outliers. While Hawaii and South Florida both have tropical climates, Alaska’s climate is more akin to that of an arctic tundra. The Great Plains are characterized by their aridity, their lack of elevation, and their grassy plains; farther west, they give way to arid desert.
There is a huge amount of variation around the nation in terms of both temperature and the amount of precipitation that falls. It rains a lot in the northwest, but just a little in the southeast, while the middle of the country is bone dry.
History
https://www.britannica.com/list/25-decade-defining-events-in-us-history
The Asian hunters and nomads were the first people to arrive in North America during the ice age. These hunters and gatherers are the Paleo-Indians who form the current indigenous people found in the US. Several civilizations took place in the land, leaving some ruins found in
the present-day United States. These civilizations include the Cahokia. These people were not related to any of the indigenous native tribes in the United States. The civilization in the present Collinsville, Illinois and comprised approximately 50 communities. They occupied slightly more than 2,200 acres of land. Cahokia people began to establish themselves in about 600 AD and became extinct communities.
Historians believe that the Norse were the first European to arrive in the US as they came from Greenland, where in 985, Erik Ericson had built a settlement. The Cahokia people made earth mounds. BY 1250, its population rivalled Europe in London and Paris. By 1300, their population had reduced to about 40,000 people for unknown reasons. In 1000, the Icelandic
Vikings arrived in North America, led by Ericson Leif, and in 1492, an Italian who acted on behalf of the Spanish crown, Christopher Columbus, sailed to the Bahama Islands and established Spanish possession of the land (“Early History of America”). In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon and some other men landed on the coast of Florida. In 1520, Hernando De Soto also went to Florida to explore River Mississippi. In 1540, Vasquez de Coronado, who worked for the Spanish, arrived in the Grand Canyon in Arizona as she was looking for the mythical Cibola. The discovery of North America was through individuals like Giovanni da Verrazano, Amerigo Vespucci, and Jacques Cartier, who went to explore North America further as the Spanish pushed to the Southern part of the new land. In 1524, Verrazano landed in North Carolina. Verrazano was a Florentine sailing for the French who went ahead to sail to the modern-day New York harbor along the northern Atlantic coast.
The Spanish found the first European settlement in the land in modern-day St. Augustine,
Florida. Later on, thirteen European colonies were developed, marking the country’s beginning. Most individuals from the British colonies who went to the United States in the 17th century were of English descent. Other European countries that went to the United States were the French, Sweden, Poland, Northern Island, and Scotland, while others like the African Americans were taken there as enslaved people. In 1790, the number of migrants in the land was more than 2.5 million from about 250,000 in 1690. The American Revolution occurred from 1763 – 1783, and a new nation was established from 1783-1815 after the end of the revolution.
In 1789, a general during the war for independence, George Washington, became the country’s president. He was a respected individual throughout the land and the union of the thirteen states. The United States of America remained neutral in other countries affairs. The US ran smoothly with the help of a good constitution that balanced liberty and order. It enjoyed social progress, peace, prosperity and low national debt. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the land. Purchasing Florida from Spain made the country even grow more prominent. From 1861 to 1877, during the post-reconstruction era, the country experienced a civil reconstruction,
experiencing growth and transformation. This era is also named the “Age of Inventions.” This’s when the telephone was invented, movie, and the light bulb. About 440,000 patents were provided to wave scientists and inventors during this era.
During the First World War, from 1914 to 1918, the US was involved when their 130 citizens were murdered when a British ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine. About 2 million soldiers aided in defeating the Austrian-Hungarian and German forces. The country faced a great depression era where the country struggled with labour unrest, racial tension and struggling farms. However, it had a decade of prosperity which was regarded as the “Roaring 20s.” Most of the families in the country bought their first refrigerators, automobiles and radios, and Jazz music was born. The prosperity crashed on Black Tuesday, 23rd October 1929, when the stock market collapsed. This ushered in the great depression, where almost a quarter of the American people were jobless due to the closure of factories and businesses, depletion of farms and bank failure.
Franklin Roosevelt won the 1932 elections resulting in the rise of the new deal that saved the end of the great depression period the country was experiencing. It included numerous programs such as implementing new stock market rules, bank account insurance, and implementation of social security systems to aid the disabled, poor and the elderly. The US had initiated the neutrality policy until on 7th December 1941 during the Second World War when Japan attacked an American Naval Base that the US involved itself in war. The war ended after the US launched the first nuclear strike in the world on Japan.
After the Second World War, a disagreement, commonly regarded as the cold war, arose the communist Russia and the democratic United States, wanting to develop friendly governments in Europe’s interest. Both had the belief that their system could generate the most equality, liberty, prosperity and security in their countries. During the 1980s and the 1980s, the US experienced cultural change as segregation policies were abolished due to the civil rights movements. Hispanic farm workers were allowed to form unions to aid in improving compensation and their working conditions. The new millennium dawned with George Bush being elected president. His intentions were to improve the country’s economy, education and social security system, but he diverted his focus to declaring war on global terrorism after foreign tourists attacked four passenger planes in the US. He sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Later, this made Americans uneasy with the policies implemented by the country, and in 2008, Barack
Obama was elected as the new president. He was the first African-American to hold office in the
- His purpose was to improve the worst economic recession the country was facing since the Great Depression during the 1920s and 30s.
Barack Obama was succeeded by Donald Trump, who made significant changes in the country, although people will remember his era for its explosive end. Donald Trump changed some significant federal area policies in ways that will last long even after his era. He increased religious organization in education. He also refocused the country’s national security on great power competition. Joe Biden took over the president’s seat after Donald Trump. Joe Biden focuses on advancing racial justice, equity, equal opportunity and civil rights in the country, a focus he is maintaining in his first term in office.
