|RConstitution:|N Federal republic of 50 states and the federal district of Colombia with the capital Washington.
|RNational holiday:|N Independence Day, July 4.
|RNature and climate:|N Three mighty mountainchains from north to south divide continental USA in different topographical areas.
The most western part towards the Pacific Ocean is a narrow coastal plain, then the Cascade Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, after those a vast and dry plateauland, followed by the Rocky Mountains and vast plains, then the Appalack Mountains and finally coastal plains towards the Atlantic Ocean.
Alaska is very mountainous and have the highest peak of the USA and North America, Mount McKinley, reaching 6194 m.a.s.l.
Hawaii is a volcanic archipelago located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Most of the USA have a tempered continental climate. The plateauland between the Cascade Mountains and Rocky Mountains have rainshadow causing vast deserts.
Southern Florida and Hawaii have tropical climate, and northern Alaska polar climate.
Average temperature in northern USA in January -15°C and in the southern parts +20°C. Average temperature in July between 20 and 30°C in most parts of the country, except in the highest parts of the Rocky Mountains with 15°C.
Percipitation in most parts of the USA between 1000 and 1500 mm. By the Pacific coast 2000 mm and in the plains between Cascade and Rocky Mountains only between 100 and 300 mm.
|RPeople:|N Most of the population are immigrants, and their descendants, from the 16th century and onwards.
The aboriginal American Indians were of a number of different tribes. There was probably at least one million Indians in todays USA and Canada by the year 1500 AD. These were forced away by the European immigration and colonization from the 17th century and in the mid 1850:s there were only about 250 000 Indians left.
Since then the Indian population has increased and now there are about one million Indians in USA and 300 000 in Canada. Most of them live in reservations with small possibilities of living their traditional lives.
The colonization was started by French and Spaniards in Florida in the 1560:s and later by British, German and Irish further north on the Atlantic coast.
1790 3.9 million people lived in these colonies, in 1860 there were 31 millions, in 1900 76 millions and 1960 180 millions.
The type of immigration have changed through the years. Up to 1890 the immigrants were mainly farmers from western and northern Europe. From the turn of the century most of the immigrants come from southern and eastern Europe to work in factories. Spanish talking immigrants dominates in the 20th century.
In the 17th and 18th centuries millions of slaves were imported to work in the plantations mainly in the southern states. In 1790 these black slaves was 25% of the total population, but after the massive European immigration later the black share of the population have decreased to 11%.
|REconomy:|N The USA is the world leader in industry and economy. Industry is highly diversified and the country is self-sufficient in almost everything. It has rich mineral and many other natural resources.
US companies have developed a number of worldwide groups of companies. Eight of the ten biggest companies in the world are American.
Agriculture occupies 3% of the labour forces and accounts for 15% of the export revenues. USA is the worlds biggest producer of maize, wheat, cotton and soybeans. Agriculture is very intensive and effective.
USA is next to Russia and Brazil the worlds most forested country. Production is enough for the domestic consumption.
Some of the minerals extracted in the USA are coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, tin, mercury, nickel, silver, tungsten, zinc, oil and natural gas. These resources have had an immense importance for the development of the industry, but today the deposits do not cover the demands why much raw materials must be imported by the US industry.
Industry accounts for 25% of employments and GDP. The USA with 6% of the world population accounts for 30% of the worlds industrial production.
Historically the heavy industrial production has been concentrated to the northeastern states with their rich resources of coal and iron, but in the last decades big industries have been developed in other parts of the country.
The electronic industry is mainly located in California, chemical industry in Florida, Texas and Louisiana and synthetic rubber is produced in Ohio.
USA is the worlds largest producer of aeroplanes and the spaceindustry is world leading. USA produces 20% of the cars in the world and sets industrial standards in a number of areas.
Tourism is of great importance. USA is every year visited by 20 million tourists, Canadians not counted.
Though export is of comparatively small importance for the US economy, the USA accounts for 12% of the world trade, making the USA the worlds greatest exporter.
|RHistory:|N It is assumed that the American continents were inhabited fairly late and that the people came from Asia about 20 000 BC via the land connection over the Bering Sound.
These immigrants spread all over North and South America and developed a number of different cultures dependent on the resources where they settled.
It is also assumed that the Viking Leif Eriksson at about 1000 AD was the first European to reach the American mainland.
But colonization did not start until Christopher Columbus in 1492 reached Central America.
The Spaniards started the colonization in Florida and was in the 16th century followed by the French who colonized the area around the mouth of the Mississippi River and by the British who colonized the northern Atlantic coast. In the 17th century Danes, Dutch and Swedes set up colonies at the Atlantic coast, but all their colonies were taken over by the British in 1664. When the British continued the colonization westwards they clashed into French areas and a war started between the British and the French.
When the peace-treaty was signed in Paris 1763 Great Britain obtained all french colonies in North America except Louisiana which was obtained by Spain.
until this war great britain had paid all the wars of their colonies and when the war now was over the colonies refused to pay fees and taxes to the mothercountry. So in 1775 Great britain inaugurated customs duties on goods brought to and from the colonies. This increased the claim for independence and started an uprising.
In the 4th of July 1776 all colonies proclaimed their independence and the war that followed between 1775 and 1783, the colonies defeated Great Britain with help from France and Spain. In 1787 representatives for the 13 now independent states met at a constitutional convent in Philadelphia. They agreed on a constitution which was passed by the states and came into force 1789 with George Washington as the first president of the union.
The first slaves from Africa were brought in by Spanish settlers 1517 for humanitarian reasons; the aboriginal Indians was not considered strong enough for the hard labour at the plantations. Slave trade became legal in 1650.
Slave trade became a keystone of the prospering American economy. Slaves were brought from western Africa, paid with cotton, sugar and tobacco that was sent to Great Britain, that in turn sent weapons, textiles and glass pearls to west Africa as payment for the slaves. Altogether 20 million Africans were brought to North and South AMerica as slaves.
Many of these slaves were subjects of terrible suffering, which by the mid 18th century started a forceful opinion against slavery. The North American Quakers set free all their slaves in 1751 and by the end of the century slavery was abolished in the northern states. In 1808 it became illegal to import slaves to the USA. This increased the tensions between the northern and the southern states and finally caused the civil war 1861.
When the southern states lost the war in 1865 slavery became illegal in the whole USA.
After the civil war there was a big expansion westwards, immigration increased heavily, railroads were built rapidly and a rapid industrialization started.
During most of the 19th century the USA tried to keep neutral in European affairs, as long as Europe did not interfere in the affairs of the western hemisphere, the so called Monroe-doctrine.
In this century USA expanded its territory, first by buying Louisiana from France 1803 and Florida from Spain in 1819. In 1845 Texas joined the union and in a war against Mexico vast areas in the south and west were conquered; New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. In 1867 Alaska was bought from Russia for 7.2 million dollars.
In the Spanish-American war 1898 USA won Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and great influence over Cuba. The independent republic Hawaii was annexed. In 1904 to 1914 the Panama Canal was built in a territory hired from Panama. And in 1916 the Virgin Islands were bought from Denmark.
The USA declared neutrality in World War I, but was subjected to war actions. Many American ships were sunk by the German sub-marines and it engaged itself economic help to the western powers. when Germany in 1917 proclaimed the unlimited sub-marine war USA could not longer stand aside, but declared war with Germany.
After World War I USA continued the isolationistic policy.
By the end of the 1930:s USA engaged itself in the struggle against many dictators around the world and Great Britain received a strong support by the outbreak of World War II. When Japan attacked the US base Pearl Harbour at Hawaii in December 1941 USA was forced into the war and contributed actively to end the war. Not least by using the first atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
After World War II many democratic countries received a huge economical support for their reconstruction. On the initiative from the USA several defence alliances were founded, such as NATO (North AMerica and Europe), SEATO (Southeast Asia) and OAS (the whole western hemisphere). These alliances formed one front in the cold war, in counterbalance to the Sovjet attempts to spread communism.
The whole era since World War II has been marked by the cold war, that is the tension between the democratic countries and the communist sphere, and by the selfimposed US role as world police. The cold war took an end when the Sovjet Union was disbanded in December 1991.
The USA have acted world police either by sending military troops or by threatening to send them. US troops have been engaged in Korea 1950 to 1953 with the aim to stop communist expansion eastwards. In Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. grenada 1985. Kuwait 1991.
By using its enormous economic and military powers as a mean of pressure the USA have been able to solve many conflicts around the world.
In the 1990:s the USA several times have sent troops as humanitarian help to countries in desperate need of food and stability.
Several racial riots have been shaking the US since the 1960:s.
