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The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic made up of fifty states, one federal district and fourteen territories. Almost completely located in the western hemisphere its forty-eight adjoining states and Washington, D.C. (the capital district) lie in North America between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and are bordered by Mexico to the south and Canada to the north. The state of Hawaii is located in the mid-Pacific, and Alaska is in the northwest region of the continent with Canada to its east. U.S. territories can be found in the Pacific and Caribbean. The largest and most populous U.S. territory is the common wealth of Puerto Rico, located in the northeastern Caribbean. Due to the enormity of the country it is not possible to talk about one climate.
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The USA has snowcapped mountains, deserts, moderate regions, as well as tropical rainforests and even Mediterranean style beach resorts. The USA is the third or fourth largest country by total area and third largest by land area and population, with more than 3.7 million square miles (over 9.6 million km²) and more than 300 million people. J.Q. Adams and Pearlie Strother-Adams write in Dealing with Diversity that the U.S. is one of the world's most ethnically and socially diverse nations, the product of large-scale immigration from almost every corner of the world.
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The nation was founded by the thirteen colonies of Great Britain situated along the Atlantic coast. They issued the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, proclaiming themselves states. On September 17, 1787 a federal caucus adopted the current United States Constitution, and the following year its ratification made the states part of a single republic. In 1791 the Bill of Rights, including ten constitutional amendments, was ratified. It was during the 19th and 20th centuries that 37 new states were added to the original 13, as the nation expanded across the North American continent and acquired a number of overseas possessions. The CIA World Fact Book reports that the two most traumatic experiences in the nation's history were the Civil War (1861-65) and the Great Depression (1930s). Sustained by victories in World War I & II and the end of the Cold War in 1991, the US remains the world's most powerful nation state. In fact, the response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 showed the incredible resilience of the economy. In August 2005 hurricane Katrina caused large scale damage in the Gulf Coast region, yet had little impact on the overall GDP growth for the year. Oil prices rocketed in 2005 and 2006 threatening inflation and unemployment, yet the economy continued to grow through the end of 2006.
Driven by a well developed infrastructure, high productivity and abundant natural resources, the USA boasts a capitalist mixed economy. According to the International Monetary Fund, their GDP of more than $13 trillion makes up 20 percent of the gross world product. The USA is eighth in the world in nominal GDP per capita and ranks fourth in GDP per capita at purchasing power parity. The country is the largest importer of goods and second largest exporter with Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany as its top trading partners. The economy is marked by low unemployment and inflation, steady growth, and rapid advances in technology. The current President is George W. Bush.
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