United States of America

1. Short Overview
United States of America is a federal republic made up of 50 states and a federal district
called the federal District of Columbia. (D.C.), which is the formal denomination of its
capital, Washington D.C. The country is bordered by Mexico to the South, by Canada to the
North, by the Atlantic Ocean to the East and by the Pacific Ocean to the West. The state of
Alaska is separated from the main region of the United States, and is located in the North-
West extremity of North America, being bordered by Canada to the East and the Bering Strait
to the West. The country also possesses some territories in the Pacific Ocean and the
Caribbean Sea. Its total area is 9.83 million square km, being the 4th largest country in the
world, inhabited by 325 million people, resulting an average density of 35 inhabitants/km2. Its
biggest city is New York and the highest peak is part of the McKinley Mountain and
measures 6.190 m. Although there is no official language specified at the federal level, the
national language is English, and the second most spoken language is Spanish. The
predominant religion is Christianity, chosen by 70.6% of the population, followed by Judaism
with a percentage of only 1.9%, then Islam with 0.9%, while 22.8% of the population is
unaffiliated. Some of the many ethnic groups present in the country are as follows: 77.1%
White, 13.3% Black, 5.6% Asian, 1.2% native and 17.6% of the population are Hispanics or
Latino. The life expectancy of Americans is 79.13 years, which puts them on the 53rd place
out of 228 countries. The first place is taken by Monaco, with a life expectancy of 89.42
years, while the last place is taken by South Africa, with a life expectancy of only 50.3 years.

2. Historical Key Events

America’s history began more than 14.000 years ago, with the arrival of the first Asian
immigrants through the Bering Strait, while looking for animals to hunt. These are called
American Indians, or better known as Native Americans. Cristopher Columbus was the one
who initiated the European colonization of the New World. In 16th and 17th centuries, the
Spanish occupied the South-West part of The United States, along with Florida. The first
English colony which was successful was established in Virginia in the year 1607 and was
called Jamestown. These events are followed by the colonization of the East Coast by Great
Britain. When France has given Canada to the British, Great Britain imposed taxes upon the
13 colonies in order to raise war funds. The colonies rejected these taxes and the tension
between them and Great Britain sparked a revolution. In 1776, the 13 colonies declared their
independence from Great Britain, and so starting the American revolution which created the
United States. The initial administrative structure of the country was a confederation (1777),
which was later replaced by the United States Constitution in 1789, which created a more
centralized political system. The first president of the United States of America was George
Washington, which served between 1789 and 1797.

Slavery was very popular in the country due to the deficit of workers, and while some people
agreed it, there were many that didn’t. The northern states began opposing slavery, while the
southern states believed that this system was necessary. In 1861, 7 southern states left the
United States and formed the Confederate States of America, which led to the beginning of
the American Civil War. After the war started, 4 more southern states joined the
confederation. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation,
which stated that the slaves in designated areas from the South are free. The complete
emancipation of the slaves was finished in 1865 after the confederation disbanded with the
adoption of the 13th Amendment of the USA Constitution.

The 20th century was also called the “American Century” because of its influence on the
world. The US have fought in the First and Second World War as part of the Allies. Between
the wars, the US have suffered from the Great Depression (1929-1939), whose effect was
intensified by a serious drought.

A key event in the 21st century were the 9/11 attacks that took place on 11 September 2001
and were executed by Al-Qaida, whose leader was Osama bin Laden, which targeted the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Following these events, America declared war to
terrorists, which started the Afghanistan War in 2001 and the Iraq War in 2003.