The 

United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United

States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists
of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, 326 Indian reservations,
and some minor possessions.[j] At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million square kilometers), it
is the world's third- or fourth-largest country by total area.[e] The United States shares
significant land borders with Canada to the north and Mexico to the south as well as limited
maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, and Russia.[20] With a population of more than
331 million people, it is the third most populous country in the world. The national
capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City.

European settlements
Further information: Colonial history of the United States and Thirteen Colonies

Claims of very early colonization of coastal New England by the Norse are disputed and
controversial. The first documented arrival of Europeans in the continental United States is
that of Spanish conquistadors such as Juan Ponce de León, who made his first expedition
to Florida in 1513. Even earlier, Christopher Columbus had landed in Puerto Rico on
his 1493 voyage, and San Juan was settled by the Spanish a decade later.[45] The Spanish
set up the first settlements in Florida and New Mexico, such as Saint Augustine, often
considered the nation's oldest city,[46] and Santa Fe. The French established their own
settlements along the Mississippi River, notably New Orleans.[47] Successful English
settlement of the eastern coast of North America began with the Virginia Colony in 1607
at Jamestown and with the Pilgrims' colony at Plymouth in 1620.[48][49] The continent's first
elected legislative assembly, Virginia's House of Burgesses, was founded in 1619.
Documents such as the Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Orders of
Connecticut established precedents for representative self-government and
constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies.[50][51] Many English
settlers were dissenting Christians who came seeking religious freedom. In 1784, the
Russians were the first Europeans to establish a settlement in Alaska, at Three Saints
Bay. Russian America once spanned much of the present-day state of Alaska.[52]