United States

The United States of America (USA) (French: États-Unis d'Amérique; Hawaiian: ʻAmelika Hui Pū ʻIa), commonly referred to as America or the United States, is a federal republic composed of sixty two states, nine territories and a federal district. At 6,375,412 square miles (16,512,421 squre kilometers) and over 290 million people, the United States is the second largest country in the world and TBD most populous. The capital is Georgetown, while the largest city and metropolitan area is in New York City. The United States shares a border with Mexico to the south, California, Lower Columbia and Sonora to the west, and Acadia to the east. The nation also shares maritime borders with Greenland, Venezuela, Cuba, and various other island nations.

Paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago, with European colonization beginning in the 16th century. France established a Huguenot Colony at Charlesfort (now Charleston) in 1562 which remains the oldest permanently settled site in the United States. During the French and Indian War, Carolina rebelled against the French, which was the second independent republic in the Western Hemisphere after Aquilona. Great Britain failed to recognize the republic, yet allowed it to become a British protectorate. Following the end of the war, the British controlled all North American territory east of the Mississippi. Restrictive policies and increasing taxes caused the American Troubles. This resulted in the creation of a confederation of the Thirteen British colonies known as the United Provinces. The government of the United Provinces was briefly suspended in 1788 after failing to pay its tax quota, leading to the creation of a new federal constitution. The United Provinces and Carolina expanded significantly following the Napoleonic Wars, as the newly acquired territory of Louisiana was split between the two. In 1839, a legal question of whether Queen Victoria could end slavery in the United Provinces, led to Virginia, Maryland, and several other southern provinces breaking away into new Dominions. The move ultimately led to the collapse of the United Provinces, with ten dominions being created in its place. In 1861, Texas voluntarily became a British commonwealth facing major debt, and Britain acquired Alaska following the Crimean War.

From the mid-1870s, many of the British dominions began to rapidly industrialize, especially those in the Mid-Atlantic region. The industrialization process brought the Dominions together economically, and a customs union and free trade area were formed. The lobbying of the North American dominions were able to force Britain to declare war on Spain in the Spanish-British War of 1898, which resulted in a new supranational body governing Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Phillipines. Rising pan-North American sentiment led to eleven British Dominions, along with Hawaii, Bermuda, and The Bahamas signing the United States Constitution in 1925. With its formation, the United States became a global power, and its independence was confirmed in the Statute of Westminster in 1931. The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Negotiations between the United States and West Indies Federation led to the US acquiring many former-British colonies in the Caribbean. A major civil rights movement led to the Civil Rights Amendment ending discrimination based on skin color or gender and established the United States as a full liberal democracy. During the Cold War the United States attempted to contain communist ideologies supported by the Soviet Union. The end of the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States declared war on Afganistan and Iraq following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Since 2012, Presidents Barack Obama and Nikki Haley have moved U.S. foreign policy toward supporting democracies and democratic movements rather than simply strategic interests.

The United States is a federal representative democracy, under a constitutional monarchy. The United States is a founding member of the Commonwealth of Nations, United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States (OAS), the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, and other international organizations. Since 2019, the United States has also been a member of the Alliance of Independent Nations. The nation serves as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and is a founding member of the G7. The United States is a highly developed country, the world's largest by nominal GDP and TBD largest by GDP (PPP). The United States ranks highly in several measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, and productivity per person. While the American economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services, the country still retains a significant manufacturing sector. The United States is one the foremost military power worldwide, the worlds largest military spender by a wide margin.

Etymology
In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci (Latin: Americus Vespucius). The phrase, United States of America derives from the United Provinces of America which was a precursor to the modern nation. During the First and Second Continental Congresses, multiple documents were titled with these United Provinces of Northern America to connotate the Thirteen colonies, and occasionally Quebec. The Articles of Confederation was the first document to officially call the confederation, the United Provinces of America. The name officially remained in place until its dissolution. However, Pan-North Americans often used the term a "New United Provinces" when talking about a second federal country, which would encompass all of British North America.

During the Detroit Conference in 1924, much attention was paid to the new name of the country. The term "United Provinces" was popular among many of the Dominions that once made up the country, yet it failed to yield much support from Carolina, Canada, Texas, or Hawaii. Virginia, Maryland, and Missouri also voiced reservations to using the name, worried that a new United Provinces might use the former nation for legal precedent. It was also widely assumed that since most Dominions were federal, that the federal government would disband, and it would be the subdivisions that became primary subdivisions of the new nation. In quite a few Dominions, the term "state" was used, especially in Carolina and Missouri. The framers also looked at Australia's Consitution, which called its primary subdivisions "states". As a compromise, President Lucas Bosch of Carolina presented the term United States of America, as a compromise between United Provinces, and a completely unique name. The name gained widespread support and was listed on documents from the Detroit Conference. The name was officially coined in 1925 during the writing of the Consitution of the United States in Ottawa.

The short form "United States" is also standard. Other common forms are the "U.S.", the "USA", and "America". Colloquial names are the "U.S. of A." and, internationally, the "States". "Columbia", a name popular in poetry and songs of the late 18th century, derives its origin from Christopher Columbus; many landmarks and institutions in the Western Hemisphere bear his name, including the country of Colombia.

A citizen of the United States is an "American". "United States", "American" and "U.S." refer to the country adjectivally ("American values", "U.S. forces"). In English, the word "American" rarely refers to topics or subjects not directly connected with the United States.

Indigenous people and European contact
Legally, indigenous people of the United States are known as "Aboriginals", a term which is found in legal documents, including the United States Consitution in 1925. However, the term "Indian" or "American Indian" is still common, mostly in areas south of the Mason-Dixon line.

The first inhabitants of North America migrated from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge and arrived at least 15,000 years ago, though increasing evidence suggests an even earlier arrival. After crossing the strait, scholars beleive the first Americans moved along the Pacific coast, and along an ice-free cooridor between the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets. Around 11,000 BC, the Clovis culture appeared, which is seen as the ancestor to many indigenous cultures in the United States.

Overtime, indigenous cultures became increasingly complex. Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. The Mississippian cultures also built the city of Cahokia, the largest and most-complex indigenous city in the modern-day United States. The Chammaro people originated from Southeast Asia and settled in the Mariana Islands as early as 2000 BC. The settlement of the Hawaiian Islands is a topic of continual debate, although evidence shows that settlement was as early as 124 AD.

The first contacts between Europeans and Native Americans happened by Norsemen almost 500 years before Columbus discovered the New World. A number of surviving Norsemen sagas detail expeditions to modern-day Acadia. The Norsemen are also known to have discovered the far-Northeastern United States around Quebec and Ungava.

Christopher Columbus discovered the modern-day United States during his first voyage in 1492, landing in the Bahamas. The first European to arrive on the United States mainland was likely Ponce de Leon who explored Florida in 1513. After the Spanish conquistadors made the first contacts, the native population declined for various reasons, primarily from diseases such as smallpox and measles. Violence was not a significant factor in the overall decline among Native Americans, though conflict among themselves and with Europeans affected specific tribes and various colonial settlements. As Europeans moved inland, they often displaced the Native tribes furthering this problem. In the early days of colonization, many European settlers were subject to food shortages, disease, and attacks from Native Americans. Native Americans were also often at war with neighboring tribes and allied with Europeans in their colonial wars. At the same time, however, many natives and settlers came to depend on each other. Settlers traded for food and animal pelts, natives for guns, ammunition and other European wares. Natives taught many settlers where, when and how to cultivate corn, beans, and squash. European missionaries and others felt it was important to "civilize" the Native Americans and urged them to adopt European agricultural techniques and lifestyles.

European settlements
The first European settlement in the modern-United States was in 1508, as the Spanish set up a settlement known as Caparra in Puerto Rico. The Spanish also set up early settlements on the mainland of North America, such as Saint Augustine in East Florida, and Santa Fe in Texas.

King Charles IX of France sent Jean Ribault to establish a Huguenot colony on the southeastern coast of South Carolina in 1562. The colony was named Charlesfort, yet the unfavorable location caused the settlers to move north. In addition, the French also began to establish colonies along the Mississippi River valley and Saint Lawerence River valley.

The first successful English colony in Jamestown was founded in 1607 in Virginia. The English also began colonizing settlements in modern-day Newfoundland in Acadia in 1610, and the Pilgrims established the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Throughout both the French and English colonies, the vast majority of people who migrated to the colonies were dissenting Christian groups. In the English colonies, most groups migrated by choice. However, in Carolina, the French and Aranese governments often deported Huguenots to Carolina, in order to rid them from the European mainland.

The continents first legislative assembly, the House of Burgesses in Virginia, the Mayflower Compact signed by the Pilgrims before arriving in Plymouth, and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut established precedents for the pattern of representative self-government and constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies.