FACTS

Location: North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico

Area (only Total) total: 9,826,630 sq km

Climate: mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains

Terrain: vast central plain, mountains in west, hills and low mountains in east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska; rugged, volcanic topography in Hawaii

Population: 303,824,646 (July 2008 est.)

Main Language (only first): English

Government type: Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition

Capital (Name): Washington, DC

Capital (Time Difference): UTC-5

Independence: 4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)

National holiday: Independence Day, 4 July (1776)