The USA lies below Canada (although Alaska is to the north west of Canada) and above Mexico and it is the main land mass in North America. The Hawaiian Islands are in the Pacific Ocean some five hours west of the coast of California. On the east coast the country is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The US also has a large coastline with the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico is an American territory. The Northern Marina Islands, Guam and the US Virgin Islands are also part of the US.

The USA is a Federal Republic which is currently the world’s preeminent superpower. The USA has had a very short but packed history. The country was founded in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence and in no time at all going on to become an economic powerhouse (that said America is on shaky foundations today with trillions of dollars of debt owed to the Chinese). The USA takes up the huge continent of North America and this is a vast and varied country.  America is made up of 48 states which include the lower 48 as well as Alaska and Hawaii.

The USA is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and many people also aspire to live here as this is a land of infinite opportunity. With hard work theoretically anything can be achieved in what is the world’s wealthiest nation.
Many visitors choose to go to the US for road trips as the country has miles of open road. Along the way you can see massive theme parks such as Disneyland in Florida, National Parks like the world famous Yosemite, and monuments and landmarks like Mount Rushmore or the Statue of Liberty.
In America you can experience any landscape, from the snowy wastes of Alaska in the northwest to the boiling hot deserts of Phoenix in the south west. Although there are many cold parts of the country and Hawaii is tropical, by and large the main climate is temperate. America has huge lakes and rivers for fishing and rafting, mountains and oceans for skiing and surfing, stadiums, golf courses and every attraction you could ever think of.

Around 300 million people live in the 9.6 million square kilometres of the USA. Although most of the USA population is of Anglo Saxon descent, there is large proportion of Hispanics and also many African Americans and Asians. Half of the population are Protestant and 24% are Roman Catholic. The country truly lives up to its reputation as a melting pot of nationalities.