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• United States of America


  The world's third largest country in size and nearly the third largest in terms of population, located in North America between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
• The United States has mountains, lakes, rivers, deserts, and islands
• Official name, form of government, capital, population, languages, money, area, major mountain ranges, major rivers, Great Lakes


  • United States of America
  • Constitution-based federal republic
  • Washington, D.C.
  • 330,175,936
  • English, Spanish (no official national language)
  • U.S. dollar
  • 3,794,083 square miles (9,826,630 square kilometers)
  • Rocky Mountains, Appalachian Mountains
  • Mississippi, Missouri, Colorado, Rio Grande
  • Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario
• Geography of the United States

  • Third largest country in size, located in North America, bordered by Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Canada, and Mexico, has 50 states and 5 major territories, Hawaii and Alaska are far from the continental mainland, has high mountains in the West and a vast central plain, lowest point is Death Valley, highest peak is Denali (Mt. McKinley)
• The United States has been a nation of immigrants throughout its history
• Regions of the United States


  • New England
  • Mid-Atlantic
  • South
  • Midwest
  • Southwest
  • West
• New England


  Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, settled by European settlers seeking religious freedom
• Mid-Atlantic


  Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., industrial areas that attracted European immigrants
• South


  Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, struggled after the Civil War
• Midwest


  Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, home to the country's agricultural base
• Southwest


  Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, beautiful stark landscape of prairie and desert, home to natural marvels like the Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns
• West


  Alaska, Colorado, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, diverse landscape from endless wilderness to barren desert, coral reefs to Arctic tundra, Hollywood to Yellowstone
• A monarchy is a form of government where a single person, the monarch, rules the country.
• An oligarchy is a form of government where a small group of people holds power.
• civil society is the sphere between family, market, state
• civil society can be seen as an arena where citizens come together to influence public policy or hold government accountable
• state is a political entity with sovereignty within a given territory
• the state is an organization that has power over its citizens
• the civil society includes voluntary associations such as clubs, churches, trade unions, political parties, charities, pressure groups, etc.
• civil society is the sum total of all non-governmental institutions, organizations, associations, groups, clubs, movements, etc.
• A democracy is a form of government where the people have the authority to choose their governing legislation.
• An oligarchy is a system of government by a small group of people who hold most or all of the power.
• The United States has been described as an "oligarchy" because it is dominated by wealthy elites with disproportionate political influence.
• The United States has a federal system of government, with powers divided between the national (federal) government and individual states.
• The President serves as both head of state and head of government.
• The U.S. Constitution establishes the structure and powers of these institutions.
• In a democracy, citizens have equal rights and opportunities to participate in decision making through free elections and representation.
• The United Nations (UN) was established on October 24, 1945, following World War II.
• At the height of the most recent Ice Age, about 35,000 years ago, much of the world's water was locked up in vast continental ice sheets
• A land bridge as much as 1,500 kilometers wide connected Asia and North America
• By 12,000 years ago, humans were living throughout much of the Western Hemisphere
• The first Americans crossed the land bridge from Asia and were believed to have stayed in what is now Alaska for thousands of years
• They then moved south into the land that was to become the United States
• Early groups of Native Americans


  • Hohokam
  • Adenans
  • Hopewellians
  • Anasazi
• Early Native American groups


  • Built villages and grew crops
  • Some built mounds of earth in the shapes of pyramids, birds, or serpents
  • Their life was closely tied to the land, and their society was clan-oriented and communal
  • Elements of the natural world played an essential part in their spiritual beliefs
  • Their culture was primarily oral, although some developed a type of hieroglyphics to preserve certain texts
  • There was a good deal of trade among the groups but also that some of their relations were hostile
• For reasons not yet completely understood, these early groups disappeared over time and were replaced by other groups of Native Americans, including Hopi and Zuni, who flourished
• By the time Europeans reached what is now the United States, about two million native people, maybe more, lived here
• The first Europeans to arrive in North America were Norse
• Erik the Red founded a settlement in Greenland


  Around 985
• Leif, Erik the Red's son, is thought to have explored the northeast coast of what is now Canada

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