Official name of the country: The United States of America (US or USA)

Type of the republic: federal republic

Area: 9.372,614 square km

National holiday: Independence Day, 4 July (1776)

Population: over 295 million

Largest city: New York (over 18 million people)

Capital: Washington, DC (District of Columbia)

Largest state: Alaska (1,530,700 sq km)

Smallest state: Rhode Island (3,950 km)

Longest river: the Mississippi (3,950 km)

Highest point: Mount McKinley, Alaska (6.198 m)

Climate: mostly temperate, but varies from tropical (Hawaii) to arctic (Alaska); arid to semiarid in the west with occasional warm, dry chinook wind

Natural resources: coal, copper, lead molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zine, crude oil, natural gas, timber

Environmental problems: need for pollution control measures improving air and water quality; acid rain, agricultural fertilizer and pesticide pollution; management of sparse natural water resources in the west; desertification; tsunamis, volcanoes and earthquake activity around Pacific Basin; continuous permafrost in northern Alaska which is a major impediment to development

Independence: 4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)

Currency: dollar 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 1000 notes

                  coins nickel = 5c, dimes = 10c, quarter = 25c