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The United States of America stretches across the middle of North America, from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. The 48 contiguous states lie between Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, while Alaska sits in the far northwest and Hawaii is a chain of islands in the middle of the Pacific. Inside this huge area you find almost every kind of landscape: forests, prairies, deserts, swamps, great lakes and high mountains.
People have lived here for many thousands of years, and Native American nations built villages, trading networks and even cities long before Europeans arrived. From the 1500s Spain, France, the Netherlands and England set up colonies. Thirteen British colonies on the Atlantic coast declared their independence in 1776 and became a new country, which then grew westward across the continent.
Today the United States is a federal republic of 50 states and the federal capital, Washington D.C., with about 342 million people. Its people or their ancestors came from every part of the world, and you can taste this in its food and hear it in its music, from blues and jazz to country and rock and roll.
The story of the United States begins with the Native American peoples who lived here for thousands of years. Spanish, French, Dutch and English colonists arrived from the 1500s, and enslaved Africans were brought by force. Thirteen British colonies won their independence and wrote a constitution that is still in use. The young country grew across the continent, often at the expense of Native nations, fought a civil war that ended slavery, and in the 20th century became a world power, while Americans kept struggling to make equal rights real for all.
From about 1050, Cahokia, near today's St. Louis, grew into the largest city of the Mississippian culture, with perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 people, though estimates vary widely. Its great earthen mound, Monks Mound, is the largest earthwork built before Columbus north of Mexico, and the site is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On 8 September 1565 the Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine in Florida, on land where the Timucua people lived. It is the oldest continuously inhabited European-founded settlement in the contiguous United States.
In May 1607 English settlers sent by the Virginia Company of London built James Fort on the James River in Virginia. Jamestown became the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, after earlier attempts such as Roanoke had failed.
In late August 1619 a group of Africans, captured from a slave ship, were brought to the Virginia colony. They are the first recorded Africans in the Virginia colony. Slavery grew over the next two centuries, above all on the plantations of the South, and lasted until 1865.
In November 1620 the ship Mayflower, with 102 passengers now known as the Pilgrims, anchored off Cape Cod after about ten weeks at sea. They founded Plymouth Colony in today's Massachusetts, and their harvest feast of 1621 is remembered as the 'first Thanksgiving'.
On 4 July 1776 the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adopted the Declaration of Independence, in which the Thirteen Colonies broke away from Britain. The Revolutionary War went on until 1783, and 4 July is still celebrated as Independence Day.
From May to September 1787 delegates met at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and wrote the Constitution, which came into force in 1789. It is often described as the oldest written national constitution still in use.
In 1803 the United States bought the huge Louisiana Territory from France for 15 million US dollars. The land stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and nearly doubled the size of the country.
In May 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. In the years that followed, tens of thousands of Native Americans, including the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw, were forced to leave their homelands in the Southeast. Thousands died on the way, and these forced marches west are remembered as the Trail of Tears.
Seven Southern states, where slavery was central to the economy, broke away in 1860 and 1861 and formed the Confederacy. The war began on 12 April 1861, when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina, and four more states then joined the Confederacy. About 700,000 soldiers died, making it the deadliest war in American history.
In April 1865 General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, and days later President Lincoln was assassinated. In December 1865 the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, abolishing slavery throughout the country.
On 10 May 1869 a ceremonial 'golden spike' joined the Central Pacific and Union Pacific lines at Promontory Summit, Utah. Trains could now run from Omaha to Sacramento, and a journey across the country took days instead of months.
In August 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment came into effect, after decades of campaigning by women such as Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt. It says that the right to vote cannot be denied because of sex.
On 7 December 1941 Japanese aircraft attacked the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The United States, neutral until then, entered the Second World War the next day.
On 2 July 1964 the Civil Rights Act became law. It banned discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex or national origin, and ended legal segregation in schools and public places. It followed years of peaceful protest by the civil rights movement, including the 1963 March on Washington.
On 20 July 1969 the Apollo 11 lunar module landed on the Moon. Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on its surface, followed by Buzz Aldrin, while Michael Collins stayed in orbit.
American food is a mix of Native American, European and African traditions, with later influences from Latin America, Asia and many other places. Corn, turkey, squash and cranberries are native to the Americas. Most Americans eat three meals a day: breakfast, a quick lunch around midday and dinner, the main meal, in the early evening. The big idea to remember is that food is regional: New England has chowders and lobster, the South has barbecue, cornbread and gumbo, and Texas and the Southwest have Tex-Mex cooking. On the fourth Thursday of November, families across the country share a Thanksgiving dinner of roast turkey.
A patty of grilled or fried ground beef in a soft round bun, usually with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup and mustard. With a slice of cheese on top it becomes a cheeseburger.
The name comes from the German city of Hamburg, but nobody knows exactly who first put the patty in a bun. Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, is one of several places that claim it, saying Louis Lassen served one around 1900.
A large cut of beef brisket cooked slowly for many hours over wood smoke until it is tender, then sliced and often served on butcher paper with white bread, pickles and onion. In Texas, barbecue usually means beef.
Four of the best-known barbecue styles are North Carolina and Memphis, which are based on pork, and Kansas City and Texas, which use beef as well as pork.
Pork shoulder, or sometimes a whole pig, smoked slowly until the meat can be pulled apart by hand, then served in a bun or on a plate with coleslaw. In the Carolinas, barbecue means pork.
The sauce depends on where you are: thin vinegar sauce in eastern North Carolina, vinegar with ketchup in the Lexington style, and a yellow mustard sauce that is popular in South Carolina.
A thick, creamy soup of clams, potatoes, onion and salt pork or bacon, made with milk or cream and served with small oyster crackers. Its rival, Manhattan clam chowder, is red, because it uses tomatoes instead of milk.
Chunks of cooked lobster meat piled into a toasted, buttered hot dog bun. The warm Connecticut style is dressed with melted butter, while the cold style common in Maine uses a little mayonnaise, sometimes with celery.
It is often said to have started at a restaurant called Perry's in Milford, Connecticut, as early as 1929, although this is disputed.
A rich, dark stew made with a roux (flour cooked slowly in fat), the 'holy trinity' of onion, celery and green pepper, and seafood, chicken or sausage. It is thickened with okra or filé powder, made from dried sassafras leaves, and served over rice.
Gumbo is the official state cuisine of Louisiana. Its name probably comes from an African word for okra, and the dish mixes West African, French, Spanish, German and Choctaw cooking.
A pizza baked in a deep round pan, with a tall crust, a thick layer of cheese and fillings, and chunky tomato sauce on top instead of underneath. It is eaten with a knife and fork.
It is usually credited to Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, which opened in 1943.
Thin slices of beef, often rib-eye, fried on a griddle with onions and topped with melted cheese, all in a long crusty roll.
The brothers Pat and Harry Olivieri, who ran a hot dog stand in Philadelphia, are often credited with inventing it in the early 1930s.
A whole turkey roasted in the oven and served with stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and green beans, followed by pumpkin pie. Many of these foods are native to the Americas. For safety, the thickest part of the turkey, and any stuffing, must reach 74°C (165°F) on a food thermometer.
Thanksgiving dinner is the biggest eating event of the year in the United States, and saying grace before the meal is a tradition in many families.
A quick bread made with cornmeal, baked in a hot pan (often cast iron) until golden and crusty. It is served warm with butter, next to barbecue, chili, beans or greens.
Native American cooks made breads from corn long before Europeans arrived, and settlers learned the idea from them. Many Southern cooks make it with little or no sugar.
Thick, fluffy pancakes, served in a stack with butter and maple syrup, often with bacon, sausages or fresh berries. Small ones are called 'silver dollar' pancakes.
Maple syrup is made by boiling down the sap of maple trees. Almost all of the world's maple syrup comes from Canada and the northeastern United States.
A double-crust pie filled with sliced apples, sugar and cinnamon, served warm, often with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, which Americans call 'à la mode'. Some people eat it with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese.
Apple pie recipes were first written down in England in the 14th century, but the saying 'as American as apple pie' made it a symbol of the United States.
A tangy pie of Key lime juice, egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk in a crumbly biscuit (graham cracker) crust, topped with whipped cream or meringue. Most recipes today bake the filling briefly, which also makes the eggs safe to eat.
Since 2006 it has been the official state pie of Florida. The food writer Stella Parks believes it grew out of a 1931 recipe for 'Magic Lemon Cream Pie' from Borden, a company that made condensed milk.
Crisp at the edges and soft in the middle, these butter and brown sugar cookies are dotted with pieces of chocolate. They are the most popular cookie in the United States.
They are credited to Ruth Wakefield, who ran the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, in the 1930s. In 1997 Massachusetts made the chocolate chip cookie its official state cookie.
America's cities are as varied as its landscapes: the old colonial streets of Boston and Philadelphia, the skyscrapers of New York and Chicago, the jazz and Creole cooking of New Orleans, Spanish missions in Texas, and the hills, bridges and beaches of the West Coast.
The capital, created by the Residence Act of 1790 on the Potomac River and the seat of the government since 1800. Around the long, green National Mall stand the Capitol, the White House, great memorials and the Smithsonian museums.
The most populous city in the United States, with about 8.6 million people, at the mouth of the Hudson River on one of the world's great natural harbours. For millions of immigrants, the Statue of Liberty was their first sight of America.
Founded by English Puritans in 1630, Boston was the scene of the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and other early events of the American Revolution. Today it is a city of universities, hospitals and old brick streets.
The city where the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776 and the Constitution was written in 1787. It was also the national capital from 1790 to 1800, before Washington D.C. was ready.
A great city on the shore of Lake Michigan, nicknamed the Windy City. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 it was rebuilt with some of the world's first skyscrapers, and it is still famous for its architecture.
Founded by the French in 1718 near the mouth of the Mississippi River, New Orleans mixes French, Spanish, African and Caribbean cultures. It is famous for its music, its Creole cooking and its Mardi Gras carnival.
A sunny city in southern Florida with beaches, pastel Art Deco buildings and a strong Latin American flavour. Many Cubans settled here after 1959, and Spanish is heard everywhere.
The seventh most populous city in the United States, founded around a group of 18th-century Spanish missions. Its River Walk is a path of cafés and gardens along the San Antonio River.
A mountain town at about 2,100 m, surrounded by pine forest, and a popular base for visiting the Grand Canyon. In 1930 the planet Pluto was discovered at its Lowell Observatory.
A green port city in the Pacific Northwest, nicknamed the Emerald City, between the waters of Puget Sound and snowy mountains. The first Starbucks opened near Pike Place Market in 1971 and moved into the market in 1976, where it still serves coffee.
A hilly city on a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. More than 80 percent of the city was destroyed by the earthquake and fire of 1906, and it was quickly rebuilt.
The second most populous city in the United States, spread between the Pacific beaches and the mountains of Southern California. It is the home of Hollywood and one of the world's oldest centres of film and television.
A giant copper statue of a crowned woman holding a torch, on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. It was a gift from the people of France, designed by the sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, with an iron framework inside built by Gustave Eiffel. It was dedicated in 1886 and became a World Heritage Site in 1984.
UNESCO World HeritageA red-brick building completed in 1753 as the Pennsylvania State House. Here the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776 and the Constitution was written in 1787. The Liberty Bell hangs nearby, in the same national park. It became a World Heritage Site in 1979.
UNESCO World Heritage
A memorial in the form of a classical temple at the western end of the National Mall, dedicated in 1922. Inside sits a huge marble statue of President Abraham Lincoln. On its steps, in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his 'I Have a Dream' speech.
A long, low brick house in Chicago's Hyde Park neighbourhood, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1910. It is one of the finest examples of his Prairie style and part of the World Heritage Site 'The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright', listed in 2019.
UNESCO World Heritage
The oldest neighbourhood of New Orleans, also called the Vieux Carré ('Old Square'), laid out in the early 1720s. Its streets are lined with houses with lacy cast-iron balconies, and at its heart is Jackson Square, in front of St. Louis Cathedral.
A vast wetland of sawgrass, mangroves and slow-moving water southwest of Miami, and the largest tropical wilderness in the United States. It is home to alligators, American crocodiles, manatees and hundreds of kinds of birds. It became a national park in 1947 and a World Heritage Site in 1979.
UNESCO World Heritage
Founded in the 18th century as the Spanish Mission San Antonio de Valero, the Alamo is famous for the battle of March 1836 in the Texas Revolution, in which its defenders, including Davy Crockett and James Bowie, were killed. With four other Spanish missions of the city, it became part of the World Heritage Site 'San Antonio Missions' in 2015.
UNESCO World Heritage
A giant canyon in northern Arizona carved by the Colorado River: 446 km long, up to 29 km wide and more than 1.8 km deep. Its layers of red and orange rock show almost two billion years of the Earth's history. It became a national park in 1919 and a World Heritage Site in 1979. The pin marks the South Rim, about 90 minutes by car north of Flagstaff.
UNESCO World Heritage
A suspension bridge across the Golden Gate strait, where San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific. When it opened in 1937 it was the longest and tallest suspension bridge in the world. Its famous colour is called International Orange.
A 184 m observation tower that looks like a flying saucer on a stand, built for the 1962 World's Fair. From the top you can see Puget Sound and, on a clear day, Mount Rainier.
Yellowstone, created by law on 1 March 1872, is widely considered the first national park in the world. More than half of the world's geysers are found there, including Old Faithful.
The United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for 7.2 million US dollars, or about two cents per acre.
In the Bering Strait, the US island of Little Diomede and the Russian island of Big Diomede are about 3.8 km apart. The International Date Line runs between them, so the Russian island is almost a day ahead.
The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France. Gustave Eiffel, who later built the Eiffel Tower in Paris, designed the iron framework that holds it up.
The 13 stripes of the flag stand for the 13 colonies that declared independence, and the 50 stars for today's 50 states. The 50-star flag was adopted in July 1960, after Hawaii became a state, and as of 2026 it is the longest-used version of the flag.
The bald eagle has been on the Great Seal of the United States since 1782, but it only became the official national bird by law in December 2024.
The words of the national anthem, 'The Star-Spangled Banner', were written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key after he watched the British bombard Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Congress made it the national anthem only in 1931.
Route 66, the famous 'Mother Road', opened in 1926 and ran about 3,940 km from Chicago to Santa Monica in California. It was removed from the highway system in 1985, but long stretches survive as Historic Route 66, and 2026 is its 100th anniversary.
The highest point in the contiguous United States, Mount Whitney (4,421 m), and the lowest point in North America, Badwater Basin in Death Valley (86 m below sea level), are both in California, only about 135 km apart.
Juneau, the capital of Alaska, has no road connecting it to the rest of the state or to the contiguous United States. People and goods arrive by plane or by boat.
Counting its territories, the United States uses nine standard time zones. The 48 contiguous states alone have four: Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific.
The Missouri and the Mississippi are almost exactly the same length, about 3,770 km each, and sources disagree on which one is longer. Together they form the fourth-longest river system in the world.
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, a date fixed for the whole country in 1941. It recalls the Pilgrims' harvest feast of 1621 at Plymouth.
Everyday American words that differ from British English, with the British word in brackets. Pronunciations show a typical American accent. Pronunciation is written the way it sounds; the capital letters show where the stress goes. Audio is coming soon.
Tips are a big part of many workers' pay. In sit-down restaurants, leave 15 to 20 percent of the bill before tax. Taxi drivers usually get 15 to 20 percent of the fare, and bartenders a little for each drink. Check first whether a service charge has already been added.
Sales tax is set by each state and city and is added at the till, so you pay more than the price on the label. As of 2026, five states have no statewide sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon.
Visitors from Visa Waiver Program countries need an approved ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) before they board. Apply at least 72 hours before travel, and use only the official website, esta.cbp.dhs.gov; other sites charge extra. Most other travellers need a visa. Rules can change, so check them well before your trip.
Dial 911 from any phone for police, fire or an ambulance. Medical care in the United States is very expensive, so buy travel insurance that covers health care before you go.
Sockets in the United States supply about 120 volts, and plugs have two flat pins (sometimes with a round third pin). Check that your chargers work on 110 to 240 volts; most phone and laptop chargers do.
Road signs show miles (1 mile is about 1.6 km), weather is given in degrees Fahrenheit (70°F is about 21°C) and recipes use cups and ounces. Speed limits are in miles per hour.
In every state, drivers may turn right at a red light after a full stop, unless a sign says 'No turn on red'. The big exceptions are New York City, where it is not allowed unless a sign permits it, and Washington D.C., which has been banning it since 2025, so watch for signs there.
The country is huge and spans several time zones. Los Angeles, on Pacific time, is three hours behind New York, on Eastern time. Choose one or two regions for a first trip rather than trying to see everything.
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