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United States
Table of Contents
United States
Table of Contents
* Introduction & Quick Facts
* Land
* Relief
* The Interior Lowlands and their upland fringes
* The Appalachian Mountain system
* The Atlantic Plain
* The Western Cordillera
* The Western Intermontane Region
* Drainage
* The Eastern systems
* The Pacific systems
* Climate
* Climatic controls
* The change of seasons
* The bioclimatic regions
* The Humid East
* The Humid Pacific Coast
* The Dry West
* The Humid–Arid Transition
* The Western mountains
* Plant life
* Animal life
* Settlement patterns
* Rural settlement
* Early models of land allocation
* Creating the national domain
* Distribution of rural lands
* Patterns of farm life
* Regional small-town patterns
* The rural–urban transition
* Weakening of the agrarian ideal
* Impact of the motor vehicle
* Reversal of the classic rural dominance
* Urban settlement
* Classic patterns of siting and growth
* New factors in municipal development
* The new look of the metropolitan area
* Individual and collective character of cities
* The supercities
* Traditional regions of the United States
* The hierarchy of culture areas
* The cultural hearths
* New England
* The South
* The Midland
* The newer culture areas
* The Midwest
* The problem of “the West”
* People
* Ethnic distribution
* Ethnic European Americans
* African Americans
* Hispanics
* Asian Americans
* Middle Easterners
* Native Americans
* Religious groups
* Immigration
* Economy
* Strengths and weaknesses
* Taxation
* Labour force
* Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
* Resources and power
* Minerals
* Biological resources
* Power
* Manufacturing
* Finance
* Foreign trade
* Transportation
* Roads and railroads
* Water and air transport
* Government and society
* Constitutional framework
* The executive branch
* The legislative branch
* The judicial branch
* State and local government
* Political process
* Suffrage
* Voting and elections
* Money and campaigns
* Political parties
* Security
* National security
* Domestic law enforcement
* Health and welfare
* Housing
* Education
* Cultural life
* Literature
* The visual arts and postmodernism
* The theatre
* Motion pictures
* Television
* Popular music
* Dance
* Sports
* Audiences
* History
* Colonial America to 1763
* The European background
* Settlement
* Virginia
* Maryland
* The New England colonies
* The middle colonies
* The Carolinas and Georgia
* Imperial organization
* The growth of provincial power
* Political growth
* Population growth
* Economic growth
* Land, labour, and independence
* Cultural and religious development
* Colonial culture
* From a city on a hill to the Great Awakening
* Colonial America, England, and the wider world
* The Native American response
* The American Revolution and the early federal republic
* Prelude to revolution
* The tax controversy
* Constitutional differences with Britain
* The Continental Congress
* The American Revolutionary War
* Treaty of Paris
* Foundations of the American republic
* Problems before the Second Continental Congress
* State politics
* The Constitutional Convention
* The social revolution
* Religious revivalism
* The United States from 1789 to 1816
* The Federalist administration and the formation of parties
* The Jeffersonian Republicans in power
* Madison as president and the War of 1812
* The Indian-American problem
* The United States from 1816 to 1850
* The Era of Mixed Feelings
* Effects of the War of 1812
* National disunity
* The economy
* Transportation revolution
* Beginnings of industrialization
* Social developments
* Birth of American Culture
* The people
* Cities
* Education and the role of women
* Wealth
* Jacksonian democracy
* The democratization of politics
* The Jacksonians
* The major parties
* Minor parties
* An age of reform
* Abolitionism
* Support of reform movements
* Religious-inspired reform
* Expansionism and political crisis at midcentury
* Westward expansion
* Attitudes toward expansionism
* The Civil War
* Prelude to war, 1850–60
* Sectionalism and slavery
* A decade of political crises
* Popular sovereignty
* Polarization over slavery
* Secession and the politics of the Civil War, 1860–65
* The coming of the war
* The political course of the war
* Moves toward emancipation
* Sectional dissatisfaction
* Fighting the Civil War
* Foreign affairs
* Aftermath
* Reconstruction and the New South, 1865–1900
* Reconstruction, 1865–77
* Reconstruction under Abraham Lincoln
* Lincoln’s plan
* The Radicals’ plan
* Reconstruction under Andrew Johnson
* Johnson’s policy
* “Black Codes”
* Civil rights legislation
* The South during Reconstruction
* The Ulysses S. Grant administrations, 1869–77
* The New South, 1877–90
* The era of conservative domination, 1877–90
* Jim Crow legislation
* Booker T. Washington and the Atlanta Compromise
* The transformation of American society, 1865–1900
* National expansion
* Growth of the nation
* Immigration
* Westward migration
* Urban growth
* The West
* The mineral empire
* The open range
* The expansion of the railroads
* Indian policy
* Industrialization of the U.S. economy
* The growth of industry
* The dispersion of industry
* Industrial combinations
* Foreign commerce
* Labour
* Formation of unions
* The Haymarket Riot
* National politics
* The Rutherford B. Hayes administration
* The administrations of James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur
* Grover Cleveland’s first term
* The surplus and the tariff
* The public domain
* The Interstate Commerce Act
* The election of 1888
* The Benjamin Harrison administration
* The Sherman Antitrust Act
* The silver issue
* The McKinley tariff
* The agrarian revolt
* The Populists
* The election of 1892
* Cleveland’s second term
* Economic recovery
* Imperialism, the Progressive era, and the rise to world power, 1896–1920
* American imperialism
* The Spanish-American War
* The new American empire
* The Open Door in the Far East
* Building the Panama Canal and American domination in the Caribbean
* The Progressive era
* The character and variety of the Progressive movement
* Origins of progressivism
* Urban reforms
* Reform in state governments
* Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive movement
* Republican troubles under William Howard Taft
* The Republican insurgents
* The 1912 election
* The New Freedom and its transformation
* The rise to world power
* Woodrow Wilson and the Mexican Revolution
* The struggle for neutrality
* Loans and supplies for the Allies
* German submarine warfare
* Arming for war
* The United States enters the Great War
* Break with Germany
* Mobilization
* America’s role in the war
* Wilson’s vision of a new world order
* The Paris Peace Conference and the Versailles Treaty
* The fight over the treaty and the election of 1920
* The United States from 1920 to 1945
* The postwar Republican administrations
* Postwar conservatism
* Peace and prosperity
* New social trends
* The Great Depression
* The New Deal
* The first New Deal
* Relief
* Agricultural recovery
* Business recovery
* The second New Deal and the Supreme Court
* The culmination of the New Deal
* An assessment of the New Deal
* World War II
* The road to war
* The United States at war
* War production
* Financing the war
* Social consequences of the war
* The 1944 election
* The new U.S. role in world affairs
* The United States since 1945
* The peak Cold War years, 1945–60
* The Truman Doctrine and containment
* Postwar domestic reorganization
* The Red Scare
* The Korean War
* Peace, growth, and prosperity
* Eisenhower’s second term
* Domestic issues
* World affairs
* An assessment of the postwar era
* The Kennedy and Johnson administrations
* The New Frontier
* The Great Society
* The civil rights movement
* Latino and Native American activism
* Social changes
* The Vietnam War
* The 1970s
* The Richard M. Nixon administration
* Foreign affairs
* Domestic affairs
* The Watergate scandal
* The Gerald R. Ford administration
* The Jimmy Carter administration
* Foreign affairs
* Domestic policy
* The late 20th century
* The Ronald Reagan administration
* The George H.W. Bush administration
* The Bill Clinton administration
* The 21st century
* The George W. Bush administration
* The Barack Obama administration
* First term
* Election and inauguration
* Tackling the “Great Recession,” the “Party of No,” and the
emergence of the Tea Party movement
* Negotiating health care reform
* Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
* Deepwater Horizon oil spill
* Military de-escalation in Iraq and escalation in Afghanistan
* The 2010 midterm elections
* WikiLeaks, the “Afghan War Diary,” and the “Iraq War Log”
* The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the ratification of START,
and the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
* Budget compromise
* The Arab Spring, intervention in Libya, and the killing of Osama
bin Laden
* The debt ceiling debate
* The failed “grand bargain”
* Raising the debt ceiling, capping spending, and the efforts of the
“super committee”
* Occupy Wall Street, withdrawal from Iraq, and slow economic
recovery
* Deportation policy changes, the immigration law ruling, and
sustaining Obamacare’s “individual mandate”
* The 2012 presidential campaign, a fluctuating economy, and the
approaching “fiscal cliff”
* The Benghazi attack and Superstorm Sandy
* Second Term
* The 2012 election
* The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
* “Sequester” cuts, the Benghazi furor, and Susan Rice on the hot
seat
* The IRS scandal, the Justice Department’s AP phone records
seizure, and Edward Snowden’s leaks
* Removal of Mohammed Morsi, Obama’s “red line” in Syria, and
chemical weapons
* The decision not to respond militarily in Syria
* The 2013 government shutdown
* The Obamacare rollout
* The Iran nuclear deal, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, and the
Ukraine crisis
* The rise of ISIL (ISIS), the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap, and
imposition of stricter carbon emission standards
* The child migrant border surge, air strikes on ISIL (ISIS), and
the 2014 midterm elections
* Normalizing relations with Cuba, the USA FREEDOM Act, and the
Office of Personnel Management data breach
* The Ferguson police shooting, the death of Freddie Gray, and the
Charleston church shooting
* Same-sex marriage and Obamacare Supreme Court rulings and final
agreement on the Iran nuclear deal
* New climate regulations, the Keystone XL pipeline, and
intervention in the Syrian Civil War
* The Merrick Garland nomination and Supreme Court rulings on public
unions, affirmative action, and abortion
* The Orlando nightclub shooting, the shooting of Dallas police
officers, and the shootings in Baton Rouge
* The Donald Trump administration
* The campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination
* The campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination
* Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server, Donald Trump’s Access
Hollywood tape, and the 2016 general election campaign
* Trump’s victory and Russian interference in the presidential
election
* “America First,” the Women’s Marches, Trump on Twitter, and “fake
news”
* Scuttling U.S. participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership,
reconsidering the Keystone XL pipeline, and withdrawing from the
Paris climate agreement
* ICE enforcement and removal operations
* The travel ban
* Pursuing “repeal and replacement” of Obamacare
* John McCain’s opposition and the failure of “skinny repeal”
* Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, the air strike on
Syria, and threatening Kim Jong-Un with “fire and fury”
* Violence in Charlottesville, the dismissal of Steve Bannon, the
resignation of Michael Flynn, and the investigation of possible
collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign
* Jeff Session’s recusal, James Comey’s firing, and Robert Mueller’s
appointment as special counsel
* Hurricanes Harvey and Maria and the mass shootings in Las Vegas,
Parkland, and Santa Fe
* The #MeToo movement, the Alabama U.S. Senate special election, and
the Trump tax cut
* Withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement, Trump-Trudeau conflict
at the G7 summit, and imposing tariffs
* The Trump-Kim 2018 summit, “zero tolerance,” and separation of
immigrant families
* The Supreme Court decision upholding the travel ban, its ruling on
Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, No. 16-1466, and the retirement of Anthony Kennedy
* The indictment of Paul Manafort, the guilty pleas of Michael Flynn
and George Papadopoulos, and indictments of Russian intelligence
officers
* Cabinet turnover
* Trump’s European trip and the Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin
* The USMCA trade agreement, the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford,
and the Supreme Court confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh
* Central American migrant caravans, the pipe-bomb mailings, and the
Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
* The 2018 midterm elections
* The 2018–19 government shutdown
* Sessions’s resignation, choosing a new attorney general, and the
ongoing Mueller investigation
* The Mueller report
* The impeachment of Donald Trump
* The coronavirus pandemic
* The killing of George Floyd and nationwide racial injustice protests
* The 2020 U.S. election
* The Joe Biden administration
* The COVID-19 vaccine rollout, the Delta and Omicron variants, and
the American Rescue Plan Act
* Economic recovery, the American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act, and the failure of Build Back Better
* Stalled voting rights legislation, the fate of the filibuster, and
the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court
* Foreign affairs: U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine
* The Buffalo and Uvalde shootings, overturning Roe v. Wade, and the
January 6 attack hearings
*
Presidents of the United States
*
Vice presidents of the United States
*
First ladies of the United States
*
State maps, flags, and seals
*
State nicknames and symbols
Fast Facts
* United States summary
* Facts & Stats
Top Questions
* What is the United States?
* Should the United States maintain its embargo against Cuba?
* Should the United States continue its use of drone strikes abroad?
* Should election day in the United States be made a national holiday?
Read Next
* Timeline of the American Revolution
* What State Is Washington, D.C. In?
* U.S. Death Toll During Major Events
* 26 Decade-Defining Events in U.S. History
* 14 Questions About Government in the United States Answered
Quizzes
* You Name It!
* Countries & Their Features
* Geography Fun Facts
* The Country Quiz
* American History and Politics Quiz
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UNITED STATES
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Also known as: America, U.S., U.S.A., United States of America
Written by
Adam Gopnik
Adam Gopnik has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1986 and is the
author of numerous award-winning books.
Adam Gopnik,
Edward Pessen
Distinguished Professor of History, Baruch College and the Graduate Center, City
University of New York, 1972–92. Author of Jacksonian America and others.
Edward Pessen,
James T. Harris
Former Regional Representative for West Africa (Lagos, Nigeria) for the
African-American Institute, New York City.
James T. HarrisSee All
Fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have
extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that
content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify
and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: May 22, 2023 • Article History
Table of Contents
flag of the United States of America
Audio File: Anthem of United States (see article)
See all media
Head Of State And Government: President: Joe Biden ...(Show more) Capital:
Washington, D.C. ...(Show more) Population: 331,449,281; (2023 est.)
339,277,0002 ...(Show more) Currency Exchange Rate: 1 US dollar equals 0.924
euro ...(Show more) Form Of Government: federal republic with two legislative
houses (Senate [100]; House of Representatives [4351]) ...(Show more)
See all facts & stats →
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Top Questions
WHAT IS THE UNITED STATES?
The United States, officially United States of America,
abbreviated U.S. or U.S.A., byname America, is a country in North America, a
federal republic of 50 states. Besides the 48 conterminous states that occupy
the middle latitudes of the continent, the United States includes the state
of Alaska, at the northwestern extreme of North America, and the island state
of Hawaii, in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The conterminous states are bounded on the
north by Canada, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Gulf of
Mexico and Mexico, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The United States is
the fourth largest country in the world in area (after Russia, Canada,
and China).
SHOULD THE UNITED STATES MAINTAIN ITS EMBARGO AGAINST CUBA?
Whether the U.S. should maintain its embargo against Cuba is hotly debated. Some
say Cuba has not met the conditions required to lift it, and the US will look
weak for lifting the sanctions. Others say the 50-year policy has failed to
achieve its goals, and Cuba does not pose a threat to the United States. For
more on the Cuba embargo debate, visit ProCon.org.
SHOULD THE UNITED STATES CONTINUE ITS USE OF DRONE STRIKES ABROAD?
Whether the United States should continue its use of drone strikes abroad is
hotly debated. Some argue the strikes make the United States safer by remotely
decimating terrorist networks across the world and are legal under American and
international law. Others argue the strikes mostly kill low-value targets and
create more terrorists, while terrorizing and killing civilians. For more on the
international drone strikes debate, visit ProCon.org.
SHOULD ELECTION DAY IN THE UNITED STATES BE MADE A NATIONAL HOLIDAY?
Whether election day in the United States should be made a national holiday is
debated. Some say a holiday would increase voter turnout by enabling more people
to vote while celebrating democracy. Others say a holiday would disadvantage
low-income and blue collar workers and corporations should have better policies
for voting time off. For more on the debate about making election day a national
holiday, visit ProCon.org.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
United States, officially United States of America, abbreviated U.S. or U.S.A.,
byname America, country in North America, a federal republic of 50 states.
Besides the 48 conterminous states that occupy the middle latitudes of the
continent, the United States includes the state of Alaska, at the northwestern
extreme of North America, and the island state of Hawaii, in the mid-Pacific
Ocean. The conterminous states are bounded on the north by Canada, on the east
by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico, and on the
west by the Pacific Ocean. The United States is the fourth largest country in
the world in area (after Russia, Canada, and China). The national capital is
Washington, which is coextensive with the District of Columbia, the federal
capital region created in 1790.
United States
The major characteristic of the United States is probably its great variety. Its
physical environment ranges from the Arctic to the subtropical, from the moist
rain forest to the arid desert, from the rugged mountain peak to the flat
prairie. Although the total population of the United States is large by world
standards, its overall population density is relatively low. The country
embraces some of the world’s largest urban concentrations as well as some of the
most extensive areas that are almost devoid of habitation.
The United States contains a highly diverse population. Unlike a country such as
China that largely incorporated indigenous peoples, the United States has a
diversity that to a great degree has come from an immense and sustained global
immigration. Probably no other country has a wider range of racial, ethnic, and
cultural types than does the United States. In addition to the presence of
surviving Native Americans (including American Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos) and
the descendants of Africans taken as enslaved persons to the New World, the
national character has been enriched, tested, and constantly redefined by the
tens of millions of immigrants who by and large have come to America hoping for
greater social, political, and economic opportunities than they had in the
places they left. (It should be noted that although the terms “America” and
“Americans” are often used as synonyms for the United States and its citizens,
respectively, they are also used in a broader sense for North, South, and
Central America collectively and their citizens.)
The United States is the world’s greatest economic power, measured in terms of
gross domestic product (GDP). The nation’s wealth is partly a reflection of its
rich natural resources and its enormous agricultural output, but it owes more to
the country’s highly developed industry. Despite its relative economic
self-sufficiency in many areas, the United States is the most important single
factor in world trade by virtue of the sheer size of its economy. Its exports
and imports represent major proportions of the world total. The United States
also impinges on the global economy as a source of and as a destination for
investment capital. The country continues to sustain an economic life that is
more diversified than any other on Earth, providing the majority of its people
with one of the world’s highest standards of living.
Britannica Quiz
You Name It!
The United States is relatively young by world standards, being less than 250
years old; it achieved its current size only in the mid-20th century. America
was the first of the European colonies to separate successfully from its
motherland, and it was the first nation to be established on the premise that
sovereignty rests with its citizens and not with the government. In its first
century and a half, the country was mainly preoccupied with its own territorial
expansion and economic growth and with social debates that ultimately led to
civil war and a healing period that is still not complete. In the 20th century
the United States emerged as a world power, and since World War II it has been
one of the preeminent powers. It has not accepted this mantle easily nor always
carried it willingly; the principles and ideals of its founders have been tested
by the pressures and exigencies of its dominant status. The United States still
offers its residents opportunities for unparalleled personal advancement and
wealth. However, the depletion of its resources, the contamination of its
environment, and the continuing social and economic inequality that perpetuates
areas of poverty and blight all threaten the fabric of the country.
The District of Columbia is discussed in the article Washington. For discussion
of other major U.S. cities, see the articles Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New
Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Political units in
association with the United States include Puerto Rico, discussed in the article
Puerto Rico, and several Pacific islands, discussed in Guam, Northern Mariana
Islands, and American Samoa.
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LAND
Colorado River, Grand Canyon National Park
The two great sets of elements that mold the physical environment of the United
States are, first, the geologic, which determines the main patterns of
landforms, drainage, and mineral resources and influences soils to a lesser
degree, and, second, the atmospheric, which dictates not only climate and
weather but also in large part the distribution of soils, plants, and animals.
Although these elements are not entirely independent of one another, each
produces on a map patterns that are so profoundly different that essentially
they remain two separate geographies. (Since this article covers only the
conterminous United States, see also the articles Alaska and Hawaii.)
RELIEF
The centre of the conterminous United States is a great sprawling interior
lowland, reaching from the ancient shield of central Canada on the north to the
Gulf of Mexico on the south. To east and west this lowland rises, first
gradually and then abruptly, to mountain ranges that divide it from the sea on
both sides. The two mountain systems differ drastically. The Appalachian
Mountains on the east are low, almost unbroken, and in the main set well back
from the Atlantic. From New York to the Mexican border stretches the low Coastal
Plain, which faces the ocean along a swampy, convoluted coast. The gently
sloping surface of the plain extends out beneath the sea, where it forms the
continental shelf, which, although submerged beneath shallow ocean water, is
geologically identical to the Coastal Plain. Southward the plain grows wider,
swinging westward in Georgia and Alabama to truncate the Appalachians along
their southern extremity and separate the interior lowland from the Gulf.
West of the Central Lowland is the mighty Cordillera, part of a global mountain
system that rings the Pacific basin. The Cordillera encompasses fully one-third
of the United States, with an internal variety commensurate with its size. At
its eastern margin lie the Rocky Mountains, a high, diverse, and discontinuous
chain that stretches all the way from New Mexico to the Canadian border. The
Cordillera’s western edge is a Pacific coastal chain of rugged mountains and
inland valleys, the whole rising spectacularly from the sea without benefit of a
coastal plain. Pent between the Rockies and the Pacific chain is a vast
intermontane complex of basins, plateaus, and isolated ranges so large and
remarkable that they merit recognition as a region separate from the Cordillera
itself.
These regions—the Interior Lowlands and their upland fringes, the Appalachian
Mountain system, the Atlantic Plain, the Western Cordillera, and the Western
Intermontane Region—are so various that they require further division into 24
major subregions, or provinces.
THE INTERIOR LOWLANDS AND THEIR UPLAND FRINGES
Explore the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, the Great Lakes, the Black Hills, and
more in the American Midwest
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Andrew Jackson is supposed to have remarked that the United States begins at the
Alleghenies, implying that only west of the mountains, in the isolation and
freedom of the great Interior Lowlands, could people finally escape Old World
influences. Whether or not the lowlands constitute the country’s cultural core
is debatable, but there can be no doubt that they comprise its geologic core and
in many ways its geographic core as well.
This enormous region rests upon an ancient, much-eroded platform of complex
crystalline rocks that have for the most part lain undisturbed by major orogenic
(mountain-building) activity for more than 600,000,000 years. Over much of
central Canada, these Precambrian rocks are exposed at the surface and form the
continent’s single largest topographical region, the formidable and ice-scoured
Canadian Shield.
In the United States most of the crystalline platform is concealed under a deep
blanket of sedimentary rocks. In the far north, however, the naked Canadian
Shield extends into the United States far enough to form two small but
distinctive landform regions: the rugged and occasionally spectacular Adirondack
Mountains of northern New York and the more-subdued and austere Superior Upland
of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. As in the rest of the shield,
glaciers have stripped soils away, strewn the surface with boulders and other
debris, and obliterated preglacial drainage systems. Most attempts at farming in
these areas have been abandoned, but the combination of a comparative wilderness
in a northern climate, clear lakes, and white-water streams has fostered the
development of both regions as year-round outdoor recreation areas.
Mineral wealth in the Superior Upland is legendary. Iron lies near the surface
and close to the deepwater ports of the upper Great Lakes. Iron is mined both
north and south of Lake Superior, but best known are the colossal deposits of
Minnesota’s Mesabi Range, for more than a century one of the world’s richest and
a vital element in America’s rise to industrial power. In spite of depletion,
the Minnesota and Michigan mines still yield a major proportion of the country’s
iron and a significant percentage of the world’s supply.
South of the Adirondack Mountains and the Superior Upland lies the boundary
between crystalline and sedimentary rocks; abruptly, everything is different.
The core of this sedimentary region—the heartland of the United States—is the
great Central Lowland, which stretches for 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometres) from
New York to central Texas and north another 1,000 miles to the Canadian province
of Saskatchewan. To some, the landscape may seem dull, for heights of more than
2,000 feet (600 metres) are unusual, and truly rough terrain is almost lacking.
Landscapes are varied, however, largely as the result of glaciation that
directly or indirectly affected most of the subregion. North of the
Missouri–Ohio river line, the advance and readvance of continental ice left an
intricate mosaic of boulders, sand, gravel, silt, and clay and a complex pattern
of lakes and drainage channels, some abandoned, some still in use. The southern
part of the Central Lowland is quite different, covered mostly with loess
(wind-deposited silt) that further subdued the already low relief surface.
Elsewhere, especially near major rivers, postglacial streams carved the loess
into rounded hills, and visitors have aptly compared their billowing shapes to
the waves of the sea. Above all, the loess produces soil of extraordinary
fertility. As the Mesabi iron was a major source of America’s industrial wealth,
its agricultural prosperity has been rooted in Midwestern loess.
The Central Lowland resembles a vast saucer, rising gradually to higher lands on
all sides. Southward and eastward, the land rises gradually to three major
plateaus. Beyond the reach of glaciation to the south, the sedimentary rocks
have been raised into two broad upwarps, separated from one another by the great
valley of the Mississippi River. The Ozark Plateau lies west of the river and
occupies most of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas; on the east the
Interior Low Plateaus dominate central Kentucky and Tennessee. Except for two
nearly circular patches of rich limestone country—the Nashville Basin of
Tennessee and the Kentucky Bluegrass region—most of both plateau regions
consists of sandstone uplands, intricately dissected by streams. Local relief
runs to several hundreds of feet in most places, and visitors to the region must
travel winding roads along narrow stream valleys. The soils there are poor, and
mineral resources are scanty.
Eastward from the Central Lowland the Appalachian Plateau—a narrow band of
dissected uplands that strongly resembles the Ozark Plateau and Interior Low
Plateaus in steep slopes, wretched soils, and endemic poverty—forms a transition
between the interior plains and the Appalachian Mountains. Usually, however, the
Appalachian Plateau is considered a subregion of the Appalachian Mountains,
partly on grounds of location, partly because of geologic structure. Unlike the
other plateaus, where rocks are warped upward, the rocks there form an elongated
basin, wherein bituminous coal has been preserved from erosion. This Appalachian
coal, like the Mesabi iron that it complements in U.S. industry, is
extraordinary. Extensive, thick, and close to the surface, it has stoked the
furnaces of northeastern steel mills for decades and helps explain the huge
concentration of heavy industry along the lower Great Lakes.
High Plains
The western flanks of the Interior Lowlands are the Great Plains, a territory of
awesome bulk that spans the full distance between Canada and Mexico in a swath
nearly 500 miles (800 km) wide. The Great Plains were built by successive layers
of poorly cemented sand, silt, and gravel—debris laid down by parallel
east-flowing streams from the Rocky Mountains. Seen from the east, the surface
of the Great Plains rises inexorably from about 2,000 feet (600 metres) near
Omaha, Nebraska, to more than 6,000 feet (1,825 metres) at Cheyenne, Wyoming,
but the climb is so gradual that popular legend holds the Great Plains to be
flat. True flatness is rare, although the High Plains of western Texas,
Oklahoma, Kansas, and eastern Colorado come close. More commonly, the land is
broadly rolling, and parts of the northern plains are sharply dissected into
badlands.
The main mineral wealth of the Interior Lowlands derives from fossil fuels. Coal
occurs in structural basins protected from erosion—high-quality bituminous in
the Appalachian, Illinois, and western Kentucky basins; and subbituminous and
lignite in the eastern and northwestern Great Plains. Petroleum and natural gas
have been found in nearly every state between the Appalachians and the Rockies,
but the Midcontinent Fields of western Texas and the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma,
and Kansas surpass all others. Aside from small deposits of lead and zinc,
metallic minerals are of little importance.
THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN SYSTEM
Screw Auger Falls
The Appalachians dominate the eastern United States and separate the Eastern
Seaboard from the interior with a belt of subdued uplands that extends nearly
1,500 miles (2,400 km) from northeastern Alabama to the Canadian border. They
are old, complex mountains, the eroded stumps of much greater ranges. Present
topography results from erosion that has carved weak rocks away, leaving a
skeleton of resistant rocks behind as highlands. Geologic differences are thus
faithfully reflected in topography. In the Appalachians these differences are
sharply demarcated and neatly arranged, so that all the major subdivisions
except New England lie in strips parallel to the Atlantic and to one another.
The core of the Appalachians is a belt of complex metamorphic and igneous rocks
that stretches all the way from Alabama to New Hampshire. The western side of
this belt forms the long slender rampart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, containing
the highest elevations in the Appalachians (Mount Mitchell, North Carolina,
6,684 feet [2,037 metres]) and some of its most handsome mountain scenery. On
its eastern, or seaward, side the Blue Ridge descends in an abrupt and sometimes
spectacular escarpment to the Piedmont, a well-drained, rolling land—never quite
hills, but never quite a plain. Before the settlement of the Midwest the
Piedmont was the most productive agricultural region in the United States, and
several Pennsylvania counties still consistently report some of the highest farm
yields per acre in the entire country.
ridge-and-valley topography
West of the crystalline zone, away from the axis of primary geologic
deformation, sedimentary rocks have escaped metamorphism but are compressed into
tight folds. Erosion has carved the upturned edges of these folded rocks into
the remarkable Ridge and Valley country of the western Appalachians. Long linear
ridges characteristically stand about 1,000 feet (300 metres) from base to crest
and run for tens of miles, paralleled by broad open valleys of comparable
length. In Pennsylvania, ridges run unbroken for great distances, occasionally
turning abruptly in a zigzag pattern; by contrast, the southern ridges are
broken by faults and form short, parallel segments that are lined up like
magnetized iron filings. By far the largest valley—and one of the most important
routes in North America—is the Great Valley, an extraordinary trench of shale
and limestone that runs nearly the entire length of the Appalachians. It
provides a lowland passage from the middle Hudson valley to Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, and on southward, where it forms the Shenandoah and Cumberland
valleys, and has been one of the main paths through the Appalachians since
pioneer times. In New England it is floored with slates and marbles and forms
the Valley of Vermont, one of the few fertile areas in an otherwise mountainous
region.
Topography much like that of the Ridge and Valley is found in the Ouachita
Mountains of western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma, an area generally thought to
be a detached continuation of Appalachian geologic structure, the intervening
section buried beneath the sediments of the lower Mississippi valley.
Mount Washington, New Hampshire
The once-glaciated New England section of the Appalachians is divided from the
rest of the chain by an indentation of the Atlantic. Although almost completely
underlain by crystalline rocks, New England is laid out in north–south bands,
reminiscent of the southern Appalachians. The rolling, rocky hills of
southeastern New England are not dissimilar to the Piedmont, while, farther
northwest, the rugged and lofty White Mountains are a New England analogue to
the Blue Ridge. (Mount Washington, New Hampshire, at 6,288 feet [1,917 metres],
is the highest peak in the northeastern United States.) The westernmost
ranges—the Taconics, Berkshires, and Green Mountains—show a strong north–south
lineation like the Ridge and Valley. Unlike the rest of the Appalachians,
however, glaciation has scoured the crystalline rocks much like those of the
Canadian Shield, so that New England is best known for its picturesque
landscape, not for its fertile soil.
Typical of diverse geologic regions, the Appalachians contain a great variety of
minerals. Only a few occur in quantities large enough for sustained
exploitation, notably iron in Pennsylvania’s Blue Ridge and Piedmont and the
famous granites, marbles, and slates of northern New England. In Pennsylvania
the Ridge and Valley region contains one of the world’s largest deposits of
anthracite coal, once the basis of a thriving mining economy; many of the mines
are now shut, oil and gas having replaced coal as the major fuel used to heat
homes.
THE ATLANTIC PLAIN
Explore the U.S. Northeast region's Appalachian Mountains, Hudson River, and
Atlantic seaboard
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The eastern and southeastern fringes of the United States are part of the
outermost margins of the continental platform, repeatedly invaded by the sea and
veneered with layer after layer of young, poorly consolidated sediments. Part of
this platform now lies slightly above sea level and forms a nearly flat and
often swampy coastal plain, which stretches from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to
beyond the Mexican border. Most of the platform, however, is still submerged, so
that a band of shallow water, the continental shelf, parallels the Atlantic and
Gulf coasts, in some places reaching 250 miles (400 km) out to sea.
The Atlantic Plain slopes so gently that even slight crustal upwarping can shift
the coastline far out to sea at the expense of the continental shelf. The
peninsula of Florida is just such an upwarp: nowhere in its 400-mile (640-km)
length does the land rise more than 350 feet (100 metres) above sea level; much
of the southern and coastal areas rise less than 10 feet (3 metres) and are
poorly drained and dangerously exposed to Atlantic storms. Downwarps can result
in extensive flooding. North of New York City, for example, the weight of
glacial ice depressed most of the Coastal Plain beneath the sea, and the
Atlantic now beats directly against New England’s rock-ribbed coasts. Cape Cod,
Long Island (New York), and a few offshore islands are all that remain of New
England’s drowned Coastal Plain. Another downwarp lies perpendicular to the Gulf
coast and guides the course of the lower Mississippi. The river, however, has
filled with alluvium what otherwise would be an arm of the Gulf, forming a great
inland salient of the Coastal Plain called the Mississippi Embayment.
Tour the U.S. Southeast region and learn about its warm climate, landforms, and
water features
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South of New York the Coastal Plain gradually widens, but ocean water has
invaded the lower valleys of most of the coastal rivers and has turned them into
estuaries. The greatest of these is Chesapeake Bay, merely the flooded lower
valley of the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, but there are hundreds of
others. Offshore a line of sandbars and barrier beaches stretches intermittently
the length of the Coastal Plain, hampering entry of shipping into the estuaries
but providing the eastern United States with a playground that is more than
1,000 miles (1,600 km) long.
Poor soils are the rule on the Coastal Plain, though rare exceptions have formed
some of America’s most famous agricultural regions—for example, the citrus
country of central Florida’s limestone uplands and the Cotton Belt of the Old
South, once centred on the alluvial plain of the Mississippi and belts of chalky
black soils of eastern Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi. The Atlantic Plain’s
greatest natural wealth derives from petroleum and natural gas trapped in domal
structures that dot the Gulf Coast of eastern Texas and Louisiana. Onshore and
offshore drilling have revealed colossal reserves of oil and natural gas.
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Gopnik, Adam , Pessen, Edward , Harris, James T. , Lewis, Peirce F. , Bradley,
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W. , Link, Arthur S. , Schmidt, Karl Patterson , Naisbitt, John , Wallace,
Willard M. , Oehser, Paul H. , Beeman, Richard R. , Rollins, Reed C. , Robinson,
Edgar Eugene , Owen, Wilfred , Zelinsky, Wilbur , Pole, J.R. , Weisberger,
Bernard A. , Freidel, Frank , Winther, Oscar O. , O'Neill, William L. , Flaum,
Thea K. and Donald, David Herbert. "United States". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22
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While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be
some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other
sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
MLA APA Chicago Manual of Style
Gopnik, Adam , Pessen, Edward , Harris, James T. , Lewis, Peirce F. , Bradley,
Harold Whitman , Handlin, Oscar , Unit, Economist Intelligence , Hassler, Warren
W. , Link, Arthur S. , Schmidt, Karl Patterson , Naisbitt, John , Wallace,
Willard M. , Oehser, Paul H. , Beeman, Richard R. , Rollins, Reed C. , Robinson,
Edgar Eugene , Owen, Wilfred , Zelinsky, Wilbur , Pole, J.R. , Weisberger,
Bernard A. , Freidel, Frank , Winther, Oscar O. , O'Neill, William L. , Flaum,
Thea K. and Donald, David Herbert. "United States". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22
May. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States. Accessed 22 May 2023.
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External Websites
* Central Intelligence Agency - The World Factbook - United States
* U.S. Department of State - Office of the Historian - The United States and
the French Revolution
* EH.net - Urban Mass Transit In The United States
* American Battlefield Trust - Slavery in the United States
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