Cliff Palace , a settlement of ancestors of the Native American Pueblo peoples in present-day Montezuma County, Colorado , built between c. 1200 and 1275 [ 36 ]
The 1750 colonial possessions of Britain (in pink and purple), France (in blue), and Spain (in orange) in present-day Canada and the United States
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Declaration of Independence , a portrait by John Trumbull depicting the Committee of Five presenting the draft of the Declaration to the Continental Congress on June 28, 1776, in Philadelphia
Historical territorial expansion of the United States
Division of the states during the American Civil War :
Union states
Border states
Confederate states
Territories
An Edison Studios film showing immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in New York Harbor , a major point of entry for European immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries [ 115 ] [ 116 ]
The 1945 Trinity nuclear test , part of the Manhattan Project and the first detonation of a nuclear weapon . The two world wars permanently ended a national policy of U.S. isolationism and left the United States as a superpower .
Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty at the White House in 1987.
The Twin Towers in New York City during the September 11 attacks in 2001
A topographic map of the United States
The Grand Canyon in Arizona
The Köppen climate types of the United States
A bald eagle
The bald eagle , the national emblem of the United States since 1782 and officially declared the national bird in 2024 [ 201 ]
The U.S. Capitol Building , the seat of legislative government, is home to both chambers of the U.S. Congress : the Senate (in left wing of building) and the House of Representatives (right wing).
The White House , the residence and workplace of the U.S. president and the offices of the presidential staff
The Supreme Court Building , which houses the nation's highest court
U.S. state and territorial governments (governor and legislature) by party control, as of February 2025:
Democratic control
Republican control
NPP control
Split control
Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Northern Mariana Islands Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Puerto Rico Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas United States Virgin Islands Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Delaware Maryland New Hampshire New Jersey Massachusetts Connecticut District of Columbia West Virginia Puerto Rico United States Virgin Islands Guam Northern Mariana Islands American Samoa Vermont Rhode Island
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The United Nations headquarters has been situated along the East River in Midtown Manhattan since 1952; in 1945, the United States was a founding member of the UN .
The Pentagon , the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in Arlington County, Virginia , is one of the world's largest office buildings with over 6.5 million square feet (600,000 m 2 ) of floor space .
J. Edgar Hoover Building , the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in Washington, D.C.
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The U.S. dollar is the most-used currency in international transactions and the world's foremost reserve currency . [ 289 ]
Apple Inc. , one of the world's biggest companies by market capitalization , [ 296 ] has its global headquarters in Cupertino, California .
The New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street , the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization [ 307 ]
U.S. astronaut Buzz Aldrin saluting the American flag on the Moon during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission; the United States is the only country that has landed crews on the lunar surface .
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport , serving the Atlanta metropolitan area , is the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic with over 75 million passengers in 2021. [ 369 ]
Interchange between Interstate 10 and Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas
Most spoken languages in the U.S.
The Mexico–United States border wall between San Diego (left) and Tijuana (right)
The Texas Medical Center in Houston is the largest medical complex in the world. [ 437 ] [ 438 ] In 2018, it employed 120,000 people and treated 10 million patients. [ 439 ]
Photograph of the University of Virginia
Some 77% of American college students attend public institutions [ 448 ] such as the University of Virginia , founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819.
The Statue of Liberty, a large teal bronze sculpture on a stone pedestal
The Statue of Liberty ( Liberty Enlightening the World ) on Liberty Island in New York Harbor was an 1866 gift from France that has become an iconic symbol of the American Dream . [ 463 ]
Photograph of Mark Twain
Mark Twain , whom William Faulkner called "the father of American literature" [ 500 ]
Comcast Center in Philadelphia , headquarters of Comcast , one of the world's largest telecommunications companies and media conglomerates
Broadway theaters in Theater District, Manhattan
American Gothic (1930) by Grant Wood is one of the most famous American paintings and is widely parodied . [ 537 ]
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee
Haute couture fashion models on the catwalk during New York Fashion Week
The iconic Hollywood Sign in the Hollywood Hills , often regarded as the symbol of the American film industry
A Thanksgiving dinner with roast turkey , mashed potatoes , pickles , corn , candied yams , cranberry jelly , shrimps , stuffing , green peas , deviled eggs , green salad , and apple sauce
American football is the most popular sport in the United States; in this September 2022 National Football League game, the Jacksonville Jaguars play the Washington Commanders at FedExField .