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The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States of America in central North America. [1][2] The term excludes the only two non- contiguous states, which are Alaska and Hawaii (they are also the last two states to be admitted to ...
The term "United States," when used in the geographical sense, refers to the contiguous United States (sometimes referred to as the Lower 48, including the District of Columbia not as a state), Alaska, Hawaii, the five insular territories of Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and minor outlying possessions. [1]
Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the federal government of the United States. The American territories differ from the U.S. states and Indian reservations as they are not sovereign entities. [ note 2 ] In contrast, each state has a sovereignty separate from that of the federal government and ...
The Continental Divide in North America in red and other drainage divides in North America The Continental Divide in Central America and South America. The Continental Divide of the Americas (also known as the Great Divide, the Western Divide or simply the Continental Divide; Spanish: Divisoria continental de América, Gran Divisoria) is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological ...
In geology, a continent is defined by continental crust, which is a platform of metamorphic and igneous rock, largely of granitic composition. Continental crust is less dense and much thicker than oceanic crust, which causes it to "float" higher than oceanic crust on the dense underlying mantle.
U.S. territorial sovereignty. In the United States, a territory is any extent of region under the sovereign jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, [1] including all waters (around islands or continental tracts). The United States asserts sovereign rights for exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managing its territory. [2]
The geographic center of the United States is a point approximately 20 mi (32 km) north of Belle Fourche, South Dakota at 44°58′2.07622″N 103°46′17.60283″W. It has been regarded as such by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey and the U.S. National Geodetic Survey (NGS) since the additions of Alaska and Hawaii to the United ...
The first documented use of the phrase "United States of America" is a letter from January 2, 1776. Stephen Moylan, a Continental Army aide to General George Washington, wrote to Joseph Reed, Washington's aide-de-camp, seeking to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the Revolutionary War effort.