U.S. in Focus: PART ONE.How much do you know about the United States of America UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The name of this country. The United States, now thirty-one in number, are Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, ? For instance, can you name the three branches of the federal government? How many Governors belong to each political party? Which state's nickname (1) An alternate name used to identify yourself in a chat room. (2) A shortcut for identifying a recipient in an e-mail address book. is North Star State? Find those and many other facts in Part One of the U.S. in Focus section. These three pages provide a wealth of useful and interesting facts. Read on--and you'll you'll Contraction of you will. you'll you will or you shall you'll will be a well-informed well-informed Adjective knowing a lot about a great variety of subjects or about one particular subject Adj. 1. well-informed - possessing sound knowledge; "well-informed readers" intelligent citizen! Area: 3,717,796 square miles A square mil is a unit of area, equal to the area of a square with sides of length one mil. A mil is one thousandth of an international inch. This unit of area is usually used in specifying the area of the cross section of a wire or cable. ; ranks fourth (after Russia Russia, officially the Russian Federation, Rus. Rossiya, republic (2005 est. pop. 143,420,000), 6,591,100 sq mi (17,070,949 sq km). , Canada Canada (kăn`ədə), independent nation (2001 pop. 30,007,094), 3,851,787 sq mi (9,976,128 sq km), N North America. Canada occupies all of North America N of the United States (and E of Alaska) except for Greenland and the French islands of , and China). Population: 275,600,000; ranks third (after China and India India, officially Republic of India, republic (2005 est pop. 1,080,264,000), 1,261,810 sq mi (3,268,090 sq km), S Asia. The second most populous country in the world, it is also sometimes called Bharat, its ancient name. India's land frontier (c. ). Capital: Washington Washington, town, England Washington, town (1991 pop. 48,856), Sunderland metropolitan district, NE England. Washington was designated one of the new towns in 1964 to alleviate overpopulation in the Tyneside-Wearside area. , D.C. Form of Government: Presidential-legislative democracy. The U.S. Constitution divides federal (national) powers among three independent branches of government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. Powers not given to the federal government by the Constitution are held by the states. Chief Executive: George George, river, c.345 mi (560 km) long, rising in a lake on the Quebec-Labrador boundary, E Canada. It flows N through Indian Lake (125 sq mi/324 sq km) to Ungava Bay (an arm of Hudson Strait). W Bush, 43rd President (Republican). 107th Congress: 100 Senators The term Senators can refer to:
* The Senate: 50 Republicans, 50 Democrats The List of notable Democrats is a list of prominent politicians, government officials, and organizational leaders of the Democratic Party of the United States. Prominent figures of the Democratic Party Currently notable Democrats
Trent, Ital. Trento, Latin Tridentum, city (1991 pop. 101,545), capital of Trentino–Alto Adige and of Trent prov., N Italy, on the Adige River and on the road to the Brenner Pass. It is an industrial and tourist center. Lott (Republican of Mississippi Mississippi, state, United States Mississippi (mĭs'əsĭp`ē), one of the Deep South states of the United States. It is bordered by Alabama (E), the Gulf of Mexico (S), Arkansas and Louisiana, with most of the border formed by ). * The House of Representatives: 221 Republicans, 212 Democrats, 2 Independents. [1] Speaker of the House: J. Dennis Dennis is a male first name derived from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius meaning "servant of Dionysus", the Thracian god of wine, which is ultimately derived from the Greek Dios (Διος, "of Zeus") combined with Nysos or Nysa (Νυσα), where the Hastert (Republican of Illinois Illinois, river, United States Illinois, river, 273 mi (439 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers, NE Ill., and flowing SW to the Mississippi at Grafton, Ill. It is an important commercial and recreational waterway. ). Chief Justice of the United States the presiding judge of the Supreme Court, and Highest judicial officer of the republic. See also: Chief justice : William William, crown prince of Germany William or Frederick William, 1882–1951, crown prince of Germany, son of William II. In World War I he commanded (1914) an army on the Western Front and was nominal commander in the German attack H. Rehnquist Rehn·quist , William Hubbs Born 1924. American jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1972-1986) and was appointed chief justice in 1986. Noun 1. . State Governors: 19 Democrats, 29 Republicans, 2 Independents.
STATE NAME ORIGIN ENTERED
NICKNAME OF NAME UNION
ALABAMA Name of the Alibamu 1819
The Heart of Dixie Indian tribe
ALASKA Russian version of an 1959
The Last Frontier (unofficial) Aleut word
ARIZONA Indian word Arizonac, which 1912
The Grand Canyon State means small spring
ARKANSAS From an Indian word meaning 1836
The Natural State land of downstream people
CALIFORNIA After a treasure island in 1850
The Golden State a popular Spanish tale
COLORADO Spanish for colored red 1876
The Centennial State
CONNECTICUT Algonquian Indian word that 1788
The Constitution State means on the long tidal river
DELAWARE Honors Lord De La Warre, 1787
The First State first governor, Virginia colony
FLORIDA Spanish word meaning 1845
The Sunshine State flowery
GEORGIA Honors King George II of 1788
The Empire State of Great Britain
the South
HAWAII Hawaiian word that means 1959
The Aloha State homeland
IDAHO Word invented by settlers to 1890
The Gem State mean gem of the mountains
ILLINOIS For the Iliniwek Indians; the 1818
The Prairie State name means superior men
INDIANA From the word Indian 1816
The Hoosier State
IOWA Indian word for beautiful land 1846
The Hawkeye State
LAND AREA
STATE NAME (SQ MI)
NICKNAME POPULATION [2] CAPITAL
ALABAMA 51,718 Montgomery
The Heart of Dixie 4,369,862
ALASKA 587,878 Juneau
The Last Frontier (unofficial) 619,500
ARIZONA 114,007 Phoenix
The Grand Canyon State 4,778,332
ARKANSAS 53,183 Little Rock
The Natural State 2,551,373
CALIFORNIA 158,648 Sacramento
The Golden State 33,145,121
COLORADO 104,100 Denver
The Centennial State 4,056,133
CONNECTICUT 5,006 Hartford
The Constitution State 3,282,031
DELAWARE 2,026 Dover
The First State 753,538
FLORIDA 58,681 Tallahassee
The Sunshine State 15,111,244
GEORGIA 58,930 Atlanta
The Empire State of 7,788,240
the South
HAWAII 6,459 Honolulu
The Aloha State 1,185,497
IDAHO 83,574 Boise
The Gem State 1,251,700
ILLINOIS 56,343 Springfield
The Prairie State 12,128,370
INDIANA 36,185 Indianapolis
The Hoosier State 5,942,901
IOWA 56,276 Des Moines
The Hawkeye State 2,869,413
STATE NAME U.S. U.S.
NICKNAME GOVERNOR SENATORS REPS.
ALABAMA Donald Siegelman, D 2R 2D
The Heart of Dixie 5R
ALASKA Tony Knowles, D 2R 1R
The Last Frontier (unofficial)
ARIZONA Jane Dee Hull, R 2R 1D
The Grand Canyon State 5R
ARKANSAS Mike Huckabee, R 1D 3D
The Natural State 1R 1R
CALIFORNIA Gray Davis, D 2D 32D
The Golden State 20R
COLORADO Bill Owens, R 2R 2D
The Centennial State 4R
CONNECTICUT John G. Rowland, R 2D 3D
The Constitution State 3R
DELAWARE Ruth Ann Minner, D 2D 1R
The First State
FLORIDA Jeb Bush, R 2D 8D
The Sunshine State 15R
GEORGIA Roy Barnes, D 2D 3D
The Empire State of 8R
the South
HAWAII Benjamin J. Cayetano, D 2D 2D
The Aloha State
IDAHO Dirk Kempthrone, R 2R 2R
The Gem State
ILLINOIS George H. Ryan, R 1D 10D
The Prairie State 1R 10R
INDIANA Frank O'Bannon, D 1D 4D
The Hoosier State 1R 6R
IOWA Tom Vilsack, D 1D 1D
The Hawkeye State 1R 4R
KANSAS For the Kansa Indians; the name 1861 82,282
The Sunflower State means people of the south wind 2,654,052
KENTUCKY Cherokee word for meadowland 1792 40,411
The Bluegrass State 3,960,825
LOUISIANA Honors Louis XIV, King 1812 47,717
The Pelican State of France 4,372,035
MAINE Honors the ancient French 1820 33,128
The Pine Tree State province of Maine 1,253,040
MARYLAND Honors Queen Henrietta Maria 1788 10,455
The Old Line State; of England 5,171,634
The Free State
MASSACHUSETTS For the Massachusett Indians, 1788 8,262
The Bay State whose name means near 6,175,169
the great hill
MICHIGAN Chippewa word Michigama, 1837 58,513
The Wolverine State which means great water 9,863,775
MINNESOTA Sioux Indian word that means 1858 84,397
The North Star State sky-tinted waters 4,775,508
MISSISSIPPI Indian word that means 1817 47,698
The Magnolia State father of waters 2,768,619
MISSOURI Indian word that means 1821 69,709
The Show Me State town of the large canoes 5,468,338
MONTANA Spanish word for mountainous 1889 147,047
The Treasure State 882,779
NEBRASKA Oto Indian word Nebrathka, 1867 77,359
The Cornhusker State which means flat water 1,666,028
NEVADA Spanish word for snow-clad 1864 110,567
The Silver State 1,809,253
NEW HAMPSHIRE Named for Hampshire, a 1788 9,283
The Granite State county in England 1,201,134
NEW JERSEY Named for Jersey, an island 1787 7,790
The Garden State in the English Channel 8,143,412
NEW MEXICO For the Aztec Indians' war 1912 121,599
The Land of Enchantment god, Mexitil 1,739,844
NEW YORK Honors England's Duke of York 1788 49,112
The Empire State 18,196,601
NORTH CAROLINA Honors King Charles I of 1789 52,672
The Tar Heel State; Great Britain 7,650,789
The Old North State
NORTH DAKOTA Named for the Dakota Sioux 1889 70,704
The Peace Garden State Indians of the region 633,666
OHIO Iroquois Indian word that 1803 41,328
The Buckeye State means something great 11,256,654
OKLAHOMA Choctaw Indian words okla, 1907 69,903
The Sooner State meaning people, and homma, 3,358,044
meaning red
OREGON French word ouragan, 1859 97,052
The Beaver State meaning hurricane 3,316,154
PENNSYLVANIA Honors Sir William Penn 1787 45,310
The Keystone State (father of the colony's founder), 11,994,016
plus the Latin word for woods
KANSAS Topeka Bill Graves, R 2R 1D
The Sunflower State 3R
KENTUCKY Frankfort Paul E. Patton, D 2R 1D
The Bluegrass State 5R
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge Mike Foster, R 2D 2D
The Pelican State 5R
MAINE Augusta Angus S. King Jr., Ind [1] 2R 2D
The Pine Tree State
MARYLAND Annapolis Parris N. Glendening, D 2D 4D
The Old Line State; 4R
The Free State
MASSACHUSETTS Boston Argeo Paul Cellucci, R 2D 10D
The Bay State
MICHIGAN Lansing John Engler, R 2D 9D
The Wolverine State 7R
MINNESOTA St. Paul Jesse Ventura, Minnesota 2D 5D
The North Star State Independence Party 3R
MISSISSIPPI Jackson Ronnie Musgrove, D 2R 3D
The Magnolia State 2R
MISSOURI Jefferson City Bob Holden, D 1D 4D
The Show Me State 1R 5R
MONTANA Helena Judy Martz, R 1D 1R
The Treasure State 1R
NEBRASKA Lincoln Mike Johanns, R 1D 3R
The Cornhusker State 1R
NEVADA Carson City Kenny C. Guinn, R 1D 1D
The Silver State 1R 1R
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord Jeanne Shaheen, D 2R 2R
The Granite State
NEW JERSEY Trenton Christine T. Whitman, R 2D 7D
The Garden State 6R
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe Gary E. Johnson, R 1D 1D
The Land of Enchantment 1R 2R
NEW YORK Albany George E. Pataki, R 2D 18D
The Empire State 13R
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh Mike Easley, D 1D 5D
The Tar Heel State; 1R 7R
The Old North State
NORTH DAKOTA Blsmarck John Hoeven, R 2D 1D
The Peace Garden State
OHIO Columbus Bob Taft, R 2R 8D
The Buckeye State 11R
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City Frank Keating, R 2R 1D
The Sooner State 5R
OREGON Salem John A. Kitzhaber, D 1D 4D
The Beaver State 1R 1R
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg Tom Ridge, R 2R 10D
The Keystone State 11R
RHODE ISLAND After the Greek island of 1790 1,213
Little Rhody; Rhodes (for its red clay) 990,819
The Ocean State
SOUTH CAROLINA Honors King Charles I of 1788 31,117
The Palmetto State Great Britain 3,885,736
SOUTH DAKOTA Named for the Dakota Sioux 1889 77,122
The Coyote State Indians of the region 733,133
TENNESSEE From Tanasie, the name of a 1796 42,146
The Volunteer State Cherokee Indian village 5,483,535
TEXAS From a Caddo Indian word 1845 266,874
The Lone Star State that means friends 20,044,141
UTAH Named for the Ute Indians 1896 84,905
The Beehive State of the region 2,129,836
VERMONT French words vert (green) 1791 9,615
The Green Mountain State and mont (mountain) 593,740
VIRGINIA Honors "the Virgin Queen," 1788 40,598
The Old Dominion Great Britain's Elizabeth I 6,872,912
WASHINGTON Named after George 1889 68,126
The Evergreen State Washington 5,756,361
WEST VIRGINIA Honors "the Virgin Queen," 1863 24,231
The Mountain State Great Britain's Elizabeth I 1,806,928
WISCONSIN Chippewa word Ouisconsin, 1848 56,145
The Badger State which means grassy place 5,250,446
WYOMING From a Delaware Indian word 1890 97,818
The Equality State; meaning upon the great plain 479,602
The Cowboy State
RHODE ISLAND Providence Lincoln Almond, R 1D 2D
Little Rhody; 1R
The Ocean State
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia Jim Hodges, D 1D 2D
The Palmetto State 1R 4R
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre William J. Janklow, R 2D 1R
The Coyote State
TENNESSEE Nashville Don Sundquist, R 2R 4D
The Volunteer State 5R
TEXAS Austin Rick Perry, R 2R 18D
The Lone Star State 12R
UTAH Salt Lake City Michael O. Leavitt, R 2R 1D
The Beehive State 2R
VERMONT Montpeller Howard Dean, D 1D 1 lnd. [1]
The Green Mountain State 1R 4D
VIRGINIA Richmond James S. Gilmore III, R 2R 6R
The Old Dominion 1 lnd. [1]
WASHINGTON Olympia Gary Locke, D 2D 6D
The Evergreen State 3R
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston Bob Wise, D 2D 2D
The Mountain State 1R
WISCONSIN Madison Tommy G. Thompson, R 2D 5D
The Badger State 4R
WYOMING Cheyenne Jim Geringer, R 2R 1R
The Equality State;
The Cowboy State
Capital District, Territories,
and Commonwealths
STATUS
NAME ORIGIN OF NAME DATE ACQUIRED
DISTRICT OF Honors Christopher Federal district [3]
COLUMBIA (D.C.) Columbus 1800 [4]
AMERICAN SAMOA Ancient Pacific deity U.S. territory
1900 [5]
GUAM Guajan word that means U.S. territory
we have in local dialect. 1898 [6]
NORTHERN Honors Mariana of Austria Self-governing
MARIANA the Regent of Spain commonwealth
ISLANDS 1947 [7]
PUERTO RICO Spanish for rich port Self-governing
commonwealth
1898 [8]
U.S. VIRGIN Virgins of St. Ursula, an early U.S. territory
ISLANDS religious order (Ursula was the 1917 [10]
patron saint of Spanish sailors)
LAND AREA (SQ MI)
NAME POPULATION [2] CAPITAL HEAD OF GOVERNMENT
DISTRICT OF 68 Washington Mayor
COLUMBIA (D.C.) 519,000 Anthony A. Williams, D
AMERICAN SAMOA 77 Pago Pago Governor
61,819 Tauese P. F. Sunia, D
GUAM 210 Hagatna Governor
160,595 Carl T. C. Gutierrez, D
NORTHERN 179 Saipan Governor
MARIANA 53,552 Pedro P. Tenorio, R
ISLANDS
PUERTO RICO 3,339 San Juan Governor
3,828,506 Sila Calderon, PDP [9]
U.S. VIRGIN 134 Charlotte Amalie, Governor
ISLANDS 101,809 St. Thomas Charles W. Turnbull, D
FOOTNOTES (1.)An Independent belongs to no political party (2.) Population figures are estimates for 1999. (3.) Seat of U.S. government. (4.) Date when federal government moved from Philadelphia Philadelphia, ancient cities Philadelphia, name of several ancient cities. One was in Lydia, W Asia Minor (now W Turkey). At the foot of Mt. Tmolus and near the location of modern Alaşehir, it was founded in the 2d cent. B.C. to Washington. (5.) Date gained by treaty with the U.K. and Germany Germany (jûr`mənē), Ger. Deutschland, officially Federal Republic of Germany, republic (2005 est. pop. 82,431,000), 137,699 sq mi (356,733 sq km). . (6.) Date ceded to U.S. by Spain Spain, Span. España (āspä`nyä), officially Kingdom of Spain, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 40,341,000), 194,884 sq mi (504,750 sq km), including the Balearic and Canary islands, SW Europe. after the Spanish-American War Spanish-American War, 1898, brief conflict between Spain and the United States arising out of Spanish policies in Cuba. It was, to a large degree, brought about by the efforts of U.S. expansionists. : became a U.S. territory in 1950. (7.) Date administration by U.S. began (in a trusteeship for the United Nations); became internally self-governing self-gov·ern·ing adj. 1. Exercising control or rule over oneself or itself. 2. Having the right or power of self-government; autonomous. Adj. 1. in l978 and a U.S. commonwealth territory in 1986. (8.) Date ceded to U.S. by Spain after the Spanish-American War: became a self-governing commonwealth in 1952. (9.) PDP (1) (Plasma Display Panel) See plasma display. (2) (Policy Decision Point) See COPS and XACML. (3) (Programmed Data P stands for Popular Democratic Party. (10.) Date purchased from Denmark Denmark (dĕn`märk), Dan. Danmark, officially Kingdom of Denmark, kingdom (2005 est. pop. 5,432,000), 16,629 sq mi (43,069 sq km), N Europe. (for $25 million). SOURCES Nickname: Date entered union/acquired; Capital: The Book of the States, 2000-01 edition * Origin of name; Land area: World Bank Encyclopedia encyclopedia, compendium of knowledge, either general (attempting to cover all fields) or specialized (aiming to be comprehensive in a particular field). Encyclopedias and Other Reference Books * Population: U.S. Bureau of the Census Noun 1. Bureau of the Census - the bureau of the Commerce Department responsible for taking the census; provides demographic information and analyses about the population of the United States Census Bureau * Governor/head of government: National Governors' Association * U.S. Senators and Representatives: U.S. Congress: U.S. House & Senate Web sites; CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. Web site |
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