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 | United States of America |
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| Location: |
North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico |
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| Area: |
9,629,091 sq km |
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| Climate: |
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains |
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| Terrain: |
vast central plain, mountains in west, hills and low mountains in east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska; rugged, volcanic topography in Hawaii |
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| Population: |
272,639,608 (July 1999 est.) |
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| Religions: |
Protestant 56%, Roman Catholic 28%, Jewish 2%, other 4%, none 10% (1989) |
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| Languages: |
English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority) |
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| Capital: |
Washington, DC |
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