FACTS

Location: North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico

Area (only Total) total: 9,826,630 sq km

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

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

Population: 303,824,646 (July 2008 est.)

Main Language (only first): English

Government type: Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition

Capital (Name): Washington, DC

Capital (Time Difference): UTC-5

Independence: 4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)

National holiday: Independence Day, 4 July (1776)

HOLIDAYS

January 1 New Year's Day

January 21 Martin Luther King Jr Day

February 22 Presidents' Day/Washington's Birthday

May 26 Memorial Day

June 14 Flag Day

July 4 Independence Day

September 1 Labour Day

October 13 Columbus Day

November 11 Veterans' Day

November 27 Thanksgiving

December 25 Christmas Day

December 31 New Year's Eve

1Inauguration Day occurs on 20 January of each 4th year starting from 1965. It applies to the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties in Maryland, Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Virginia, and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church in Virginia only and is moved to a Monday if it occurs on a Sunday.