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150-584: The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas occupies a chain of 14 islands in the Pacific , approximately 1,300 miles southeast of Japan . The total land area encompasses 183.5 square miles, and some islands are unpopulated. Most Carolinians live on Saipan , the largest island, although a very small island, Agrigan , is reported to be populated solely by Carolinians speaking Carolinian language. Carolinian, more usually known as Saipan Carolinian,

300-606: A 1969 referendum . In the 1975 Northern Mariana Islands status referendum nearly 80% voted to become a commonwealth of the United States, and in 1977 over 93% approved the constitution of the CNMI. The people of the Northern Mariana Islands decided in the 1970s not to seek independence, but instead to forge closer links with the United States. Negotiations for commonwealth status began in 1972, and

450-464: A tropical rainforest climate ( Köppen : Af) moderated by seasonal northeast trade winds , with little seasonal temperature variation. The dry season runs from December to June; the rainy season runs from July to November and can include typhoons . The Guinness Book of World Records has said Saipan has the most equable climate in the world. The Northern Mariana Islands have a multiparty presidential representative democratic system. They are

600-580: A " Special Relationship " with the United Kingdom and strong ties with Canada , Australia , New Zealand , the Philippines , Japan , South Korea , Israel , and several European Union countries ( France , Italy , Germany , Spain , and Poland ). The U.S. works closely with its NATO allies on military and national security issues, and with countries in the Americas through

750-478: A benefit structure that had been increased without raises in funding. In August 2012, cries for impeachment arose, as the sitting governor Benigno Fitial was being held responsible for withholding payments from the pension fund, not paying the local utility (Commonwealth Utilities or "CUC") for government offices, cutting off funding to the only hospital in the Northern Marianas, interfering with

900-412: A brother and sister would be discouraged from sharing dishes, and a dish used by a man should not be used by a woman, except for his mother. Women's bedrooms and private rooms are considered off-limits to male relatives. In certain locales, when a girl gets her first menstrual period, she is taken care of by older women, such as a grandmother, and placed in a special house. She is given orange face-paint, so

1050-720: A clear historical timeline. Significant demographic changes occurred in the Carolinian population of the Northern Mariana Islands after the 1850s, especially with the arrival of immigrants from atolls east of Satawal . Between 1865 and 1868, an English entrepreneur, H.G. Johnson, relocated about 1,500 Carolinians to the Marianas to work on plantations in Guam , Rota , and Tinian . The removal of these Carolinians from their original islands faced push-back up until

1200-530: A commonwealth of the United States. Federal funds to the commonwealth are administered by the Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior . Replicating the separation of powers elsewhere in the United States, the executive branch is headed by the governor of the Northern Mariana Islands ; legislative power is vested in the bicameral Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature and

1350-542: A coordinated, continent-wide military effort. Finally, deteriorating relations between the British military establishment and the colonists, relations that were already less than positive, set the stage for further distrust and dislike of British troops. Following their victory in the French and Indian War, Britain began to assert greater control over local colonial affairs, resulting in colonial political resistance ; one of

1500-423: A covenant to establish a commonwealth in political union with the United States was approved in a 1975 referendum . A new government and constitution came into effect in part on January 9, 1978, after being approved in a 1977 referendum . The United Nations approved this arrangement pursuant to Security Council Resolution 683 . The Northern Mariana Islands came under U.S. sovereignty on November 4, 1986, and

1650-534: A decentralized government that operated until 1789. After the British surrender at the siege of Yorktown in 1781 American sovereignty was internationally recognized by the Treaty of Paris (1783), through which the U.S. gained territory stretching west to the Mississippi River, north to present-day Canada, and south to Spanish Florida . The Northwest Ordinance (1787) established the precedent by which

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1800-753: A federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the states of Alaska to the northwest and the archipelagic Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean . The United States also asserts sovereignty over five major island territories and various uninhabited islands . The country has the world's third-largest land area , largest exclusive economic zone , and third-largest population , exceeding 334 million. Its three largest metropolitan areas are New York , Los Angeles , and Chicago , and its three most populous states are California , Texas , and Florida . Paleo-Indians migrated across

1950-407: A few prominent industrialists , largely by their formation of trusts and monopolies to prevent competition. Tycoons led the nation's expansion in the railroad , petroleum , and steel industries. The United States emerged as a pioneer of the automotive industry . These changes were accompanied by significant increases in economic inequality , slum conditions , and social unrest , creating

2100-415: A few remaining on Saipan. Today, Saipan Carolinians are dispersed throughout the island, including in new homestead areas like Kagman, developed by the government on the eastern shore. The 1970s marked the beginning of a reconnection between Saipan Carolinians and their outer-island roots, notably when a navigator made a voyage from the outer islands to Saipan in 1969 after a lapse of 60 to 70 years. However,

2250-666: A global reach. The U.S. is a founding member of the World Bank , Organization of American States , NATO , and the United Nations , as well as a permanent member of the UN Security Council . 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

2400-501: A large, black cloud to drift south over Saipan and Tinian. The islands lie in the Marianas tropical dry forests terrestrial ecoregion. The ocean area to the east of the islands and parts of the islands themselves are part of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument . This area includes three northernmost islands, the "Arc of Fire" refuge, which includes 21 underwater volcanic sites, and

2550-658: A non-voting delegate to the US Congress. The Mariana Islands were the first islands settled by humans in Remote Oceania . Incidentally, their settlement was the first and longest of the ocean-crossing voyages of the Austronesian peoples , separate from the later Polynesian settlement of the rest of Remote Oceania. The islands were first settled around 1500 to 1400 BC by people from the Philippines . This

2700-598: A period of heightened, overt racism following Reconstruction, a time often called the nadir of American race relations . A series of Supreme Court decisions, including Plessy v. Ferguson , emptied the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of their force, allowing Jim Crow laws in the South to remain unchecked, sundown towns in the Midwest, and segregation in communities across the country , which would be reinforced by

2850-488: A prominent leader in the early 1960s. The Great Society plan of President Lyndon Johnson 's administration resulted in groundbreaking and broad-reaching laws, policies and a constitutional amendment to counteract some of the worst effects of lingering institutional racism . The counterculture movement in the U.S. brought significant social changes, including the liberalization of attitudes toward recreational drug use and sexuality . It also encouraged open defiance of

3000-526: A sense of manifest destiny . The Missouri Compromise attempted to balance the desire of northern states to prevent the expansion of slavery into new territories with that of southern states to extend it, admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It further prohibited slavery in all other lands of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36°30′ parallel . As Americans expanded further into land inhabited by Native Americans,

3150-614: A sense of American identity as well. Men who otherwise never left their own colony now traveled across the continent to fight alongside men from decidedly different backgrounds but who were no less "American". British officers trained American officers for battle, most notably George Washington ; these officers would lend their skills and expertise to the colonists' cause during the American Revolutionary War to come. In addition, colonial legislatures and officials found it necessary to cooperate intensively in pursuit of

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3300-604: A small percentage of Carolinian children left on Saipan who can confidently speak the traditional form of Carolinian. The Carolinian language is derived from closely related languages and dialects within the Austronesian language family. The first inhabitants of the Caroline Islands were the Austronesians , who migrated from Taiwan . European contact with the Caroline Islands began in 1652, and by

3450-451: A trill, which is voiceless word-finally. Moreover, all of the following single consonants may also be geminate initially, medially and in their abstract representation, finally: /p, t, bw, f, s, m, mw, ŋ, l/. Geminate /bw/ is devoiced. In addition, Carolinian has geminate /kk/ but not single /k/. There are the five consonants /ş, x, r, w, j/, which may be geminated medially in productive reduplication. Geminate obstruents are tense and often give

3600-401: A year). Juvenile correctional facilities are operated by local or state governments and serve as longer-term placements for any minor adjudicated as delinquent and ordered by a judge to be confined. As of January 2023, the United States has the sixth-highest per capita incarceration rate in the world—531 people per 100,000 inhabitants—and the largest prison and jail population in

3750-457: Is Capitol Hill , a village in northwestern Saipan. The current governor of the CNMI is Arnold Palacios , who entered office in January 2023. The legislative branch has a 9-member Senate and a 20-member House of Representatives. The islands were settled around 1500 BC when various peoples migrated there. Eventually, the islands were claimed by Spain in 1521. In the 18th century, the people of

3900-430: Is Subject-Verb-Object . The following are some example simple sentences. Wan John Wan John John e he seng cries e seng he cries is crying Wan John Wan John John e he dokto doctor e dokto he doctor is a doctor e he e he he bwel aspectual le-mwungo at-eat Northern Marianas The Northern Mariana Islands , officially

4050-435: Is nepotism carried out within the trappings of democracy. In April 2012, anticipating a loss of funding by 2014, the commonwealth's public pension fund declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy . The retirement fund is a defined benefit -type pension plan and was only partially funded by the government, with only $ 268.4 million in assets and $ 911 million in liabilities . The plan experienced low investment returns and

4200-424: Is Palua, home to Chamorro people. To the south and east is Micronesia, which is home to the Carolinian people, many of which also settled on the CNMI centuries ago. Saipan has some additional semi-attached islets, including Bird Island, a nature reserve for birds. It is connected to Saipan only at low tide. Forbidden Island is similar, but larger on the southeast side of Saipan. The Northern Mariana Islands have

4350-591: Is believed to be the first widespread culture in the Americas. Over time, indigenous North American cultures grew increasingly sophisticated, and some, such as the Mississippian culture , developed agriculture , architecture , and complex societies . In the post-archaic period , the Mississippian cultures were located in the midwestern , eastern , and southern regions, and the Algonquian in

4500-413: Is expected to respect his wife's brothers and male relatives. When the in-laws need something, a husband is encouraged to help out. For instance, if they ask to use his car, it is expected that he should let them use it, or he should bring food if there is a family party. The table shows that alveolar ridge receives tongue-blade contact while the tongue tip makes contact at some place on the teeth. All of

4650-498: Is known as the presidential system , in contrast to the parliamentary system , where the executive is part of the legislative body. Many countries around the world imitated this aspect of the 1789 Constitution of the United States , especially in the Americas. The Constitution is silent on political parties. However, they developed independently in the 18th century with the Federalist and Anti-Federalist parties. Since then,

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4800-438: Is now the United States experienced conflicts with Native Americans, they also engaged in trade, exchanging European tools for food and animal pelts. Relations ranged from close cooperation to warfare and massacres. The colonial authorities often pursued policies that forced Native Americans to adopt European lifestyles, including conversion to Christianity. Along the eastern seaboard, settlers trafficked African slaves through

4950-552: Is the federal agency charged with addressing most environmental-related issues . The idea of wilderness has shaped the management of public lands since 1964, with the Wilderness Act . The Endangered Species Act of 1973 provides a way to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service implements and enforces the Act. In 2024, the U.S. ranked 34th among 180 countries in

5100-568: Is to the south of the CNMI and Rota. To the east is Wake Island, then further east is the island of Midway, and eventually, the start of the Hawaiian island chain. American Samoa is located to the east and south and lies below the Equator. To the north and east, lies Alaska, which is a string of islands known as the Aleutians . To the west of the CNMI is the Philippines, and to the south and west

5250-603: The Allies of World War I , helping to turn the tide against the Central Powers . In 1920, a constitutional amendment granted nationwide women's suffrage . During the 1920s and '30s, radio for mass communication and the invention of early television transformed communications nationwide. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 triggered the Great Depression , which President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to with

5400-553: The Atlantic slave trade . The original Thirteen Colonies that would later found the United States were administered as possessions of Great Britain , and had local governments with elections open to most white male property owners . The colonial population grew rapidly, eclipsing Native American populations; by the 1770s, the natural increase of the population was such that only a small minority of Americans had been born overseas. The colonies' distance from Britain allowed for

5550-817: The Bering land bridge more than 12,000 years ago, and formed various civilizations and societies . British colonization led to the first settlement of the Thirteen Colonies in Virginia in 1607. Clashes with the British Crown over taxation and political representation sparked the American Revolution , with the Second Continental Congress formally declaring independence on July 4, 1776. Following its victory in

5700-606: The Carolines (Micronesia region) during the 19th century. Both this Carolinian sub-ethnicity and Carolinians in the Carolines archipelago refer to themselves as the Refaluwasch . The indigenous Chamorro word for the same group of people is gu'palao . They are usually referred to simply as "Carolinians", though, unlike the other two monikers, this can also mean those who live in the Carolines and may have no affiliation with

5850-704: The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ( CNMI ), is an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States consisting of 14 islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The CNMI includes the 14 northernmost islands in the Mariana Archipelago ; the southernmost island, Guam is a U.S. territory. The Northern Mariana Islands were listed by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory until 1990. During

6000-549: The Environmental Performance Index . The country joined the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2016 and has many other environmental commitments. The United States is a federal republic of 50 states and a separate federal capital district, Washington, D.C. It also asserts sovereignty over five unincorporated territories and several uninhabited island possessions . The U.S. is

6150-500: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service have national jurisdiction and specialized duties, such as protecting civil rights , national security and enforcing U.S. federal courts ' rulings and federal laws. State courts conduct most civil and criminal trials, and federal courts handle designated crimes and appeals of state court decisions . There is no unified "criminal justice system" in

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6300-720: The Great Lakes , Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico . British colonization of the East Coast began with the Virginia Colony (1607) and Plymouth Colony (1620). The Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut established precedents for representative self-governance and constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies. While European settlers in what

6450-719: The Great Lakes region and along the Eastern Seaboard , while the Hohokam culture and Ancestral Puebloans inhabited the southwest . Native population estimates of what is now the United States before the arrival of European immigrants range from around 500,000 to nearly 10 million. Christopher Columbus began exploring the Caribbean for Spain in 1492, leading to Spanish-speaking settlements and missions from Puerto Rico and Florida to New Mexico and California . France established its own settlements along

6600-524: The House of Representatives , a lower house based on population; and the Senate , an upper house based on equal representation for each state. Federalism provides substantial autonomy to the 50 states, while the country's political culture promotes liberty , equality , individualism , personal autonomy , and limited government . One of the world's most developed countries , the United States has had

6750-596: The Midwest . At the same time, about one million French Canadians migrated from Quebec to New England . During the Great Migration , millions of African Americans left the rural South for urban areas in the North. Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867. The Compromise of 1877 effectively ended Reconstruction and white supremacists took local control of Southern politics . African Americans endured

6900-688: The National Park Service and other agencies. About 28% of the country's land is publicly owned and federally managed, primarily in the Western States . Most of this land is protected , though some is leased for commercial use, and less than one percent is used for military purposes. Environmental issues in the United States include debates on non-renewable resources and nuclear energy , air and water pollution , biodiversity , logging and deforestation , and climate change . The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

7050-652: The New Deal , a series of sweeping programs and public works projects combined with financial reforms and regulations . All were intended to protect against future economic depressions. Initially neutral during World War II , the U.S. began supplying war materiel to the Allies of World War II in March 1941 and entered the war in December after the Empire of Japan 's attack on Pearl Harbor . The U.S. developed

7200-778: The Organization of American States and the United States–Mexico–Canada Free Trade Agreement . In South America, Colombia is traditionally considered to be the closest ally of the United States. The U.S. exercises full international defense authority and responsibility for Micronesia , the Marshall Islands , and Palau through the Compact of Free Association . It has increasingly conducted strategic cooperation with India , but its ties with China have steadily deteriorated. Since 2014,

7350-648: The Pentium microprocessor in accordance with Moore's law , rechargeable lithium-ion batteries , the first gene therapy trial, and cloning either emerged in the U.S. or were improved upon there. The Human Genome Project was formally launched in 1990, while Nasdaq became the first stock market in the United States to trade online in 1998. In the Gulf War of 1991, an American-led international coalition of states expelled an Iraqi invasion force that had occupied neighboring Kuwait . The September 11 attacks on

7500-638: The South Seas Mandate . During the Japanese period, sugar cane became the primary industry of the islands. Garapan on Saipan was developed as a regional capital, and numerous Japanese (including ethnic Koreans and Okinawan and Taiwanese ) migrated to the islands. In the December 1939 census, the total population of the South Seas Mandate was 129,104, of whom 77,257 were Japanese (including ethnic Taiwanese and Koreans). On Saipan,

7650-534: The Soviet Union's collapse and the end of the Cold War in 1991, the U.S. emerged as the world's sole superpower , wielding significant geopolitical influence globally . The U.S. national government is a presidential constitutional federal republic and liberal democracy with three separate branches : legislative , executive , and judicial . It has a bicameral national legislature composed of

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7800-703: The Spanish–American War of 1898, Spain ceded Guam to the United States and sold the remainder of the Marianas (i.e., the Northern Marianas), along with the Caroline Islands, to Germany under the German–Spanish Treaty of 1899 . The United States could have taken the entire Marianas, but beyond that, Guam saw no need for the group. Germany administered the islands as part of its colony of German New Guinea and did little in terms of development. Germany built an office on Saipan to administer

7950-529: The Spanish–American War . (The Philippines was granted full independence from the U.S. on July 4, 1946, following World War II. Puerto Rico and Guam have remained U.S. territories.) American Samoa was acquired by the United States in 1900 after the Second Samoan Civil War . The U.S. Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark in 1917. The United States entered World War I alongside

8100-427: The Talofofo area until 1972. Japanese nationals were eventually repatriated to the Japanese home islands . After World War II, the people of Marianas were able to return to the Northern Marianas under the protection of the United Nations Trusteeship administered by the United States. During this time, a series of referendums took place. After Japan's defeat in World War II, the Northern Marianas were administered by

8250-399: The cotton gin made the institution increasingly profitable for Southern elites . This sectional conflict regarding slavery culminated in the American Civil War (1861–1865). Eleven slave states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America , while the other states remained in the Union . War broke out in April 1861 after the Confederates bombarded Fort Sumter . After

8400-413: The fall of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union , which marked the end of the Cold War and left the United States as the world's sole superpower . The 1990s saw the longest recorded economic expansion in American history , a dramatic decline in U.S. crime rates , and advances in technology . Throughout this decade, technological innovations such as the World Wide Web , the evolution of

8550-423: The judicial power is vested in the CNMI Supreme Court and the trial courts inferior to it. Some critics, including the author of the political website Saipan Sucks , say that politics in the Northern Mariana Islands is often "more a function of family relationships and personal loyalties" where the size of one's extended family is more important than a candidate's personal qualifications. They charge that this

8700-445: The largest nominal GDP since about 1890 and accounted for over 15% of the global economy in 2023. It possesses by far the largest amount of wealth of any country and has the highest disposable household income per capita among OECD countries. The U.S. ranks among the world's highest in economic competitiveness , productivity , innovation , human rights , and higher education . Its hard power and cultural influence have

8850-406: The 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord , igniting the American Revolutionary War . At the Second Continental Congress , the colonies appointed George Washington commander-in-chief of the Continental Army , and created a committee that named Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence . Two days after passing the Lee Resolution to create an independent nation the Declaration

9000-408: The 1775–1783 Revolutionary War , the country continued to expand westward across North America , resulting in the dispossession of native inhabitants . As more states were admitted , a North–South division over slavery led to the secession of the Confederate States of America , which fought states remaining in the Union in the 1861–1865 American Civil War . With the victory and preservation of

9150-412: The 1800s, inter-island travel persisted for various reasons, such as survival, communication, trade, and family relations, thereby maintaining the Carolinian language continuum. The evolution of the Carolinian language continued as the Carolinian people migrated to Saipan under Chamorro occupation. However, after the abandonment of Saipan around 1815, Carolinians had the island largely to themselves, and

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9300-466: The 2010s, political polarization in the country increased between liberal and conservative factions. This polarization was capitalized upon in the January 2021 Capitol attack , when a mob of insurrectionists entered the U.S. Capitol and sought to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in an attempted self-coup d'état . The United States is the world's third-largest country by total area behind Russia and Canada. The 48 contiguous states and

9450-412: The 30,000 Japanese troops defending Saipan, fewer than 1,000 remained alive at the battle's end. Many civilians were also killed, by disease, starvation, enemy fire, or suicide; about 1,000 civilians killed themselves by jumping off cliffs. U.S. forces then recaptured Guam on July 21, and invaded Tinian on July 24. A year later, Tinian was the takeoff point for the Enola Gay , the plane that dropped

9600-426: The American West have an alpine climate . The climate is arid in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California , and oceanic in coastal Oregon , Washington , and southern Alaska . Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar . Hawaii , the southern tip of Florida and U.S. territories in the Caribbean and Pacific are tropical . States bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of

9750-466: The Chamorros until the boat was recovered. Three days after he had been welcomed on his arrival, Magellan fled the archipelago. Spain regarded the islands as annexed and later made them part of the Spanish East Indies in 1565. In 1734, the Spanish built a royal palace, the Plaza de España , in Guam for the governor of the islands. The palace was largely destroyed during World War II, but portions of it remain. Guam operated as an important stopover between

9900-420: The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The term "United States" and the initialism "U.S.", used as nouns or as adjectives in English, are common short names for the country. The initialism "USA", a noun, is also common. "United States" and "U.S." are the established terms throughout the U.S. federal government , with prescribed rules. In English, the term "America" rarely refers to topics unrelated to

10050-404: The District of Columbia occupy a combined area of 3,119,885 square miles (8,080,470 km ). The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way to inland forests and rolling hills in the Piedmont plateau region. The Appalachian Mountains and the Adirondack massif separate the East Coast from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest . The Mississippi River System ,

10200-458: The Elder concluded that major military resources needed to be devoted to North America to win the war against France. For the first time, the continent became one of the main theaters of what could be termed a " world war ". The British colonies' position as an integral part of the British Empire became more apparent during the war, with British military and civilian officials becoming a more significant presence in American life. The war increased

10350-402: The House floor. In the United States, a non-voting delegate is not a new concept, but rather goes back to before 1800. Territorial delegates represent their region's interest in Congress, and their powers have been established over time, beginning in 1795. A major power of the territorial delegates (which have also been called Resident Commissioners), besides serving on committees, is speaking on

10500-453: The Interior cites a landmass of 183.5 square miles (475.26 km ). According to the 2020 United States Census , 47,329 people were living in the CNMI at the time. The vast majority of the population resides on Saipan , Tinian , and Rota . The other islands of the Northern Marianas are sparsely inhabited; the most notable among these is Pagan , which was left largely uninhabited since a 1981 volcanic eruption. The administrative center

10650-465: The January 1863 Emancipation Proclamation , many freed slaves joined the Union army . The war began to turn in the Union's favor following the 1863 Siege of Vicksburg and Battle of Gettysburg , and the Confederacy surrendered in 1865 after the Union's victory in the Battle of Appomattox Court House . The Reconstruction era followed the war. After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln , Reconstruction Amendments were passed to protect

10800-853: The Japanese in the Battle of Saipan in 1944, and after the war, became part of the UN Trust Territory called the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI). Over the decades, integration with Guam was rejected, and eventually, the islands left the TTPI and became a part of the US in 1986. The Northern Marianas then became the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and its residents are US citizens. In 2009, they elected

10950-587: The Marianas may have made what was at that point the longest uninterrupted ocean-crossing voyage in human history. Archeological evidence indicates that Tinian may have been the first Pacific island to be settled. The Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan , sailing under the Spanish flag, arrived in 1521. He and his crew were the first Europeans to arrive in the Mariana Islands. He landed on Guam,

11100-465: The Marianas raised colonnades of megalithic-capped pillars called latte stones upon which they built their homes. The Spanish reported that by their arrival, the largest of these was already in ruins and that the Chamorros believed the ancestors who had erected the pillars lived in an era when people possessed supernatural abilities. In 2013 archaeologists posited that the first people to settle in

11250-508: The Marianas region. The Chamorro-Carolinian Language Policy Commission was created in 1982 to carry out policies in support of the Chamorro and Carolinian languages and cultures. In December 1986, 20 percent of the homes on Saipan were destroyed by Typhoon Kim , trees were stripped of foliage, thousands of coconut trees were knocked down, roads were blocked, and there was no electricity or public water supply for weeks. In April 1990,

11400-563: The Marianas. The conquering Spanish did not focus attempts at cultural suppression against Carolinian immigrants, whose immigration they allowed during a period when the indigenous Chamorro majority was being subjugated with land alienation, forced relocations, and internment. Carolinians in the Marianas continue to be fluent in the Carolinian language and have maintained many of the cultural distinctions and traditions of their ethnicity's land of ancestral origin. Following its loss during

11550-454: The Northern Marianas, many Carolinians from present-day eastern Yap State and western Chuuk State had settled in the Marianas. Both languages, as well as English, are now official in the commonwealth. In 1720 the Spanish moved the remaining islanders, whose population had been decimated by diseases, from the Marianas to Guam. By 1741, there was about 5000 remaining Chamorros. The Northern Marianas experienced an influx of immigration from

11700-590: The Philippines and Mexico for the Manila galleon , which carried trading between Spanish colonies. In 1668, Father Diego Luis de San Vitores renamed the islands Las Marianas in honor of his patroness, the Spanish regent Mariana of Austria (1634–1696), widow of Felipe IV (reigned 1621–1665). Most of the islands' native population (90–95%) died from European diseases carried by the Spaniards or married non-Chamorro settlers under Spanish rule. New settlers from

11850-418: The Philippines and the Caroline Islands were brought to repopulate the islands. The Chamorro population gradually recovered, and Chamorro, Filipino , and Refaluwasch languages and other ethnic groups remain in the Marianas. During the 17th century, Spanish colonists forcibly moved the Chamorros to Guam, to encourage assimilation and conversion to Roman Catholicism . By the time they were allowed to return to

12000-611: The Rocky Mountains, the Yellowstone Caldera , is the continent's largest volcanic feature. In 2021, the United States had 8% of global permanent meadows and pastures and 10% of cropland. With its large size and geographic variety, the United States includes most climate types. East of the 100th meridian , the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south. The western Great Plains are semi-arid . Many mountainous areas of

12150-647: The U.S. has become a key ally of Ukraine ; it has also provided the country with significant military equipment and other support in response to Russia's 2022 invasion . The president is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces and appoints its leaders, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff . The Department of Defense , which is headquartered at the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., administers five of

12300-661: The U.S. territories." Despite disparate systems of confinement, four main institutions dominate: federal prisons , state prisons , local jails, and juvenile correctional facilities . Federal prisons are run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and hold people who have been convicted of federal crimes, including pretrial detainees. State prisons, run by the official department of correction of each state, hold sentenced people serving prison time (usually longer than one year) for felony offenses. Local jails are county or municipal facilities that incarcerate defendants prior to trial; they also hold those serving short sentences (typically under

12450-464: The United States and the peaceful transfer of power , respectively. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 from France nearly doubled the territory of the United States. Lingering issues with Britain remained , leading to the War of 1812 , which was fought to a draw. Spain ceded Florida and its Gulf Coast territory in 1819. In the late 18th century, American settlers began to expand westward , many with

12600-775: The United States entered the Cold War, where geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union led the two countries to dominate world affairs . The U.S. utilized the policy of containment to limit the USSR's sphere of influence, and prevailed in the Space Race , which culminated with the first crewed Moon landing in 1969. Domestically, the U.S. experienced economic growth , urbanization , and population growth following World War II . The civil rights movement emerged, with Martin Luther King Jr. becoming

12750-666: The United States has operated as a de facto two-party system , though the parties in that system have been different at different times. The two main national parties are presently the Democratic and the Republican . The former is perceived as relatively liberal in its political platform while the latter is perceived as relatively conservative . In the American federal system , sovereign powers are shared between two levels of elected government: national and state. People in

12900-593: The United States in 2001 by the pan-Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda led to the war on terror , and subsequent military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq . The cultural impact of the attacks was profound and long-lasting. The U.S. housing bubble culminated in 2007 with the Great Recession , the largest economic contraction since the Great Depression. Coming to a head in

13050-656: The United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the Revolutionary War effort. The first known public usage is an anonymous essay published in the Williamsburg newspaper, The Virginia Gazette , on April 6, 1776. By June 1776, the "United States of America" appeared in the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence . The Second Continental Congress adopted

13200-569: The United States pursuant to Security Council Resolution 21 as part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands , which assigned responsibility for defense and foreign affairs to the United States as trustee. Four referendums offering integration with Guam or changes to the islands' status were held in 1958 , 1961 , 1963 and 1969 . On each occasion, a majority voted in favor of integration with Guam, but this did not happen: Guam rejected integration in

13350-601: The United States, slavery was abolished nationally . By 1900, the country had established itself as a great power , a status solidified after its involvement in World War I . After Japan 's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S. entered World War II . Its aftermath left the U.S. and the Soviet Union as the world's two superpowers and led to the Cold War , during which both countries struggled for ideological dominance and international influence . Following

13500-541: The United States, despite the usage of "the Americas " as the totality of North and South America. "The States" is an established colloquial shortening of the name, used particularly from abroad; "stateside" is the corresponding adjective or adverb. The first inhabitants of North America migrated from Siberia across the Bering land bridge about 12,000 years ago; the Clovis culture , which appeared around 11,000 BC,

13650-624: The United States, except Iran , North Korea , and Bhutan . Though Taiwan does not have formal diplomatic relations with the U.S., it maintains close unofficial relations. The United States regularly supplies Taiwan with military equipment to deter potential Chinese aggression. Its geopolitical attention also turned to the Indo-Pacific when the United States joined the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Australia, India, and Japan. The United States has

13800-509: The United States. The American prison system is largely heterogenous, with thousands of relatively independent systems operating across federal, state, local, and tribal levels. In 2023, "these systems [held] almost 2 million people in 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional facilities, 181 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons , civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in

13950-475: The atomic bomb on Hiroshima . Rota was left untouched (and isolated) until the Japanese surrender in August 1945, owing to its military insignificance and U.S. forces' strategy of "island hopping" in which they did not invade islands that they did not need. The story of the holdouts on Anatahan was told in 1953 by Josef von Sternberg in his film The Saga of Anatahan . The war did not end for everyone with

14100-455: The colonial period, the Northern Marianas were variously under the control of the Spanish , German , and Japanese empires. After World War II , the islands were part of the United Nations trust territories under American administration before formally joining the United States as a territory in 1986, with their population gaining United States citizenship. The United States Department of

14250-400: The consonants may appear initially, medially, and finally. In the final position, all the obstruents are obligatorily released. All consonants except one are unaspirated, and all stops and /x/ are lenis. The consonants /bw/ and /mw/ have coarticulated labial closure and rounding with a raising of the back of the tongue toward the velum. the /bw/ is usually spirantized to /βw/ medially. The /r/ is

14400-457: The contiguous United States are in the State of California, about 84 miles (135 km) apart. At an elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190.5 m), Alaska's Denali is the highest peak in the country and continent. Active volcanoes are common throughout Alaska's Alexander and Aleutian Islands , and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. The supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in

14550-556: The country's GDP. The U.S. has 42% of the world's nuclear weapons —the second-largest share after Russia. The United States has the third-largest combined armed forces in the world, behind the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Indian Armed Forces . The military operates about 800 bases and facilities abroad, and maintains deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries. State defense forces (SDFs) are military units that operate under

14700-469: The country's territory would expand with the admission of new states , rather than the expansion of existing states. The U.S. Constitution was drafted at the 1787 Constitutional Convention to overcome the limitations of the Articles. It went into effect in 1789, creating a federal republic governed by three separate branches that together ensured a system of checks and balances . George Washington

14850-474: The delivery of a subpoena to his attorney general, withholding required funds from the public schools, and for signing a sole source $ 190 million contract for power generation. United States The United States of America ( USA ), commonly known as the United States ( U.S. ) or America , is a country primarily located in North America . It is a federal union of 50 states and

15000-713: The development of self-governance, and the First Great Awakening , a series of Christian revivals , fueled colonial interest in religious liberty . For a century, the American colonists had been providing their own troops and materiel in conflicts with indigenous peoples allied with Britain's colonial rivals , especially France, and the Americans had begun to develop a sense of self-defense and self-reliance separate from Britain. The French and Indian War (1754–1763) took on new significance for all North American colonists after Parliament under William Pitt

15150-517: The eastern caldera and causing an ash plume 12 km (7.5 mi) high which impaired air traffic to Saipan and Guam. The Northern Mariana Islands does not have voting representation in the United States Congress , but, since 2009, has been represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by a delegate ; congressional delegates may participate in debates and serve on congressional committees but may not cast decisive votes on

15300-660: The end of the 19th century, with groups such as the Spanish showing disapproval until the Tinian Carolinians eventually moved to Saipan . When the Americans took control of Guam in 1898, the Carolinians in Maria Cristina village remained there, despite American efforts to make them abandon their traditional dress. Most migrations that shaped the Carolinian community on Saipan occurred by 1911, with

15450-580: The environment for labor unions to begin to flourish . This period eventually ended with the advent of the Progressive Era , which was characterized by significant reforms. Pro-American elements in Hawaii overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy ; the islands were annexed in 1898. That same year, Puerto Rico , the Philippines , and Guam were ceded to the U.S. by Spain after the latter's defeat in

15600-581: The feathers for hats. Early in World War I , Japan declared war on Germany and invaded the Northern Marianas. In 1919 after the war concluded, the League of Nations (LoN) awarded all of Germany's islands in the Pacific Ocean located north of the Equator , including the Northern Marianas, under mandate to Japan. Under this arrangement, the Japanese thus administered the Northern Marianas as part of

15750-541: The federal government often applied policies of Indian removal or assimilation . The Trail of Tears (1830–1850) was a U.S. government policy that forcibly removed and displaced most Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River to lands far to the west. These and earlier organized displacements prompted a long series of American Indian Wars west of the Mississippi. The Republic of Texas

15900-522: The first Carolinian-speaking group there became the initial speakers of Saipan Carolinian. Subsequent migrations introduced additional linguistic diversity, blending various languages over time. Tracing the development of Saipan's language from 1815 to today is challenging due to inconsistent historical records. The Carolinian language on Saipan was in constant flux during the 19th century, shaped by ongoing migrations between Saipan and neighboring atolls. The lack of reliable data makes it difficult to establish

16050-497: The first nuclear weapons and used them against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, ending the war. The United States was one of the " Four Policemen " who met to plan the post-war world , alongside the United Kingdom , Soviet Union , and China . The U.S. emerged relatively unscathed from the war, with even greater economic power and international political influence . After World War II,

16200-479: The floor. Perhaps more importantly, the position is seen as a precursor to establishing voting rights, and discussion about granting delegate voting rights have occurred. In 2018, 18 people embarked on a mission to repopulate the northern islands of Alamagan and Agrihan. They left Saipan aboard the M/V Super Emerald; the families involved originally had come from Alamagan. The mayor's office coordinated

16350-402: The harsh treatment of Guamanian Chamorros during the 31-month occupation, created a rift that would become the main reason Guamanians rejected the referendum on the reunification of Guam with the Northern Marianas that the Northern Marianas approved in the 1960s. On June 15, 1944, the United States military invaded the Mariana Islands, starting the Battle of Saipan , which ended on July 9. Of

16500-492: The highest elevation at 3,166 feet (965 m). An expedition organized by John D. Mitchler and Reid Larson made the first complete ascent to the summit of this peak on June 1, 2018. The islands going from north to south comprise 14 main islands, but some smaller islands are often grouped together. Also, Zealandia Bank can sometimes be an island, depending on the tide. In terms of area, it is smaller than Guam; however, as an island chain, it spans hundreds of kilometers/miles from

16650-401: The impression of aspiration. In addition to its native vocabulary, Carolinian has borrowed considerable vocabulary from Chamorro, English, and Japanese. This has led to the borrowing of some phonemes from these languages as well. Although these phonemes appear only in borrowed words, many of these words undergo regular Carolinian phonological rules, and the international segments are assigned in

16800-451: The inhabitants of the western coast of Anatahan were evacuated after earthquake swarms and active fumaroles indicated that an eruption might be imminent, but no eruption occurred at that time. A further earthquake swarm occurred in May 1992. The first historical eruption of Anatahan occurred in May 2003, when a large explosive eruption with a VEI of 4 took place, forming a new crater inside

16950-463: The integration of Army National Guard units and personnel into the U.S. Army and (since 1947) the U.S. Air Force. There are about 18,000 U.S. police agencies from local to national level in the United States. Law in the United States is mainly enforced by local police departments and sheriff departments in their municipal or county jurisdictions. The state police departments have authority in their respective state , and federal agencies such as

17100-610: The island, and the head administrator was Georg Fritz. San Jose church was built during the German period. The Germans established a public school system and homesteading program, and some efforts were put into copra production; there was an overall effort to grow the economy with roads being built and vocational/trades training. Pagan and Alamagan were leased to a company called Pagan Gesellschaft, which planned to produce copra there, although its goals were hampered by numerous typhoons . Eight islands were leased to bird hunters, which used

17250-609: The islanders became US citizens . Also on November 4, 1986, the Northern Mariana Islands constitution became fully effective under the Covenant. In May 1981, volcanic eruptions led to the evacuation of the island of Pagan . Most residents of Pagan have not yet returned to Pagan due to ongoing volcanic activity. In the 1960s and 1970s, agriculture and ranching became an important activity with thousands of beef cattle, dairy cows, hogs, and many crops such as pineapple. The food production became an important source of food supply for

17400-413: The late 1600s, the Carolinians were already communicating with Europeans in their native language. Between 1795 and 1797, a Spanish official on Guam , Don Luis de Torres, studied the Carolinian language and identified its dialect continuum . Throughout the 1700s, multiple Carolinian drift voyages reached the Philippines and Guam , spreading Carolinian culture and language across these regions. During

17550-428: The main economic focus was sugar production, and for example, about 98% of Tinian island was used to grow sugarcane . On December 8, 1941, hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor , Japanese forces from the Marianas launched an invasion of Guam . Chamorros from the Northern Marianas, which had been under Japanese rule for more than 20 years, were brought to Guam to assist the Japanese administration. This, combined with

17700-482: The military draft (leading to the end of conscription in 1973) and wide opposition to U.S. intervention in Vietnam (with the U.S. totally withdrawing in 1975). A societal shift in the roles of women was significantly responsible for the large increase in female paid labor participation during the 1970s, and by 1985 the majority of American women aged 16 and older were employed. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw

17850-505: The months-long project plans, including a clean water supply, establishment of radio contact, and hopefully sending more families to the two islands. One returning Marianan remarked, "I was born and raised on Saipan but my family is from Alamagan. We are going to live there for a long time." The 2020 United States Census reported a total of 7 people living on Alamagan and Agrihan. Typhoon Yutu caused widespread damage in October 2018, and

18000-612: The most attractive to the population are the most vulnerable. The U.S. is one of 17 megadiverse countries containing large numbers of endemic species : about 17,000 species of vascular plants occur in the contiguous United States and Alaska, and over 1,800 species of flowering plants are found in Hawaii, few of which occur on the mainland. The United States is home to 428 mammal species, 784 birds, 311 reptiles, 295 amphibians , and around 91,000 insect species. There are 63 national parks , and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and wilderness areas , managed by

18150-513: The most significant influx from outer islands happening between 1905 and 1907. During this period, German ships transported hundreds of Mortlockese and other atoll dwellers to Saipan due to typhoon devastation on their home islands. However, this migration had minimal impact on the linguistic traits of the Carolinian language, as the new arrivals were settled away from established Carolinian villages. Many of these islanders eventually returned to their original homes once conditions improved, with only

18300-662: The most violent, the California genocide of thousands of Native inhabitants, lasted into the early 1870s, just as additional western territories and states were created. During the colonial period, slavery had been legal in the American colonies , though the practice began to be significantly questioned during the American Revolution. States in the North enacted abolition laws , though support for slavery strengthened in Southern states , as inventions such as

18450-615: The northern Marianas were forced by Spain to relocate, and when they returned, new peoples migrated there. In 1899 Spain sold the Northern Marianas to Germany in the Spanish-German Treaty of 1899 , while Guam went to the United States. At the end of World War I, with the defeat of Germany, the islands became a part of the Japanese Mandate under the League of Nations, starting in 1918. The islands were liberated from

18600-603: The northernmost to the southernmost. Many islands have multiple names due to popular nicknames, usually of Spanish, Chamorro, or English origin. Many of the islands have had to be evacuated due to volcanic activity. Anatahan Volcano is a small volcanic island 80 miles (130 km) north of Saipan. It is about 6 miles (10 km) long and 2 miles (3 km) wide. Anatahan began erupting from its east crater on May 10, 2003. It has since alternated between eruptive and calm periods. On April 6, 2005, an estimated 50,000,000 cubic feet (1,416,000 m ) of ash and rock were ejected, causing

18750-485: The overwhelming influence of the U.S. and global culture, coupled with the introduction of modern media, has profoundly impacted the Carolinian language. While there remains interest in preserving native languages, the realities of modern life pose significant challenges to these efforts. According to the history of the language, some speakers consider it critical to show respect to the Carolinian culture, in particular for older people. Certain cultural norms may also affect

18900-408: The policy of redlining later adopted by the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation . An explosion of technological advancement accompanied by the exploitation of cheap immigrant labor led to rapid economic expansion during the late 19th and early 20th centuries , allowing the United States to outpace the economies of England, France, and Germany combined. This fostered the amassing of power by

19050-401: The pre-war population comprised 29,348 Japanese settlers and 3,926 Chamorro and Caroline Islanders; Tinian had 15,700 Japanese settlers (including 2,700 ethnic Koreans and 22 ethnic Chamorro). The Japanese built military constructions on the island in the 1930s and, in December 1941, used it as a staging area to invade Guam, which was part of the U.S. at that time. During the Japanese mandate,

19200-574: The primary colonial grievances was a denial of their rights as Englishmen , particularly the right to representation in the British government that taxed them . To demonstrate their dissatisfaction and resolve, the First Continental Congress met in 1774 and passed the Continental Association , a colonial boycott of British goods that proved effective. The British attempt to then disarm the colonists resulted in

19350-515: The rights of African Americans . National infrastructure, including transcontinental telegraph and railroads , spurred growth in the American frontier . From 1865 through 1917 an unprecedented stream of immigrants arrived in the United States, including 24.4 million from Europe. Most came through the port of New York City , and New York City and other large cities on the East Coast became home to large Jewish , Irish , and Italian populations, while many Germans and Central Europeans moved to

19500-560: The rocky Great Basin and Chihuahua , Sonoran , and Mojave deserts. In the northwest corner of Arizona , carved by the Colorado River over millions of years, is the Grand Canyon , a steep-sided canyon and popular tourist destination known for its overwhelming visual size and intricate, colorful landscape. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast . The lowest and highest points in

19650-571: The same way as native speakers. For example, the Japanese word / dzori /, which means slipper, is borrowed into Carolinian and may be reduplicated. So /dzodzdzoori/ means to be wearing slippers. The classic form of Carolinian syllables is either CV, CVC, CVVC, or CCVC. Carolinian simple sentences contain two major constituents, which are the Subject Noun Phrase and the Predicate Phrase. The word order of Carolinian language

19800-409: The signing of the armistice. The last group of Japanese holdouts surrendered on Saipan on December 1, 1945. However, as mentioned, a group of about 30 held out until 1951 on Anahatan. The bizarre story has been the subject of several movies and writings, including The Saga of Anatahan . On a related note, on Guam, Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi , unaware that the war had ended, hid in a jungle cave in

19950-573: The six service branches, which are made up of the U.S. Army , Marine Corps , Navy , Air Force , and Space Force . The Coast Guard is administered by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and can be transferred to the Department of the Navy in wartime. The United States spent $ 916 billion on its military in 2023, which is by far the largest amount of any country , making up 37% of global military spending and accounting for 3.4% of

20100-545: The sole authority of a state government. SDFs are authorized by state and federal law but are under the command of the state's governor . They are distinct from the state's National Guard units in that they cannot become federalized entities. A state's National Guard personnel, however, may be federalized under the National Defense Act Amendments of 1933 , which created the Guard and provides for

20250-465: The southernmost island of the Marianas, and claimed the archipelago for Spain. The Spanish ships were met offshore by the native Chamorros, who delivered refreshments and then helped themselves to a small boat belonging to Magellan's fleet. This led to a cultural clash: in Chamorro tradition, little property was private, and taking something one needed, such as a boat for fishing, did not count as stealing. The Spanish did not understand this custom and fought

20400-543: The states are also represented by local elected governments , which are administrative divisions of the states. States are subdivided into counties or county equivalents , and further divided into municipalities . The District of Columbia is a federal district containing the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C. . The federal district is an administrative division of the federal government. Federally recognized tribes govern 326 Indian reservations . The United States has an established structure of foreign relations, and it has

20550-510: The structure and responsibilities of the national federal government and its relationship with the individual states. The U.S. Constitution is the world's oldest national constitution still in effect (from March 4, 1789). Composed of three branches, all headquartered in Washington, D.C., the federal government is the national government of the United States. It is regulated by a strong system of checks and balances . The three-branch system

20700-481: The trench region, which goes to the maximum limit of the EEZ. The nature preserve aims to protect the unique marine life, which includes seabirds, sea turtles, unique coral reefs, and life around under-sea vents. The Marianas Trench includes the deepest ocean water on the planet, along with other underwater wonders, including a pool of liquid sulfur located at Daikoku, an underwater volcano. (see also Challenger Deep ) Guam

20850-417: The way the language is spoken. Carolinian women have historically been encouraged to use precise words when speaking to their brothers and other male relatives. It is also said that women are encouraged never to walk in front of male relatives, and to stoop down near male relatives who are sitting. The Carolinian culture moreover has encouraged separation between genders in certain aspects of life. For example,

21000-468: The whole community will know she has come of age. In Saipan , these practices largely ceased during the Second World War . However, many Carolinians still practice these traditions today. Respect is also expected to be shown between older men and younger men. For instance, younger men are expected not give their opinion in a meeting unless they are invited to do so by older men. Also, a husband

21150-582: The world's fourth-longest river system , runs predominantly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat and fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast. The Rocky Mountains , west of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, peaking at over 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in Colorado . Farther west are

21300-583: The world's second-largest diplomatic corps as of 2024 . It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council , and home to the United Nations headquarters . The United States is a member of the G7 , G20 , and OECD intergovernmental organizations. Almost all countries have embassies and many have consulates (official representatives) in the country. Likewise, nearly all countries host formal diplomatic missions with

21450-444: The world's oldest surviving federation, and its presidential system of national government has been adopted, in whole or in part, by many newly independent states worldwide following their decolonization . It is a liberal representative democracy "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law ". The Constitution of the United States serves as the country's supreme legal document , also establishing

21600-553: The world's tornadoes occur in the country , mainly in Tornado Alley . Overall, the United States receives more high-impact extreme weather incidents than any other country. Extreme weather became more frequent in the U.S. in the 21st century, with three times the number of reported heat waves as in the 1960s. In the American Southwest , droughts became more persistent and more severe. The regions considered as

21750-575: Was annexed in 1845, and the 1846 Oregon Treaty led to U.S. control of the present-day American Northwest . Victory in the Mexican–American War resulted in the 1848 Mexican Cession of California, Nevada, Utah, and much of present-day Colorado and the American Southwest . The California gold rush of 1848–1849 spurred a huge migration of white settlers to the Pacific coast, leading to even more confrontations with Native populations. One of

21900-759: Was adopted on July 4, 1776. The political values of the American Revolution included liberty , inalienable individual rights ; and the sovereignty of the people ; supporting republicanism and rejecting monarchy , aristocracy , and all hereditary political power; civic virtue ; and vilification of political corruption . The Founding Fathers of the United States , who included Washington, Jefferson, John Adams , Benjamin Franklin , Alexander Hamilton , John Jay , James Madison , Thomas Paine , and many others, were inspired by Greco-Roman , Renaissance , and Enlightenment philosophies and ideas. The Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781 and established

22050-473: Was born from several languages in the Carolinian language continuum , due to a century of migration from the western Carolinian atolls to the Northern Marianas island of Saipan. Spoken mostly by the Carolinian people , Carolinian is the most closely related dialect to Satawalese , Woleaian , and Puluwatese languages. In present day, Carolinian is changing quickly due to influence from English , which has dominated Micronesia since World War II. There are only

22200-583: Was elected the country's first president under the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791 to allay skeptics' concerns about the power of the more centralized government. His resignation as commander-in-chief after the Revolutionary War and his later refusal to run for a third term as the country's first president established a precedent for the supremacy of civil authority in

22350-424: Was followed by a second migration from the Caroline Islands by the first millennium AD, and a third migration from Island Southeast Asia (likely the Philippines or eastern Indonesia ) by 900 AD. After their first contact with Spaniards, the islanders eventually became known as the Chamorros , a Spanish word similar to Chamori , the name of the Indigenous caste system's higher division. The ancient people of

22500-630: Was the strongest typhoon known to hit the islands. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) personnel deployed to both Tinian and Saipan ahead of the storm. U.S. President Donald Trump declared an emergency for the Northern Islands on October 24, 2018. The Northern Mariana Islands, together with Guam to the south, compose the Mariana Islands archipelago. The southern islands are limestone , with level terraces and fringing coral reefs. The northern islands are volcanic, with active volcanoes on several islands, including Anatahan , Pagan , and Agrihan . The volcano on Agrihan, Mount Agrihan , has

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