Category:United States

The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, U.S.A., U.S., America, the States, or (archaically) Columbia — is a federal republic of fifty states, mostly in central North America. The United States proper has three land borders, two with Canada and one with Mexico, and one territorial water boundary with Russia. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean. Two of the 50 states, Alaska and Hawaii, are contiguous neither with the other 48 nor with each other. The United States is also a collection of overseas territories and possessions around the world. Each of the fifty states has a high level of local autonomy under the system of federalism. United States citizens are usually called Americans.