Location:

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

Area:

9,629,091 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:

272,639,608 (July 1999 est.)

Religions:

Protestant 56%, Roman Catholic 28%, Jewish 2%, other 4%, none 10% (1989)

Languages:

English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority)

Capital:

Washington, DC