US area: dimensions and features

The area of the US territory is so significant that it allows this state to occupy the third place in the world among the countries located on the largest sections of the earth. Statistical calculations show a figure of up to 10 million square kilometers. The United States is ahead of only Russia and China, and Canada continues this list - the neighbor country of the United States, whose area allows it to gain a foothold in the fourth place.

It should be noted that such an arrangement of countries in the list is rather arbitrary, since it depends on some selection criteria. For example, there are territories that still stand as a stumbling block in relations between China and India. There is a controversial point in the calculation of the land occupied by the United States. It is about the islands located in the Pacific Ocean and in the West Indies. Depending on whether you take them into account or not, the real US area can also change significantly.

Almost all the states, namely 48, out of the 50 available in the United States, are located in North America. The largest of them is Alaska. It occupies over 1.7 million square kilometers and is separated from the main US lands by the territory of Canada. In contrast, the state of Rhode Island is the smallest. Its area is only 4 thousand square meters. Km, and the land does not occupy even three of them. The last state that joined the United States was Hawaii, which is more than 4 thousand kilometers from the extreme western point of the continental US.

The large area of the USA determined the widest range of diverse features in the geography of the country and demonstrates the presence of all types of climate, although predominantly temperate. The tropical climate can be felt only in South Florida, and even in Hawaii. Alaska, as the most northern state, has a polar climate, and the south-western part of the country is full of deserts.

The great plains show semi-arid conditions, while California, located on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, is Mediterranean. The US area, which borders the Gulf of Mexico, is often prone to hurricanes and tornadoes. In the western part of the Great Plains there are rocky mountains, they are placed by a fan expanding from north to south, reaching a height of 4300 km in the state of Colorado (the eighth largest state of the USA).

The US territory contains one of the largest water systems in the world. It is formed by the Mississippi, Missouri and Jefferson rivers, which flow through the middle part of the country, heading from north to south. Their total volume allows to occupy this system the 4th place in the list of the largest water complexes of the planet.

As can be seen, a large area of the United States is the cause of a variety of living conditions, which (combined with a desire for better living conditions) leads to a situation where large masses of Americans are forced to constantly migrate. According to preliminary estimates, the number of people who are removed from their seats annually, moving to other states, exceeds 5 million people.

It should be noted that the American nation is one of the most traveling in the world. A large number of Americans are constantly abroad, studying the world. The main destinations for recreation are the islands of the Pacific Ocean and the countries of Europe.