Geography of the United States USA

The term "United States", when used in the geographical sense, is the contiguous United States, the state of Alaska, the island state of Hawaii, the five insular territories of Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa, and minor outlying possessions.^[1] The United States shares land borders with Canada and Mexico and maritime borders with Russia, Cuba, and the Bahamas in addition to Canada and Mexico.

Contents

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• 1Area
• 2General characteristics
• 3Physiographic divisions
  • 3.1Physiographic regions
• 4Climate
  • 4.1Extremes
• 5Natural disasters
  • 5.1Tornadoes and hurricanes
  • 5.2Flooding
  • 5.3Geologic
  • 5.4Other natural disasters
• 6Public lands
• 7See also
• 8Notes
• 9Further reading
• 10External links

Area[edit]

From 1989 through 1996, the total area of the US was listed as 9,372,610 km²(3,618,780 sq mi) (land + inland water only). The listed total area changed to 9,629,091 km² (3,717,813 sq mi) in 1997 (Great Lakes area and coastal waters added), to 9,631,418 km² (3,718,711 sq mi) in 2004, to 9,631,420 km²(3,718,710 sq mi) in 2006, and to 9,826,630 km² (3,794,080 sq mi) in 2007 (territorial waters added). Currently, the CIA World Factbook gives 9,826,675 km² (3,794,100 sq mi),^[2] the United Nations Statistics Division gives 9,629,091 km² (3,717,813 sq mi),^[3] and the Encyclopædia Britannica gives 9,522,055 km² (3,676,486 sq mi)(Great Lakes area included but not coastal waters).^[4] These sources consider only the 50 states and the Federal District, and exclude overseas territories.

By total area (water as well as land), the United States is either slightly larger or smaller than the People's Republic of China, making it the world's third or fourth largest country. China and the United States are smaller than Russia and Canada in total area, but are larger than Brazil. By land area only (exclusive of waters), the United States is the world's third largest country, after Russia and China, with Canada in fourth. Whether the US or China is the third largest country by total area depends on two factors: (1) The validity of China's claim on Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract. Both these territories are also claimed by India, so are not counted; and (2) How US calculates its own surface area. Since the initial publishing of the World Factbook, the CIA has updated the total area of United States a number of times.^[5]