Country's Full Name: United States of America

Brief History: The original 13 colonial states broke their dominance from United Kingdom declaring independence in 1776. The treaty of Paris in 1783 finally approved as independent United States of America. Other 37 new states were added in the North American continent in 19th and 20th century. The country is governed by federal laws while each state is free to promulgate their own flag, constitution, laws. Today, the country is marked as world's powerful nation having the world's largest democracy. It is the financial powerhouse ruling the world's financial outflow.

What is the country known for: Today, the country is marked as the world's most powerful nation having the world's largest democracy. Technologically superior, it is the financial powerhouse ruling the world's financial outflow.

Main Industries: leading industrial power in the world, highly diversified and technologically advanced; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining

Main Trading Partners:
Exports - partners: Canada 22.2%, Mexico 12.9%, Japan 5.8%, China 5.3%, UK 4.4% (2006) Exports: $1.023 trillion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
Imports - partners: Canada 16%, China 15.9%, Mexico 10.4%, Japan 7.9%, Germany 4.8% (2006) Imports: $1.861 trillion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Major Cities: According to 2006 estimated population - New York (8,214,426), Los Angeles (3,849,378), Chicago (2,833,321), Houston (2,144,491), Phoenix (1,512,986); Philadelphia (1,296,682); San Antonio (1,296,682); San Diego (1,256,951); Dallas (1,232,940); San Jose City (929,936); Detroit (794,555)

Location: North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico
Geographic coordinates:
38 00 N, 97 00 W

Size:
total: 9,826,630 sq km
land: 9,161,923 sq km
water: 664,707 sq km
note: includes only the 50 states and District of Columbia
About half the size of Russia; about three-tenths the size of Africa; about half the size of South America (or slightly larger than Brazil); slightly larger than China; more than twice the size of the European Union

Time Zone: United States maintains nine time zones.
Atlantic Standard Time (AST) - UTC-4: Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands
Eastern Standard Time (EST) - UTC -5: MI, IN, OH, KY, WV, NC, SC, GA, FL, DC, MD, CT, RI, MA, NH, DE, NJ, VT, ME
Central Standard Time (CST) - UTC-6: TX, OK, LA, MS, TN, AL, NE, IA, MO, IL, SD, ND, MN, WI
Mountain Standard Time (MST) - UTC-7: HT, ID, WY, UT, CO, AZ, NM, No DST observed in Arizona.
Pacific Standard Time (PST) - UTC-8: CA, NV, OR, WA
Alaskan Standard Time (AKST) - UTC-9: Alaska
Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HST) - UTC-10: Hawaii islands
Samoa standard time - UTC-11: American Samoa
Chamorro Standard Time - UTC 10: Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.

Daylight Saving Time begins from 2:00 am on the March's second Sunday. The clocks are reoriented to Standard Time at 2:00 am on November's second Sunday.

Type of Government: The democratic tradition is deep-rooted in USA. The country is a federal republic with a constitution.
United States has 50 states and a federal government. The federal government is governed by the bicameral congress. The upper house or the senate has 100 members. Two members from each state represent for a six-year-term. The lower house or the house of representative consists of 435 members directly elected from the public for a two-year-term.
Each state in the federation has its own legal system.
The head of the federal government is the President, elected by an electoral college of each state. The President and the Vice-President serve four-year-term and can be re-elected for another term.

National Holidays:
2010
1 Jan New Year's Day.
18 Jan Martin Luther King Day.
15 Feb Presidents' Day.
31 May Memorial Day.
4 Jul Independence Day.
6 Sep Labor Day.
11 Oct Columbus Day.
11 Nov Veterans' Day.
25 Nov Thanksgiving Day.
25 Dec Christmas Day.

2011
1 Jan New Year's Day.
17 Jan Martin Luther King Day.
14 Feb Presidents' Day.
23 May Memorial Day.
4 Jul Independence Day.
5 Sep Labor Day.
10 Oct Columbus Day.
11 Nov Veterans' Day.
24 Nov Thanksgiving Day.
25 Dec Christmas Day.

Population and breakdown:
301,139,947 (July 2007 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 20.2% (male 31,152,050/female 29,777,438)
15-64 years: 67.2% (male 100,995,752/female 101,365,035)
65 years and over: 12.6% (male 15,858,477/female 21,991,195) (2007 est.)

Life expectancy total population: 78 years
male: 75.15 years/female: 80.97 years (2007 est.)

Religion: Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, other 10%, none 10% (2002 est.)

Language: English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census)
note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii

Local Customs:
Americans during introduction greet each other by shaking hands.
Embraces or hugs are given to family members or very close friends.
Americans remain punctual abiding by the schedule.
Americans when talking to each other keep a distance of at least one hand.
If you are a smoker, politely ask to allow smoking. There may be many "No smoking zones".
Table manners are important when taking food. Spoon, fork and knife should be used while eating.

Best time to go: United States is a big country, with many places to visit around the year.

Currency:
1 USD = 0.67 Euro
1 USD = 0.507 British Pound

Customs Regulations:
You can bring with you as much as two liters of alcohol, 200 cigarettes or 100 cigars to the United States.

Tipping: It is customary to leave 15-20 percent of the bill to the waiter or waitress. Bellman in the hotel expects 50 cents per bag and taxi drivers 10-15 percent of the fare.