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About America

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated almost entirely in the western hemisphere: its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie in central North America between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south; the state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent with Canada to its east, and the state of Hawaii is in the mid-Pacific. The United States also possesses fourteen territories, or insular areas, that are scattered around the Caribbean and Pacific.

At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 300 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and third largest by land area and by population. The United States is one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. Its national economy is the largest in the world, with a nominal 2006 gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$13 trillion.

The nation was founded by the thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. After proclaiming themselves as "states," they issued the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The rebellious states defeated Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence.

A federal convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments, was ratified in 1791. In the nineteenth century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. The American Civil War ended slavery in the United States and prevented a permanent split of the country. The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed its status as a military power. In 1945, the United States emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The sole remaining superpower in the post–Cold War era, the United States is perceived by many as the dominant economic, political, cultural, and military force in the world

About Virginia

     The Commonwealth of Virginia (IPA: /vɝːˈdʒɪ.njə/) is a Southeastern state historically considered part of the Southern region of the United States of America. It is named after Queen Elizabeth I of England, who was known as the Virgin Queen because she never married.

     The Virginia Colony was the first part of the Americas to be continuously inhabited by English (following the 1707 Acts of Union, British) colonists from its founding as a European colony up to the American Revolution. It included area explored by the 1584 expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh along the coast of North America, and at one time it also included Bermuda (or Virgineola). The Virginia Company of London became incorporated as a joint stock company by a proprietary charter drawn up on April 10, 1606. The charter granted lands stretching from approximately the 34th parallel (North Carolina) north to approximately the 45th parallel (New York) and from the Atlantic Ocean westward. The Third Charter of 1612 extended its boundaries far enough across the Atlantic to incorporate Bermuda, which the company had possessed since 1609. The commonwealth was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution to form the United States of America.

     Virginia is known as the "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson), more than any other state. Most of the United States' early presidents were from the state. Virginia has also been known as the "Mother of States" (sometimes "Mother of States and Statesmen") because portions of the original Colony subsequently became Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, as well as some portions of Ohio. Additionally, most of what is now Wisconsin and Michigan was also briefly claimed by Virginia during the Revolutionary War. As a result of the American Civil War (1861-1865), many western counties formed a separate state which was admitted to the Union as West Virginia.

     The capital is Richmond and the most populous city is Virginia Beach. Due to the nature of independent cities in Virginia, the most populous local jurisdiction is Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. Independent cities and counties function in the same manner; according to the US Census Bureau independent cities are considered county-equivalent. The largest city in land area is Suffolk, which includes a large portion of the Great Dismal Swamp.

     Virginia has a diverse economy, with many federal and military employees in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, which have the world's largest office building and the world's largest naval base respectively. In modern times, the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia area includes Jamestown, Yorktown and the restored area and living museum of Colonial Williamsburg. Linked by the Colonial Parkway, they combine to form one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.