Difference between revisions of "Civilisation/World Geography - North America"

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United States of America
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== United States ==
 
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[[File:Flag-of-United-States-of-America.png|none|thumb]]
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Flag of United States contains 13 stripes representing the Thirteen Colonies and 50 stars representing the 50 states. Known as the Stars and Stripes, the Star-Spangled Banner, and Old Glory
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{| class="wikitable"
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|Capital
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|Washington, D.C.
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|-
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|Largest cities
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|New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston,  Phoenix
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|-
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|Currency
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|Dollar
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|-
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|Highest point
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|Denali (Mount McKinley)
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|}
 
The United States is the world's fourth-largest country by total area and third most populous (320 million). The U.S. population almost quadrupled during the 20th century, from about 76 million in 1900
 
The United States is the world's fourth-largest country by total area and third most populous (320 million). The U.S. population almost quadrupled during the 20th century, from about 76 million in 1900
  
 
In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
 
In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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Largest states by area – Alaska, Texas, California, Montana, New Mexico
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Smallest states by area – Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire
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Largest states by population – California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois
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Smallest states by population – Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota
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The 49th parallel of north latitude forms part of the international boundary between Canada and the United States from Manitoba to British Columbia on the Canadian side and from Minnesota to Washington on the U.S. side. Its use as a border is a result of the Anglo-American Convention of 1818 and the Oregon Treaty of 1846[[File:Map of USA with state names 2.svg|none|thumb|599x599px|link=Special:FilePath/Map_of_USA_with_state_names_2.svg]]
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'''Alabama''' (AL)
 
'''Alabama''' (AL)
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[[File:Alabama.png|none|thumb]]
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Capital – Montgomery
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Largest city – Huntsville
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Nickname – Heart of Dixie, Cotton State, Yellowhammer State
  
Capital – Montgomery
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Birmingham is Alabama's second-most populous city after Huntsville. The broader Birmingham metropolitan area us largest metropolitan area in Alabama
  
Largest city – Birmingham
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Mobile was founded in 1702 by the French as the first capital of Louisiana
  
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Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is in Sheffield
  
 
'''Alaska''' (AK)
 
'''Alaska''' (AK)
 
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[[File:Alaska.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Juneau
 
Capital – Juneau
  
 
Largest city – Anchorage
 
Largest city – Anchorage
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Nickname – The Last Frontier, Land of the Midnight Sun
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Alaska time zone is UTC-09:00
  
 
Alaska is the least densely populated state
 
Alaska is the least densely populated state
  
Alaska Highway was constructed as an emergency supply route in WWII and connects the contiguous U.S. to Alaska through Canada. It runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Faribanks, Alaska. Completed in 1943, it is 1,390 miles long
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Alaska has longest coastline in USA
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Alaska has boroughs, not counties
  
Dalton Highway is a 414-mile road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse near the Arctic Ocean and the Prudhoe Bay oil fields
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Juneau cannot be reached by car
  
Barrow is the northernmost settlement on the North American mainland and in the United States. Nearby Point Barrow is the northernmost point of the United States
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Barrow is the northernmost settlement on the North American mainland and in the United States. Nearby Point Barrow is the northernmost point of the United States. Barrow is now known as Utqiagvik
  
 
Disenchantment Bay is in Alaska
 
Disenchantment Bay is in Alaska
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Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is in Alaska
 
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is in Alaska
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Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes is a valley within Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska which is filled with ash flow from the eruption of Novarupta in 1912
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Cape Prince of Wales is the westernmost mainland point of the Americas
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Little Diomede or “Yesterday Isle” is the smaller of the two Diomede Islands located in the middle of the Bering Strait between the Alaska mainland and Siberia. Big Diomede Island is part of Russia and west of the International Date Line
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Sitka is the largest city-borough by total area in the United States
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Fairbanks is the second most populous metropolitan area
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Tongass National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest
  
 
Attu is the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and the westernmost point of land relative to Alaska. The island is currently uninhabited. The island was the site of the only World War II land battle fought on an incorporated territory of the United States
 
Attu is the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and the westernmost point of land relative to Alaska. The island is currently uninhabited. The island was the site of the only World War II land battle fought on an incorporated territory of the United States
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Unalaska is an island in the Fox Islands group of the Aleutian Islands
 
Unalaska is an island in the Fox Islands group of the Aleutian Islands
  
Yakutat City in Alaska is the largest city by area in USA
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Yakutat City is the largest city by area in USA
  
Mount Aniakchak is a volcanic caldera located in the Aleutian Range of Alaska
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Mount Aniakchak is a volcanic caldera located in the Aleutian Range
  
Kodiak Island second largest island in USA, behind Big Island, Hawaii
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Kodiak Island is the second largest island in USA, behind Big Island, Hawaii
  
 
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in March from Anchorage to Nome
 
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in March from Anchorage to Nome
  
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Alaska Highway was constructed as an emergency supply route in WWII and connects the contiguous U.S. to Alaska through Canada. It runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Faribanks, Alaska. Completed in 1943, it is 1,390 miles long
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Dalton Highway is a 414-mile road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse near the Arctic Ocean and the Prudhoe Bay oil fields
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Chilkoot Trail leads from Dyea, Alaska, to Bennett, British Columbia. It is part of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in the United States. It was a major access route from the coast to Yukon goldfields in the late 1890s
  
 
'''Arizona''' (AZ)
 
'''Arizona''' (AZ)
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[[File:Arizona.png|none|thumb]]
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Capital and largest city – Phoenix
  
Capital and largest city – Phoenix
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Nickname – Grand Canyon State, Apache State
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Phoenix is the largest city which is also a state capital
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Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 and designed by Frank Crowe. Produces hydroelectric power. Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume
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The Grand Canyon is a canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona. The Grand Canyon is 446 km long, up to 29 km wide and attains a depth of over a mile. The thick sequence of ancient rocks that are well preserved and exposed in the walls of the canyon record much of the early geologic history of the North American continent
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Painted Desert is composed of stratified layers of easily erodible siltstone, mudstone, and shale. These fine-grained rock layers contain abundant iron and manganese compounds which provide the pigments for the various colours of the region
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The Wave is a spectacular sandstone formation on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area
  
Painted Desert is in Arizona. The desert is composed of stratified layers of easily erodible siltstone, mudstone, and shale. These fine grained rock layers contain abundant iron and manganese compounds which provide the pigments for the various colours of the region
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Meteor crater was created about 50,000 years ago. The object that excavated the crater was a nickel-iron meteorite about 50 m across. Scientists refer to the crater as Barringer Crater in honour of Daniel Barringer who was first to suggest that it was produced by meteorite impact
  
The Wave is a spectacular sandstone formation on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area, located in Arizona
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Petrified Forest National Park is named for its large deposits of petrified wood
  
Meteor crater is in Arizona. Scientists refer to the crater as Barringer Crater in honour of Daniel Barringer who was first to suggest that it was produced by meteorite impact
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London Bridge in Lake Havasu City is the reconstruction of the 1831 London Bridge designed by John Rennie until it was dismantled in 1967. The bridge was bought by Robert P. McCulloch from the City of London
  
Petrified Forest National Park is in Arizona
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O.K. Corral (Old Kindersley) was originally from 1879 to about 1888 a livery and horse corral in the mining boomtown of Tombstone
  
London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, is the reconstruction of the 1831 London Bridge designed by John Rennie until it was dismantled in 1967. The bridge was bought by Robert P. McCulloch from the City of London
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Maricopa County is the fourth-most populous county in the United States
  
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Canyon de Chelly National Monument preserves ruins of the indigenous tribes that lived in the area, from the Ancestral Puebloans (also known as the Anasazi) to the Navajo
  
 
'''Arkansas''' (AR)
 
'''Arkansas''' (AR)
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[[File:Arkansas.png|none|thumb]]
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Capital and largest city – Little Rock
  
Capital and largest city Little Rock
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Nickname The Natural State, Bear State, Land of Opportunity
  
 
Mississippi River forms most of the eastern border of Arkansas
 
Mississippi River forms most of the eastern border of Arkansas
  
 
Hot Springs National Park is in Arkansas
 
Hot Springs National Park is in Arkansas
 
  
 
'''California''' (CA)
 
'''California''' (CA)
 
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[[File:California.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Sacramento
 
Capital – Sacramento
  
Largest city – Los Angeles
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Largest cities – Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco
  
'''Los Angeles''' Aqueduct system comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct (Owens Valley aqueduct) and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct delivers water from the Owens River in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains into the city of Los Angeles. Designed by William Mulholland. Completed in 1913
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Nickname – The Golden State
  
St. Francis Dam was a gravity dam built as a large reservoir near the city of Los Angeles. The dam was built between 1924 and 1926 under the supervision of William Mulholland, an engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. In 1928, the dam catastrophically failed
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'''Los Angeles''' is known as the ‘City of Angels’ and the ‘Big Orange’
  
La Brea Tar Pits are a cluster of tar pits located in Hancock Park in the urban heart of Los Angeles. Over many centuries, animals that came to drink the water fell in, sank in the tar, and were preserved as bones. The George C. Page Museum is dedicated to researching the tar pits and displaying specimens from the animals that died there
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The Hollywood sign originally read ‘HOLLYWOODLAND’, and its purpose was to advertise a new housing development
  
Los Angeles is known as ‘the big orange’
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Sunset Strip is the name given to the 2.4 km stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood
  
Griffith Observatory is in Los Angeles. Sitting on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in L.A.'s Griffith Park, it commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin
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Whisky a Go Go is a nightclub on the Sunset Strip
  
Grauman's Chinese Theatre is a movie theatre located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. It is located along the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame. From 1973 through 2001, the theatre was known as Mann's Chinese Theatre
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Los Angeles Aqueduct system comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct (Owens Valley aqueduct) and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct delivers water from the Owens River in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains into the city of Los Angeles. Designed by William Mulholland. Completed in 1913
  
The Hollywood sign originally read ‘HOLLYWOODLAND’, and its purpose was to advertise a new housing development
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St. Francis Dam was a gravity dam built as a large reservoir near the city of Los Angeles. The dam was built between 1924 and 1926 under the supervision of William Mulholland, an engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. In 1928, the dam catastrophically failed
  
Sunset Strip is the name given to the 2.4 km stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood
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La Brea Tar Pits are a cluster of tar pits located in Hancock Park in the urban heart of Los Angeles. Over many centuries, animals that came to drink the water fell in, sank in the tar, and were preserved as bones. The George C. Page Museum is dedicated to researching the tar pits and displaying specimens from the animals that died there
  
Crystal Cathedral campus is a Christian megachurch in the city of Garden Grove, within Orange County in Southern California
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John Wayne airport is in Orange County
  
John Wayne airport is in Orange County
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Santa Ana is in Orange County
  
 
John Paul Getty museum is in Malibu
 
John Paul Getty museum is in Malibu
  
'''San Francisco''' cable cars are the world’s only mobile National Monument
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'''San Francisco''' cable cars are the world’s only mobile National Monument. Started operation in 1873
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Fisherman's Wharf is a popular tourist attraction
  
Golden Gate Bridge designed by Joseph Strauss in 1937
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The Immigration Station on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay processed approximately one million Asian immigrants and has been designated a National Historic Landmark
  
The eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge is currently scheduled to open to traffic in 2013
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Alcatraz Island is 2 km offshore from San Francisco. In 1934, the island was converted into a federal prison. The strong currents around the island and cold water temperatures made escape all but impossible. The prison closed in 1963, and the island is now a major tourist attraction
  
Yerba Buena Island connects the western and eastern spans of the Bay Bridge
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Marin County is across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Natural sites include the Muir Woods redwood forest, the Marin Headlands, Stinson Beach, the Point Reyes National Seashore, and Mount Tamalpais
  
The Immigration Station on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay processed approximately one million Asian immigrants and has been designated a National Historic Landmark
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Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley are part of the Wine Country in the northern San Francisco Bay Area
  
'''San Diego''' International Airport is on the site of a municipal airport named Lindbergh Field
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Farallon Islands are a group of islands off the coast of San Francisco. The islands are also sometimes referred to by mariners as the Devil's Teeth Islands, in reference to the many treacherous underwater shoals in their vicinity
  
 
San Diego has one of the world’s largest zoos
 
San Diego has one of the world’s largest zoos
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San Diego International Airport is on the site of a municipal airport named Lindbergh Field
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San Jose is the county seat of Santa Clara County
  
 
John Sutter founded the city of Sacramento, first naming it New Helvetia, the ancient name of Switzerland
 
John Sutter founded the city of Sacramento, first naming it New Helvetia, the ancient name of Switzerland
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Neverland, formerly the Sycamore Valley Ranch, is in Santa Barbara County
 
Neverland, formerly the Sycamore Valley Ranch, is in Santa Barbara County
  
Hearst Castle is a National Historic Landmark mansion. It was designed by architect Julia Morgan between 1919 and 1947 for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who died in 1951
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Gilroy Garlic Festival is held annually in July
  
 
Lassen Volcanic National Park is in central northern California. The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak; the largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southern-most volcano in the Cascade Range. Lassen Volcanic National Park started as two separate national monuments designated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907: Cinder Cone National Monument and Lassen Peak National Monument
 
Lassen Volcanic National Park is in central northern California. The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak; the largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southern-most volcano in the Cascade Range. Lassen Volcanic National Park started as two separate national monuments designated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907: Cinder Cone National Monument and Lassen Peak National Monument
  
El Capitan is a 1000m vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is one of the world's favorite challenges for rock climbers
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Yosemite National Park covers an area of 3,074 km<sup>2</sup>. It was Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984
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El Capitan is a 1000 m vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is one of the world's favourite challenges for rock climbers. The Nose is a climbing route up El Capitan
  
Mono Lake, California contains bacteria that grow in high concentrations of arsenic
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Mono Lake contains bacteria that grow in high concentrations of arsenic
  
 
Sutter Buttes in California are sometimes referred to as the world's smallest mountain range
 
Sutter Buttes in California are sometimes referred to as the world's smallest mountain range
  
Point Reyes is a prominent cape and popular tourist destination on the Pacific coast of northern California. It is located in Marin County
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San Bernardino County is the largest county in the contiguous United States by area
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El Camino Real is a 600-mile road connecting the 21 Spanish missions in California
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Zabriskie Point is in Death Valley National Park
  
Largest county by area – San Bernadino County, California
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Death Valley is the largest national park south of Alaska
  
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Furnace Creek holds the record for the highest recorded air temperature on Earth at 134 °F (56.7 °C)
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Telescope Peak is the highest point in Death Valley National Park
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Joshua Tree National Park is named after the Joshua trees native to the Mojave Desert. Originally declared a national monument in 1936, Joshua Tree was redesignated as a national park in 1994
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Sequoia National Park is in the southern Sierra Nevada. It contains giant sequoia trees, including the General Sherman tree, the largest tree on Earth
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Salton Sea is the largest lake in California. It is a saline endorheic lake that is heavily polluted
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Santa Cruz is the largest of the Californian Channel Islands
  
 
'''Colorado''' (CO)
 
'''Colorado''' (CO)
 
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[[File:Colorado.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital and largest city – Denver
 
Capital and largest city – Denver
  
Mount Elbert is highest mountain in Rockies
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Nickname – Centennial State
  
 
Colorado is known as the Centennial state because it was admitted to the Union in 1876
 
Colorado is known as the Centennial state because it was admitted to the Union in 1876
  
Colorado River was known as the Grand River until 1921
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Denver International Airport has four murals, all of which have been the topic of conspiracy theorists and debate, and popularized in ‘Family Guy’
  
Colorado River drains into the Gulf of California
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Mount Elbert is highest mountain in Rockies
  
 
Mesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. The park features numerous ruins of homes and villages built by the ancient Pueblo people known as the Anasazi. The Anasazi made this stone village their home in the 1200s, before being killed off by drought in 13th century
 
Mesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. The park features numerous ruins of homes and villages built by the ancient Pueblo people known as the Anasazi. The Anasazi made this stone village their home in the 1200s, before being killed off by drought in 13th century
  
Monarch Pass is in Colorado
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Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountains is higher than any point in the United States east of its longitude. ‘Pike's Peak or Bust’ became the slogan of the Colorado Gold Rush
  
Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountains is higher than any point in the United States east of its longitude
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Colorado River was known as the Grand River until 1921
  
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Colorado River drains into the Gulf of California
  
 
'''Connecticut''' (CT)
 
'''Connecticut''' (CT)
 
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[[File:Connecticut.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Hartford
 
Capital – Hartford
  
 
Largest city – Bridgeport
 
Largest city – Bridgeport
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Nickname – Constitution State, Nutmeg State
  
 
Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum is in Connecticut
 
Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum is in Connecticut
 
  
 
'''Delaware''' (DE)
 
'''Delaware''' (DE)
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[[File:Delaware.png|none|thumb]]
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Flag of Delaware has the date 7 December 1787, the day on which Delaware became the first state to ratify the United States Constitution
  
 
Capital – Dover
 
Capital – Dover
  
 
Largest city – Wilmington
 
Largest city – Wilmington
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Nickname – The First State, Diamond State
  
 
Delaware is divided into three counties, named New Castle, Kent, and Sussex
 
Delaware is divided into three counties, named New Castle, Kent, and Sussex
  
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Delaware was a Dutch colony
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Delaware is considered a corporate haven because of its business-friendly corporate laws. More than half of all U.S. publicly traded companies, and 63% of the Fortune 500, are incorporated in Delaware
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Delaware Bay is bordered by Delaware and New Jersey
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Delmarva is a large peninsula occupied by most of Delaware as well as the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the Eastern Shore of Virginia
  
 
'''Florida''' (FL)
 
'''Florida''' (FL)
 
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[[File:Florida.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Tallahassee
 
Capital – Tallahassee
  
 
Largest city – Jacksonville
 
Largest city – Jacksonville
  
Florida is the US state most affected by lightning
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Nickname – Sunshine State, Peninsula State
  
 
Miami has the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world
 
Miami has the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world
  
St Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city, and the oldest port, in the continental United States
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Miami is built on a bedrock of limestone
 
 
Fort Lauderdale is known as the ‘Venice of America’
 
 
 
Lake Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in Florida
 
  
 
St. Petersburg is the second largest city in the Tampa Bay Area
 
St. Petersburg is the second largest city in the Tampa Bay Area
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Orlando is nicknamed ‘The City Beautiful’ and its symbol is the fountain at Lake Eola
 
Orlando is nicknamed ‘The City Beautiful’ and its symbol is the fountain at Lake Eola
  
Orlando attracts over 51 million tourists a year (3.6 million of them are international tourists)
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Orlando attracts over 75 million tourists a year
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St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city, and the oldest port, in the continental United States
  
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando
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Fort Lauderdale is known as the ‘Venice of America’
  
Spaceship Earth is a structure of Epcot. One of the most recognizable structures at the Walt Disney World Resort, it is not only the centerpiece and main focal point of Epcot, but also the name of the attraction housed within the 18-story geodesic sphere that takes guests on a time machine themed experience using the Omnimover system
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Lake Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in Florida
  
Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida destroyed in 1980 when hit by a ship
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Sunshine Skyway Bridge was destroyed in 1980 when hit by a ship
  
Three counties in the Tampa region are known as “sinkhole alley”
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Three counties in the Tampa region are known as ‘sinkhole alley’
  
 
Florida's peninsula is made up of porous carbonate rocks such as limestone that store and help move groundwater. Dirt, sand and clay sit on top of the carbonate rock. Over time, these rocks can dissolve from an acid created from oxygen in water, creating a void underneath the limestone roof. When the dirt, clay or sand gets too heavy for the limestone roof, it can collapse and form a sinkhole
 
Florida's peninsula is made up of porous carbonate rocks such as limestone that store and help move groundwater. Dirt, sand and clay sit on top of the carbonate rock. Over time, these rocks can dissolve from an acid created from oxygen in water, creating a void underneath the limestone roof. When the dirt, clay or sand gets too heavy for the limestone roof, it can collapse and form a sinkhole
  
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Mar-a-Lago is a resort in Palm Beach
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The northern end of the Biscayne Bay lagoon is surrounded by Downtown Miami
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Pensacola is the westernmost city of the Florida panhandle. Pensacola beach is known for its white sand beaches
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Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago forming the southernmost part of the continental United States
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Key West is the westernmost island connected by U.S. Highway 1 and is 95 miles from Cuba
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Key Largo calls itself the ‘Diving Capital of the World’
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Straits of Florida are between Florida Keys and Cuba
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Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of Florida. The primary feature of the Everglades is the sawgrass marsh
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Florida is the US state most affected by lightning
  
 
'''Georgia''' (GA)
 
'''Georgia''' (GA)
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[[File:Georgia.png|none|thumb]]
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Capital and largest city – Atlanta
  
Capital and largest city Atlanta
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Nickname Peach State, Empire State of the South
  
 
Peachtree Street is the main north-south Street of Atlanta
 
Peachtree Street is the main north-south Street of Atlanta
  
Stone Mountain is a quartz dome monadnock. Stone Mountain is well-known not only for its geology, but also for the enormous bas-relief on its north face, the largest bas-relief in the world. Three figures of the Confederate States of America are carved there: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis
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Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport has been the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic since 1998
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Macon is known as the ‘Heart of Georgia’
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Stone Mountain is a quartz dome monadnock. Stone Mountain is well-known not only for its geology, but also for the enormous bas-relief on its north face, the largest bas-relief in the world. Three figures of the Confederate States of America are carved there: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis. Sculped by Gutzon Borglum
  
Savannah was first state capital of Georgia
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Savannah was the first state capital of Georgia
  
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Savannah River forms most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia
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Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow 1770 km² peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida border. Okefenokee is the largest "blackwater" swamp in North America
  
 
'''Hawaii''' (HI)
 
'''Hawaii''' (HI)
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[[File:Hawaii.png|none|thumb]]
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Capital and largest city – Honolulu
  
Capital and largest city Honolulu
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Nickname Aloha State
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Hawaii-Aleutian time zone is UTC-10:00
  
Mount Kilauea is the most active volcano in Hawaii. Kilauea emits large quantities of sulphur dioxide
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‘Iolani Palace was the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaii ending with Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893
  
 
Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands
 
Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands
  
Pearl Harbour is on the island of Oahu
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Pearl Harbour and Honolulu are on the island of Oahu
  
Honolulu is on Oahu
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Mauna Kea (‘white mountain’) is taller than Everest when measured from its base; it rises over 10,203 m when measured from its base on the mid-ocean floor, but only attains 4205 m above sea level
  
Mauna Kea is taller than Everest when measured from its base; it rises over 10,203 m when measured from its base on the mid-ocean floor, but only attains 4205 m above sea level. Means ‘white mountain’
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Mauna Kea observatory is on Hawaii
  
Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on earth in terms of area covered
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Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is a volcano observatory located at Uwekahuna Bluff on the rim of Kilauea Caldera on the Island of Hawaii
  
Kauai the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands
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Hawaii Volcanoes National Park encompasses two active volcanoes: Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the world's most massive volcano
 
 
Mauna Kea observatory is on Big Island, the largest Hawaiian island
 
  
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) is a volcano observatory located at Uwekahuna Bluff on the rim of Kilauea Caldera on the Island of Hawaii
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Mount Kilauea emits large quantities of sulphur dioxide
  
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park encompasses two active volcanoes: Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the world's most massive volcano
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Hilo is the main town on the island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island
  
Hilo is the main town on The Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island
+
Kauai is the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands
  
 
Lanai is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is also known as the Pineapple Island
 
Lanai is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is also known as the Pineapple Island
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Haleakala is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the island of Maui
 
Haleakala is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the island of Maui
  
 +
Niihau is an island in Hawaii known as ‘The Forbidden Isle’ as it is privately owned
  
 
'''Idaho''' (ID)
 
'''Idaho''' (ID)
 +
[[File:Idaho.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital and largest city – Boise
  
Capital and largest city Boise
+
Nickname Gem State, Gem of the Mountains
  
 
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a national monument and national preserve located in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho
 
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a national monument and national preserve located in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho
 
  
 
'''Illinois''' (IL)
 
'''Illinois''' (IL)
 
+
[[File:Illinois.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Springfield
 
Capital – Springfield
  
 
Largest city – Chicago
 
Largest city – Chicago
  
The Wrigley Building is a skyscraper located directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower on the Magnificent Mile in '''Chicago'''
+
Nickname – Prairie State
  
Fort Dearborn, named in honor of Henry Dearborn, was a United States fort built on the Chicago River in 1803 by troops under Captain John Whistler. The site of the fort is now a Chicago Landmark, part of the Michigan–Wacker Historic District
+
Fort Dearborn, named in honour of Henry Dearborn, was a United States fort built on the Chicago River in 1803 by troops under Captain John Whistler. The site of the fort is now a Chicago Landmark, part of the Michigan–Wacker Historic District
  
The loop is the downtown area of Chicago
+
Chicago is called the ‘windy city’ due to politicians being full of hot air
  
Chicago is the largest city in Illinois
+
O’Hare airport in Chicago has the code ORD, as it was previously known as Orchard Field
  
Chicago is called the “windy city” due to politicians being full of hot air
+
LaSalle Street is a major street in Chicago named for Sieur de La Salle, an early explorer of Illinois. The portion that runs through the Chicago Loop is considered to be Chicago's financial district
  
O’Hare airport in Chicago has the code ORD, as it was previously known as Orchard Field
+
Chicago Midway Airport honours the Battle of Midway
  
Tribune Tower is a neo-Gothic building in Chicago. It is the home of the ''Chicago Tribune'' and Tribune Company
+
Taste of Chicago (also known locally as The Taste) is the world's largest food festival, held for five days in July
  
Home Insurance Building in Chicago was built in 1884. It was the first building to use structural steel
+
Museum of Science and Industry is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts
  
Sears Tower was designed by Bruce Graham and Fazlur Khan. In 2009, Sears Tower was renamed Willis Tower
+
Chicago "L" (short for "elevated") is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago
  
LaSalle Street is a major street in Chicago named for Sieur de La Salle, an early explorer of Illinois. The portion that runs through the Chicago Loop is considered to be Chicago's financial district
+
Navy Pier is a 3,300’ long pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan
  
Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield contains Lincoln’s Tomb
+
In 1900 the flow of the Chicago River was reversed using a series of canal locks, increasing the river's flow from Lake Michigan and causing it to empty into the newly completed Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
  
 +
Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield contains Abraham Lincoln’s tomb
  
 
'''Indiana''' (IN)
 
'''Indiana''' (IN)
 +
[[File:Indiana.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital and largest city – Indianapolis
  
Capital and largest city Indianapolis
+
Nickname Hoosier State
 +
 
 +
Indiana received its name because the state was largely possessed by native tribes even after it was granted statehood
  
 
Fort Wayne is the second largest city in Indiana
 
Fort Wayne is the second largest city in Indiana
  
 +
'''Iowa''' (IA)
 +
[[File:Iowa.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital and largest city – Des Moines
  
'''Iowa''' (IA)
+
Nickname – Hawkeye State
  
Capital and largest city – Des Moines
+
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana; its state flag is patterned after the flag of France
  
 
Maharishi Vedic City is a city in Jefferson County, Iowa
 
Maharishi Vedic City is a city in Jefferson County, Iowa
 
  
 
'''Kansas''' (KS)
 
'''Kansas''' (KS)
 
+
[[File:Kansas.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Topeka
 
Capital – Topeka
  
 
Largest city – Wichita
 
Largest city – Wichita
 +
 +
Nickname – Sunflower State
  
 
Lebanon is the centre of the 48 contiguous states
 
Lebanon is the centre of the 48 contiguous states
  
 
Boot Hill Museum is in Dodge City
 
Boot Hill Museum is in Dodge City
 
  
 
'''Kentucky''' (KY)
 
'''Kentucky''' (KY)
 
+
[[File:Kentucky.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Frankfort
 
Capital – Frankfort
  
 
Largest city – Louisville
 
Largest city – Louisville
 +
 +
Nickname – Bluegrass State
  
 
The Bethlehem, Kentucky post office offers a special postmark during the Christmas season
 
The Bethlehem, Kentucky post office offers a special postmark during the Christmas season
  
 +
Mammoth Cave National Park encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world
  
 
'''Louisiana''' (LA)
 
'''Louisiana''' (LA)
 
+
[[File:Louisiana.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Baton Rouge
 
Capital – Baton Rouge
  
 
Largest city – New Orleans
 
Largest city – New Orleans
  
Angola Penitentiary is the State Penitentiary in Louisiana, the largest prison in the US, housing 5,000 inmates, and was set up by Isaac Franklin with profits from slave trading
+
Nickname – Pelican State, Bayou State, Creole State
 +
 
 +
Louisiana is the only state with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are equivalent to counties
 +
 
 +
New Orleans is known as “crescent city”, alluding to the course of the Lower Mississippi River through the city, and “The Big Easy”. It is named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as Regent for Louis XV
 +
 
 +
Bourbon Street is a historic street in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. It is famous for its many bars and strip clubs
  
New Orleans is known as “crescent city”
+
Basin Street is a street in New Orleans with many music venues
  
 
Louis Armstrong airport serves New Orleans
 
Louis Armstrong airport serves New Orleans
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Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans from 1897 to 1917
 
Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans from 1897 to 1917
  
 +
New Orleans was catastrophically affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005
 +
 +
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest continuous bridge over water
 +
 +
Angola Penitentiary is the State Penitentiary in Louisiana, the largest prison in the US, housing 5,000 inmates, and was set up by Isaac Franklin with profits from slave trading
  
 
'''Maine''' (ME)
 
'''Maine''' (ME)
 
+
[[File:Maine.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Augusta
 
Capital – Augusta
  
 
Largest city – Portland
 
Largest city – Portland
  
Maine is the lobster capital of USA
+
Nickname – Pine Tree State, Vacationland
 +
 
 +
Maine is the lobster capital of the United States
  
 
Hundred-Mile Wilderness is a section of the Appalachian Trail
 
Hundred-Mile Wilderness is a section of the Appalachian Trail
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Portland was the former capital of Maine
 
Portland was the former capital of Maine
  
 +
Maine is the only US state that borders only one other state, having a border with New Hampshire
  
 
'''Maryland''' (MD)
 
'''Maryland''' (MD)
 +
[[File:Maryland.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Flag of Maryland consists of the heraldic banner of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore. It is the only state flag in the United States to be based on English heraldry
  
 
Capital – Annapolis
 
Capital – Annapolis
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Largest city – Baltimore
 
Largest city – Baltimore
  
Andrews air force base is in Maryland
+
Nickname – Free State, Old Line State
  
 
Goddard Space Flight Centre was established in 1959
 
Goddard Space Flight Centre was established in 1959
  
 +
Mallows Bay in Maryland is regarded as the "largest shipwreck fleet in the Western Hemisphere”
 +
 +
Camp David received its present name from Dwight D. Eisenhower, in honour of his father and grandson, both named David. Camp David is officially known as the Naval Support Facility Thurmont
 +
 +
Maryland was named in honour of Henrietta Maria of France, wife of Charles I
  
 
'''Massachusetts''' (MA)
 
'''Massachusetts''' (MA)
 +
[[File:Massachusetts.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital and largest city – Boston
  
Capital and largest city Boston
+
Nickname The Bay State, Old Colony State
  
'''Boston''' is known as the ‘Athens of the Americas’
+
Boston is known as the ‘Athens of the Americas’
  
 
Boston has the oldest subway system in US, operational from 1897
 
Boston has the oldest subway system in US, operational from 1897
 
The Massachusetts State House is the state capitol of Massachusetts. Located in the state capital of Boston in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, the building has a dome gilded with gold leaf. It was designed by Charles Bulfinch
 
 
Leonard P Zakin Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge is in Boston
 
 
Boston is known as “Beantown”
 
  
 
Breed's Hill is a glacial drumlin located in the Charlestown section of Boston. It is best known as the location where in 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, most of the fighting in the Battle of Bunker Hill took place
 
Breed's Hill is a glacial drumlin located in the Charlestown section of Boston. It is best known as the location where in 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, most of the fighting in the Battle of Bunker Hill took place
  
Tanglewood in Massachusetts is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937
+
Charles River flows for 80 miles through Massachusetts before emptying into Boston Harbour
 
 
  
 
'''Michigan''' (MI)
 
'''Michigan''' (MI)
 
+
[[File:Michigan.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Lansing
 
Capital – Lansing
  
 
Largest city – Detroit
 
Largest city – Detroit
 +
 +
Nickname – The Great Lakes State, The Wolverine State
  
 
Detroit was founded by Antoine Cadillac in 1701
 
Detroit was founded by Antoine Cadillac in 1701
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Grand Rapids, Michigan was first town to have fluoride added to the water supply
 
Grand Rapids, Michigan was first town to have fluoride added to the water supply
  
Straits of Mackinac is the narrow waterway separating Michigan's Lower Peninsula from its Upper Peninsula. It connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron
+
Ambassador Bridge connects Detroit with Windsor, Ontario. It is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume, carrying more than 25% of all merchandise trade between the United States and Canada
  
Mackinac Island is an island and resort area located in Lake Huron
+
Marquette is the largest city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and is a major port
  
 +
The State of Superior is a proposed ‘51st state’ that would be created by the secession of the Upper Peninsula from the rest of Michigan
  
 
'''Minnesota''' (MN)
 
'''Minnesota''' (MN)
 
+
[[File:Minnesota.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – St. Paul
 
Capital – St. Paul
  
 
Largest city – Minneapolis
 
Largest city – Minneapolis
  
Minnesota is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes"
+
Nickname – Land of 10,000 Lakes, North Star State, Gopher State
  
 
Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake in Minnesota. It is the source of the Mississippi River
 
Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake in Minnesota. It is the source of the Mississippi River
  
Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007 was on the I-35W
+
Minnesota contains the most northerly point of the 48 contiguous states. Northwest Angle in Minnesota is the only part of the 48 contiguous states north of the 49th parallel. The land area of the Angle is separated from the rest of Minnesota by Lake of the Woods, but shares a land border with Canada
  
Mall of America located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Opened in 1992, the mall receives over 40 million visitors annually, the most of any mall in the world
+
Mall of America is located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Opened in 1992, it is the largest shopping mall in the western hemisphere
  
 +
Duluth is located on Lake Superior and is a hub for cargo shipping
 +
 +
Winona is a town in Minnesota
  
 
'''Mississippi''' (MS)
 
'''Mississippi''' (MS)
 +
[[File:Flag of Mississippi.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Flag of Mississippi was adopted on 11 January 2021. It replaces the previous flag that displayed the Confederate battle insignia in the upper left hand corner
  
 
Capital and largest city – Jackson
 
Capital and largest city – Jackson
 +
 +
Nickname – Magnolia State
 +
 +
Mississippi has the lowest per-capita income in the United States
  
 
Tupelo is in Mississippi
 
Tupelo is in Mississippi
 
  
 
'''Missouri''' (MO)
 
'''Missouri''' (MO)
 
+
[[File:Missouri.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Jefferson City
 
Capital – Jefferson City
  
 
Largest city – Kansas City
 
Largest city – Kansas City
 +
 +
Nickname – Show-Me State
 +
 +
St. Louis is named after Louis IX of France
 +
 +
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis was designed by Eero Saarinen. It opened to the public in 1967
  
 
Independence in Missouri is known as the ‘Queen City of the Trails’ because it was a point of departure of the California, Oregon and Santa Fe Trails. Independence is also noted as the hometown of President Harry S. Truman
 
Independence in Missouri is known as the ‘Queen City of the Trails’ because it was a point of departure of the California, Oregon and Santa Fe Trails. Independence is also noted as the hometown of President Harry S. Truman
  
 +
Big Spring is one of the largest springs in the United States. It rises at the base of a bluff on the west side of the Current River valley in the Missouri Ozarks
 +
 +
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city (c. 600–1400) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis. Monks Mound is the largest structure and central focus of the city
  
 
'''Montana''' (MT)
 
'''Montana''' (MT)
 
+
[[File:Montana.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Helena
 
Capital – Helena
  
 
Largest city – Billings
 
Largest city – Billings
 +
 +
Nickname – Treasure State
  
 
Glacier National Park is on the border with the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. The park encompasses over 1 million acres (4,000 km<sup>2</sup>)
 
Glacier National Park is on the border with the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. The park encompasses over 1 million acres (4,000 km<sup>2</sup>)
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Egg Mountain is a dinosaur site in Montana. Findings demonstrated for the first time that at least some dinosaurs cared for their young
 
Egg Mountain is a dinosaur site in Montana. Findings demonstrated for the first time that at least some dinosaurs cared for their young
 
  
 
'''Nebraska''' (NE)
 
'''Nebraska''' (NE)
 
+
[[File:Nebraska.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Lincoln
 
Capital – Lincoln
  
 
Largest city – Omaha
 
Largest city – Omaha
 +
 +
Nickname – Cornhusker State, Beef State, Tree Planters State
  
 
''Carhenge'' is a replica of Stonehenge located near the city of Alliance, Nebraska on the High Plains. ''Carhenge'' is formed from vintage American automobiles, all covered with gray spray paint. Built by Jim Reinders
 
''Carhenge'' is a replica of Stonehenge located near the city of Alliance, Nebraska on the High Plains. ''Carhenge'' is formed from vintage American automobiles, all covered with gray spray paint. Built by Jim Reinders
  
 +
Nebraska is the only triply landlocked state
  
 
'''Nevada''' (NV)
 
'''Nevada''' (NV)
 
+
[[File:Nevada.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Carson City
 
Capital – Carson City
  
 
Largest city – Las Vegas
 
Largest city – Las Vegas
  
Area 51 is a military base located in the southern portion of Nevada. It is a focus of modern UFO and conspiracy theories
+
Nickname – Silver State, Sagebrush State, Battle Born State
  
Great Basin is a desert in Nevada
+
Las Vegas (Spanish for ‘The Meadows’) lies within the Mojave Desert. It has over 2.9 million visitors a year
  
Boulder City was originally built in 1931 by the Bureau of Reclamation and Six Companies, Inc. as housing for workers who were building Hoover Dam
+
‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign was created by Betty Willis in 1959
  
 +
Paradise is an unincorporated town that contains Harry Reid International Airport, most of the Las Vegas Strip, and most of the tourist attractions in the Las Vegas area (excluding downtown)
 +
 +
Boulder City was originally built in 1931 as housing for workers who were building Hoover Dam
 +
 +
Carson City was named after frontiersman Kit Carson
  
 
'''New Hampshire''' (NH)
 
'''New Hampshire''' (NH)
 
+
[[File:New Hampshire.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Concord
 
Capital – Concord
  
 
Largest city – Manchester
 
Largest city – Manchester
 +
 +
Nickname – Granite State
  
 
”Live Free or Die” is the motto of New Hampshire
 
”Live Free or Die” is the motto of New Hampshire
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Bretton Woods is in New Hampshire
 
Bretton Woods is in New Hampshire
  
Dixville Notch is a village in New Hampshire. The population of the township, all of whom live in the village, was 12 at the 2010 census. The village is known for being one of the first places to declare its results during United States presidential elections
+
Dixville Notch is a village in New Hampshire. The population of the township, all of whom live in the village, was 4 at the 2020 census. The village is known for being one of the first places to declare its results during United States presidential elections
  
 +
Mount Washington is the highest point in the Northeastern United States
  
 
'''New Jersey''' (NJ)
 
'''New Jersey''' (NJ)
 
+
[[File:New Jersey.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Trenton
 
Capital – Trenton
  
 
Largest city – Newark
 
Largest city – Newark
  
New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state, but the most densely populated
+
Nickname – Garden State
  
To honour the victims that died on September 11, in 2002 the airport's name was changed from Newark International Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport
+
New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state, but the most densely populated. It is named after the largest of the Channel Islands
  
 +
To honour the victims that died on the 9/11 attacks, in 2002 the airport's name was changed from Newark International Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport
  
 
'''New Mexico''' (NM)
 
'''New Mexico''' (NM)
 
+
[[File:New Mexico.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Santa Fe
 
Capital – Santa Fe
  
Largest city – Albequerque
+
Largest city – Albuquerque
  
Acoma Pueblo, also known as “Sky City”, is a Native American pueblo built on top of a 112 m sandstone mesa in New Mexico. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States
+
Nickname – Land of Enchantment
  
 
Sante Fe was formally founded and made a capital in 1610, making it the oldest capital city in what is today the United States
 
Sante Fe was formally founded and made a capital in 1610, making it the oldest capital city in what is today the United States
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Albuquerque is on the Rio Grande
 
Albuquerque is on the Rio Grande
 +
 +
White Sands Missile Range was the location of the Trinity atomic bomb test
  
 
National Museum of Nuclear Science & History (formerly named National Atomic Museum) is located in Albuquerque
 
National Museum of Nuclear Science & History (formerly named National Atomic Museum) is located in Albuquerque
 +
 +
Acoma Pueblo, also known as “Sky City”, is a Native American pueblo built on top of a 112 m sandstone mesa in New Mexico. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States
  
 
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is in New Mexico. Evidence of archaeoastronomy at Chaco has been proposed, with the Sun Dagger petroglyph at Fajada Butte a popular example
 
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is in New Mexico. Evidence of archaeoastronomy at Chaco has been proposed, with the Sun Dagger petroglyph at Fajada Butte a popular example
  
Bisti Badlands are in New Mexico
+
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is in New Mexico. Carlsbad Cavern includes a large cave chamber, the Big Room, a natural limestone chamber
  
 +
'''New York''' (NY)
 +
[[File:New York.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital – Albany
  
'''New York''' (NY)
+
Largest city – New York City
  
Capital Albany
+
Nickname Empire State
 +
[[File:5 Boroughs Labels New York City Map.svg|center|thumb|link=Special:FilePath/5_Boroughs_Labels_New_York_City_Map.svg]]
  
Largest city – New York
+
New York consists of five boroughs – Manhattan (1), Brooklyn (2), Queens (3), The Bronx (4), and Staten Island (5) – which were consolidated into a single city in 1898
  
'''New York''' is built on a bedrock of schist
+
New York is built on a bedrock of schist
  
 
New Amsterdam became New York in 1664
 
New Amsterdam became New York in 1664
  
Carnegie Hall is located at 881 Seventh Avenue and was designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1891
+
New York is named after the Duke of York, who became King James II of England
 +
 
 +
Gotham is a nickname of New York
  
 
Madison Avenue is associated with advertising
 
Madison Avenue is associated with advertising
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Wall Street extends from Broadway to the East River
 
Wall Street extends from Broadway to the East River
  
The Hotel Chelsea is a well-known residence for artists, musicians, and writers in the neighbourhood of Chelsea in Manhattan
+
Times Square was formerly known as Longacre Square. Renamed in honour of the New York Times
  
Times Square is used to be called Longacre Square. Renamed in honour of the New York Times
+
The Great White Way is a nickname for a section of Broadway that encompasses the Theatre District
  
St. Patrick’s is a gothic-style Catholic cathedral in New York
+
Sixth Avenue is the Avenue of the Americas
  
St. John the Divine is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York
+
The Bowery is in the southern portion of Manhattan. Home of many music halls in the 19th century, the Bowery later became notable for its economic depression
  
The Russian Tea Room is a restaurant in New York, located at 150 West 57th Street between Carnegie Hall Tower and Metropolitan Tower
+
In 1857 a landscape design contest was held for the design of Central Park. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux developed what came to be known as the Greensward Plan, which was selected as the winning design. Central Park comprises 843 acres. Alice in Wonderland sculpture is in Central Park
  
Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan opened in 1902, and was designed by architect Goldwin Starrett
+
Harlem is a district in Manhattan
  
Sixth Avenue is the Avenue of the Americas
+
Harlem River separates the island of Manhattan from the Bronx
  
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets in New York City. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. The centerpiece of Rockefeller Center is the GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza (‘30 Rock’), formerly known as the RCA Building
+
Nolita, from ‘North of Little Italy’ is a neighbourhood in Lower Manhattan
  
The Bowery is in the southern portion of Manhattan. Home of many music halls in the 19th century, the Bowery later became notable for its economic depression
+
Charging Bull sculpture on Broadway was designed by Arturo di Modica. Fearless Girl is a temporary sculpture opposite the Charging Bull
  
After the destruction of the World Trade Center, the Chrysler Building was again the second-tallest building in New York City until December 2007, when the spire was raised on the 1,200 foot Bank of America Tower, pushing the Chrysler Building into third position. In addition, The New York Times Building, which opened in 2007, is exactly level with the Chrysler Building in height
+
Grant's Tomb, officially the General Grant National Memorial is in Manhattan and is the largest mausoleum in America
  
4 World Trade Center (also known by its street address, 150 Greenwich Street) will be 978 feet tall
+
TriBeCa is a neighborhood in downtown Manhattan. The name is a syllabic abbreviation of ‘Triangle Below Canal Street.’ It runs roughly from Canal Street south to Park Place, and from the Hudson River east to Broadway
  
One World Trade Center (formerly known as the Freedom Tower) occupies the former location of the original 6 World Trade Center. The spire reaches 1776 feet. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Tallest building in the western hemisphere
+
Hell’s Kitchen is a district of New York
  
Exchange Place is the subway station at Ground Zero
+
The Hell Gate Bridge was built over a portion of the East River known as Hell Gate
  
Times Square Ball is a time ball located atop the One Times Square building, primarily utilized as part of New Year's Eve celebrations held in Times Square
+
JFK Airport is on Long Island. Known as Idlewild until 1963, one month after the assassination of John F. Kennedy
  
Brill Building in Manhattan is famous for housing music industry offices and studios where some of the most popular American music tunes were written
+
The first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island was Annie Moore, a 15-year-old girl from Cork, Ireland, on 1 January 1892. The last person to pass through Ellis Island was a Norwegian merchant seaman by the name of Arne Peterssen in 1954. Since 1990, restored buildings on the island host a museum of immigration run by the National Park Service as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument
  
John D Rockefeller financed the building of the United Nations headquarters
+
Ellis Island was sometimes known as ‘The Island of Tears’ or ‘Heartbreak Island’ because of those 2% who were not admitted after the long transatlantic voyage
  
Park51, originally named Cordoba House, is a planned $100 million, 13-story, glass and steel Islamic community centre and mosque in Lower Manhattan
+
Staten Island is connected to Brooklyn by Verrazano Narrows Bridge, over the Hudson River. Opened in 1964
  
Flatiron Building was originally called the Fuller Building. Located at 175 Fifth Avenue
+
The west end of Long Island has the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn (Kings County) and Queens (Queens County)
  
In 1857 a landscape design contest was held for the design of Central Park. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux developed what came to be known as the Greensward Plan, which was selected as the winning design
+
High Line is a linear park built on a section of the former elevated New York Central Railroad spur called the West Side Line, which runs along the lower west side of Manhattan
  
Harlem is a district in Manhattan
+
New York subway opened in 1904
  
Gracie Mansion – home of New York mayor
+
Grand Central Depot was financed by Cornelius Vanderbilt. It opened in 1871, and was renamed Grand Central Station in 1900. Oyster Bar is the oldest business within Grand Central
  
The Morgan Library & Museum (formerly The Pierpont Morgan Library) is a museum and research library in New York City. It was founded to house the private library of JP Morgan in 1906
+
Pennsylvania Station, also known as Penn Station, is the main intercity railroad station in New York City. It is the busiest passenger transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere
  
TriBeCa is a neighborhood in downtown Manhattan. The name is a syllabic abbreviation of ‘Triangle Below Canal Street.’ It runs roughly from Canal Street south to Park Place, and from the Hudson River east to Broadway
+
Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of Manhattan above Houston Street and below 155th Street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets
  
Hell’s Kitchen is a district of New York
+
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park is located at the southernmost point of Roosevelt Island, in the East River between Manhattan Island and Queens
  
The Hell Gate Bridge (originally the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge) is a steel arch railroad bridge between Astoria in the borough of Queens and Randalls and Wards Islands (which are now joined into one island and are politically parts of Manhattan) in New York City, over a portion of the East River known as Hell Gate. Designed by Gustav Lindenthal
+
Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York
  
JFK Airport is on Long Island. Known as Idlewild until 1963, one month after the assassination of JFK
+
Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) is a neighbourhood in Brooklyn
  
Statue of Liberty is made of steel and copper, and was transported on the French frigate Isere. It was designed by Bartholdi and Eiffel, who supervised the inner framework. It was erected in 1886. A ceremony of dedication was held on the afternoon of October 28, 1886. President Grover Cleveland, the former New York governor, presided over the event. Full name –‘Liberty Enlightening the World’
+
Coney Island is in Brooklyn
  
The first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island was Annie Moore, a 15-year-old girl from Cork, Ireland, on 1 January 1892. The last person to pass through Ellis Island was a Norwegian merchant seaman by the name of Arne Peterssen in 1954. Since 1990, restored buildings on the island host a museum of immigration run by the National Park Service as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument
+
Sea Lion Park on Coney Island was the first amusement park in North America. Opened in 1895. Replaced by Luna Park in 1903
  
Ellis Island was sometimes known as The Island of Tears or Heartbreak Island because of those 2% who were not admitted after the long transatlantic voyage
+
Queens is the largest borough of New York
  
Staten Island is connected to Brooklyn by Verrazano Narrows Bridge, over the Hudson River. Opened in 1964
+
Hunts Point Cooperative Market, a 24/7 wholesale food market located in the Bronx, is the largest food distribution centre of its kind in the world
 
 
The west end of Long Island has the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn (Kings County) and Queens (Queens County)
 
 
 
New York City is often referred to collectively as The Five Boroughs – Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island
 
  
High Line is a linear park built on a section of the former elevated New York Central Railroad spur called the West Side Line, which runs along the lower west side of Manhattan
+
Rikers Island is New York City's main jail complex, as well as the name of the island on which it sits, on the East River
  
New York subway opened in 1904
+
Holland Tunnel is under the Hudson River. It connects Lower Manhattan with Jersey City
  
Washington Arch is a marble triumphal arch in Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, celebrating the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration
+
Levittown on Long Island was founded by William Levitt, who built the district as a planned community between 1947 and 1951.
  
Pearl Street Station was the first central power plant in the United States. It was located at 255-257 Pearl Street in Manhattan. it started generating electricity in 1882
+
Queens was named after Catherine of Braganza, the Queen consort of King Charles II of England
  
George Washington Bridge, connecting Manhattan to New Jersey, carries approximately 102 million vehicles per year, making it the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge
+
Staten Island was named in honor of the Dutch parliament known as the Staten-Generaal
  
Empire State Building completed in 1931.1250’ high. Designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon
+
Long Island is the most populated island in any U.S. state or territory, and the 18th-most populous island in the world. Both the longest and the largest island in the contiguous United States, Long Island extends 190 km eastward from New York Harbor to Montauk Point
  
Brooklyn Bridge crosses the East river. Designed by John Roebling. Opened in 1883
+
Brooklyn and Queens are on Long Island
  
Levittown on Long Island was founded by William Levitt, who built the district as a planned community between 1947 and 1951. William Levitt is considered the father of modern suburbia. Levittown was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country
+
The Hamptons, also called the ‘East End’ (of Long Island), are a group of villages and hamlets in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, which form the South Fork of Long Island
  
Staten Island was named in honor of the Dutch parliament known as the Staten-Generaal
+
The name of Yonkers is derived from Adriaen van der Donck
  
Long Island is the most populated island in any U.S. state or territory, and the 17th-most populous island in the world. Both the longest and the largest island in the contiguous United States, Long Island extends 190 km eastward from New York Harbor to Montauk Point
+
Broadway runs for 33 miles from Manhattan and the Bronx through Westchester County
  
Yonkers – city in New York. Name derived from Adriaen van der Donck
+
Bear Mountain State Park is in upstate New York
  
Lake Placid is in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York (the biggest national park in the US outside Alaska)
+
Lake Placid is in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York
 
 
Erie Canal – a man-made waterway in New York that runs about 363 miles from Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. First proposed in 1808, it was under officially opened in1825
 
  
 +
Erie Canal is a man-made waterway in New York that runs 363 miles from Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes
  
 
'''North Carolina''' (NC)
 
'''North Carolina''' (NC)
 +
[[File:North Carolina.png|none|thumb]]
 +
The flag of North Carolina bears the dates of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence (May 20, 1775) and of the Halifax Resolves (April 12, 1776)
  
 
Capital – Raleigh
 
Capital – Raleigh
  
 
Largest city – Charlotte
 
Largest city – Charlotte
 +
 +
Nickname – Tar Heel State, Old North State
  
 
Roanoke Island is best known for its historical significance as the site of Sir Walter Raleigh's attempt to establish a permanent English settlement with his Roanoke Colony in 1585 and 1587. The fate of the final group of colonists has never been determined, yielding persistent myths about the “Lost Colony”
 
Roanoke Island is best known for its historical significance as the site of Sir Walter Raleigh's attempt to establish a permanent English settlement with his Roanoke Colony in 1585 and 1587. The fate of the final group of colonists has never been determined, yielding persistent myths about the “Lost Colony”
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Fort Bragg is a large United States Army installation
 
Fort Bragg is a large United States Army installation
  
 +
Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction. Built for George Washington Vanderbilt II, it is the largest privately owned house in the United States
 +
 +
Spruce Pine Mining District in the Blue Ridge Mountains is one of the largest suppliers of high-purity quartz, which is used in the manufacture of silicon chips
 +
 +
Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands. The treacherous waters off the coast of the Outer Banks are known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic
 +
 +
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, is the most visited US national park
  
 
'''North Dakota''' (ND)
 
'''North Dakota''' (ND)
 
+
[[File:North Dakota.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Bismarck
 
Capital – Bismarck
  
 
Largest city – Fargo
 
Largest city – Fargo
  
 +
Nickname – Peace Garden State, Sioux State
 +
 +
The KVLY-TV mast remained the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere, and the tallest broadcasting mast in the world until the antenna removal in 2019
 +
 +
Theodore Roosevelt National Park is in North Dakota
 +
 +
One third of population of North Dakota are descendants of immigrants from Norway
  
 
'''Ohio''' (OH)
 
'''Ohio''' (OH)
 +
[[File:Ohio.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital and largest city – Columbus
  
Capital and largest city Columbus
+
Nickname Buckeye State
  
 
Cleveland is the second largest city in Ohio
 
Cleveland is the second largest city in Ohio
 +
 +
Cleveland is on the shore of Lake Erie
 +
 +
Cuyahoga River flows through Cleveland
 +
 +
Cleveland is served by Hopkins International Airport
  
 
Cincinnati is the third largest city in Ohio
 
Cincinnati is the third largest city in Ohio
  
 
Cincinnati was named after the Roman general Cincinnatus, and is on the River Ohio
 
Cincinnati was named after the Roman general Cincinnatus, and is on the River Ohio
 
  
 
'''Oklahoma''' (OK)
 
'''Oklahoma''' (OK)
 +
[[File:Oklahoma.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital and largest city – Oklahoma City
  
Capital and largest city Oklahoma City
+
Nickname Sooner State
  
 
Will Rogers World Airport serves Oklahoma City
 
Will Rogers World Airport serves Oklahoma City
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Tallgrass Prairie Preserve is protected as the largest tract of remaining tallgrass prairie in the world
 
Tallgrass Prairie Preserve is protected as the largest tract of remaining tallgrass prairie in the world
  
 +
WinStar World Casino and Resort is an American tribal casino and hotel located in Thackerville. It is owned and operated by the Chickasaw Nation and is one of the largest casinos in the world
  
 
'''Oregon''' (OR)
 
'''Oregon''' (OR)
 +
[[File:Oregon.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Flag of Oregon is a two-sided flag. On the front is the escutcheon from the state seal and on the reverse is a gold figure of a beaver, the state animal. Oregon is the only state to feature different designs on either side of its flag
  
 
Capital – Salem
 
Capital – Salem
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Largest city – Portland
 
Largest city – Portland
  
Crater Lake is a caldera lake in Oregon. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park. The lake was formed around 7,700 years ago by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, and the second deepest lake in North America (Great Slave Lake is the deepest)
+
Nickname – Beaver State
 +
 
 +
Fort Astoria (also named Fort George) was the primary fur trading post of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company. Built at the entrance of the Columbia River in 1811, it was the first American-owned settlement on the Pacific coast
 +
 
 +
Crater Lake is a caldera lake in Oregon. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park. The lake was formed around 7,700 years ago by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, and the second deepest lake in North America, behind Great Slave Lake  
  
 
Mount Hood is the highest point in Oregon
 
Mount Hood is the highest point in Oregon
  
Oregon is slightly larger than UK
+
Oregon is slightly larger than the United Kingdom
 
 
  
 
'''Pennsylvania''' (PA)
 
'''Pennsylvania''' (PA)
 
+
[[File:Pennsylvania.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Harrisburg
 
Capital – Harrisburg
  
 
Largest city – Philadelphia
 
Largest city – Philadelphia
  
Dating back to 1829, the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia has housed some of America's most dangerous criminals including Al Capone
+
Nickname – Keystone State
 +
 
 +
Philadelphia Zoo is the oldest in the United States
 +
 
 +
Pennsylvania has the second-highest gambling revenue after Nevada
 +
 
 +
Dating back to 1829, the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia has housed some of America's most dangerous criminals, including Al Capone
  
 
Pittsburgh was named after William Pitt the Elder
 
Pittsburgh was named after William Pitt the Elder
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The characteristic shape of Pittsburgh's central business district is a triangular tract carved by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which form the Ohio River
 
The characteristic shape of Pittsburgh's central business district is a triangular tract carved by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which form the Ohio River
  
Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts is concert hall located in Pittsburgh
+
Edwin Drake was the first person to successfully drill for oil, in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859
 
 
Three Mile Island is in the Susquehanna River, near Harrisburg
 
  
 +
Centralia is a ghost town due to a coal mine fire in 1962
  
 
'''Rhode Island''' (RI)
 
'''Rhode Island''' (RI)
 +
[[File:Rhode Island.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital and largest city – Providence
  
Capital and largest city Providence
+
Nickname Ocean State, Little Rhody
  
 
Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, but the second most densely populated of the 50 US states
 
Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, but the second most densely populated of the 50 US states
  
 +
In January 2021, the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations dropped "and Providence Plantations" from its full name
 +
 +
Aquidneck Island, officially known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island
  
 
'''South Carolina''' (SC)
 
'''South Carolina''' (SC)
 +
[[File:South Carolina.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital and largest city – Colombia
  
Capital and largest city Colombia
+
Nickname Palmetto State
  
 
Charleston is the oldest and second largest city in South Carolina
 
Charleston is the oldest and second largest city in South Carolina
  
 +
North and South Carolina were named in honour of King Charles I of England
 +
 +
Myrtle Beach is one of the major centres of tourism
  
 
'''South Dakota''' (SD)
 
'''South Dakota''' (SD)
 
+
[[File:South Dakota.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Pierre
 
Capital – Pierre
  
 
Largest city – Sioux Falls
 
Largest city – Sioux Falls
 +
 +
Nickname – The Mount Rushmore State, Coyote State
  
 
The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument in progress in the Black Hills of South Dakota that when complete will be the world's largest sculpture. It is named after the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse. The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain on land considered sacred by some Native Americans, between Custer and Hill City, roughly 8 miles away from Mount Rushmore. Crazy Horse Memorial was begun in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski
 
The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument in progress in the Black Hills of South Dakota that when complete will be the world's largest sculpture. It is named after the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse. The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain on land considered sacred by some Native Americans, between Custer and Hill City, roughly 8 miles away from Mount Rushmore. Crazy Horse Memorial was begun in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski
  
 
Mount Rushmore features 60’ sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents (in order from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln
 
Mount Rushmore features 60’ sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents (in order from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln
 +
 +
Mount Rushmore is in the Black Hills in Keystone
  
 
Badlands National Park is in South Dakota
 
Badlands National Park is in South Dakota
  
 
Mammoth Site is a museum and paleontological site near Hot Springs, South Dakota. It contains the remains of fauna and flora preserved by entrapment in a karst sinkhole during the Pleistocene era
 
Mammoth Site is a museum and paleontological site near Hot Springs, South Dakota. It contains the remains of fauna and flora preserved by entrapment in a karst sinkhole during the Pleistocene era
 
  
 
'''Tennessee''' (TN)
 
'''Tennessee''' (TN)
 
+
[[File:Tennessee.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Nashville
 
Capital – Nashville
  
 
Largest city – Memphis
 
Largest city – Memphis
 +
 +
Nickname – Volunteer State
  
 
Graceland is a mansion on an estate in Memphis that was home to Elvis Presley
 
Graceland is a mansion on an estate in Memphis that was home to Elvis Presley
 +
 +
National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is built around the former Lorraine Motel, which was the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968
  
 
In 1942, the United States Federal Government chose Oak Ridge, Tennessee as a site for developing materials for the Manhattan Project
 
In 1942, the United States Federal Government chose Oak Ridge, Tennessee as a site for developing materials for the Manhattan Project
  
Nashville is the second largest city in Tennessee, and is known as “Music City”
+
Nashville is the second largest city in Tennessee, and is known as “Music City” and “Athens of the South”
 +
 
 +
Parthenon in Centennial Park, in Nashville, Tennessee, is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens
 +
 
 +
Opryland was a theme park in Nashville known as the “Home of American Music” that closed in 1997
  
 +
Dollywood is a theme park in Pigeon Forge owned by Dolly Parton
  
 
'''Texas''' (TX)
 
'''Texas''' (TX)
 
+
[[File:Texas.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Austin
 
Capital – Austin
  
 
Largest city – Houston
 
Largest city – Houston
  
Texas is the second most populous (after California) and the second largest of the 50 U.S. states (after Alaska)
+
Nickname – Lone Star State
 +
 
 +
Texas is the second most populous (after California) and the second largest state (after Alaska)
 +
 
 +
Texas has 254 counties, the most nationwide
  
 
Houston was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas
 
Houston was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas
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Austin is named after Stephen F. Austin, known as the father of Texas
 
Austin is named after Stephen F. Austin, known as the father of Texas
  
Austin's official slogan is “The Live Music Capital of the World”. The city has a vibrant live music scene with more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city. Austin's music revolves around the many nightclubs on 6th Street and an annual film / music / multimedia festival known as South by Southwest
+
Austin's official slogan is ‘The Live Music Capital of the World’. The city has more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city. Austin's music revolves around the many nightclubs on 6th Street and an annual film / music / multimedia festival known as South by Southwest
 +
 
 +
Silicon Hills is a nickname for the cluster of high-tech companies in Austin
 +
 
 +
San Antonio is named after a friar and was founded as a Spanish mission and colonial outpost in 1718
  
 
The Alamo is in San Antonio, the second largest city in Texas
 
The Alamo is in San Antonio, the second largest city in Texas
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Dallas is the third largest city in Texas
 
Dallas is the third largest city in Texas
  
The the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area is known as The Metroplex
+
The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area is known as The Metroplex
 +
 
 +
Amarillo was once the self-proclaimed ‘Helium Capital of the World’
  
 
Padre Island (the world's longest barrier island) is located on Texas's southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and is famous for its white sandy beaches at the south end
 
Padre Island (the world's longest barrier island) is located on Texas's southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and is famous for its white sandy beaches at the south end
  
 +
Barnett shale a geological formation located in the Bend Arch-Fort Worth Basin. It consists of sedimentary rocks
 +
 +
Hurricane Ike hit Galveston in 2008
 +
 +
Brownsville lies at the eastern end of USA-Mexico border, adjacent to the border with Matamoros, Mexico
 +
 +
Big Bend National Park is located in West Texas, bordering Mexico
  
 
'''Utah''' (UT)
 
'''Utah''' (UT)
 +
[[File:Utah.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital and largest city – Salt Lake City
  
Capital and largest city – Salt Lake City
+
Nickname Beehive State
 +
 
 +
Salt Lake City was founded in 1847 by the Mormon pioneers, led by Brigham Young
  
 
Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah. Despite its name, this is not actually a canyon, but rather a giant natural amphitheatre created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to its geological structures, called hoodoos
 
Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah. Despite its name, this is not actually a canyon, but rather a giant natural amphitheatre created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to its geological structures, called hoodoos
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Moab desert is in Utah
 
Moab desert is in Utah
  
A prominent feature of the Zion National Park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles long and up to half a mile deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River
+
A prominent feature of the Zion National Park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles long and up to half a mile deep, cut through the reddish and tan-coloured Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River
 +
 
 +
Great White Throne is a sandstone mountain in Zion National Park
  
 
Arches National Park is located on the Colorado River. It is known for containing over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch
 
Arches National Park is located on the Colorado River. It is known for containing over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch
 +
 +
Monument Valley is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 300 m above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah-Arizona state line, near the Four Corners area. The valley is a sacred area that lies within the territory of the Navajo Nation Reservation. John Ford used the location for a number of his best-known films
 +
 +
Rainbow Bridge National Monument is the world’s highest natural bridge
 +
 +
Mesa Arch is a natural arch in Utah
  
 
Great Salt Lake is the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere, and the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world
 
Great Salt Lake is the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere, and the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world
  
 +
Bingham Canyon Mine an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City. The mine is owned by Rio Tinto Group. It is the largest man-made excavation in the world
 +
 +
Pando is a colony of trembling aspen in Fishlake National Forest, Utah. World’s largest organism by mass
  
 
'''Vermont''' (VT)
 
'''Vermont''' (VT)
 
+
[[File:Vermont.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Montpelier
 
Capital – Montpelier
  
 
Largest city – Burlington
 
Largest city – Burlington
 +
 +
Nickname – Green Mountain State
  
 
Vermont is the second least populous state. Montpelier has a population of under 8,000 making it the least populous state capital in the country
 
Vermont is the second least populous state. Montpelier has a population of under 8,000 making it the least populous state capital in the country
  
 +
Vermont is the only state in New England not bordered by the Atlantic Ocean
  
 
'''Virginia''' (VA)
 
'''Virginia''' (VA)
 
+
[[File:Virginia.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Richmond
 
Capital – Richmond
  
 
Largest city- Virginia Beach
 
Largest city- Virginia Beach
 +
 +
Nickname – The Old Dominion
  
 
Rappahannock River in Virginia was considered to have been the boundary between the North and the South in the Civil War
 
Rappahannock River in Virginia was considered to have been the boundary between the North and the South in the Civil War
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Quantico, Virginia is the site of one of the largest U.S. Marine Corps bases in the world
 
Quantico, Virginia is the site of one of the largest U.S. Marine Corps bases in the world
  
 +
Virginia is the most populous state without a major sports team
 +
 +
Loudoun County houses over 60 massive data centres, that are estimated to carry 70 percent of global web traffic
 +
 +
Shenandoah National Park encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia
  
 
'''Washington''' (WA)
 
'''Washington''' (WA)
 
+
[[File:Washington.png|none|thumb]]
 
Capital – Olympia
 
Capital – Olympia
  
 
Largest city – Seattle
 
Largest city – Seattle
 +
 +
Nickname – Evergreen State
  
 
Washington is the only US state named after a former president
 
Washington is the only US state named after a former president
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Seattle is known as the “Emerald City”
 
Seattle is known as the “Emerald City”
  
Fremont, Seattle was at one time a centre of the counterculture. The neighborhood remains home to a controversial statue of Lenin salvaged from Slovakia by a local art lover
+
Pike Place Market in Seattle is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States
 +
 
 +
Fremont, Seattle was at one time a centre of the counterculture. The neighbourhood remains home to a controversial statue of Lenin salvaged from Slovakia by a local art lover
  
 
Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano located 54 miles southeast of Seattle. It is the most prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc
 
Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano located 54 miles southeast of Seattle. It is the most prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc
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Channeled Scablands are an erosion feature in Washington
 
Channeled Scablands are an erosion feature in Washington
  
 +
The Hanford Site is a facility of the government of the United States established to provide plutonium necessary for the development of nuclear weapons. It was established as part of the Manhattan Project, and codenamed ‘Site W.’ No longer used to produce plutonium, it is currently the United States' most contaminated nuclear site
 +
 +
Olympic National Park is located on the Olympia Peninsula
  
 
'''West Virginia''' (WV)
 
'''West Virginia''' (WV)
 +
[[File:West Virginia.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital and largest city – Charleston
  
Capital and largest city Charleston
+
Nickname Mountain State, Panhandle State
  
 
West Virginia is located entirely within the Appalachian Region, and the state is almost entirely mountainous
 
West Virginia is located entirely within the Appalachian Region, and the state is almost entirely mountainous
  
 +
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers
  
 
'''Wisconsin''' (WI)
 
'''Wisconsin''' (WI)
 +
[[File:Wisconsin.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital – Madison
  
Madison is the capital of Wisconsin
+
Largest city – Milwaukee
  
Milwaukee is the largest city of Wisconsin
+
Nickname – America’s Dairyland, Badger State
  
 
Wisconsin is second to Michigan in the length of its Great Lakes coastline.
 
Wisconsin is second to Michigan in the length of its Great Lakes coastline.
  
 
Wisconsin is known as “America's Dairyland” because it is one of the nation's leading dairy producers, particularly famous for cheese
 
Wisconsin is known as “America's Dairyland” because it is one of the nation's leading dairy producers, particularly famous for cheese
 
  
 
'''Wyoming''' (WY)
 
'''Wyoming''' (WY)
 +
[[File:Wyoming.png|none|thumb]]
 +
Capital and largest city – Cheyenne
  
Capital and largest city Cheyenne
+
Nickname Equality State
  
 
Wyoming is the least populous and the second least densely populated state
 
Wyoming is the least populous and the second least densely populated state
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Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains. A north-south range, it is on the Wyoming side of the state's border with Idaho, just south of Yellowstone National Park. The principal summit of the central massif is Grand Teton
 
Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains. A north-south range, it is on the Wyoming side of the state's border with Idaho, just south of Yellowstone National Park. The principal summit of the central massif is Grand Teton
  
President Theodore Roosevelt established the first national monument, Devils Tower in Wyoming, in 1906
+
President Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone as the first National Park in 1872
  
Ulysses S Grant made Yellowstone the first National Park in 1872
+
Two Ocean Pass is a mountain pass on the Continental Divide, notable for Parting of the Waters, where one stream splits into two distributaries, Pacific Creek and Atlantic Creek. These two creeks ultimately flow into their respective oceans
  
 +
Devil’s Tower in the Black Hills was the first United States national monument, established in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt
  
 
'''Washington, D.C.''', formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act in 1790, approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the pre-existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria. Named in honor of George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital
 
'''Washington, D.C.''', formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act in 1790, approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the pre-existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria. Named in honor of George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital
  
White House address is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington. The house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia Creek sandstone in the Neoclassical style. In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army
+
Pierre L’Enfant was a French-American military engineer who designed the basic plan for Washington, D.C
 +
 
 +
The White House address is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue  
  
 
Lafayette Park is overlooked by the White House
 
Lafayette Park is overlooked by the White House
  
Statue of Freedom is a 6 m high statue on top of Capitol building
+
Dumbarton Oaks is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighbourhood
  
Washington has no skyscrapers
+
K Street is notorious for the density of its lobbying firms
  
Washington Monument is tallest structure in Washington
+
Washington has no skyscrapers
  
Lincoln Memorial was completed in 1922. Designed by Henry Bacon
+
Washington National Cathedral is closely modeled on the English Gothic style of the late fourteenth century
  
Jefferson Memorial is a neoclassical building designed by John Russell Pope
+
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is located in West Potomac Park and was carved by sculptor Lei Yixin
  
Korean War Veterans Memorial is located in West Potomac Park, southeast of the Lincoln Memorial and just south of the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. It was dedicated in 1995
+
<u>Miscellaneous</u>
  
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which was completed in 1982, is in Constitution Gardens adjacent to the National Mall, just northeast of the Lincoln Memorial
+
<u>Mountains</u>
  
The Smithsonian Institution is the largest museum complex in the world. It operates 19 museums and the National Zoo
+
Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. Includes Mount St Helens. Highest point is Mount Rainier. Formed by subduction of Juan de Fuca plate under the North American plate
  
The Willard InterContinental Washington is an historic luxury hotel located two blocks east of the White House
+
Allegheny Mountain Range is part of the Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada. It runs for over 500 miles from north-central Pennsylvania, through western Maryland and eastern West Virginia, to southwestern Virginia
  
Dumbarton Oaks is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighbourhood
+
Ozark Mountains are between Appalachians and Rockies
 +
 
 +
Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains. Famous in American history for its role as one key passageway through the lower central Appalachians, it was an important part of the Wilderness Road
 +
 
 +
Lookout Mountain is located at the northwest corner of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southern border of Tennessee at Chattanooga
 +
 
 +
Blue Ridge Mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountains range. The bluish colour is caused by isoprene released from trees
 +
 
 +
<u>Deserts</u>
 +
 
 +
Mojave Desert is located primarily in southeastern California and southwestern Nevada
 +
 
 +
Great Basin Desert spans large portions of Nevada and Utah, and extends into eastern California
 +
 
 +
<u>Rivers</u>
 +
 
 +
Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis. Flows through Bismarck and Pierre. Known as the ‘Big Muddy’. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the world's fourth longest river system
 +
 
 +
From its source of Lake Itasca in Minnesota, the Mississippi flows generally south for 2,340 miles to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico
 +
 
 +
Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River
  
K Street is notorious for the density of its lobbying firms
+
Arkansas River is the third longest river entirely in the United States
  
 +
Susquehanna River is the longest river entirely within the United States that drains into the Atlantic Ocean
  
Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. Includes Mount St Helens. Highest point is Mount Rainier
+
Shenandoah is a tributary of the Potomac, in Virginia and West Virginia
  
Allegheny Mountain Range is part of the Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada. It runs for over 500 miles from north-central Pennsylvania, through western Maryland and eastern West Virginia, to southwestern Virginia
+
Green River is the chief tributary of the Colorado River
  
Ozark Mountains are between Appalachians and Rockies
+
Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River
  
Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains. Famous in American history for its role as one key passageway through the lower central Appalachians, it was an important part of the Wilderness Road
+
Suwannee River runs through Georgia southward into Florida
  
Chesapeake Bay is the largest inlet off the Atlantic coast, and has coastlines on Virginia and Maryland
+
Connecticut River is the longest river in New England. Forms the boundary between Vermont and New Hampshire
  
Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Toledo are all on Lake Erie
+
Snake River is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, and the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean
  
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 and designed by Frank Crowe. Produces hydroelectric power. Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume
+
<u>Lakes</u>
  
 
Lake Powell is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona. It is the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States behind Lake Mead
 
Lake Powell is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona. It is the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States behind Lake Mead
 +
 +
Great Salt Lake is the largest US lake
 +
 +
Lake Champlain is a natural freshwater lake mainly within the borders of the United States (in Vermont and New York) but partially situated across the Canada–U.S. border, in Quebec
 +
 +
Lake Tahoe is a freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada, straddling the border between California and Nevada. It is the second deepest in the United States after Crater Lake in Oregon. The Truckee River is the lake's only outlet
 +
 +
Lake of the Woods in Minnesota and bordering Canada is the sixth largest freshwater lake located (at least partially) in the United States, after the five Great Lakes
 +
 +
<u>Roads</u>
 +
 +
Pan-American Highway measures 29,800 miles in total length. Except for a 54 mile rainforest break, called the Darien Gap, the road links the mainland nations of the Americas in a connected highway system. The highway extends from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska to the lower reaches of South America
 +
 +
National Highway System (NHS) is a network of strategic highways within the United States, including the Interstate Highway System that was championed by President Eisenhower
 +
 +
I-90 is the longest interstate highway in the United States at nearly 3,100 miles, and runs from Boston to Seattle
 +
 +
Route 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway, is colloquially known as the Main Street of America. One of the original U.S. Highways, Route 66 was established in 1926. The highway originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Santa Monica, covering a total of 2,448 miles
 +
 +
Highway 101 runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. It is also known as El Camino Real (The Royal Road) along the southern and central California coast
 +
  
 
Missouri and Tennessee have borders with eight other states
 
Missouri and Tennessee have borders with eight other states
  
I-90 is the longest interstate highway in the United States at nearly 3100 miles, and runs from Boston to Seattle
+
Four of the constituent states of the United States officially designate themselves Commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia
 +
 
 +
Most populous counties – 1<sup>st</sup> Los Angeles County, 2<sup>nd</sup> Cook County, Illinois, 3<sup>rd</sup> Harris County, Texas
  
Four of the constituent states of the United States officially designate themselves Commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia
+
Four Corners is a region consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, northwestern corner of New Mexico, northeastern corner of Arizona, and southeastern corner of Utah. The Four Corners area is named after the quadripoint where the boundaries of the four states meet, where the Four Corners Monument is located Connecticut River is the longest river in New England. Forms the boundary between Vermont and New Hampshire
 +
 
 +
Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America. It is noted for both its arid conditions and its Basin and range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than 100 miles away at the summit of Mount Whitney
  
Most common US city name is Franklin (17)
+
Chesapeake Bay is the largest inlet off the Atlantic coast and has coastlines on Virginia and Maryland. It is the largest estuary in the United States
  
 
Sea Islands are a chain of 100 tidal and barrier islands, located between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns Rivers along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida
 
Sea Islands are a chain of 100 tidal and barrier islands, located between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns Rivers along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida
  
Appalachian Trail extends between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately 2,181 miles long
+
Intracoastal Waterway is a 4,800 km inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, running from Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following the Gulf Coast to Brownsville, Texas. Some sections of the waterway consist of natural inlets, saltwater rivers, bays, and sounds, while others are artificial canals
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
United States Minor Outlying Islands consist of eight United States insular areas in the Pacific Ocean (Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island) and one in the Caribbean Sea (Navassa Island)
 +
 
 +
Midway Atoll is the only island in the Hawaiian archipelago that is not part of the state of Hawaii
 +
 
 +
Baker Island and Howland Island are UTC-12:00 which is only uninhabited timezone. They are the last pieces of land that experience the New Year
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<u>Great Lakes</u>[[File:Great-Lakes.svg|center|thumb|500x500px]]
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area and are second-largest by total volume, containing 21% of the world's surface fresh water by volume. The lakes began to form at the end of the Last Glacial Period around 14,000 years ago
 +
 
 +
'''Lake Superior''' is the largest of the Great Lakes, and among freshwater lakes, it is the world's largest by surface area. It has a surface area of 82,000 km<sup>2</sup>
 +
 
 +
The largest island in Lake Superior is Isle Royale in Michigan
 +
 
 +
Thunder Bay, Ontario is the most populous city on Lake Superior
 +
 
 +
'''Lake Huron''' comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron. By surface area, Lake Huron is the second-largest of the Great Lakes
 +
 
 +
Mackinac Island is an island and resort area located in Lake Huron
 +
 
 +
Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron is the largest island in a freshwater lake in the world
  
Susquehanna River is the longest river entirely within the USA that drains into the Atlantic Ocean
+
Lake Manitou is the largest lake on Manitoulin Island. It is the largest lake on a freshwater island in the world
  
Missouri River is known as ‘the big muddy’
+
'''Lake Michigan''' is the only Great Lake entirely in the United States and is the largest lake that is entirely within one country. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron
  
First state capital alphabetically – Albany
+
Lake Michigan is shared by the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Ports along its shores include Milwaukee, Green Bay, Chicago, and Gary
  
Last state capital alphabetically – Trenton
+
'''Lake Erie''' is the fourth-largest of the Great Lakes by surface area, and is the shallowest of the lakes. The largest city on the lake is Cleveland. Other major cities along the lake shore are Buffalo and Toledo
  
Route 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway, is colloquially known as the Main Street of America. One of the original U.S. Highways, Route 66 was established on 11 November 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, covering a total of 2,448 miles
+
'''Lake Ontario''' is the smallest and easternmost of the Great Lakes. The Canadian cities of Toronto and Kingston are located on the lake's northern and western shorelines, while the American city of Rochester in New York state is located on the south shore
  
Delaware Bay is bordered by Delaware and New Jersey
+
Lake Ontario is the only Great Lake not to border the state of Michigan
  
Lookout Mountain is located at the northwest corner of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southern border of Tennessee at Chattanooga
 
  
Most populous counties – 1<sup>st</sup> Los Angeles County, 2<sup>nd</sup> Cook County, Illinois, 3<sup>rd</sup> Harris County, Texas
 
  
Great Basin – the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America. It is noted for both its arid conditions and its Basin and range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than 100 miles away at the summit of Mount Whitney
+
The Chicago River and Calumet River systems connect the Great Lakes Basin to the Mississippi River System
  
Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow 1770 km² peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida border. Okefenokee is the largest "blackwater" swamp in North America
+
The St. Marys River, including the Soo Locks, connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron, via the North Channel
  
Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake entirely in USA
+
The Straits of Mackinac connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron
  
Supai Group is a slope-forming section of red bed deposits found in the Grand Canyon
+
The St. Clair River connects Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair
  
Four Corners is a region consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, northwestern corner of New Mexico, northeastern corner of Arizona, and southeastern corner of Utah. The Four Corners area is named after the quadripoint where the boundaries of the four states meet, where the Four Corners Monument is located Connecticut River is the longest river in New England. Forms the boundary between Vermont and New Hampshire
+
The Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie
  
Snake River is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, and the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean
+
The Niagara River, including Niagara Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario
  
Green River is the chief tributary of the Colorado River
+
The Welland Canal connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. As a part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, this canal enables ships to ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment and to bypass the Niagara Falls
  
Missouri River is the longest river in North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis. Flows through Bismarck and Pierre
+
The Saint Lawrence River and the Saint Lawrence Seaway connect Lake Ontario to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean
  
  
Compact of Free Association (COFA) is a type of diplomatic relationship that an independent country has with the United States of America, as an associated country. Presently, there are three sovereign states that have this type of relationship with the United States. They are the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau. Presently sovereign countries, the three freely associated states were formerly part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
 
  
 +
'''Niagara Falls''' is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between Ontario in Canada and New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian Falls, which straddles the international border of the two countries. The smaller American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls lie within the United States. Bridal Veil Falls is separated from Horseshoe Falls by Goat Island and from American Falls by Luna Island, with both islands situated in New York.
  
United States Minor Outlying Islands consist of eight United States insular areas in the Pacific Ocean (Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island) and one in the Caribbean Sea (Navassa Island)
+
Formed by the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, the combined falls have the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North America that has a vertical drop of more than 50 m
  
 +
The Rainbow Bridge is the first bridge downstream from the falls
  
Canada
+
== Canada ==
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Canada.png|none|thumb]]
  
 +
Flag of Canada features an 11-pointed maple leaf
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Ottawa
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa,  Edmonton
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Mount Logan
 +
|}
 
Canada was known as La Nouvelle France
 
Canada was known as La Nouvelle France
  
Canada produces 35% of world’s uranium
+
In 1867, three provinces of British North America – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada (which, on the formation of Canada, was divided into Ontario and Quebec) – were united to form the new nation
  
 
Canada consists of ten provinces and three territories
 
Canada consists of ten provinces and three territories
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Atlantic Provinces of Canada – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador
 
Atlantic Provinces of Canada – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador
 +
 +
Largest provinces by area – Quebec, British Colombia, Ontario
 +
 +
Largest provinces by population – Ontario, Quebec, British Colombia
  
 
Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only landlocked provinces
 
Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only landlocked provinces
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St. Lawrence Seaway permits ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the North American Great Lakes, as far as Lake Superior. Opened in 1959
 
St. Lawrence Seaway permits ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the North American Great Lakes, as far as Lake Superior. Opened in 1959
  
 +
Canada has more lakes than any other country
  
Provinces –
+
Canada produces 35% of the world’s uranium
  
 +
Canada is divided into six time zones – Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic (UTC-04:00, covers New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), Newfoundland (UTC-03:30)
  
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Political map of Canada.svg|none|thumb|614x614px|alt=]]
 +
 +
=== Provinces ===
 
'''Alberta'''
 
'''Alberta'''
  
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Largest city – Calgary
 
Largest city – Calgary
  
Calgary is third largest city in Canada
+
Alberta is named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Victoria, the Queen of Canada and Albert, Prince Consort
  
Jasper national park is in Alberta
+
Calgary was originally known as Fort Briseboas
  
Alberta is named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Victoria, the Queen of Canada and Albert, Prince Consort
+
West Edmonton Mall is the largest shopping mall in North America
  
Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885, in the Canadian Rockies
+
Jasper national park is in Alberta
  
Lake Louise is in Banff National Park Alberta
+
Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885, in the Canadian Rockies. Lake Louise lies within the park
  
 
Banff is named by George Stephen, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, recalling his birthplace in Banffshire, Scotland
 
Banff is named by George Stephen, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, recalling his birthplace in Banffshire, Scotland
  
Medicine Hat, known to locals as ‘The Hat’, is a city located in the province of Alberta. Its major claim to fame is Rudyard Kipling's famous line ‘all hell for a basement’ referring to the vast reserves of natural gas beneath it
+
Medicine Hat, known to locals as ‘The Hat’ or 'Gas City', is a city located in the province of Alberta. Its major claim to fame is Rudyard Kipling's famous line ‘all hell for a basement’ referring to the vast reserves of natural gas beneath it
  
 
Most of the oil sands (tar sands) of Canada are located in northern Alberta
 
Most of the oil sands (tar sands) of Canada are located in northern Alberta
 
  
 
'''British Columbia'''
 
'''British Columbia'''
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Largest city – Vancouver
 
Largest city – Vancouver
  
Burgess Shale Formation, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. It is 505 million years (Middle Cambrian) old
+
Vancouver was originally known as Gastown, then Granville. The city is named after Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver
 +
 
 +
Vancouver is overlooked by Grouse Mountain
 +
 
 +
Whistler is a ski resort in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains
 +
 
 +
Burgess Shale Formation, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. It is 505 million years old
  
 
The Queen Charlotte Islands or Haida Gwaii (‘Islands of the People’) are an archipelago off the northwest coast of British Columbia consisting of two main islands, Graham Island in the North, and Moresby Island in the south
 
The Queen Charlotte Islands or Haida Gwaii (‘Islands of the People’) are an archipelago off the northwest coast of British Columbia consisting of two main islands, Graham Island in the North, and Moresby Island in the south
  
 +
Glacier National Park contains the Rogers Pass National Historic Site
  
 
'''Manitoba'''
 
'''Manitoba'''
  
 
Capital and largest city – Winnipeg
 
Capital and largest city – Winnipeg
 +
 +
Winnipeg lies at the bottom of the Red River Valley
  
 
Churchill is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba. It is known as the ‘Polar Bear Capital of the World’
 
Churchill is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba. It is known as the ‘Polar Bear Capital of the World’
  
Winnipeg lies at the bottom of the Red River Valley
+
Nelson River drains Lake Winnipeg and runs 644 km before it ends in Hudson Bay
 
 
  
 
'''New Brunswick'''
 
'''New Brunswick'''
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New Brunswick is named for the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony. Braunschweig is the ancestral home of George I
 
New Brunswick is named for the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony. Braunschweig is the ancestral home of George I
  
 +
New Brunswick is the only bilingual province
  
 
'''Newfoundland and Labrador'''
 
'''Newfoundland and Labrador'''
Line 1,034: Line 1,456:
 
Gander International Airport in Newfoundland opened in 1938 and within a few years was the largest in the world
 
Gander International Airport in Newfoundland opened in 1938 and within a few years was the largest in the world
  
 +
Strait of Belle Isle separates the Labrador Peninsula from the island of Newfoundland
 +
 +
In 1583, Newfoundland became England's first possession in North America and one of the earliest permanent English colonies in the New World
 +
 +
In 2001 the name of Newfoundland was changed to Newfoundland and Labrador
  
 
'''Nova Scotia'''
 
'''Nova Scotia'''
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Sable Island, situated off the coast of Nova Scotia, is known as the “graveyard of the Atlantic”
 
Sable Island, situated off the coast of Nova Scotia, is known as the “graveyard of the Atlantic”
  
 +
Joggins Fossil Cliffs is famous for its record of fossils from a rainforest ecosystem approximately 310 million years ago
 +
 +
Cape Breton is an island off the north coast of the Nova Scotia peninsula
  
 
'''Ontario'''
 
'''Ontario'''
  
 
Capital and largest city – Toronto
 
Capital and largest city – Toronto
 
Lester B Pearson airport serves Toronto
 
  
 
Toronto is on Lake Ontario, and is the most populous city in Canada
 
Toronto is on Lake Ontario, and is the most populous city in Canada
Line 1,052: Line 1,480:
 
Toronto was known as York until 1834
 
Toronto was known as York until 1834
  
CN Tower in Toronto was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time.1815’ tall. Designed by Neil Baldwin
+
Lester B. Pearson airport serves Toronto
 +
 
 +
CN Tower (Canadian National Tower) in Toronto was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It is 1,815 feet tall and was designed by Neil Baldwin. The antenna was flown to the top of the tower in 36 sections by as Sikorsky helicopter named "Olga"
 +
 
 +
Scarborough is one of the most diverse and multicultural areas in the Greater Toronto Area
  
 
Ottawa was founded in 1826 as Bytown
 
Ottawa was founded in 1826 as Bytown
  
Rideau Canal connects the city of Ottawa, on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario, on Lake Ontario. Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa is the world's largest skating rink at 7.8 km long
+
Ottawa is situated on the traditional land of the Algonquins
  
Thunder Bay is the most populous city on Lake Superior
+
London is in Southwestern Ontario. It lies at the confluence of the non-navigable Thames River
  
Welland Canal connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. As a part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, this canal enables ships to ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment and to bypass the Niagara Falls
+
Rideau Canal connects the city of Ottawa, on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario, on Lake Ontario. Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa is the world's largest skating rink at 7.8 km long
 
 
Sudbury Basin is the second-largest impact crater on Earth
 
  
 +
Sudbury Basin on the Canadian Shield is the third-largest impact crater on Earth
  
 
'''Prince Edward Island'''
 
'''Prince Edward Island'''
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Capital and largest city – Charlottetown
 
Capital and largest city – Charlottetown
  
Charlottetown is named after Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III
+
Prince Edward Island is the smallest Canadian province in both area and population
  
Prince Edward Island is the smallest Canadian province in both area and population
+
Prince Edward Island is named after the fourth son of George III and the father of Queen Victoria
  
 +
Charlottetown is named after Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III
  
 
'''Quebec'''
 
'''Quebec'''
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Mirabelle airport serves Montreal
 
Mirabelle airport serves Montreal
  
Montreal is the second most populous city in Canada
+
Montreal covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. Island of Montreal is the most populous island in Canada
 +
 
 +
Jacques Cartier Bridge is a steel truss cantilever bridge crossing the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal Island to the south shore at Longueuil
 +
 
 +
Opened in 1859, Victoria Bridge was the first to span the St. Lawrence River, linking Montreal to the south shore city of Saint-Lambert
  
Montreal covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers
+
Montreal is known as the ‘City of Saints’
  
Jacques Cartier Bridge is a steel truss cantilever bridge crossing the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal Island, Montreal, Quebec to the south shore at Longueuil, Quebec
+
Montreal Biosphere’s geodesic dome was designed by Buckminster Fuller
  
Opened in 1859, Victoria Bridge was the first to span the St. Lawrence River, linking Montreal to the south shore city of Saint-Lambert
+
Montreal is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city
  
Montreal is known as the City of Saints
+
Habitat 67 is a building in Montreal
  
 
Quebec City was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain
 
Quebec City was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain
 +
 +
La Citadelle of Quebec contains the oldest military building in Canada, and forms part of the fortifications of Quebec City. Official residence of the governor general of Canada
  
 
Plains of Abraham is a historic area in Quebec City
 
Plains of Abraham is a historic area in Quebec City
  
 +
Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City is generally recognized as the most photographed hotel in the world
 +
 +
Anticosti Island is at the outlet of the Saint Lawrence River into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Due to more than 400 shipwrecks off its coasts, Anticosti Island is sometimes called the "Cemetery of the Gulf". It has a number of lighthouses
 +
 +
Lake Manicouagan is an annular lake, caused by the impact of a meteorite
  
 
'''Saskatchewan'''
 
'''Saskatchewan'''
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Saskatchewan is the only Canadian province with four straight boundaries
 
Saskatchewan is the only Canadian province with four straight boundaries
  
 +
McArthur River Uranium Mine, in northern Saskatchewan, is the world's largest high-grade uranium deposit
  
Territories
+
=== Territories ===
 
 
 
 
 
'''Northwest Territories'''
 
'''Northwest Territories'''
  
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Mackenzie River originates in Great Slave Lake, in the Northwest Territories, and flows north into the Arctic Ocean. It is the longest river in Canada at 1,738 km. It was originally named Disappointment River
 
Mackenzie River originates in Great Slave Lake, in the Northwest Territories, and flows north into the Arctic Ocean. It is the longest river in Canada at 1,738 km. It was originally named Disappointment River
 
  
 
'''Nunavut'''
 
'''Nunavut'''
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A member of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Bathurst Island is one of the Queen Elizabeth Islands in Nunavut Territory
 
A member of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Bathurst Island is one of the Queen Elizabeth Islands in Nunavut Territory
 +
 +
Alert is the northernmost permanently inhabited place
  
 
Devon Island, claimed to be the largest uninhabited island on Earth, is located in Baffin Bay
 
Devon Island, claimed to be the largest uninhabited island on Earth, is located in Baffin Bay
Line 1,134: Line 1,577:
 
Davis Strait separates Baffin Island from Greenland. The strait was named for the English explorer John Davis, who explored the area while seeking a Northwest Passage
 
Davis Strait separates Baffin Island from Greenland. The strait was named for the English explorer John Davis, who explored the area while seeking a Northwest Passage
  
 +
Nettilling Lake on Baffin Island is the world’s largest lake on an island
  
 
'''Yukon'''
 
'''Yukon'''
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Dawson served as the Yukon's capital from the territory's founding in 1898 until 1952, when the seat was moved to Whitehorse
 
Dawson served as the Yukon's capital from the territory's founding in 1898 until 1952, when the seat was moved to Whitehorse
  
 +
Mount Logan is in Yukon. The mountain was named after Sir William Edmond Logan, a Canadian geologist and founder of the Geological Survey of Canada
  
 
Bay of Fundy is on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the state of Maine. Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world
 
Bay of Fundy is on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the state of Maine. Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world
  
 
Lake Athabasca is located in the northwest corner of Saskatchewan and the northeast corner of Alberta. Athabasca means ‘lake of the hills’
 
Lake Athabasca is located in the northwest corner of Saskatchewan and the northeast corner of Alberta. Athabasca means ‘lake of the hills’
 
Aspen parkland refers to a transitional biome between prairie and boreal forest stretching from northeastern British Columbia through central and northwestern Alberta, central Saskatchewan to central and southern Manitoba. Aspen parkland consists of groves of aspen poplars and spruce interspersed with areas of prairie grasslands
 
  
 
Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba are remnants of prehistoric Glacial Lake Agassiz
 
Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba are remnants of prehistoric Glacial Lake Agassiz
 
Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron is the largest island in a freshwater lake in the world
 
 
Lake Manitou is the largest lake on Manitoulin Island. It is the largest lake on a freshwater island in the world
 
  
 
Labrador Peninsula includes the region of Labrador, which is part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and parts of Quebec
 
Labrador Peninsula includes the region of Labrador, which is part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and parts of Quebec
Line 1,160: Line 1,599:
 
Queen Elizabeth Islands are the northernmost cluster of islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and Northwest Territories. Ellesmere Island is the largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands
 
Queen Elizabeth Islands are the northernmost cluster of islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and Northwest Territories. Ellesmere Island is the largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands
  
 +
Nares Strait separates Greenland from Ellesmere Island
  
Mexico
+
Hudson Strait lies between Baffin Island and Nunavik (the northern third of Quebec)
  
With an estimated population of over 113 million, Mexico is the eleventh most populous and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world and the second most populous country in Latin America. It is the tenth largest oil producer in the world, and the largest silver producer in the world
+
The source of the Yukon River is located in British Columbia. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to, Yukon. The lower half of the river lies in Alaska. It is the second-longest river in Canada
  
 +
Aspen parkland refers to a transitional biome between prairie and boreal forest stretching from northeastern British Columbia through central and northwestern Alberta, central Saskatchewan to central and southern Manitoba. Aspen parkland consists of groves of aspen poplars and spruce interspersed with areas of prairie grasslands
  
The Greater '''Mexico City''' population is 21.2 million people, making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere
+
Trans-Canada Highway travels through all ten provinces of Canada, The main route spans 7,476 km across the country
  
Torre Mayor is a skyscraper in Mexico City. With a height of 225 m, it is the tallest building in Latin America
+
=== Saint Pierre and Miquelon ===
 +
Saint Pierre and Miquelon is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France and is the remaining vestige of the territory of New France. Its residents are French citizens. The islands are in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near the entrance of Fortune Bay, which extends into the southwestern coast of Newfoundland
  
Soumaya Museum in Mexico City contains a large collection of casts of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. It is owned by the Carlos Slim Foundation
+
Saint-Pierre is the capital and largest city
  
 +
== Mexico ==
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Mexico.png|none|thumb]]
  
Chicxulub Crater is an ancient impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula, with its center located near the town of Chicxulub. The crater is over 180 kilometers in diameter, making the feature one of the largest confirmed impact structures in the world; the asteroid or comet whose impact formed the crater was at least 10 km in diameter. The impact associated with the crater is implicated in causing the extinction of the dinosaurs as suggested by the K–T boundary, 65 million years ago
+
Coat of arms on the flag of Mexico depicts a golden eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus eating a rattlesnake
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Mexico City
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Mexico City, Tijuana, Leon
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Peso
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Pico de Orizaba
 +
|}
 +
With an estimated population of 128 million, Mexico is the tenth most populous and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world and the second most populous country in Latin America. It is the tenth largest oil producer in the world, and the largest silver producer in the world
  
Chichen Itza is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization, located in the northern centre of the Yucatan Peninsula. Dominating the centre of Chichen is the Temple of Kukulcan (the Maya name for Quetzalcoatl), often referred to as “El Castillo” (the castle). This step pyramid with a ground plan of square terraces has stairways up each of the four sides to the temple on top
+
The United Mexican States are a federation of 31 free and sovereign states
  
The city of Veracruz is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz
+
The Greater Mexico City population is 21 million people, making it the second-largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere behind Sao Paulo
  
Naica Mine of the Mexican state of Chihuahua is a working mine that is known for its extraordinary selenite (a variety of gypsum) crystals in the Cave of the Crystals
+
Paseo de la Reforma is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It is now home to many of Mexico's tallest buildings
  
Guadalajara Metropolitan Area is the second largest in the country after Greater Mexico City
+
Soumaya Museum in Mexico City contains a large collection of casts of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. It is owned by the Carlos Slim Foundation
  
Juarez is called "the most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones”
+
Frida Kahlo Museum, also known as the Blue House (''La Casa Azul'') for the structure's cobalt-blue walls, is in Mexico City
  
Palanque is a Maya city state in Southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century
+
Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is one of the most prominent cultural centres in Mexico City
  
Tula, in the state of Hidalgo, was the ancient capital of the Toltecs. The city was destroyed in the 12th century
+
Angel of Independence was built in 1910 during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz by architect Antonio Rivas Mercado, to commemorate the centennial of the beginning of Mexico's War of Independence
  
Chihuahua is the largest state of Mexico
+
Aztec sun stone is a Mexica sculpture housed in the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City
  
Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez) is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland
+
Tenochtitlan was an Aztec altepetl (city-state) located on an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico. Founded in 1325, it became the capital of the expanding Mexican Empire in the 15th century, until captured by the Spanish in 1521. At its peak it was the largest city in the Pre-Columbian Americas. Today the ruins of Tenochtitlan are located in Mexico City's downtown
  
Popocatepetl is the second highest peak in Mexico, after the Pico de Orizaba. The name Popocatepetl comes from the Nahuatl words for ‘Smoking Mountain’
+
Teotihuacan was an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub valley of the Valley of Mexico, 48 km northeast of modern-day Mexico City, known today as the site of many of the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids built in the pre-Columbian Americas. At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population estimated at 125,000. Teotihuacan has the Pyramid of the Moon, Pyramid of the Sun, and Avenue of the Dead. The name Teotihuacan was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs centuries after the fall of the city around 550. The term has been glossed as "birthplace of the gods"
  
Paricutin is a dormant volcano in Mexico. It is thought to be the youngest volcano in the world
+
Chicxulub Crater is an ancient impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula, with its center located near the town of Chicxulub. The crater is over 180 kilometers in diameter, making the feature one of the largest confirmed impact structures in the world; the asteroid or comet whose impact formed the crater was at least 10 km in diameter. The impact associated with the crater is implicated in causing the extinction of the dinosaurs as suggested by the K–T boundary, 65 million years ago
  
 +
Chichen Itza is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization, located in the northern centre of the Yucatan Peninsula. Dominating the centre of Chichen is the Temple of Kukulcan (the Maya name for Quetzalcoatl), often referred to as “El Castillo” (the castle). This step pyramid with a ground plan of square terraces has stairways up each of the four sides to the temple on top
  
South America
+
Monte Alban is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Monte Alban's importance stems also from its role as the pre-eminent Zapotec socio-political and economic centre for 1,000 years
  
'''Argentina''' is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second-largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region beginning in 1512. Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. a Spanish overseas colony founded in 1776
+
The city of Veracruz is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz
  
Buenos Aires is served by Ministro Pistarini International Airport
+
Naica Mine of the Mexican state of Chihuahua is a working mine that is known for its extraordinary selenite (a variety of gypsum) crystals in the Cave of the Crystals
  
Buenos Aires is known as “Paris of the South”. Spanish seaman Juan Diaz de Solís was the first European to reach the Río de la Plata, in 1516, but his expedition was cut short by an attack in which he was killed by the native Charrúa or Guaraní tribe. The city was first founded as the 'city of Good Air' (old Spanish for 'Fair Winds’) in 1536 by a Spanish gold-seeking expedition under Pedro de Mendoza
+
Guadalajara Metropolitan Area is the second largest in the country after Greater Mexico City. Guadalajara is the capital of the state of Jalisco
  
Buenos Aires was originally named City of the Holy Trinity and Port of Saint Mary of the Fair Winds
+
Torres Obispado is a skyscraper complex in Monterrey, Upon completion in 2020, T.Op Torre 1 became the tallest skyscraper in Latin America and the first to reach a height of 1,000 feet
  
Cordoba is the second largest city
+
Palanque is a Maya city state in Southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century
  
Rosario is the third largest city
+
Tula, in the state of Hidalgo, was the ancient capital of the Toltecs. The city was destroyed in the 12th century
  
Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego is the most southerly city in the world
+
Great Pyramid of Cholula is an adobe brick pyramid in the state of Puebla. It is the largest pyramid in the world, with a base four times larger than the Great Pyramid at Giza and nearly twice the volume. The pyramid is a temple that traditionally has been viewed as having been dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl
  
Perito Moreno is a glacier in Patagonia
+
El Tajin is a pre-Columbian archeological site in southern Mexico and is one of the largest and most important cities of the Classic era of Mesoamerica. A part of the Classic Veracruz culture, El Tajin flourished from 600 to 1200 AD
  
Aconcagua is the highest mountain (22,800’) outside of the Himalayas, in the province of Mendoza
+
Chihuahua is the largest state of Mexico
  
Mendoza produces 70% of the wine from Argentina
+
Ciudad Juarez is the largest city in Chihuahua. It lies on the Rio Grande south of El Paso, Texas
  
Laguna del Carbon (Spanish: Coal Lagoon) is an endorheic salt lake in Argentina. At 105 metres (344 ft) below sea level, it is the lowest point of both the Western and Southern hemispheres
+
Cancun is located on the northeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in the state of Quintana Roo. It is an important tourist destination
  
Straits of Magellan are between Argentina and Tierra del Fuego
+
Acapulco is a major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast. Due to a massive upsurge in gang violence and homicide numbers since 2014, Acapulco no longer attracts many foreign tourists
  
 +
Tijuana is the largest city in Baja California, and is part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area
  
'''Bolivia''' is named after Simon Bolívar
+
Villahermosa is the capital and largest city of the state of Tabasco
  
Sucre is the constitutional capital of Bolivia
+
Manzanillo is the largest port in Mexico
  
In the late 19th century, an increase in the world price of silver brought Bolivia relative prosperity and political stability. During the early 20th century, tin replaced silver as the country's most important source of wealth
+
Cozumel is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. The economy of Cozumel is based on tourism
  
Potosi was the major supply of silver for Spain during the period of the New World Spanish Empire
+
Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez) is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland
  
The US Geological Service estimates that Bolivia has 5.4 million cubic tonnes of lithium which represents 50% – 70% of world reserves
+
Popocatepetl is the second highest peak in Mexico, after the Pico de Orizaba. The name Popocatepetl comes from the Nahuatl words for ‘Smoking Mountain’
  
Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat. It is located in southwest Bolivia
+
Paricutin is a dormant volcano in Mexico. It is thought to be the youngest volcano in the world
  
Tiwanaku is an important Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia. Tiwanaku is recognized by Andean scholars as one of the most important precursors to the Inca Empire
+
Lake Chapala is the largest freshwater lake in Mexico
  
 +
== Central America ==
 +
[[File:Map of Central America.png|none|thumb|450x450px|link=Special:FilePath/Map_of_Central_America.png]]
  
'''Brazil''' is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population. It is the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world. It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile and occupies 47% of the continent of South America. The country's economy is the seventh largest by GDP. Brazil has been the world's largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years
+
=== Belize ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Belize.png|none|thumb]]
 +
The coat of arms on the flag of Belize features woodcutters and a mahogany tree. The flag of Belize is the only country to have humans depicted as a major design element on its national flag, although the flag of Malta contains an image of Saint George on the badge of the George Cross
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Belmopan
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Belize City, San Ignacio, Belmopan
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Doyle’s Delight
 +
|}
 +
Belize is is the only commonwealth country in Central America and the only country in Central America whose official language is English
  
'''Rio de Janeiro''' was the capital of Portugal in the 19th century
+
Belize is the only Central American country connected only to the Atlantic
  
Corcovado, meaning ‘hunchback’ in Portuguese, is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro. It is known worldwide for the 38-meter (125 ft) statue of Jesus atop its peak, entitled ‘Christ the Redeemer’
+
Belize City is the largest city in Belize. It was the capital of British Honduras (as Belize was then named) until it was devastated by Hurricane Hattie and the government was moved to the new capital of Belmopan in 1970
  
Sugarloaf Mountain (in Portuguese, Pao de Acucar), is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, at the mouth of Guanabara Bay
+
Chalillo Dam is a gravity dam in Belize
  
Ipanema is a district of Rio de Janeiro
+
Lamanai and Caracol are Mayan ruins in Belize
  
Rocinha is the largest favela in Rio and in Brazil
+
Great Blue Hole is a large submarine sinkhole off the coast of Belize
  
Rio de Janeiro International Airport is named after songwriter Tom Jobim
+
Belize Barrier Reef is Belize's top tourist destination
  
Petropolis was the official capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro between 1894 and 1903
+
Rio Hondo forms most of the border between Belize and Mexico
  
Tijuca Forest is a mountainous hand-planted rainforest in the city of Rio de Janeiro. It is the world's largest urban forest
+
=== Costa Rica ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Costa-Rica.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|San Jose
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|San Jose
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Colon
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Mount Chirripo
 +
|}
 +
Costa Rica permanently abolished its army in 1949
  
President Kubitschek ordered the construction of '''Brasilia''', enacting a long-forgotten article of the country's republican constitutions stating that the capital should be relocated from Rio de Janeiro. Its main urban planner was Lucio Costa. Oscar Niemeyer was the chief architect of most of the public buildings and Roberto Burle Marx was the landscape designer. The city plan was based on the ideas of Le Corbusier. Brasília was built in 41 months, from 1956 to 1960, when it was officially inaugurated
+
San Jose means ‘Saint Joseph’
  
Brasilia is laid out in the form of an airplane
+
Cocos Island is an island located off the shore of Costa Rica and is known as ‘Shark Island’
  
The Cathedral of Brasília in the capital of the Federative Republic of Brazil is an expression of the architect Oscar Niemeyer. This concrete-framed hyperboloid structure, seems with its glass roof to be reaching up, open, to heaven
+
Stone spheres of Costa Rica are commonly attributed to the extinct Diquis culture
  
The Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge, also known as the JK Bridge, crosses Lake Paranoá in Brasília. It is named for Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, former president of Brazil. It was designed by architect Alexandre Chan and structural engineer Mário Vila Verde. Chan won the Gustav Lindenthal Medal for this project
+
=== El Salvador ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-El-Salvador.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|San Salvador
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|San Salvador
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|US dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Cerro El Pital
 +
|}
 +
El Salvador is the only Central American country that does not have a Caribbean coastline
  
'''Sao Paulo''' is the largest city in Southern hemisphere and in Latin America. The name of the city honours Saint Paul of Tarsus
+
El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and the most densely populated country in the Americas
  
Salvador is the capital of the state of Bahia, and the third largest Brazilian city, ahead of Brasilia. Until 1763, Salvador was the capital of Brazil
+
Izalco is a stratovolcano on the side of the Santa Ana Volcano
  
Fortaleza is rthe fifth largest city in Brazil
+
Bitcoin is legal tender in El Salvador
  
Santos is a coffee-exporting port
+
=== Guatemala ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Guatemala.png|none|thumb]]
 +
The coat of arms of the flag of Guatemala includes the resplendent quetzal
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Guatemala City
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Guatemala City
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Quetzal
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Volcan Tajumulco
 +
|}
 +
Guatemala is the most populous state in Central America
  
Manaus is the largest city along the Amazon River
+
Guatemala City is the most populous in Central America
  
Opera house in Manaus was built in 1896
+
El Mirador is a large pre-Columbian Mayan settlement, located in the north of the modern department of El Peten, Guatemala. Discovered in 1926
  
Londrina is a city in Parana state
+
Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Peten Basin in northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, c. 200 to 850. Discovered by Alfred Maudslay
  
Natal is the capital city of Rio Grande do Norte, a northeastern state in Brazil. It was founded on 25 December 1599
+
Antigua is a World Heritage site that served as the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala
  
Recife is a major port on the Atlantic Ocean. The name Recife means ‘reef’ in Portuguese
+
Volcan Tajumulco is a large stratovolcano in Guatemala. It is the highest mountain in Central America
  
Marajo is an island located at the mouth of the Amazon River. It is the largest island to be completely surrounded by freshwater in the world
+
=== Honduras ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Honduras.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Tegucigalpa
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Lempira
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Cerro Las Minas
 +
|}
 +
Honduras was at times referred to as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became Belize. Honduras was home to several important Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya, prior to being conquered by Spain in the 16th century
  
Fordlandia is a now-abandoned, prefabricated industrial town established in the Amazon Rainforest in 1928 by American industrialist Henry Ford for the purpose of securing a source of cultivated rubber for the automobile manufacturing operations of the Ford Motor Company
+
La Ciudad Blanca (Spanish for "The White City") is a legendary settlement said to be located in the Mosquitia region of Honduras
  
Curitiba is the capital and largest city of Parana
+
Copan was a Mayan city in Honduras
  
Brazil has largest Japanese population outside of Japan
+
=== Nicaragua ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Nicaragua.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Managua
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Managua
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Cordoba
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Mogoton
 +
|}
 +
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American isthmus. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. Nicaragua achieved its independence from Spain in 1821
  
Pantanal is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul
+
Nicaragua is the most triangular-shaped country
  
Sao Francisco is the longest river entirely in Brazil
+
On the Pacific side of the country are the two largest freshwater lakes in Central America – Lake Nicaragua and Lake Managua
  
Brazil has the largest Arabic diaspora
+
Ometepe is the largest island in Lake Nicaragua
  
'''Chile''' declared its independence from Spain in 1818
+
Bosawas Biosphere Reserve is the second largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere, after the Amazon Rainforest
  
Santiago was founded by conquistadors in 1541
+
=== Panama ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Panama.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Panama City
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Panama City
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Balboa and US dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Volcan Baru
 +
|}
 +
Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the Panama Canal to be built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  
Gran Torre Santiago is a 64-story tall skyscraper in Santiago. It is the tallest building in Latin America
+
Panama Canal was designed by Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1880, but the project failed. Work began again in 1904, and the canal was completed in 1914
  
Valparaiso is the second largest city of Chile
+
There are three sets of locks in the Panama Canal. A two-step flight at Miraflores, and a single flight at Pedro Miguel, lift ships from the Pacific up to Lake Gatun; then a triple flight at Gatun lowers them to the Atlantic side
  
Concepcion is the third largest city of Chile
+
Gatun Lake was created between 1907 and 1913 by the building of the Gatun Dam across the Chagres River. At the time it was created, Gatun Lake was the largest man-made lake in the world
  
Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernandez, Salas y Gomez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania
+
Bridge of the Americas spans the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. Built in 1962
  
The Mapocho River flows from the Andes Mountains onto the west and divides Chile's capital Santiago in two
+
Chagres River is a major source of water for Panama Canal
  
Chile is world’s largest exporter of copper
+
Coiba is the largest island in Central America, off the Pacific coast of Panama
  
Casablanca valley is in Chile
+
JW Marriott Panama is the tallest building in Central America
  
Loa is the longest river in Chile
+
== Caribbean ==
 +
[[File:Map of the Caribbean.png|none|thumb|alt=|500x500px]]
 +
The West Indies consist of the Antilles, divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the Caribbean Sea on the north and the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), and the Bahamas. Bermuda lies much further to the north in the Atlantic Ocean (570 miles east of North Carolina) and is in the West Indies
  
Punta Arenas (English: ‘Sandy Point’) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antartica Chilena
+
Lucayan Archipelago, also known as the Bahama Archipelago, is an island group comprising the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands
  
Puyehue and Cordon Caulle are two coalesced volcanic edifices that form a major mountain massif in Puyehue National Park in the Andes of Ranco Province, Chile. Erupted in 2011
+
Greater Antilles – Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Cayman Islands
  
Nevado Ojos del Salaro is a massive stratovolcano in the Andes on the Argentina-Chile border and the highest volcano in the world at 6893 metres. It is also the second highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere and the highest in Chile
+
Lesser Antilles – Leeward Islands and Windward Islands
  
Cape Froward in Chile is the southernmost point in mainland South America
+
Leeward Islands – Northern group of the Lesser Antilles. Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and Montserrat
  
Cape Horn is named after the city of Hoorn in the Netherlands
+
Windward Islands – Southern group of the Lesser Antilles. Martinique, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenadines
  
 +
Caribbean Sea is known as “Sea of the Antilles”
  
'''Colombia''' is derived from the last name of Christopher Columbus
+
Windward Passage is a strait in the Caribbean Sea, between the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola
  
Bogota has been called "The Athens of South America”
+
Caribbean is the deepest sea. Deepest point is the Cayman Trough
  
Gold Museum (Spanish: El Museo del Oro) in Bogota displays the largest pre-Hispanic gold work collection in the world
+
ABC islands are the three western-most islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. From west to east they are, in order Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire. All three islands are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
  
Cali is the second largest city of Colombia
+
Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean. It was also informally known as the Dutch Antilles. The country was dissolved in 2010. Historically the Netherlands Antilles included the colony of Curacao and its dependencies
  
Medellin is the third largest city of Colombia
+
=== Antigua and Barbuda ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Antigua.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Saint John’s
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Saint John’s
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|East Caribbean dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Boggy Peak
 +
|}
 +
Antigua and Barbuda became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1981
  
Punta Gallinas in Colombia is the northernmost point in mainland South America WikiMiniAtlas
+
Most of the population of Barbuda lives in the town of Codrington
  
Nevado del Ruiz is a stratovolcano in Colombia. Eruptions often cause massive lahars
+
Redonda is an uninhabited island that is part of Antigua and Barbuda
  
Pico Cristobal Colon is the highest mountain in Colombia. The peak is named after Christopher Columbus
+
In 2009, Boggy peak was renamed Mount Obama after United States president Barack Obama. The original name was restored in 2016
  
 +
=== Bahamas ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Bahamas.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Nassau
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Nassau
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Mount Alvernia
 +
|}
 +
Bahamas consists of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2387 islets
  
'''Ecuador''' also includes the Galapagos Islands
+
Nassau was formerly known as Charles Town; it was burned to the ground by the Spanish in 1684. Rebuilt, it was renamed Nassau in 1695 in honour of William III from the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau. Nassau is on the island of New Providence
  
At an elevation of 2,800 meters above sea level, Quito is the highest official capital city in the world
+
Nassau is served by Lyndon Pindling International Airport
  
Guayaquil is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador
+
New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population
  
Cotapaxi is the world’s highest active volcano
+
Andros Island is an archipelago within the archipelago-nation of the Bahamas. It is the largest of the 26 inhabited Bahamian Islands
  
Chimborazo is a currently inactive stratovolcano located in the Andes. With a peak elevation of 6268 m, Chimborazo is the highest mountain in Ecuador. It is the highest peak in close proximity to the equator. While Chimborazo is not the highest mountain by elevation above sea level, its location along the equatorial bulge makes its summit the farthest point on the Earth's surface from the Earth's centre
+
Bimini comprises a chain of islands known for sport fishing
  
Galapagos Islands were discovered by the Bishop of Panama. Darwin reached the islands in 1835 in the Beagle. Islands include Espanola (oldest) and Guy Fawkes
+
=== Barbados ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Barbados.png|none|thumb]]
  
Galapagos – formerly known as Columbus Archipelago
+
Flag of Barbados is known as The Broken Trident
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Bridgetown
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Bridgetown
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Mount Hillaby
 +
|}
 +
Barbados is the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands
  
Fernandina Island (formerly known in English as Narborough Island) is the third largest, and youngest, island of the Galapagos Islands. The island is an active shield volcano that last erupted in 2005
+
Barbados is served by Grantley Adams airport
  
Isabela Island is the largest island of the Galapagos, nearly four times larger than Santa Cruz, the next largest of the islands. This island was named in honor of Queen Isabella of Spain who sponsored the voyage of Columbus. By the English, it was named Albemarle after the Duke of Albemarle. Shaped like a seahorse
+
Bridgetown was formerly ‘The Town of Saint Michael’
  
 +
In 1813, a statue was erected in Bridgetown, in what was known as Trafalgar Square, (now renamed National Heroes’ Square) in recognition of Nelson's bravery and as a tribute to his honour within the British Empire. This statue was sculpted from bronze by Richard Westmacott
  
'''French Guiana''', officially called simply, is an overseas department and region of France, on the north Atlantic coast of South America. A large part of the department's economy derives from the presence of the Guiana Space Centre, now the European Space Agency's primary launch site near the equator, at Kourou
+
=== Cuba ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Cuba.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Havana
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Havana, Santiago de Cuba
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Peso
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Pico Turquino
 +
|}
 +
Cuba comprises the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud and several archipelagos
  
Devil’s Island is the smallest and northernmost island of the three Iles du Salut located off the coast of French Guiana
+
Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean
  
 +
Isla de la Juventud is the second largest Cuban island
  
'''Guyana''' was originally colonised by the Netherlands. Later, it became a British colony, known as British Guiana, and remained so for over 200 years until it achieved independence in 1966. In 1970, Guyana officially became a republic
+
Havana is the country's main port and leading commercial centre and has a population of 2.1 million. Havana was founded by the Spanish in the 16th century
  
Guyana is a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations and has the distinction of being the only South American nation in which English is the official language. The majority of the population speaks Guyanese Creole
+
In 1982, Old Havana was made a World Heritage Site, because of its unique Baroque and neoclassical architecture, and its fortifications
  
Kaieteur Falls is a waterfall on the Potaro River in Kaieteur National Park, Guyana
+
The Malecon is a promenade that stretches for 8 km along the coast in Havana
  
Demerara River is a river in eastern Guyana
+
Necropolis Cristobal Colon is a cemetery and open-air museum in Havana named for Christopher Columbus
  
'''Paraguay''' is sometimes to as the “Heart of America”
+
The United States assumed territorial control over the southern portion of Guantanamo Bay under the 1903 Lease. The United States exercises jurisdiction and control over this territory, while recognizing that Cuba retains ultimate sovereignty
  
Paraguay's indigenous language and culture, Guaraní, remains highly influential
+
Alejandro de Humboldt National Park is a World Heritage site
  
Asuncion is home to nearly a third of Paraguay's population
+
Pico Turquino is located in the Sierra Maestra mountain range
  
Atlantic forest is in Paraguay
+
=== Dominica ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Dominica.png|none|thumb]]
  
 +
Flag of Dominica features the sisserou parrot
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Roseau
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Roseau
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|East Caribbean dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Mount Diablotins
 +
|}
 +
Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean" for its unspoiled natural beauty. Christopher Columbus named the island after the day of the week on which he spotted it, a Sunday, 3 November 1493
  
'''Peru''' was home to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The main spoken language is Spanish, although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua
+
Dominica was the last Caribbean island to be colonized
  
Lima airport named after Jorge Chavez, the first person to fly across the Alps
+
Boiling Lake is a flooded fumarole located in Morne Trois Pitons National Park. The lake is filled with bubbling water that is usually enveloped in a cloud of vapour
  
Cuzco is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley (Sacred Valley) of the Andes. Cuzco was the capital of Inca Empire
+
=== Dominican Republic ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Dominican-Republic.png|none|thumb]]
  
Cuzco is said to have been originally designed in the shape of a jaguar
+
Coat of arms on the Dominican Republic flag features a bible
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Santo Domingo
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Santo Domingo, Santiago de los Caballeros
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Peso
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Pico Duarte
 +
|}
 +
Dominican Republic occupies the eastern half of the island of Hispaniola
  
Machu Picchu is situated on a mountain ridge above the Sacred Valley which is 80 km northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often mistakenly referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas”
+
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzman, is the largest city in the Caribbean by population. Santo Domingo de Guzman was founded in 1501. Oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, and was the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World
  
Arequipa is known as the “white city”. Third largest city. Arequipa is the second most industrialized and commercial city of Peru
+
Santo Domingo was called Ciudad Trujillo from 1936 to 1961, after the Dominican Republic's dictator, Rafael Trujillo, named the capital after himself
  
Trujillo is the second largest city
+
The first cathedral in the Americas was in Santo Domingo
  
Moray is a town in Peru approximately 50 km northwest of Cuzco that is noted for a large complex of unusual Inca ruins. These include most notably several enormous terraced circular depressions that were used to study the effects of different climatic conditions on crops
+
Pico Duarte is the highest peak in all the Caribbean islands. It lies in the Cordillera Central range, the greatest of the Dominican Republic's mountain chains
  
Punta Parinas in Peru is the westernmost point in mainland South America
+
Saona Island lies off the coast of the Dominican Republic
  
 +
=== Grenada ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Grenada.png|none|thumb]]
  
'''Suriname''' is the smallest sovereign state in South America (French Guiana, while less extensive and populous, is an overseas department of France)
+
Flag of Grenada is charged with a nutmeg at the hoist triangle
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|St. George’s
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|St. George’s
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|East Caribbean dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Mount Saint Catherine
 +
|}
 +
Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and several small islands which lie to the north of the main island and are a part of the Grenadines
  
In 1667 Suriname was captured by the Dutch, who governed Suriname as Dutch Guiana until 1954. Gained independence in 1975, but Dutch is still the official language
+
Grenada is known as the ‘Island of Spice’ due to its production of nutmeg and mace crops
  
'''Uruguay''' is officially the Eastern Republic of Uruguay. It is ranked first in Latin America in democracy, peace, lack of corruption, and quality of living
+
St. George’s was named after the patron saint of England when the island was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763
  
Uruguay is geographically the second-smallest nation in South America after Suriname
+
=== Haiti ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Haiti.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Port-au-Prince
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haitien
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Gourde
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Pic la Selle
 +
|}
 +
Haiti occupies the western half of the island of Hispaniola
  
Uruguay is home to 3.3 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city, Montevideo
+
Haiti was known as Saint-Domingue before independence in 1804
  
Montevideo was first found by Juan Diaz De Solis in 1516
+
Haiti is the only French speaking independent republic in the Americas
  
Montevideo is served by Carrasco International Airport
+
Sans-Souci Palace was the royal residence of King Henri I (better known as Henri Christophe) of Haiti, Queen Marie-Louise and their twin daughters. Construction of the palace started in 1810 and was completed in 1813. It is located in the town of Milot, Nord Department. Its name translated from French means “without worry”. Close to the Palace is the renowned mountaintop fortress; the Citadelle Laferriere, built under decree by Henri Christophe to repel a feared French invasion
  
Salto is the second largest city
+
Navassa Island is a small uninhabited island in the Caribbean Sea. It is subject to an ongoing territorial dispute between Haiti and the United States
  
 +
=== Jamaica ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Jamaica.png|none|thumb]]
  
'''Venezuela''' has the world's largest oil reserves
+
Flag of Jamaica is the only national flag that does not contain a shade of the colours red, white, or blue
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Kingston
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Kingston, Portmore, Spanish Town, Montego Bay
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Blue Mountain Peak
 +
|}
 +
Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm. Once a Spanish possession known as Santiago, in 1655 it came under the rule of England, and was called Jamaica. It achieved full independence from the United Kingdom in 1962
  
In 1499, an expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda visited the Venezuelan coast. The stilt houses in the area of Lake Maracaibo reminded the navigator, Amerigo Vespucci, of the city of Venice, so he named the region "Veneziola"
+
Black River is one of the longest rivers in Jamaica
  
Maracaibo is the second largest city
+
Spanish Town was the former capital of Jamaica
  
Valencia is the third largest city
+
Jamaica is divided into 14 parishes, which are grouped into the three historic counties of Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey
  
River Orinoco flows through Venezuela
+
Kingston is in the county of Surrey
  
Lake Maracaibo is the largest lake in South America
+
Montego Bay is the second largest anglophone city in the Caribbean, after Kingston
  
Margarita Island is the largest island in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, situated in the Caribbean Sea
+
Port Royal was a city located at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour. Founded in 1588, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1692 and subsequent fires, hurricanes, flooding, epidemics and a final earthquake in 1907
  
 +
Blue Mountain Peak is the home of Blue Mountain coffee
  
Central America
+
=== Saint Kitts and Nevis ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-St-Kitts-Nevis.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Basseterre
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Basseterre
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|East Caribbean dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Mount Liamuiga
 +
|}
 +
Saint Kitts and Nevis specifically became the first ever British colony in the West Indies in 1624, and then became the first ever French colony in the Caribbean in 1625, when both nations decided to partition the island
  
'''Belize''' is the only commonwealth country in Central America and the only country in Central America whose official language is English
+
St Kitts was named by Christopher Columbus after St Christopher. Kit was a common nickname for Christopher
  
Chalillo Dam is a gravity dam in Belize
+
The Narrows separates St Kitts from Nevis
  
Lamanai and Caracol are Mayan ruins in Belize
+
Charlestown is the capital of Nevis
  
 +
St Kitts and Nevis is the smallest sovereign state in the Western Hemisphere, in both area and population
  
'''Costa Rica''' permanently abolished its army in 1949
+
=== Saint Lucia ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-St-Lucia.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Castries
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Castries, Soufriere
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|East Caribbean dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|Mount Gimie
 +
|}
 +
Saint Lucia was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse by the French, and is the only country named after an actual female historical figure
  
Cocos Island is an island located off the shore of Costa Rica, known as ‘Shark Island’
+
The Pitons, Gros Piton and Petit Piton, are two giant volcanic plugs located south of Soufriere and are a World Heritage Site
  
 +
=== Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-St-Vincent-the-Grenadines.png|none|thumb]]
  
'''El Salvador''' is the only Central American country that does not have a Caribbean coastline
+
The current flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was adopted in 1985. A breadfruit leaf was replaced by three diamonds forming the letter “V”
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Kingstown
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Kingstown
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|East Caribbean dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|La Soufriere
 +
|}
 +
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines consists of the main island of Saint Vincent and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines
  
El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and the most densely populated country in the Americas
+
Bequia is the second-largest island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  
Izalco is a stratovolcano on the side of the Santa Ana Volcano
+
Christopher Columbus, the first European to discover the island, named it after St. Vincent of Saragossa
  
 +
La Soufriere is an active volcano on the island of Saint Vincent. Many volcanoes in the Caribbean are named Soufriere (French: ‘sulphur outlet’). These include Soufriere Hills on Montserrat and La Grande Soufriere on Guadeloupe. The latest eruptive activity began in December 2020, with a series of explosive events beginning in April 2021
  
'''Guatemala''' is the most populous state in Central America
+
Mustique is a small private island in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  
El Mirador is a large pre-Columbian Mayan settlement, located in the north of the modern department of El Peten, Guatemala. Discovered in 1926
+
=== Trinidad and Tobago ===
 +
[[File:Flag-of-Trinidad-and-Tobago.png|none|thumb]]
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|Capital
 +
|Port of Spain
 +
|-
 +
|Largest cities
 +
|Chaguanas, San Fernando, Port of Spain
 +
|-
 +
|Currency
 +
|Dollar
 +
|-
 +
|Highest point
 +
|El Cerro del Aripo
 +
|}
 +
Trinidad and Tobago is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just 11 km off the northeastern coast of Venezuela
  
Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Peten Basin in northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site
+
Pitch Lake is a lake of natural asphalt located at La Brea in Trinidad. It was discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595
  
Tikal is the largest of the ancient ruined cities of the Maya civilization. Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, c. 200 to 850. Discovered by Alfred Maudslay
+
Scarborough is the chief town of Tobago
  
 +
=== Overseas territories ===
 +
'''Anguilla'''
  
'''Honduras''' was at times referred to as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became Belize. Honduras was home to several important Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya, prior to being conquered by Spain in the 16th century
+
Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands. The territory's capital is The Valley
  
La Ciudad Blanca (Spanish for "The White City") is a legendary settlement said to be located in the Mosquitia region of Honduras
+
'''Aruba'''
  
'''Nicaragua''' is the largest country in the Central American isthmus. On the Pacific side of the country are the two largest fresh water lakes in Central America – Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. Nicaragua achieved its independence from Spain in 1821
+
Aruba is one of the four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with the Netherlands, Curacao and Sint Maarten. Aruba’s capital is Oranjestad
  
'''Panama''' seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the Panama Canal to be built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
+
'''Bonaire'''
  
Panama Canal designed by Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1880, but the project failed. Work began again in 1904, and the canal was completed in 1914
+
Bonaire is one of the ABC islands, along with Aruba and Curacao. Bonaire's capital is Kralendijk
  
There are three sets of locks in the Panama Canal. A two-step flight at Miraflores, and a single flight at Pedro Miguel, lift ships from the Pacific up to Lake Gatun; then a triple flight at Gatun lowers them to the Atlantic side
+
'''British Virgin Islands'''
  
Bridge of the Americas spans the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. Built in 1962
+
British Virgin Islands is a British overseas territory located to the east of Puerto Rico. Consists of the main islands of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost Van Dyke, along with over fifty other smaller islands and cays. About 15 of the islands are inhabited. The capital, Road Town, is situated on Tortola, the largest island
  
 +
Necker Island is in the British Virgin Islands, and is owned by Richard Branson
  
Caribbean
+
'''Cayman Islands'''
  
The West Indies consist of the Antilles, divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the Caribbean sea on the north and the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), and the Bahamas. Bermuda lies much further to the north in the Atlantic Ocean (570 miles east of North Carolina) and is in the West Indies
+
Cayman Islands comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac
 
 
Lucayan Archipelago, also known as the Bahama Archipelago, is an island group comprising the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands
 
 
 
Greater Antilles – Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Cayman Islands
 
 
 
Lesser Antilles – Leeward Islands and Windward Islands
 
 
 
Leeward Islands – Northern group of the Lesser Antilles. Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and Montserrat
 
 
 
Windward Islands – Southern group of the Lesser Antilles. Martinique, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenadines
 
 
 
Caribbean Sea is known as “Sea of the Antilles”
 
 
 
Windward Passage is a strait in the Caribbean Sea, between the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola
 
 
 
Caribbean is the deepest sea. Deepest point is the Cayman Trough
 
 
 
Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean. It was also informally known as the Dutch Antilles. The country was dissolved in 2010. Historically the Netherlands Antilles included the colony of Curacao and its dependencies
 
 
 
 
 
'''Anguilla''' is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands
 
 
 
'''Antigua and Barbuda''' became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1981
 
 
 
Most of the population of Barbuda live in the town of Codrington
 
 
 
'''Aruba''' is one of the four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with the Netherlands, Curacao and Sint Maarten
 
 
 
<nowiki>*</nowiki>ABC – Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao
 
 
 
'''Bahamas''' consists of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2387 islets
 
 
 
Nassau was formerly known as Charles Town; it was burned to the ground by the Spanish in 1684. Rebuilt, it was renamed Nassau in 1695 in honour of William III from the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau
 
 
 
Andros Island is an archipelago within the archipelago-nation of the Bahamas, the largest of the 26 inhabited Bahamian Islands
 
 
 
'''Bermuda''' is divided into nine parishes
 
 
 
Somers Isles – Bermuda. Britain’s oldest colony. Named after Admiral George Somers
 
 
 
St George’s – first capital of Bermuda
 
 
 
St. George's Island is one of the main islands of the territory of Bermuda
 
 
 
Bermuda is Britain's second oldest remaining British Overseas Territory
 
 
 
'''Barbados''' is served by Grantley Adams airport
 
 
 
In 1813, a statue was erected in Bridgetown, in what was known as Trafalgar Square, (now renamed National Heroes’ Square) in recognition of Nelson's bravery and as a tribute to his honour within the British Empire. This statue was sculpted from bronze by Richard Westmacott
 
 
 
'''Cayman Islands''' – Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac
 
  
 
Cayman Islands are named after a reptile
 
Cayman Islands are named after a reptile
  
George Town is the capital of the Cayman Islands. Named after George III
+
George Town is the capital of the Cayman Islands, and was named after George III
  
 
One of Grand Cayman's main attractions is Seven Mile Beach
 
One of Grand Cayman's main attractions is Seven Mile Beach
  
'''Cuba''' comprises the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud and several archipelagos
+
'''Curacao'''
  
Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean
+
Curacao is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Willemstad is the capital of Curacao
  
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba
+
'''Guadeloupe'''
  
Isla de la Juventud is the second largest Cuban island
+
Guadeloupe is an overseas department and region of France
  
'''Dominica''' has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean" for its unspoiled natural beauty. Christopher Columbus named the island after the day of the week on which he spotted it, a Sunday, 3 November 1493
+
Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre are the two main islands, and are separated by a narrow sea channel called Salt River
  
'''Dominican Republic''' occupies the eastern half of the island of Hispaniola
+
Pointe-a-pitre is the largest city in Guadeloupe
  
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzman, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic and the largest city in the Caribbean by population Santo Domingo de Guzman was founded in 1501. Oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, and was the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World
+
The capital city is Basse-Terre
  
First cathedral in the Americas was in Santo Domingo
+
'''Martinique'''
  
Pico Duarte is the highest peak in all the Caribbean islands. It lies in the Cordillera Central range, the greatest of the Dominican Republic's mountain chains
+
Martinique is a single territorial collectivity of the French Republic. It is also part of the European Union as an Outermost Region
  
'''Guadeloupe''' comprises two main islands: Basse-Terre Island, Grande-Terre (separated from Basse-Terre by a narrow sea channel called Salt River)
+
In Martinique there is a statue of the Empress Josephine, who was born in Martinique, holding a locket with a portrait of Napoleon
  
Guadeloupe is an overseas region of France
+
In 1902, Mont Pelee erupted and completely destroyed St. Pierre, killing 30,000 people
  
'''Haiti''' occupies the western half of the island of Hispaniola
+
The capital city is Fort-de-France
  
Haiti is the only French speaking independent republic in Americas
+
'''Montserrat'''
  
Sans-Souci Palace was the royal residence of King Henri I (better known as Henri Christophe) of Haiti, Queen Marie-Louise and their twin daughters. Construction of the palace started in 1810 and was completed in 1813. It is located in the town of Milot, Nord Department. Its name translated from French means “without worry”. Close to the Palace is the renowned mountaintop fortress; the Citadelle Laferriere, built under decree by Henri Christophe to repel a feared French invasion
+
Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory
  
'''Jamaica''' is a Commonwealth realm. Once a Spanish possession known as Santiago, in 1655 it came under the rule of England, and was called Jamaica. It achieved full independence from the United Kingdom in 1962
+
Christopher Columbus gave Montserrat its name on his second voyage to the New World in 1493, after Montserrat mountain located in Catalonia. Montserrat is nicknamed the ‘Emerald Isle of the Caribbean’
  
Black River is one of the longest rivers in Jamaica
+
In 1995, the previously dormant Soufriere Hills volcano became active. Eruptions destroyed Montserrat's Georgian era capital city of Plymouth and two-thirds of the island's population was forced to flee. Interim government buildings have since been built at Brades, becoming the political capital in 1998
  
Spanish Town was the former capital of Jamaica
+
Little Bay is a port town under construction which is intended to be the future capital
  
Jamaica is divided into 14 parishes, which are grouped into the three historic counties of Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey
+
'''Puerto Rico'''
  
Port Royal was a city located at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour. Founded in 1588, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1692 and subsequent fires, hurricanes, flooding, epidemics and a final earthquake in 1907
+
Puerto Rico is located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands
  
'''Martinique''' is an overseas region of France
+
Puerto Rico is an incorporated territory of the United States
  
In Martinique there is a statue of the Empress Josephine, who was born in Martinique,  holding a locket with a portrait of Napoleon
+
San Juan is the capital and largest city
  
Mount Pelee is on Martinique, and erupted in 1902
+
In a referendum in 2020, 52% voted that Puerto Rico should be admitted immediately into the Union as a State
  
'''Montserrat''' is a British Overseas Territory
+
'''Saba'''
  
Christopher Columbus gave Montserrat its name on his second voyage to the New World in 1493, after Montserrat mountain located in Catalonia. Montserrat is nicknamed “the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean”
+
Saba is the smallest special municipality of the Netherlands
  
In 1995, the previously dormant Soufriere Hills volcano became active. Eruptions destroyed Montserrat's Georgian era capital city of Plymouth and two-thirds of the island's population was forced to flee
+
The capital of Saba is The Bottom
  
'''Puerto Rico''' is located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands
+
Mount Scenery on the island of Saba, now considered an integral part of the Netherlands following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, is the highest point of the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands at 887 m
  
Puerto Rico voted against becoming the 51st US state in 1998
+
'''Saint Barthelemy'''
  
'''Saba''' is the smallest special municipality of the Netherlands
+
Saint Barthelemy is a French overseas collectivity. Until 2003 Saint Barthelemy was a French commune forming part of Guadeloupe
  
Mount Scenery on the island of Saba, now considered an integral part of the Netherlands following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, is the highest point in the Netherlands at 887 m
+
Gustavia is the main town and capital. Named in honour of King Gustav III of Sweden
  
'''Saint Kitts''' specifically became the first ever British colony in the West Indies in 1624, and then became the first ever French colony in the Caribbean in 1625, when both nations decided to partition the island
+
'''Sint Eustatius'''
  
The Narrows separates St Kitts from '''Nevis'''
+
Sint Eustatius is a special municipality of the Netherlands in the northern Leeward Islands. The capital is Oranjestad
  
'''Saint Lucia''' was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse by the French
+
Caribbean Netherlands consists of the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, known as the BES islands
  
'''Saint Martin''' is a tropical island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately 240 km east of Puerto Rico. The 87 km² island is divided roughly in half between France and the Netherlands; it is the smallest inhabited sea island divided between two nations
+
'''Turks and Caicos Islands'''
  
The short length of the main runway at Princess Juliana International Airport in Saint Martin, and its position between a large hill and a beach causes some spectacular approaches. The southern Dutch part comprises Sint Maarten
+
Turks and Caicos Islands is a British Overseas Territory consisting of two groups of islands southeast of the Bahamas. The capital is Cockburn Town
  
'''Saint Vincent and the Grenadines''' consists of the main island of Saint Vincent and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines
+
'''United States Virgin Islands'''
  
La Soufriere is an active volcano on the island of Saint Vincent. Many volcanoes in the Caribbean are named Soufriere (French: ‘sulphur outlet’). These include Soufriere Hills on Montserrat and La Grande Soufriere on Guadeloupe
+
United States Virgin Islands are an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States
  
'''Sint Eustatius''' is a Dutch overseas public body in the northern Leeward Islands. The capital is Oranjestad
+
Named by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493 for Saint Ursula and her virgin followers. The main islands are Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas. Formerly the Danish West Indies, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in 1916
  
'''Trinidad''' is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just 11 km off the northeastern coast of Venezuela
+
Charlotte Amalie, located on Saint Thomas, is the capital and largest city
  
Pitch Lake is a lake of natural asphalt located at La Brea in Trinidad. It was discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595
+
== Bermuda ==
 +
[[File:Flag of Bermuda.svg.png|center|thumb]]
 +
Bermuda is Britain's second oldest remaining British Overseas Territory. It lies 1,000 km southeast of North Carolina, 1,700 km northeast of Cuba and 1,500 kn north of the British Virgin Islands
  
Scarborough is the chief town of '''Tobago'''
+
Capital – Hamilton
  
'''US Virgin Islands''' were named by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493 for Saint Ursula and her virgin followers. The main islands are Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas. Formerly the Danish West Indies, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in 1916
+
Largest city – St Georges
  
 +
Bermuda is an archipelago consisting of 181 islands
  
Other islands
+
Bermuda is divided into nine parishes
  
'''Falkland Islands''' took their English name from Falkland Sound, the channel between the two main islands, which was in turn named after Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland by Captain John Strong, who landed on the islands in 1690
+
Somers Isles was Britain’s oldest colony. Named after Admiral George Somers
  
Mount Pleasant airport serves the Falklands
+
St George’s was the first capital of Bermuda
  
Port Stanley was renamed Puerto Argentino, briefly, in 1982
+
St. George's Island is one of the main islands of the territory of Bermuda
 
 
Pebble Island one of the Falkland Islands
 
  
Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia
+
== Greenland ==
 +
[[File:Flag of Greenland.svg.png|center|thumb]]
 +
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the world's largest island, located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans
  
 +
Capital and largest city – Nuuk
  
'''Greenland''' ice sheet is a vast body of ice covering 1,710,000 square kilometres (660,235 sq mi), roughly 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is the second largest ice body in the world, after the Antarctic Ice Sheet
+
Highest point – Gunnbjorn Fjeld, which is also the highest mountain north of the Arctic circle
  
Cape Farewell – southern most point of Greenland
+
Greenland ice sheet is a vast body of ice covering 1,710,000 square kilometres (660,235 sq mi), roughly 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is the second largest ice body in the world, after the Antarctic Ice Sheet
  
Ilulissat Icefjord is a fjord in western Greenland. At its eastern end is the Jakobshavn Isbræ glacier, the most productive glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. Larger icebergs typically do not melt until they reach 40 – 45 degrees north
+
Cape Farewell is the southernmost point of Greenland
  
Store glacier – Greenland
+
Ilulissat Icefjord is a fjord in western Greenland. At its eastern end is the Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier, the most productive glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. Larger icebergs typically do not melt until they reach 40 45 degrees north
  
 
Petermann glacier connects the Greenland ice sheet to the Arctic Ocean
 
Petermann glacier connects the Greenland ice sheet to the Arctic Ocean
  
 +
Scoresby Sound is a large fjord system of the Greenland Sea on the eastern coast of Greenland
  
Borders
+
Northeast Greenland National Park is the world's largest national park
  
World’s most powerful hydroelectric dam – Itaipu, on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, on the Rio Parana, the second longest river in South America. Gravity dam, completed in 1982
+
Kaffeklubben Island is an uninhabited island off the northern tip of Greenland. It contains the most northerly point of land on Earth
  
Chihuahuan desert – borders USA and Mexico
+
King Christian IX Land and King Frederick VIII Land are geographical areas of Greenland
  
Sonoran desert – borders of Arizona and Mexico
+
== Hispaniola ==
 +
Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the region's second largest in area, after the island of Cuba
  
Lake Titicaca is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world, at 3812 m above sea level. Located in the Altiplano high in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia, Titicaca has a maximum depth of 281 m. The western part of the lake belongs to the Puno Region of Peru, and the eastern side is located in the Bolivian La Paz Department
+
The island is divided into Dominican Republic to the east and Haiti to the west
  
Iguazu Falls – located on the border of the Brazilian state of Parana and the Argentine province of Misiones. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. The waterfall system consists of 275 falls, including The Devil’s Throat
+
== Saint Martin ==
 +
Saint Martin is shared between France ('''Saint Martin''') and the Netherlands ('''Sint Maarten'''). it is the smallest inhabited sea island divided between two nations
  
The 49th parallel of north latitude forms part of the international boundary between Canada and the United States from Manitoba to British Columbia on the Canadian side and from Minnesota to Washington on the U.S. side. Its use as a border is a result of the Anglo-American Convention of 1818 and the Oregon Treaty of 1846
+
Princess Juliana International Airport is the main airport on Sint Maarten. The airport has very low-altitude flyover landing approaches, owing to one end of its runway being extremely close to the shore and Maho Beach
  
From largest to smallest, the three waterfalls of the Niagara Falls are the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. The Horseshoe Falls lie mostly on the Canadian side and the American Falls entirely on the American side (New York state), separated by Goat Island. The smaller Bridal Veil Falls are also located on the American side, separated from the other waterfalls by Luna Island. The combined falls form the highest flow rate of any waterfall in the world
+
== Physical Geography ==
 +
<u>Regions</u>
  
 
The Canadian Shield, also called the Precambrian Shield, Laurentian Shield, or Laurentian Plateau, is a large thin-soiled area over a part of the North American craton (a deep, common, joined bedrock region) in eastern and central Canada and adjacent portions of the US, composed of base rock dating to the Precambrian Era
 
The Canadian Shield, also called the Precambrian Shield, Laurentian Shield, or Laurentian Plateau, is a large thin-soiled area over a part of the North American craton (a deep, common, joined bedrock region) in eastern and central Canada and adjacent portions of the US, composed of base rock dating to the Precambrian Era
  
Chilkoot Trail leads from Dyea, Alaska, to Bennett, British Columbia. It is part of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in the United States. It was a major access route from the coast to Yukon goldfields in the late 1890s
+
Continental Divide (or Great Divide) of the Americas is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from, 1) those river systems which drain into the Atlantic Ocean and 2) those river systems which drain into the Arctic Ocean
  
Gran Chaco – a sparsely populated, hot and semi-arid lowland region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, where it is connected with the Pantanal region
+
<u>Mountains</u>
  
Continental Divide (or Great Divide) of the Americas is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from, 1) those river systems which drain into the Atlantic Ocean and 2) those river systems which drain into the Arctic Ocean
+
Highest mountains in North America – McKinley, Logan, Pico de Orizaba
  
Pan-American Highway measures 29,800 miles in total length. Except for a 54 mile rainforest break, called the Darien Gap, the road links the mainland nations of the Americas in a connected highway system. Extends from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to the lower reaches of South America
+
Rocky Mountains stretch more than 3,000 miles from the northernmost part of British Columbia to New Mexico. Within the North American Cordillera, the Rockies are distinct from the Pacific Coast Ranges and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada which all lie further to the west. The highest point is Mount Elbert in Colorado
  
 +
Appalachian Mountains extend over 2,000 miles from Newfoundland and Labrador to Alabama. The highest point is Mount Mitchell, in North Carolina
  
Rivers
+
Appalachian Trail extends between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately 2,181 miles long
  
Amazon River is the largest river by discharge of water in the world. The Amazon basin is the largest drainage basin in the world. Flows for 4,000 miles through Brazil, Colombia and Peru
+
Mount Saint Elias is the second highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, being situated on the Yukon and Alaska border
  
Javary River is a tributary of the Amazon that forms the boundary between Brazil and Peru for more than 500 miles
+
Maya Mountains are located in Belize and eastern Guatemala
  
In its upper stretches, above the confluence of the Rio Negro, the Amazon is called Solimoes in Brazil
+
American Cordillera is a chain of mountain ranges (cordilleras) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western ‘backbone’ of the Americas. Aconcagua is the highest peak of the chain. It is also the backbone of the volcanic arc that forms the eastern half of the Pacific Ring of Fire
  
Madeira River is one of the biggest tributaries of the Amazon, and flows through Brazil and Bolivia
+
<u>Deserts</u>
  
Parana River runs through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina
+
Sonoran Desert covers large parts of the southwestern United States (in Arizona and California), as well as the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur
  
Longest rivers in North America – Missouri, Mississippi, Yukon, Rio Grande, Nelson
+
Chihuahuan Desert covers parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States
  
Longest rivers in South America – Amazon, Parana, Madeira, Purus, Sao Francisco
+
<u>Rivers</u>
  
 +
Longest rivers of the United States – Missouri, Mississippi, Yukon, Rio Grande
  
Mountains
+
St. Lawrence River flows from Lake Ontario into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean and forming the primary drainage outflow of the Great Lakes Basin. The river traverses the provinces of Ontario and Quebec as well as the U.S. state of New York, and is part of the international boundary between Canada and the United States. It also provides the basis for the commercial St. Lawrence Seaway
  
Rocky Mountains stretch more than 3,000 miles from the northernmost part of British Columbia to New Mexico. Within the North American Cordillera, the Rockies are distinct from the Pacific Coast Ranges and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada which all lie further to the west
+
Thousand Islands constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario
  
Andes is the longest continental mountain range in the world, stretching for 4,300 miles through Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. The Altiplano plateau is the world's second-highest following the Tibetan plateau
+
Thousand Island dressing is named after the Thousand Islands region
  
Parinacota, a composite volcano, is located on the Chilean / Bolivian frontier and is one of two volcanoes that make up the Nevados Payachata range. The other older volcano, Pomerape, is located to the northeast of Parinacota and makes up the northern part of this volcanic range
+
Just Room Enough Island is located in the Thousand Islands chain, belonging to New York. The island is known for being the smallest inhabited island
  
Mount Roraima includes the triple border point of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana
+
<u>Seas</u>
  
Maya Mountains are in Belize and eastern Guatemala
+
Beaufort Sea is in Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska
  
Highest mountains in North America – McKinley, Logan, Pico de Orizaba
+
Lincoln Sea is a body of water in the Arctic Ocean, stretching from Cape Columbia, Canada, in the west to Cape Morris Jesup, Greenland
  
Highest mountains in South America – Aconcagua, Ojos del Salado, Monte Pissis
+
Greenland Sea borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Greenland Sea is often defined as part of the Arctic Ocean. Molloy Deep, within the Greenland Sea, is the deepest point of the Arctic Ocean
  
 +
Lomonosov Ridge is an underwater ridge of continental crust in the Arctic Ocean. It spans 1800 km from the New Siberian Islands over the central part of the ocean to Ellesmere Island of the Canadian Arctic islands. Named in honour of Russian scientist and polymath Mikhail Lomonosov
  
Seas and oceans
+
Salish Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean located in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington. It includes the Strait of Georgia, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Puget Sound
  
Sargasso Sea is an elongated region in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by ocean currents. On the west it is bounded by the Gulf Stream; on the north, by the North Atlantic Current; on the east, by the Canary Current; and on the south, by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current
+
Strait of Juan de Fuca forms the principal outlet for the Georgia Strait and Puget Sound, connecting both to the Pacific Ocean. It provides part of the international boundary between the United States and Canada
  
Beaufort Sea is in Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska
+
San Juan Islands are an archipelago between the state of Washington and Vancouver Island
  
Drake Passage is the body of water between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica
+
Sargasso Sea is an elongated region in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by ocean currents. On the west it is bounded by the Gulf Stream; on the north, by the North Atlantic Current; on the east, by the Canary Current; and on the south, by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current
  
Beagle Channel is a strait separating islands of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago. The Beagle Channel, the Straits of Magellan to the north, and the open ocean Drake Passage to the south are the three navigable passages around South America between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. Most commercial shipping is through the Drake Passage
+
Gulf of Paria is an inland sea located between Trinidad and Venezuela. In the north, the Gulf is connected to the Caribbean Sea through the Dragons' Mouths. In the south, the Gulf is connected to the Atlantic through the Columbus Channel, also known as the Serpent's Mouth
  
Strait of Juan de Fuca forms the principal outlet for the Georgia Strait and Puget Sound, connecting both to the Pacific Ocean. It provides part of the international boundary between the United States and Canada
+
Gulf of Fonseca is in the Pacific Ocean and borders El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua
  
Lomonosov Ridge – underwater ridge of continental crust in the Arctic Ocean. It spans 1800 km from the New Siberian Islands over the central part of the ocean to Ellesmere Island of the Canadian Arctic islands. Named in honour of Russian scientist and polymath Mikhail Lomonosov
+
Mona Passage separates the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico
 
 
Greenland Sea borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Greenland Sea is often defined as part of the Arctic Ocean
 
  
 
Yucatan Channel separates Mexico from Cuba
 
Yucatan Channel separates Mexico from Cuba
Line 1,733: Line 2,471:
  
 
Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, also known as the Great Mayan Reef, is a marine region that stretches over 1000 km from the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula down to Belize, Guatemala and Honduras
 
Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, also known as the Great Mayan Reef, is a marine region that stretches over 1000 km from the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula down to Belize, Guatemala and Honduras
 
Milwaukee Deep is the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean and is part of the Puerto Rico Trench
 

Latest revision as of 15:18, 17 July 2023

United States

Flag-of-United-States-of-America.png

Flag of United States contains 13 stripes representing the Thirteen Colonies and 50 stars representing the 50 states. Known as the Stars and Stripes, the Star-Spangled Banner, and Old Glory

Capital Washington, D.C.
Largest cities New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix
Currency Dollar
Highest point Denali (Mount McKinley)

The United States is the world's fourth-largest country by total area and third most populous (320 million). The U.S. population almost quadrupled during the 20th century, from about 76 million in 1900

In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

Largest states by area – Alaska, Texas, California, Montana, New Mexico

Smallest states by area – Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire

Largest states by population – California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois

Smallest states by population – Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota

The 49th parallel of north latitude forms part of the international boundary between Canada and the United States from Manitoba to British Columbia on the Canadian side and from Minnesota to Washington on the U.S. side. Its use as a border is a result of the Anglo-American Convention of 1818 and the Oregon Treaty of 1846

Map of USA with state names 2.svg


Alabama (AL)

Alabama.png

Capital – Montgomery

Largest city – Huntsville

Nickname – Heart of Dixie, Cotton State, Yellowhammer State

Birmingham is Alabama's second-most populous city after Huntsville. The broader Birmingham metropolitan area us largest metropolitan area in Alabama

Mobile was founded in 1702 by the French as the first capital of Louisiana

Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is in Sheffield

Alaska (AK)

Alaska.png

Capital – Juneau

Largest city – Anchorage

Nickname – The Last Frontier, Land of the Midnight Sun

Alaska time zone is UTC-09:00

Alaska is the least densely populated state

Alaska has longest coastline in USA

Alaska has boroughs, not counties

Juneau cannot be reached by car

Barrow is the northernmost settlement on the North American mainland and in the United States. Nearby Point Barrow is the northernmost point of the United States. Barrow is now known as Utqiagvik

Disenchantment Bay is in Alaska

Alexander Archipelago is in Alaska

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is in Alaska

Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes is a valley within Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska which is filled with ash flow from the eruption of Novarupta in 1912

Cape Prince of Wales is the westernmost mainland point of the Americas

Little Diomede or “Yesterday Isle” is the smaller of the two Diomede Islands located in the middle of the Bering Strait between the Alaska mainland and Siberia. Big Diomede Island is part of Russia and west of the International Date Line

Sitka is the largest city-borough by total area in the United States

Fairbanks is the second most populous metropolitan area

Tongass National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest

Attu is the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and the westernmost point of land relative to Alaska. The island is currently uninhabited. The island was the site of the only World War II land battle fought on an incorporated territory of the United States

Unalaska is an island in the Fox Islands group of the Aleutian Islands

Yakutat City is the largest city by area in USA

Mount Aniakchak is a volcanic caldera located in the Aleutian Range

Kodiak Island is the second largest island in USA, behind Big Island, Hawaii

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in March from Anchorage to Nome

Alaska Highway was constructed as an emergency supply route in WWII and connects the contiguous U.S. to Alaska through Canada. It runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Faribanks, Alaska. Completed in 1943, it is 1,390 miles long

Dalton Highway is a 414-mile road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse near the Arctic Ocean and the Prudhoe Bay oil fields

Chilkoot Trail leads from Dyea, Alaska, to Bennett, British Columbia. It is part of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in the United States. It was a major access route from the coast to Yukon goldfields in the late 1890s

Arizona (AZ)

Arizona.png

Capital and largest city – Phoenix

Nickname – Grand Canyon State, Apache State

Phoenix is the largest city which is also a state capital

Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 and designed by Frank Crowe. Produces hydroelectric power. Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume

The Grand Canyon is a canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona. The Grand Canyon is 446 km long, up to 29 km wide and attains a depth of over a mile. The thick sequence of ancient rocks that are well preserved and exposed in the walls of the canyon record much of the early geologic history of the North American continent

Painted Desert is composed of stratified layers of easily erodible siltstone, mudstone, and shale. These fine-grained rock layers contain abundant iron and manganese compounds which provide the pigments for the various colours of the region

The Wave is a spectacular sandstone formation on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area

Meteor crater was created about 50,000 years ago. The object that excavated the crater was a nickel-iron meteorite about 50 m across. Scientists refer to the crater as Barringer Crater in honour of Daniel Barringer who was first to suggest that it was produced by meteorite impact

Petrified Forest National Park is named for its large deposits of petrified wood

London Bridge in Lake Havasu City is the reconstruction of the 1831 London Bridge designed by John Rennie until it was dismantled in 1967. The bridge was bought by Robert P. McCulloch from the City of London

O.K. Corral (Old Kindersley) was originally from 1879 to about 1888 a livery and horse corral in the mining boomtown of Tombstone

Maricopa County is the fourth-most populous county in the United States

Canyon de Chelly National Monument preserves ruins of the indigenous tribes that lived in the area, from the Ancestral Puebloans (also known as the Anasazi) to the Navajo

Arkansas (AR)

Arkansas.png

Capital and largest city – Little Rock

Nickname – The Natural State, Bear State, Land of Opportunity

Mississippi River forms most of the eastern border of Arkansas

Hot Springs National Park is in Arkansas

California (CA)

California.png

Capital – Sacramento

Largest cities – Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco

Nickname – The Golden State

Los Angeles is known as the ‘City of Angels’ and the ‘Big Orange’

The Hollywood sign originally read ‘HOLLYWOODLAND’, and its purpose was to advertise a new housing development

Sunset Strip is the name given to the 2.4 km stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood

Whisky a Go Go is a nightclub on the Sunset Strip

Los Angeles Aqueduct system comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct (Owens Valley aqueduct) and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct delivers water from the Owens River in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains into the city of Los Angeles. Designed by William Mulholland. Completed in 1913

St. Francis Dam was a gravity dam built as a large reservoir near the city of Los Angeles. The dam was built between 1924 and 1926 under the supervision of William Mulholland, an engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. In 1928, the dam catastrophically failed

La Brea Tar Pits are a cluster of tar pits located in Hancock Park in the urban heart of Los Angeles. Over many centuries, animals that came to drink the water fell in, sank in the tar, and were preserved as bones. The George C. Page Museum is dedicated to researching the tar pits and displaying specimens from the animals that died there

John Wayne airport is in Orange County

Santa Ana is in Orange County

John Paul Getty museum is in Malibu

San Francisco cable cars are the world’s only mobile National Monument. Started operation in 1873

Fisherman's Wharf is a popular tourist attraction

The Immigration Station on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay processed approximately one million Asian immigrants and has been designated a National Historic Landmark

Alcatraz Island is 2 km offshore from San Francisco. In 1934, the island was converted into a federal prison. The strong currents around the island and cold water temperatures made escape all but impossible. The prison closed in 1963, and the island is now a major tourist attraction

Marin County is across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Natural sites include the Muir Woods redwood forest, the Marin Headlands, Stinson Beach, the Point Reyes National Seashore, and Mount Tamalpais

Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley are part of the Wine Country in the northern San Francisco Bay Area

Farallon Islands are a group of islands off the coast of San Francisco. The islands are also sometimes referred to by mariners as the Devil's Teeth Islands, in reference to the many treacherous underwater shoals in their vicinity

San Diego has one of the world’s largest zoos

San Diego International Airport is on the site of a municipal airport named Lindbergh Field

San Jose is the county seat of Santa Clara County

John Sutter founded the city of Sacramento, first naming it New Helvetia, the ancient name of Switzerland

Neverland, formerly the Sycamore Valley Ranch, is in Santa Barbara County

Gilroy Garlic Festival is held annually in July

Lassen Volcanic National Park is in central northern California. The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak; the largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southern-most volcano in the Cascade Range. Lassen Volcanic National Park started as two separate national monuments designated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907: Cinder Cone National Monument and Lassen Peak National Monument

Yosemite National Park covers an area of 3,074 km2. It was Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984

El Capitan is a 1000 m vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is one of the world's favourite challenges for rock climbers. The Nose is a climbing route up El Capitan

Mono Lake contains bacteria that grow in high concentrations of arsenic

Sutter Buttes in California are sometimes referred to as the world's smallest mountain range

San Bernardino County is the largest county in the contiguous United States by area

El Camino Real is a 600-mile road connecting the 21 Spanish missions in California

Zabriskie Point is in Death Valley National Park

Death Valley is the largest national park south of Alaska

Furnace Creek holds the record for the highest recorded air temperature on Earth at 134 °F (56.7 °C)

Telescope Peak is the highest point in Death Valley National Park

Joshua Tree National Park is named after the Joshua trees native to the Mojave Desert. Originally declared a national monument in 1936, Joshua Tree was redesignated as a national park in 1994

Sequoia National Park is in the southern Sierra Nevada. It contains giant sequoia trees, including the General Sherman tree, the largest tree on Earth

Salton Sea is the largest lake in California. It is a saline endorheic lake that is heavily polluted

Santa Cruz is the largest of the Californian Channel Islands

Colorado (CO)

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Capital and largest city – Denver

Nickname – Centennial State

Colorado is known as the Centennial state because it was admitted to the Union in 1876

Denver International Airport has four murals, all of which have been the topic of conspiracy theorists and debate, and popularized in ‘Family Guy’

Mount Elbert is highest mountain in Rockies

Mesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. The park features numerous ruins of homes and villages built by the ancient Pueblo people known as the Anasazi. The Anasazi made this stone village their home in the 1200s, before being killed off by drought in 13th century

Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountains is higher than any point in the United States east of its longitude. ‘Pike's Peak or Bust’ became the slogan of the Colorado Gold Rush

Colorado River was known as the Grand River until 1921

Colorado River drains into the Gulf of California

Connecticut (CT)

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Capital – Hartford

Largest city – Bridgeport

Nickname – Constitution State, Nutmeg State

Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum is in Connecticut

Delaware (DE)

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Flag of Delaware has the date 7 December 1787, the day on which Delaware became the first state to ratify the United States Constitution

Capital – Dover

Largest city – Wilmington

Nickname – The First State, Diamond State

Delaware is divided into three counties, named New Castle, Kent, and Sussex

Delaware was a Dutch colony

Delaware is considered a corporate haven because of its business-friendly corporate laws. More than half of all U.S. publicly traded companies, and 63% of the Fortune 500, are incorporated in Delaware

Delaware Bay is bordered by Delaware and New Jersey

Delmarva is a large peninsula occupied by most of Delaware as well as the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the Eastern Shore of Virginia

Florida (FL)

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Capital – Tallahassee

Largest city – Jacksonville

Nickname – Sunshine State, Peninsula State

Miami has the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world

Miami is built on a bedrock of limestone

St. Petersburg is the second largest city in the Tampa Bay Area

Orlando is nicknamed ‘The City Beautiful’ and its symbol is the fountain at Lake Eola

Orlando attracts over 75 million tourists a year

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city, and the oldest port, in the continental United States

Fort Lauderdale is known as the ‘Venice of America’

Lake Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in Florida

Sunshine Skyway Bridge was destroyed in 1980 when hit by a ship

Three counties in the Tampa region are known as ‘sinkhole alley’

Florida's peninsula is made up of porous carbonate rocks such as limestone that store and help move groundwater. Dirt, sand and clay sit on top of the carbonate rock. Over time, these rocks can dissolve from an acid created from oxygen in water, creating a void underneath the limestone roof. When the dirt, clay or sand gets too heavy for the limestone roof, it can collapse and form a sinkhole

Mar-a-Lago is a resort in Palm Beach

The northern end of the Biscayne Bay lagoon is surrounded by Downtown Miami

Pensacola is the westernmost city of the Florida panhandle. Pensacola beach is known for its white sand beaches

Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago forming the southernmost part of the continental United States

Key West is the westernmost island connected by U.S. Highway 1 and is 95 miles from Cuba

Key Largo calls itself the ‘Diving Capital of the World’

Straits of Florida are between Florida Keys and Cuba

Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of Florida. The primary feature of the Everglades is the sawgrass marsh

Florida is the US state most affected by lightning

Georgia (GA)

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Capital and largest city – Atlanta

Nickname – Peach State, Empire State of the South

Peachtree Street is the main north-south Street of Atlanta

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport has been the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic since 1998

Macon is known as the ‘Heart of Georgia’

Stone Mountain is a quartz dome monadnock. Stone Mountain is well-known not only for its geology, but also for the enormous bas-relief on its north face, the largest bas-relief in the world. Three figures of the Confederate States of America are carved there: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis. Sculped by Gutzon Borglum

Savannah was the first state capital of Georgia

Savannah River forms most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia

Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow 1770 km² peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida border. Okefenokee is the largest "blackwater" swamp in North America

Hawaii (HI)

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Capital and largest city – Honolulu

Nickname – Aloha State

Hawaii-Aleutian time zone is UTC-10:00

‘Iolani Palace was the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaii ending with Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893

Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands

Pearl Harbour and Honolulu are on the island of Oahu

Mauna Kea (‘white mountain’) is taller than Everest when measured from its base; it rises over 10,203 m when measured from its base on the mid-ocean floor, but only attains 4205 m above sea level

Mauna Kea observatory is on Hawaii

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is a volcano observatory located at Uwekahuna Bluff on the rim of Kilauea Caldera on the Island of Hawaii

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park encompasses two active volcanoes: Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the world's most massive volcano

Mount Kilauea emits large quantities of sulphur dioxide

Hilo is the main town on the island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island

Kauai is the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands

Lanai is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is also known as the Pineapple Island

The Hawaiian Islands were (and continue to be) continuously formed from volcanic activity initiated at an undersea magma source called a hotspot. As the tectonic plate beneath much of the Pacific Ocean moves to the northwest, the hot spot remains stationary, slowly creating new volcanoes

Haleakala is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the island of Maui

Niihau is an island in Hawaii known as ‘The Forbidden Isle’ as it is privately owned

Idaho (ID)

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Capital and largest city – Boise

Nickname – Gem State, Gem of the Mountains

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a national monument and national preserve located in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho

Illinois (IL)

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Capital – Springfield

Largest city – Chicago

Nickname – Prairie State

Fort Dearborn, named in honour of Henry Dearborn, was a United States fort built on the Chicago River in 1803 by troops under Captain John Whistler. The site of the fort is now a Chicago Landmark, part of the Michigan–Wacker Historic District

Chicago is called the ‘windy city’ due to politicians being full of hot air

O’Hare airport in Chicago has the code ORD, as it was previously known as Orchard Field

LaSalle Street is a major street in Chicago named for Sieur de La Salle, an early explorer of Illinois. The portion that runs through the Chicago Loop is considered to be Chicago's financial district

Chicago Midway Airport honours the Battle of Midway

Taste of Chicago (also known locally as The Taste) is the world's largest food festival, held for five days in July

Museum of Science and Industry is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts

Chicago "L" (short for "elevated") is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago

Navy Pier is a 3,300’ long pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan

In 1900 the flow of the Chicago River was reversed using a series of canal locks, increasing the river's flow from Lake Michigan and causing it to empty into the newly completed Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal

Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield contains Abraham Lincoln’s tomb

Indiana (IN)

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Capital and largest city – Indianapolis

Nickname – Hoosier State

Indiana received its name because the state was largely possessed by native tribes even after it was granted statehood

Fort Wayne is the second largest city in Indiana

Iowa (IA)

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Capital and largest city – Des Moines

Nickname – Hawkeye State

During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana; its state flag is patterned after the flag of France

Maharishi Vedic City is a city in Jefferson County, Iowa

Kansas (KS)

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Capital – Topeka

Largest city – Wichita

Nickname – Sunflower State

Lebanon is the centre of the 48 contiguous states

Boot Hill Museum is in Dodge City

Kentucky (KY)

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Capital – Frankfort

Largest city – Louisville

Nickname – Bluegrass State

The Bethlehem, Kentucky post office offers a special postmark during the Christmas season

Mammoth Cave National Park encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world

Louisiana (LA)

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Capital – Baton Rouge

Largest city – New Orleans

Nickname – Pelican State, Bayou State, Creole State

Louisiana is the only state with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are equivalent to counties

New Orleans is known as “crescent city”, alluding to the course of the Lower Mississippi River through the city, and “The Big Easy”. It is named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as Regent for Louis XV

Bourbon Street is a historic street in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. It is famous for its many bars and strip clubs

Basin Street is a street in New Orleans with many music venues

Louis Armstrong airport serves New Orleans

Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans from 1897 to 1917

New Orleans was catastrophically affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest continuous bridge over water

Angola Penitentiary is the State Penitentiary in Louisiana, the largest prison in the US, housing 5,000 inmates, and was set up by Isaac Franklin with profits from slave trading

Maine (ME)

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Capital – Augusta

Largest city – Portland

Nickname – Pine Tree State, Vacationland

Maine is the lobster capital of the United States

Hundred-Mile Wilderness is a section of the Appalachian Trail

Mount Katahdin is the highest mountain in Maine

Portland was the former capital of Maine

Maine is the only US state that borders only one other state, having a border with New Hampshire

Maryland (MD)

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Flag of Maryland consists of the heraldic banner of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore. It is the only state flag in the United States to be based on English heraldry

Capital – Annapolis

Largest city – Baltimore

Nickname – Free State, Old Line State

Goddard Space Flight Centre was established in 1959

Mallows Bay in Maryland is regarded as the "largest shipwreck fleet in the Western Hemisphere”

Camp David received its present name from Dwight D. Eisenhower, in honour of his father and grandson, both named David. Camp David is officially known as the Naval Support Facility Thurmont

Maryland was named in honour of Henrietta Maria of France, wife of Charles I

Massachusetts (MA)

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Capital and largest city – Boston

Nickname – The Bay State, Old Colony State

Boston is known as the ‘Athens of the Americas’

Boston has the oldest subway system in US, operational from 1897

Breed's Hill is a glacial drumlin located in the Charlestown section of Boston. It is best known as the location where in 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, most of the fighting in the Battle of Bunker Hill took place

Charles River flows for 80 miles through Massachusetts before emptying into Boston Harbour

Michigan (MI)

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Capital – Lansing

Largest city – Detroit

Nickname – The Great Lakes State, The Wolverine State

Detroit was founded by Antoine Cadillac in 1701

Highland Park Ford Plant in Detroit was designed by Albert Kahn in 1908 and was opened in 1910

Davison freeway in Detroit was the first US freeway

Kalamazoo is in Michigan

Grand Rapids, Michigan was first town to have fluoride added to the water supply

Ambassador Bridge connects Detroit with Windsor, Ontario. It is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume, carrying more than 25% of all merchandise trade between the United States and Canada

Marquette is the largest city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and is a major port

The State of Superior is a proposed ‘51st state’ that would be created by the secession of the Upper Peninsula from the rest of Michigan

Minnesota (MN)

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Capital – St. Paul

Largest city – Minneapolis

Nickname – Land of 10,000 Lakes, North Star State, Gopher State

Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake in Minnesota. It is the source of the Mississippi River

Minnesota contains the most northerly point of the 48 contiguous states. Northwest Angle in Minnesota is the only part of the 48 contiguous states north of the 49th parallel. The land area of the Angle is separated from the rest of Minnesota by Lake of the Woods, but shares a land border with Canada

Mall of America is located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Opened in 1992, it is the largest shopping mall in the western hemisphere

Duluth is located on Lake Superior and is a hub for cargo shipping

Winona is a town in Minnesota

Mississippi (MS)

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Flag of Mississippi was adopted on 11 January 2021. It replaces the previous flag that displayed the Confederate battle insignia in the upper left hand corner

Capital and largest city – Jackson

Nickname – Magnolia State

Mississippi has the lowest per-capita income in the United States

Tupelo is in Mississippi

Missouri (MO)

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Capital – Jefferson City

Largest city – Kansas City

Nickname – Show-Me State

St. Louis is named after Louis IX of France

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis was designed by Eero Saarinen. It opened to the public in 1967

Independence in Missouri is known as the ‘Queen City of the Trails’ because it was a point of departure of the California, Oregon and Santa Fe Trails. Independence is also noted as the hometown of President Harry S. Truman

Big Spring is one of the largest springs in the United States. It rises at the base of a bluff on the west side of the Current River valley in the Missouri Ozarks

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city (c. 600–1400) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis. Monks Mound is the largest structure and central focus of the city

Montana (MT)

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Capital – Helena

Largest city – Billings

Nickname – Treasure State

Glacier National Park is on the border with the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. The park encompasses over 1 million acres (4,000 km2)

Lake Missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western Montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago

Egg Mountain is a dinosaur site in Montana. Findings demonstrated for the first time that at least some dinosaurs cared for their young

Nebraska (NE)

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Capital – Lincoln

Largest city – Omaha

Nickname – Cornhusker State, Beef State, Tree Planters State

Carhenge is a replica of Stonehenge located near the city of Alliance, Nebraska on the High Plains. Carhenge is formed from vintage American automobiles, all covered with gray spray paint. Built by Jim Reinders

Nebraska is the only triply landlocked state

Nevada (NV)

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Capital – Carson City

Largest city – Las Vegas

Nickname – Silver State, Sagebrush State, Battle Born State

Las Vegas (Spanish for ‘The Meadows’) lies within the Mojave Desert. It has over 2.9 million visitors a year

‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign was created by Betty Willis in 1959

Paradise is an unincorporated town that contains Harry Reid International Airport, most of the Las Vegas Strip, and most of the tourist attractions in the Las Vegas area (excluding downtown)

Boulder City was originally built in 1931 as housing for workers who were building Hoover Dam

Carson City was named after frontiersman Kit Carson

New Hampshire (NH)

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Capital – Concord

Largest city – Manchester

Nickname – Granite State

”Live Free or Die” is the motto of New Hampshire

Bretton Woods is in New Hampshire

Dixville Notch is a village in New Hampshire. The population of the township, all of whom live in the village, was 4 at the 2020 census. The village is known for being one of the first places to declare its results during United States presidential elections

Mount Washington is the highest point in the Northeastern United States

New Jersey (NJ)

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Capital – Trenton

Largest city – Newark

Nickname – Garden State

New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state, but the most densely populated. It is named after the largest of the Channel Islands

To honour the victims that died on the 9/11 attacks, in 2002 the airport's name was changed from Newark International Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport

New Mexico (NM)

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Capital – Santa Fe

Largest city – Albuquerque

Nickname – Land of Enchantment

Sante Fe was formally founded and made a capital in 1610, making it the oldest capital city in what is today the United States

Santa Fe’s full name when founded was “The Royal Town of the Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi”

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is in Santa Fe

Albuquerque is on the Rio Grande

White Sands Missile Range was the location of the Trinity atomic bomb test

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History (formerly named National Atomic Museum) is located in Albuquerque

Acoma Pueblo, also known as “Sky City”, is a Native American pueblo built on top of a 112 m sandstone mesa in New Mexico. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States

Chaco Culture National Historical Park is in New Mexico. Evidence of archaeoastronomy at Chaco has been proposed, with the Sun Dagger petroglyph at Fajada Butte a popular example

Carlsbad Caverns National Park is in New Mexico. Carlsbad Cavern includes a large cave chamber, the Big Room, a natural limestone chamber

New York (NY)

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Capital – Albany

Largest city – New York City

Nickname – Empire State

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New York consists of five boroughs – Manhattan (1), Brooklyn (2), Queens (3), The Bronx (4), and Staten Island (5) – which were consolidated into a single city in 1898

New York is built on a bedrock of schist

New Amsterdam became New York in 1664

New York is named after the Duke of York, who became King James II of England

Gotham is a nickname of New York

Madison Avenue is associated with advertising

Wall Street extends from Broadway to the East River

Times Square was formerly known as Longacre Square. Renamed in honour of the New York Times

The Great White Way is a nickname for a section of Broadway that encompasses the Theatre District

Sixth Avenue is the Avenue of the Americas

The Bowery is in the southern portion of Manhattan. Home of many music halls in the 19th century, the Bowery later became notable for its economic depression

In 1857 a landscape design contest was held for the design of Central Park. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux developed what came to be known as the Greensward Plan, which was selected as the winning design. Central Park comprises 843 acres. Alice in Wonderland sculpture is in Central Park

Harlem is a district in Manhattan

Harlem River separates the island of Manhattan from the Bronx

Nolita, from ‘North of Little Italy’ is a neighbourhood in Lower Manhattan

Charging Bull sculpture on Broadway was designed by Arturo di Modica. Fearless Girl is a temporary sculpture opposite the Charging Bull

Grant's Tomb, officially the General Grant National Memorial is in Manhattan and is the largest mausoleum in America

TriBeCa is a neighborhood in downtown Manhattan. The name is a syllabic abbreviation of ‘Triangle Below Canal Street.’ It runs roughly from Canal Street south to Park Place, and from the Hudson River east to Broadway

Hell’s Kitchen is a district of New York

The Hell Gate Bridge was built over a portion of the East River known as Hell Gate

JFK Airport is on Long Island. Known as Idlewild until 1963, one month after the assassination of John F. Kennedy

The first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island was Annie Moore, a 15-year-old girl from Cork, Ireland, on 1 January 1892. The last person to pass through Ellis Island was a Norwegian merchant seaman by the name of Arne Peterssen in 1954. Since 1990, restored buildings on the island host a museum of immigration run by the National Park Service as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument

Ellis Island was sometimes known as ‘The Island of Tears’ or ‘Heartbreak Island’ because of those 2% who were not admitted after the long transatlantic voyage

Staten Island is connected to Brooklyn by Verrazano Narrows Bridge, over the Hudson River. Opened in 1964

The west end of Long Island has the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn (Kings County) and Queens (Queens County)

High Line is a linear park built on a section of the former elevated New York Central Railroad spur called the West Side Line, which runs along the lower west side of Manhattan

New York subway opened in 1904

Grand Central Depot was financed by Cornelius Vanderbilt. It opened in 1871, and was renamed Grand Central Station in 1900. Oyster Bar is the oldest business within Grand Central

Pennsylvania Station, also known as Penn Station, is the main intercity railroad station in New York City. It is the busiest passenger transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere

Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of Manhattan above Houston Street and below 155th Street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets

Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park is located at the southernmost point of Roosevelt Island, in the East River between Manhattan Island and Queens

Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York

Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) is a neighbourhood in Brooklyn

Coney Island is in Brooklyn

Sea Lion Park on Coney Island was the first amusement park in North America. Opened in 1895. Replaced by Luna Park in 1903

Queens is the largest borough of New York

Hunts Point Cooperative Market, a 24/7 wholesale food market located in the Bronx, is the largest food distribution centre of its kind in the world

Rikers Island is New York City's main jail complex, as well as the name of the island on which it sits, on the East River

Holland Tunnel is under the Hudson River. It connects Lower Manhattan with Jersey City

Levittown on Long Island was founded by William Levitt, who built the district as a planned community between 1947 and 1951.

Queens was named after Catherine of Braganza, the Queen consort of King Charles II of England

Staten Island was named in honor of the Dutch parliament known as the Staten-Generaal

Long Island is the most populated island in any U.S. state or territory, and the 18th-most populous island in the world. Both the longest and the largest island in the contiguous United States, Long Island extends 190 km eastward from New York Harbor to Montauk Point

Brooklyn and Queens are on Long Island

The Hamptons, also called the ‘East End’ (of Long Island), are a group of villages and hamlets in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, which form the South Fork of Long Island

The name of Yonkers is derived from Adriaen van der Donck

Broadway runs for 33 miles from Manhattan and the Bronx through Westchester County

Bear Mountain State Park is in upstate New York

Lake Placid is in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York

Erie Canal is a man-made waterway in New York that runs 363 miles from Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes

North Carolina (NC)

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The flag of North Carolina bears the dates of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence (May 20, 1775) and of the Halifax Resolves (April 12, 1776)

Capital – Raleigh

Largest city – Charlotte

Nickname – Tar Heel State, Old North State

Roanoke Island is best known for its historical significance as the site of Sir Walter Raleigh's attempt to establish a permanent English settlement with his Roanoke Colony in 1585 and 1587. The fate of the final group of colonists has never been determined, yielding persistent myths about the “Lost Colony”

Charlotte is named in honour of the German Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg, who had become queen consort of King George III

Mount Mitchell State Park includes the peak of Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River

Fort Bragg is a large United States Army installation

Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction. Built for George Washington Vanderbilt II, it is the largest privately owned house in the United States

Spruce Pine Mining District in the Blue Ridge Mountains is one of the largest suppliers of high-purity quartz, which is used in the manufacture of silicon chips

Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands. The treacherous waters off the coast of the Outer Banks are known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, is the most visited US national park

North Dakota (ND)

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Capital – Bismarck

Largest city – Fargo

Nickname – Peace Garden State, Sioux State

The KVLY-TV mast remained the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere, and the tallest broadcasting mast in the world until the antenna removal in 2019

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is in North Dakota

One third of population of North Dakota are descendants of immigrants from Norway

Ohio (OH)

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Capital and largest city – Columbus

Nickname – Buckeye State

Cleveland is the second largest city in Ohio

Cleveland is on the shore of Lake Erie

Cuyahoga River flows through Cleveland

Cleveland is served by Hopkins International Airport

Cincinnati is the third largest city in Ohio

Cincinnati was named after the Roman general Cincinnatus, and is on the River Ohio

Oklahoma (OK)

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Capital and largest city – Oklahoma City

Nickname – Sooner State

Will Rogers World Airport serves Oklahoma City

Tallgrass Prairie Preserve is protected as the largest tract of remaining tallgrass prairie in the world

WinStar World Casino and Resort is an American tribal casino and hotel located in Thackerville. It is owned and operated by the Chickasaw Nation and is one of the largest casinos in the world

Oregon (OR)

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Flag of Oregon is a two-sided flag. On the front is the escutcheon from the state seal and on the reverse is a gold figure of a beaver, the state animal. Oregon is the only state to feature different designs on either side of its flag

Capital – Salem

Largest city – Portland

Nickname – Beaver State

Fort Astoria (also named Fort George) was the primary fur trading post of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company. Built at the entrance of the Columbia River in 1811, it was the first American-owned settlement on the Pacific coast

Crater Lake is a caldera lake in Oregon. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park. The lake was formed around 7,700 years ago by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, and the second deepest lake in North America, behind Great Slave Lake

Mount Hood is the highest point in Oregon

Oregon is slightly larger than the United Kingdom

Pennsylvania (PA)

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Capital – Harrisburg

Largest city – Philadelphia

Nickname – Keystone State

Philadelphia Zoo is the oldest in the United States

Pennsylvania has the second-highest gambling revenue after Nevada

Dating back to 1829, the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia has housed some of America's most dangerous criminals, including Al Capone

Pittsburgh was named after William Pitt the Elder

The characteristic shape of Pittsburgh's central business district is a triangular tract carved by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which form the Ohio River

Edwin Drake was the first person to successfully drill for oil, in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859

Centralia is a ghost town due to a coal mine fire in 1962

Rhode Island (RI)

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Capital and largest city – Providence

Nickname – Ocean State, Little Rhody

Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, but the second most densely populated of the 50 US states

In January 2021, the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations dropped "and Providence Plantations" from its full name

Aquidneck Island, officially known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island

South Carolina (SC)

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Capital and largest city – Colombia

Nickname – Palmetto State

Charleston is the oldest and second largest city in South Carolina

North and South Carolina were named in honour of King Charles I of England

Myrtle Beach is one of the major centres of tourism

South Dakota (SD)

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Capital – Pierre

Largest city – Sioux Falls

Nickname – The Mount Rushmore State, Coyote State

The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument in progress in the Black Hills of South Dakota that when complete will be the world's largest sculpture. It is named after the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse. The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain on land considered sacred by some Native Americans, between Custer and Hill City, roughly 8 miles away from Mount Rushmore. Crazy Horse Memorial was begun in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski

Mount Rushmore features 60’ sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents (in order from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln

Mount Rushmore is in the Black Hills in Keystone

Badlands National Park is in South Dakota

Mammoth Site is a museum and paleontological site near Hot Springs, South Dakota. It contains the remains of fauna and flora preserved by entrapment in a karst sinkhole during the Pleistocene era

Tennessee (TN)

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Capital – Nashville

Largest city – Memphis

Nickname – Volunteer State

Graceland is a mansion on an estate in Memphis that was home to Elvis Presley

National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is built around the former Lorraine Motel, which was the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968

In 1942, the United States Federal Government chose Oak Ridge, Tennessee as a site for developing materials for the Manhattan Project

Nashville is the second largest city in Tennessee, and is known as “Music City” and “Athens of the South”

Parthenon in Centennial Park, in Nashville, Tennessee, is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens

Opryland was a theme park in Nashville known as the “Home of American Music” that closed in 1997

Dollywood is a theme park in Pigeon Forge owned by Dolly Parton

Texas (TX)

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Capital – Austin

Largest city – Houston

Nickname – Lone Star State

Texas is the second most populous (after California) and the second largest state (after Alaska)

Texas has 254 counties, the most nationwide

Houston was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas

Austin is named after Stephen F. Austin, known as the father of Texas

Austin's official slogan is ‘The Live Music Capital of the World’. The city has more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city. Austin's music revolves around the many nightclubs on 6th Street and an annual film / music / multimedia festival known as South by Southwest

Silicon Hills is a nickname for the cluster of high-tech companies in Austin

San Antonio is named after a friar and was founded as a Spanish mission and colonial outpost in 1718

The Alamo is in San Antonio, the second largest city in Texas

Bracken Cave, San Antonio is home to 40 million bats

Dallas is the third largest city in Texas

The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area is known as The Metroplex

Amarillo was once the self-proclaimed ‘Helium Capital of the World’

Padre Island (the world's longest barrier island) is located on Texas's southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and is famous for its white sandy beaches at the south end

Barnett shale a geological formation located in the Bend Arch-Fort Worth Basin. It consists of sedimentary rocks

Hurricane Ike hit Galveston in 2008

Brownsville lies at the eastern end of USA-Mexico border, adjacent to the border with Matamoros, Mexico

Big Bend National Park is located in West Texas, bordering Mexico

Utah (UT)

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Capital and largest city – Salt Lake City

Nickname – Beehive State

Salt Lake City was founded in 1847 by the Mormon pioneers, led by Brigham Young

Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah. Despite its name, this is not actually a canyon, but rather a giant natural amphitheatre created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to its geological structures, called hoodoos

Moab desert is in Utah

A prominent feature of the Zion National Park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles long and up to half a mile deep, cut through the reddish and tan-coloured Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River

Great White Throne is a sandstone mountain in Zion National Park

Arches National Park is located on the Colorado River. It is known for containing over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch

Monument Valley is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 300 m above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah-Arizona state line, near the Four Corners area. The valley is a sacred area that lies within the territory of the Navajo Nation Reservation. John Ford used the location for a number of his best-known films

Rainbow Bridge National Monument is the world’s highest natural bridge

Mesa Arch is a natural arch in Utah

Great Salt Lake is the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere, and the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world

Bingham Canyon Mine an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City. The mine is owned by Rio Tinto Group. It is the largest man-made excavation in the world

Pando is a colony of trembling aspen in Fishlake National Forest, Utah. World’s largest organism by mass

Vermont (VT)

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Capital – Montpelier

Largest city – Burlington

Nickname – Green Mountain State

Vermont is the second least populous state. Montpelier has a population of under 8,000 making it the least populous state capital in the country

Vermont is the only state in New England not bordered by the Atlantic Ocean

Virginia (VA)

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Capital – Richmond

Largest city- Virginia Beach

Nickname – The Old Dominion

Rappahannock River in Virginia was considered to have been the boundary between the North and the South in the Civil War

Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water and the region of land areas which surround it in southeastern Virginia. Hampton Roads is notable for its year-round ice-free harbour, for U.S. Navy, Air Force, NASA, Marine, and Army facilities, shipyards, coal piers, and hundreds of miles of waterfront property and beaches

Mount Vernon, located near Alexandria, Virginia, was the plantation home of George Washington. The key to the Bastille hangs in the hall – it was sent to Washington by Lafayette in 1790. The remains of George and Martha Washington, as well as other family members, are entombed on the grounds

Monticello, located near Charlottesville, was the estate of Thomas Jefferson. Means “the little mountain”

Colonial Williamsburg is the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia. It consists of buildings that from 1699 to 1780 formed colonial Virginia's capital

The Native Americans called the James River the Powhatan River. The English colonists named it ‘James’ after King James I of England, as they also constructed their first permanent English settlement in the Americas in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia, along the banks of the James River

Designed by the American architect George Bergstrom, and built by contractor John McShain, the Pentagon was dedicated on 15 January1943, after ground was broken for construction in1941. Located in Arlington County, Virginia, the Pentagon is the world's largest office building by floor area

Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia is a military cemetery, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna (Custis) Lee, a great grand-daughter of Martha Washington. The cemetery is situated directly across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington

Quantico, Virginia is the site of one of the largest U.S. Marine Corps bases in the world

Virginia is the most populous state without a major sports team

Loudoun County houses over 60 massive data centres, that are estimated to carry 70 percent of global web traffic

Shenandoah National Park encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia

Washington (WA)

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Capital – Olympia

Largest city – Seattle

Nickname – Evergreen State

Washington is the only US state named after a former president

Space Needle was built for 1962 World Fair in Seattle. Designed by John Graham

Seattle is known as the “Emerald City”

Pike Place Market in Seattle is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States

Fremont, Seattle was at one time a centre of the counterculture. The neighbourhood remains home to a controversial statue of Lenin salvaged from Slovakia by a local art lover

Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano located 54 miles southeast of Seattle. It is the most prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc

Mount Baker is an active glaciated stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State

Grand Coulee Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam on the Columbia River in Washington. It is the largest electric power producing facility and the largest concrete structure in the United States. The reservoir is called Franklin Delano Roosevelt Lake

Channeled Scablands are an erosion feature in Washington

The Hanford Site is a facility of the government of the United States established to provide plutonium necessary for the development of nuclear weapons. It was established as part of the Manhattan Project, and codenamed ‘Site W.’ No longer used to produce plutonium, it is currently the United States' most contaminated nuclear site

Olympic National Park is located on the Olympia Peninsula

West Virginia (WV)

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Capital and largest city – Charleston

Nickname – Mountain State, Panhandle State

West Virginia is located entirely within the Appalachian Region, and the state is almost entirely mountainous

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers

Wisconsin (WI)

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Capital – Madison

Largest city – Milwaukee

Nickname – America’s Dairyland, Badger State

Wisconsin is second to Michigan in the length of its Great Lakes coastline.

Wisconsin is known as “America's Dairyland” because it is one of the nation's leading dairy producers, particularly famous for cheese

Wyoming (WY)

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Capital and largest city – Cheyenne

Nickname – Equality State

Wyoming is the least populous and the second least densely populated state

Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains. A north-south range, it is on the Wyoming side of the state's border with Idaho, just south of Yellowstone National Park. The principal summit of the central massif is Grand Teton

President Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone as the first National Park in 1872

Two Ocean Pass is a mountain pass on the Continental Divide, notable for Parting of the Waters, where one stream splits into two distributaries, Pacific Creek and Atlantic Creek. These two creeks ultimately flow into their respective oceans

Devil’s Tower in the Black Hills was the first United States national monument, established in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act in 1790, approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the pre-existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria. Named in honor of George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital

Pierre L’Enfant was a French-American military engineer who designed the basic plan for Washington, D.C

The White House address is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Lafayette Park is overlooked by the White House

Dumbarton Oaks is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighbourhood

K Street is notorious for the density of its lobbying firms

Washington has no skyscrapers

Washington National Cathedral is closely modeled on the English Gothic style of the late fourteenth century

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is located in West Potomac Park and was carved by sculptor Lei Yixin

Miscellaneous

Mountains

Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. Includes Mount St Helens. Highest point is Mount Rainier. Formed by subduction of Juan de Fuca plate under the North American plate

Allegheny Mountain Range is part of the Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada. It runs for over 500 miles from north-central Pennsylvania, through western Maryland and eastern West Virginia, to southwestern Virginia

Ozark Mountains are between Appalachians and Rockies

Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains. Famous in American history for its role as one key passageway through the lower central Appalachians, it was an important part of the Wilderness Road

Lookout Mountain is located at the northwest corner of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southern border of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Blue Ridge Mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountains range. The bluish colour is caused by isoprene released from trees

Deserts

Mojave Desert is located primarily in southeastern California and southwestern Nevada

Great Basin Desert spans large portions of Nevada and Utah, and extends into eastern California

Rivers

Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis. Flows through Bismarck and Pierre. Known as the ‘Big Muddy’. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the world's fourth longest river system

From its source of Lake Itasca in Minnesota, the Mississippi flows generally south for 2,340 miles to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico

Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River

Arkansas River is the third longest river entirely in the United States

Susquehanna River is the longest river entirely within the United States that drains into the Atlantic Ocean

Shenandoah is a tributary of the Potomac, in Virginia and West Virginia

Green River is the chief tributary of the Colorado River

Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River

Suwannee River runs through Georgia southward into Florida

Connecticut River is the longest river in New England. Forms the boundary between Vermont and New Hampshire

Snake River is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, and the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean

Lakes

Lake Powell is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona. It is the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States behind Lake Mead

Great Salt Lake is the largest US lake

Lake Champlain is a natural freshwater lake mainly within the borders of the United States (in Vermont and New York) but partially situated across the Canada–U.S. border, in Quebec

Lake Tahoe is a freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada, straddling the border between California and Nevada. It is the second deepest in the United States after Crater Lake in Oregon. The Truckee River is the lake's only outlet

Lake of the Woods in Minnesota and bordering Canada is the sixth largest freshwater lake located (at least partially) in the United States, after the five Great Lakes

Roads

Pan-American Highway measures 29,800 miles in total length. Except for a 54 mile rainforest break, called the Darien Gap, the road links the mainland nations of the Americas in a connected highway system. The highway extends from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska to the lower reaches of South America

National Highway System (NHS) is a network of strategic highways within the United States, including the Interstate Highway System that was championed by President Eisenhower

I-90 is the longest interstate highway in the United States at nearly 3,100 miles, and runs from Boston to Seattle

Route 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway, is colloquially known as the Main Street of America. One of the original U.S. Highways, Route 66 was established in 1926. The highway originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Santa Monica, covering a total of 2,448 miles

Highway 101 runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. It is also known as El Camino Real (The Royal Road) along the southern and central California coast


Missouri and Tennessee have borders with eight other states

Four of the constituent states of the United States officially designate themselves Commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia

Most populous counties – 1st Los Angeles County, 2nd Cook County, Illinois, 3rd Harris County, Texas

Four Corners is a region consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, northwestern corner of New Mexico, northeastern corner of Arizona, and southeastern corner of Utah. The Four Corners area is named after the quadripoint where the boundaries of the four states meet, where the Four Corners Monument is located Connecticut River is the longest river in New England. Forms the boundary between Vermont and New Hampshire

Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America. It is noted for both its arid conditions and its Basin and range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than 100 miles away at the summit of Mount Whitney

Chesapeake Bay is the largest inlet off the Atlantic coast and has coastlines on Virginia and Maryland. It is the largest estuary in the United States

Sea Islands are a chain of 100 tidal and barrier islands, located between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns Rivers along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida

Intracoastal Waterway is a 4,800 km inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, running from Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following the Gulf Coast to Brownsville, Texas. Some sections of the waterway consist of natural inlets, saltwater rivers, bays, and sounds, while others are artificial canals


United States Minor Outlying Islands consist of eight United States insular areas in the Pacific Ocean (Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island) and one in the Caribbean Sea (Navassa Island)

Midway Atoll is the only island in the Hawaiian archipelago that is not part of the state of Hawaii

Baker Island and Howland Island are UTC-12:00 which is only uninhabited timezone. They are the last pieces of land that experience the New Year


Great Lakes

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The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area and are second-largest by total volume, containing 21% of the world's surface fresh water by volume. The lakes began to form at the end of the Last Glacial Period around 14,000 years ago

Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes, and among freshwater lakes, it is the world's largest by surface area. It has a surface area of 82,000 km2

The largest island in Lake Superior is Isle Royale in Michigan

Thunder Bay, Ontario is the most populous city on Lake Superior

Lake Huron comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron. By surface area, Lake Huron is the second-largest of the Great Lakes

Mackinac Island is an island and resort area located in Lake Huron

Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron is the largest island in a freshwater lake in the world

Lake Manitou is the largest lake on Manitoulin Island. It is the largest lake on a freshwater island in the world

Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake entirely in the United States and is the largest lake that is entirely within one country. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron

Lake Michigan is shared by the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Ports along its shores include Milwaukee, Green Bay, Chicago, and Gary

Lake Erie is the fourth-largest of the Great Lakes by surface area, and is the shallowest of the lakes. The largest city on the lake is Cleveland. Other major cities along the lake shore are Buffalo and Toledo

Lake Ontario is the smallest and easternmost of the Great Lakes. The Canadian cities of Toronto and Kingston are located on the lake's northern and western shorelines, while the American city of Rochester in New York state is located on the south shore

Lake Ontario is the only Great Lake not to border the state of Michigan


The Chicago River and Calumet River systems connect the Great Lakes Basin to the Mississippi River System

The St. Marys River, including the Soo Locks, connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron, via the North Channel

The Straits of Mackinac connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron

The St. Clair River connects Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair

The Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie

The Niagara River, including Niagara Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario

The Welland Canal connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. As a part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, this canal enables ships to ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment and to bypass the Niagara Falls

The Saint Lawrence River and the Saint Lawrence Seaway connect Lake Ontario to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean


Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between Ontario in Canada and New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian Falls, which straddles the international border of the two countries. The smaller American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls lie within the United States. Bridal Veil Falls is separated from Horseshoe Falls by Goat Island and from American Falls by Luna Island, with both islands situated in New York.

Formed by the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, the combined falls have the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North America that has a vertical drop of more than 50 m

The Rainbow Bridge is the first bridge downstream from the falls

Canada

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Flag of Canada features an 11-pointed maple leaf

Capital Ottawa
Largest cities Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton
Currency Dollar
Highest point Mount Logan

Canada was known as La Nouvelle France

In 1867, three provinces of British North America – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada (which, on the formation of Canada, was divided into Ontario and Quebec) – were united to form the new nation

Canada consists of ten provinces and three territories

Canadian Prairies – the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba

Maritime Provinces of Canada – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island

Atlantic Provinces of Canada – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador

Largest provinces by area – Quebec, British Colombia, Ontario

Largest provinces by population – Ontario, Quebec, British Colombia

Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only landlocked provinces

St. Lawrence Seaway permits ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the North American Great Lakes, as far as Lake Superior. Opened in 1959

Canada has more lakes than any other country

Canada produces 35% of the world’s uranium

Canada is divided into six time zones – Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic (UTC-04:00, covers New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), Newfoundland (UTC-03:30)


Provinces

Alberta

Capital – Edmonton

Largest city – Calgary

Alberta is named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Victoria, the Queen of Canada and Albert, Prince Consort

Calgary was originally known as Fort Briseboas

West Edmonton Mall is the largest shopping mall in North America

Jasper national park is in Alberta

Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885, in the Canadian Rockies. Lake Louise lies within the park

Banff is named by George Stephen, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, recalling his birthplace in Banffshire, Scotland

Medicine Hat, known to locals as ‘The Hat’ or 'Gas City', is a city located in the province of Alberta. Its major claim to fame is Rudyard Kipling's famous line ‘all hell for a basement’ referring to the vast reserves of natural gas beneath it

Most of the oil sands (tar sands) of Canada are located in northern Alberta

British Columbia

Capital – Victoria

Largest city – Vancouver

Vancouver was originally known as Gastown, then Granville. The city is named after Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver

Vancouver is overlooked by Grouse Mountain

Whistler is a ski resort in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains

Burgess Shale Formation, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. It is 505 million years old

The Queen Charlotte Islands or Haida Gwaii (‘Islands of the People’) are an archipelago off the northwest coast of British Columbia consisting of two main islands, Graham Island in the North, and Moresby Island in the south

Glacier National Park contains the Rogers Pass National Historic Site

Manitoba

Capital and largest city – Winnipeg

Winnipeg lies at the bottom of the Red River Valley

Churchill is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba. It is known as the ‘Polar Bear Capital of the World’

Nelson River drains Lake Winnipeg and runs 644 km before it ends in Hudson Bay

New Brunswick

Capital – Fredericton

Largest city – Saint John

New Brunswick is named for the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony. Braunschweig is the ancestral home of George I

New Brunswick is the only bilingual province

Newfoundland and Labrador

Capital and largest city – St. John’s

Gander International Airport in Newfoundland opened in 1938 and within a few years was the largest in the world

Strait of Belle Isle separates the Labrador Peninsula from the island of Newfoundland

In 1583, Newfoundland became England's first possession in North America and one of the earliest permanent English colonies in the New World

In 2001 the name of Newfoundland was changed to Newfoundland and Labrador

Nova Scotia

Capital and largest city – Halifax

Sable Island, situated off the coast of Nova Scotia, is known as the “graveyard of the Atlantic”

Joggins Fossil Cliffs is famous for its record of fossils from a rainforest ecosystem approximately 310 million years ago

Cape Breton is an island off the north coast of the Nova Scotia peninsula

Ontario

Capital and largest city – Toronto

Toronto is on Lake Ontario, and is the most populous city in Canada

Toronto was known as York until 1834

Lester B. Pearson airport serves Toronto

CN Tower (Canadian National Tower) in Toronto was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It is 1,815 feet tall and was designed by Neil Baldwin. The antenna was flown to the top of the tower in 36 sections by as Sikorsky helicopter named "Olga"

Scarborough is one of the most diverse and multicultural areas in the Greater Toronto Area

Ottawa was founded in 1826 as Bytown

Ottawa is situated on the traditional land of the Algonquins

London is in Southwestern Ontario. It lies at the confluence of the non-navigable Thames River

Rideau Canal connects the city of Ottawa, on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario, on Lake Ontario. Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa is the world's largest skating rink at 7.8 km long

Sudbury Basin on the Canadian Shield is the third-largest impact crater on Earth

Prince Edward Island

Capital and largest city – Charlottetown

Prince Edward Island is the smallest Canadian province in both area and population

Prince Edward Island is named after the fourth son of George III and the father of Queen Victoria

Charlottetown is named after Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III

Quebec

Capital – Quebec City

Largest city – Montreal

Mirabelle airport serves Montreal

Montreal covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. Island of Montreal is the most populous island in Canada

Jacques Cartier Bridge is a steel truss cantilever bridge crossing the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal Island to the south shore at Longueuil

Opened in 1859, Victoria Bridge was the first to span the St. Lawrence River, linking Montreal to the south shore city of Saint-Lambert

Montreal is known as the ‘City of Saints’

Montreal Biosphere’s geodesic dome was designed by Buckminster Fuller

Montreal is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city

Habitat 67 is a building in Montreal

Quebec City was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain

La Citadelle of Quebec contains the oldest military building in Canada, and forms part of the fortifications of Quebec City. Official residence of the governor general of Canada

Plains of Abraham is a historic area in Quebec City

Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City is generally recognized as the most photographed hotel in the world

Anticosti Island is at the outlet of the Saint Lawrence River into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Due to more than 400 shipwrecks off its coasts, Anticosti Island is sometimes called the "Cemetery of the Gulf". It has a number of lighthouses

Lake Manicouagan is an annular lake, caused by the impact of a meteorite

Saskatchewan

Capital – Regina

Largest city – Saskatoon

Saskatchewan is the only Canadian province with four straight boundaries

McArthur River Uranium Mine, in northern Saskatchewan, is the world's largest high-grade uranium deposit

Territories

Northwest Territories

Capital and largest city – Yellowknife

Yellowknife is named after the local Yellowknives Dene First Nation

Great Bear Lake is the largest lake in Canada, the fourth largest in North America, and the eighth largest in the world

Great Slave Lake is the deepest lake in North America

Mackenzie River originates in Great Slave Lake, in the Northwest Territories, and flows north into the Arctic Ocean. It is the longest river in Canada at 1,738 km. It was originally named Disappointment River

Nunavut

Capital and largest city – Iqaluit

Nunavut is the largest and newest territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories in 1999. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada's map since the incorporation of the new province of Newfoundland (including Labrador) in 1949. The capital Iqaluit (formerly Frobisher Bay) on Baffin Island, in the east, was chosen in 1995

A member of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Bathurst Island is one of the Queen Elizabeth Islands in Nunavut Territory

Alert is the northernmost permanently inhabited place

Devon Island, claimed to be the largest uninhabited island on Earth, is located in Baffin Bay

Davis Strait separates Baffin Island from Greenland. The strait was named for the English explorer John Davis, who explored the area while seeking a Northwest Passage

Nettilling Lake on Baffin Island is the world’s largest lake on an island

Yukon

Capital and largest city – Whitehorse

Dawson served as the Yukon's capital from the territory's founding in 1898 until 1952, when the seat was moved to Whitehorse

Mount Logan is in Yukon. The mountain was named after Sir William Edmond Logan, a Canadian geologist and founder of the Geological Survey of Canada

Bay of Fundy is on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the state of Maine. Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world

Lake Athabasca is located in the northwest corner of Saskatchewan and the northeast corner of Alberta. Athabasca means ‘lake of the hills’

Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba are remnants of prehistoric Glacial Lake Agassiz

Labrador Peninsula includes the region of Labrador, which is part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and parts of Quebec

Victoria Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. It is Canada's second largest island, after Baffin Island

Queen Elizabeth Islands are the northernmost cluster of islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and Northwest Territories. Ellesmere Island is the largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands

Nares Strait separates Greenland from Ellesmere Island

Hudson Strait lies between Baffin Island and Nunavik (the northern third of Quebec)

The source of the Yukon River is located in British Columbia. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to, Yukon. The lower half of the river lies in Alaska. It is the second-longest river in Canada

Aspen parkland refers to a transitional biome between prairie and boreal forest stretching from northeastern British Columbia through central and northwestern Alberta, central Saskatchewan to central and southern Manitoba. Aspen parkland consists of groves of aspen poplars and spruce interspersed with areas of prairie grasslands

Trans-Canada Highway travels through all ten provinces of Canada, The main route spans 7,476 km across the country

Saint Pierre and Miquelon

Saint Pierre and Miquelon is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France and is the remaining vestige of the territory of New France. Its residents are French citizens. The islands are in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near the entrance of Fortune Bay, which extends into the southwestern coast of Newfoundland

Saint-Pierre is the capital and largest city

Mexico

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Coat of arms on the flag of Mexico depicts a golden eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus eating a rattlesnake

Capital Mexico City
Largest cities Mexico City, Tijuana, Leon
Currency Peso
Highest point Pico de Orizaba

With an estimated population of 128 million, Mexico is the tenth most populous and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world and the second most populous country in Latin America. It is the tenth largest oil producer in the world, and the largest silver producer in the world

The United Mexican States are a federation of 31 free and sovereign states

The Greater Mexico City population is 21 million people, making it the second-largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere behind Sao Paulo

Paseo de la Reforma is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It is now home to many of Mexico's tallest buildings

Soumaya Museum in Mexico City contains a large collection of casts of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. It is owned by the Carlos Slim Foundation

Frida Kahlo Museum, also known as the Blue House (La Casa Azul) for the structure's cobalt-blue walls, is in Mexico City

Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is one of the most prominent cultural centres in Mexico City

Angel of Independence was built in 1910 during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz by architect Antonio Rivas Mercado, to commemorate the centennial of the beginning of Mexico's War of Independence

Aztec sun stone is a Mexica sculpture housed in the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City

Tenochtitlan was an Aztec altepetl (city-state) located on an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico. Founded in 1325, it became the capital of the expanding Mexican Empire in the 15th century, until captured by the Spanish in 1521. At its peak it was the largest city in the Pre-Columbian Americas. Today the ruins of Tenochtitlan are located in Mexico City's downtown

Teotihuacan was an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub valley of the Valley of Mexico, 48 km northeast of modern-day Mexico City, known today as the site of many of the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids built in the pre-Columbian Americas. At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population estimated at 125,000. Teotihuacan has the Pyramid of the Moon, Pyramid of the Sun, and Avenue of the Dead. The name Teotihuacan was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs centuries after the fall of the city around 550. The term has been glossed as "birthplace of the gods"

Chicxulub Crater is an ancient impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula, with its center located near the town of Chicxulub. The crater is over 180 kilometers in diameter, making the feature one of the largest confirmed impact structures in the world; the asteroid or comet whose impact formed the crater was at least 10 km in diameter. The impact associated with the crater is implicated in causing the extinction of the dinosaurs as suggested by the K–T boundary, 65 million years ago

Chichen Itza is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization, located in the northern centre of the Yucatan Peninsula. Dominating the centre of Chichen is the Temple of Kukulcan (the Maya name for Quetzalcoatl), often referred to as “El Castillo” (the castle). This step pyramid with a ground plan of square terraces has stairways up each of the four sides to the temple on top

Monte Alban is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Monte Alban's importance stems also from its role as the pre-eminent Zapotec socio-political and economic centre for 1,000 years

The city of Veracruz is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz

Naica Mine of the Mexican state of Chihuahua is a working mine that is known for its extraordinary selenite (a variety of gypsum) crystals in the Cave of the Crystals

Guadalajara Metropolitan Area is the second largest in the country after Greater Mexico City. Guadalajara is the capital of the state of Jalisco

Torres Obispado is a skyscraper complex in Monterrey, Upon completion in 2020, T.Op Torre 1 became the tallest skyscraper in Latin America and the first to reach a height of 1,000 feet

Palanque is a Maya city state in Southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century

Tula, in the state of Hidalgo, was the ancient capital of the Toltecs. The city was destroyed in the 12th century

Great Pyramid of Cholula is an adobe brick pyramid in the state of Puebla. It is the largest pyramid in the world, with a base four times larger than the Great Pyramid at Giza and nearly twice the volume. The pyramid is a temple that traditionally has been viewed as having been dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl

El Tajin is a pre-Columbian archeological site in southern Mexico and is one of the largest and most important cities of the Classic era of Mesoamerica. A part of the Classic Veracruz culture, El Tajin flourished from 600 to 1200 AD

Chihuahua is the largest state of Mexico

Ciudad Juarez is the largest city in Chihuahua. It lies on the Rio Grande south of El Paso, Texas

Cancun is located on the northeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in the state of Quintana Roo. It is an important tourist destination

Acapulco is a major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast. Due to a massive upsurge in gang violence and homicide numbers since 2014, Acapulco no longer attracts many foreign tourists

Tijuana is the largest city in Baja California, and is part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area

Villahermosa is the capital and largest city of the state of Tabasco

Manzanillo is the largest port in Mexico

Cozumel is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. The economy of Cozumel is based on tourism

Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez) is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland

Popocatepetl is the second highest peak in Mexico, after the Pico de Orizaba. The name Popocatepetl comes from the Nahuatl words for ‘Smoking Mountain’

Paricutin is a dormant volcano in Mexico. It is thought to be the youngest volcano in the world

Lake Chapala is the largest freshwater lake in Mexico

Central America

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Belize

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The coat of arms on the flag of Belize features woodcutters and a mahogany tree. The flag of Belize is the only country to have humans depicted as a major design element on its national flag, although the flag of Malta contains an image of Saint George on the badge of the George Cross

Capital Belmopan
Largest cities Belize City, San Ignacio, Belmopan
Currency Dollar
Highest point Doyle’s Delight

Belize is is the only commonwealth country in Central America and the only country in Central America whose official language is English

Belize is the only Central American country connected only to the Atlantic

Belize City is the largest city in Belize. It was the capital of British Honduras (as Belize was then named) until it was devastated by Hurricane Hattie and the government was moved to the new capital of Belmopan in 1970

Chalillo Dam is a gravity dam in Belize

Lamanai and Caracol are Mayan ruins in Belize

Great Blue Hole is a large submarine sinkhole off the coast of Belize

Belize Barrier Reef is Belize's top tourist destination

Rio Hondo forms most of the border between Belize and Mexico

Costa Rica

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Capital San Jose
Largest cities San Jose
Currency Colon
Highest point Mount Chirripo

Costa Rica permanently abolished its army in 1949

San Jose means ‘Saint Joseph’

Cocos Island is an island located off the shore of Costa Rica and is known as ‘Shark Island’

Stone spheres of Costa Rica are commonly attributed to the extinct Diquis culture

El Salvador

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Capital San Salvador
Largest cities San Salvador
Currency US dollar
Highest point Cerro El Pital

El Salvador is the only Central American country that does not have a Caribbean coastline

El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and the most densely populated country in the Americas

Izalco is a stratovolcano on the side of the Santa Ana Volcano

Bitcoin is legal tender in El Salvador

Guatemala

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The coat of arms of the flag of Guatemala includes the resplendent quetzal

Capital Guatemala City
Largest cities Guatemala City
Currency Quetzal
Highest point Volcan Tajumulco

Guatemala is the most populous state in Central America

Guatemala City is the most populous in Central America

El Mirador is a large pre-Columbian Mayan settlement, located in the north of the modern department of El Peten, Guatemala. Discovered in 1926

Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Peten Basin in northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, c. 200 to 850. Discovered by Alfred Maudslay

Antigua is a World Heritage site that served as the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala

Volcan Tajumulco is a large stratovolcano in Guatemala. It is the highest mountain in Central America

Honduras

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Capital Tegucigalpa
Largest cities Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula
Currency Lempira
Highest point Cerro Las Minas

Honduras was at times referred to as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became Belize. Honduras was home to several important Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya, prior to being conquered by Spain in the 16th century

La Ciudad Blanca (Spanish for "The White City") is a legendary settlement said to be located in the Mosquitia region of Honduras

Copan was a Mayan city in Honduras

Nicaragua

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Capital Managua
Largest cities Managua
Currency Cordoba
Highest point Mogoton

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American isthmus. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. Nicaragua achieved its independence from Spain in 1821

Nicaragua is the most triangular-shaped country

On the Pacific side of the country are the two largest freshwater lakes in Central America – Lake Nicaragua and Lake Managua

Ometepe is the largest island in Lake Nicaragua

Bosawas Biosphere Reserve is the second largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere, after the Amazon Rainforest

Panama

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Capital Panama City
Largest cities Panama City
Currency Balboa and US dollar
Highest point Volcan Baru

Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the Panama Canal to be built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Panama Canal was designed by Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1880, but the project failed. Work began again in 1904, and the canal was completed in 1914

There are three sets of locks in the Panama Canal. A two-step flight at Miraflores, and a single flight at Pedro Miguel, lift ships from the Pacific up to Lake Gatun; then a triple flight at Gatun lowers them to the Atlantic side

Gatun Lake was created between 1907 and 1913 by the building of the Gatun Dam across the Chagres River. At the time it was created, Gatun Lake was the largest man-made lake in the world

Bridge of the Americas spans the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. Built in 1962

Chagres River is a major source of water for Panama Canal

Coiba is the largest island in Central America, off the Pacific coast of Panama

JW Marriott Panama is the tallest building in Central America

Caribbean

The West Indies consist of the Antilles, divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the Caribbean Sea on the north and the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), and the Bahamas. Bermuda lies much further to the north in the Atlantic Ocean (570 miles east of North Carolina) and is in the West Indies

Lucayan Archipelago, also known as the Bahama Archipelago, is an island group comprising the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands

Greater Antilles – Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Cayman Islands

Lesser Antilles – Leeward Islands and Windward Islands

Leeward Islands – Northern group of the Lesser Antilles. Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and Montserrat

Windward Islands – Southern group of the Lesser Antilles. Martinique, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenadines

Caribbean Sea is known as “Sea of the Antilles”

Windward Passage is a strait in the Caribbean Sea, between the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola

Caribbean is the deepest sea. Deepest point is the Cayman Trough

ABC islands are the three western-most islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. From west to east they are, in order Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire. All three islands are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean. It was also informally known as the Dutch Antilles. The country was dissolved in 2010. Historically the Netherlands Antilles included the colony of Curacao and its dependencies

Antigua and Barbuda

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Capital Saint John’s
Largest cities Saint John’s
Currency East Caribbean dollar
Highest point Boggy Peak

Antigua and Barbuda became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1981

Most of the population of Barbuda lives in the town of Codrington

Redonda is an uninhabited island that is part of Antigua and Barbuda

In 2009, Boggy peak was renamed Mount Obama after United States president Barack Obama. The original name was restored in 2016

Bahamas

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Capital Nassau
Largest cities Nassau
Currency Dollar
Highest point Mount Alvernia

Bahamas consists of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2387 islets

Nassau was formerly known as Charles Town; it was burned to the ground by the Spanish in 1684. Rebuilt, it was renamed Nassau in 1695 in honour of William III from the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau. Nassau is on the island of New Providence

Nassau is served by Lyndon Pindling International Airport

New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population

Andros Island is an archipelago within the archipelago-nation of the Bahamas. It is the largest of the 26 inhabited Bahamian Islands

Bimini comprises a chain of islands known for sport fishing

Barbados

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Flag of Barbados is known as The Broken Trident

Capital Bridgetown
Largest cities Bridgetown
Currency Dollar
Highest point Mount Hillaby

Barbados is the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands

Barbados is served by Grantley Adams airport

Bridgetown was formerly ‘The Town of Saint Michael’

In 1813, a statue was erected in Bridgetown, in what was known as Trafalgar Square, (now renamed National Heroes’ Square) in recognition of Nelson's bravery and as a tribute to his honour within the British Empire. This statue was sculpted from bronze by Richard Westmacott

Cuba

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Capital Havana
Largest cities Havana, Santiago de Cuba
Currency Peso
Highest point Pico Turquino

Cuba comprises the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud and several archipelagos

Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean

Isla de la Juventud is the second largest Cuban island

Havana is the country's main port and leading commercial centre and has a population of 2.1 million. Havana was founded by the Spanish in the 16th century

In 1982, Old Havana was made a World Heritage Site, because of its unique Baroque and neoclassical architecture, and its fortifications

The Malecon is a promenade that stretches for 8 km along the coast in Havana

Necropolis Cristobal Colon is a cemetery and open-air museum in Havana named for Christopher Columbus

The United States assumed territorial control over the southern portion of Guantanamo Bay under the 1903 Lease. The United States exercises jurisdiction and control over this territory, while recognizing that Cuba retains ultimate sovereignty

Alejandro de Humboldt National Park is a World Heritage site

Pico Turquino is located in the Sierra Maestra mountain range

Dominica

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Flag of Dominica features the sisserou parrot

Capital Roseau
Largest cities Roseau
Currency East Caribbean dollar
Highest point Mount Diablotins

Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean" for its unspoiled natural beauty. Christopher Columbus named the island after the day of the week on which he spotted it, a Sunday, 3 November 1493

Dominica was the last Caribbean island to be colonized

Boiling Lake is a flooded fumarole located in Morne Trois Pitons National Park. The lake is filled with bubbling water that is usually enveloped in a cloud of vapour

Dominican Republic

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Coat of arms on the Dominican Republic flag features a bible

Capital Santo Domingo
Largest cities Santo Domingo, Santiago de los Caballeros
Currency Peso
Highest point Pico Duarte

Dominican Republic occupies the eastern half of the island of Hispaniola

Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzman, is the largest city in the Caribbean by population. Santo Domingo de Guzman was founded in 1501. Oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, and was the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World

Santo Domingo was called Ciudad Trujillo from 1936 to 1961, after the Dominican Republic's dictator, Rafael Trujillo, named the capital after himself

The first cathedral in the Americas was in Santo Domingo

Pico Duarte is the highest peak in all the Caribbean islands. It lies in the Cordillera Central range, the greatest of the Dominican Republic's mountain chains

Saona Island lies off the coast of the Dominican Republic

Grenada

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Flag of Grenada is charged with a nutmeg at the hoist triangle

Capital St. George’s
Largest cities St. George’s
Currency East Caribbean dollar
Highest point Mount Saint Catherine

Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and several small islands which lie to the north of the main island and are a part of the Grenadines

Grenada is known as the ‘Island of Spice’ due to its production of nutmeg and mace crops

St. George’s was named after the patron saint of England when the island was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763

Haiti

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Capital Port-au-Prince
Largest cities Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haitien
Currency Gourde
Highest point Pic la Selle

Haiti occupies the western half of the island of Hispaniola

Haiti was known as Saint-Domingue before independence in 1804

Haiti is the only French speaking independent republic in the Americas

Sans-Souci Palace was the royal residence of King Henri I (better known as Henri Christophe) of Haiti, Queen Marie-Louise and their twin daughters. Construction of the palace started in 1810 and was completed in 1813. It is located in the town of Milot, Nord Department. Its name translated from French means “without worry”. Close to the Palace is the renowned mountaintop fortress; the Citadelle Laferriere, built under decree by Henri Christophe to repel a feared French invasion

Navassa Island is a small uninhabited island in the Caribbean Sea. It is subject to an ongoing territorial dispute between Haiti and the United States

Jamaica

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Flag of Jamaica is the only national flag that does not contain a shade of the colours red, white, or blue

Capital Kingston
Largest cities Kingston, Portmore, Spanish Town, Montego Bay
Currency Dollar
Highest point Blue Mountain Peak

Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm. Once a Spanish possession known as Santiago, in 1655 it came under the rule of England, and was called Jamaica. It achieved full independence from the United Kingdom in 1962

Black River is one of the longest rivers in Jamaica

Spanish Town was the former capital of Jamaica

Jamaica is divided into 14 parishes, which are grouped into the three historic counties of Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey

Kingston is in the county of Surrey

Montego Bay is the second largest anglophone city in the Caribbean, after Kingston

Port Royal was a city located at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour. Founded in 1588, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1692 and subsequent fires, hurricanes, flooding, epidemics and a final earthquake in 1907

Blue Mountain Peak is the home of Blue Mountain coffee

Saint Kitts and Nevis

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Capital Basseterre
Largest cities Basseterre
Currency East Caribbean dollar
Highest point Mount Liamuiga

Saint Kitts and Nevis specifically became the first ever British colony in the West Indies in 1624, and then became the first ever French colony in the Caribbean in 1625, when both nations decided to partition the island

St Kitts was named by Christopher Columbus after St Christopher. Kit was a common nickname for Christopher

The Narrows separates St Kitts from Nevis

Charlestown is the capital of Nevis

St Kitts and Nevis is the smallest sovereign state in the Western Hemisphere, in both area and population

Saint Lucia

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Capital Castries
Largest cities Castries, Soufriere
Currency East Caribbean dollar
Highest point Mount Gimie

Saint Lucia was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse by the French, and is the only country named after an actual female historical figure

The Pitons, Gros Piton and Petit Piton, are two giant volcanic plugs located south of Soufriere and are a World Heritage Site

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

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The current flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was adopted in 1985. A breadfruit leaf was replaced by three diamonds forming the letter “V”

Capital Kingstown
Largest cities Kingstown
Currency East Caribbean dollar
Highest point La Soufriere

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines consists of the main island of Saint Vincent and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines

Bequia is the second-largest island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Christopher Columbus, the first European to discover the island, named it after St. Vincent of Saragossa

La Soufriere is an active volcano on the island of Saint Vincent. Many volcanoes in the Caribbean are named Soufriere (French: ‘sulphur outlet’). These include Soufriere Hills on Montserrat and La Grande Soufriere on Guadeloupe. The latest eruptive activity began in December 2020, with a series of explosive events beginning in April 2021

Mustique is a small private island in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Trinidad and Tobago

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Capital Port of Spain
Largest cities Chaguanas, San Fernando, Port of Spain
Currency Dollar
Highest point El Cerro del Aripo

Trinidad and Tobago is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just 11 km off the northeastern coast of Venezuela

Pitch Lake is a lake of natural asphalt located at La Brea in Trinidad. It was discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595

Scarborough is the chief town of Tobago

Overseas territories

Anguilla

Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands. The territory's capital is The Valley

Aruba

Aruba is one of the four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with the Netherlands, Curacao and Sint Maarten. Aruba’s capital is Oranjestad

Bonaire

Bonaire is one of the ABC islands, along with Aruba and Curacao. Bonaire's capital is Kralendijk

British Virgin Islands

British Virgin Islands is a British overseas territory located to the east of Puerto Rico. Consists of the main islands of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost Van Dyke, along with over fifty other smaller islands and cays. About 15 of the islands are inhabited. The capital, Road Town, is situated on Tortola, the largest island

Necker Island is in the British Virgin Islands, and is owned by Richard Branson

Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac

Cayman Islands are named after a reptile

George Town is the capital of the Cayman Islands, and was named after George III

One of Grand Cayman's main attractions is Seven Mile Beach

Curacao

Curacao is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Willemstad is the capital of Curacao

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an overseas department and region of France

Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre are the two main islands, and are separated by a narrow sea channel called Salt River

Pointe-a-pitre is the largest city in Guadeloupe

The capital city is Basse-Terre

Martinique

Martinique is a single territorial collectivity of the French Republic. It is also part of the European Union as an Outermost Region

In Martinique there is a statue of the Empress Josephine, who was born in Martinique, holding a locket with a portrait of Napoleon

In 1902, Mont Pelee erupted and completely destroyed St. Pierre, killing 30,000 people

The capital city is Fort-de-France

Montserrat

Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory

Christopher Columbus gave Montserrat its name on his second voyage to the New World in 1493, after Montserrat mountain located in Catalonia. Montserrat is nicknamed the ‘Emerald Isle of the Caribbean’

In 1995, the previously dormant Soufriere Hills volcano became active. Eruptions destroyed Montserrat's Georgian era capital city of Plymouth and two-thirds of the island's population was forced to flee. Interim government buildings have since been built at Brades, becoming the political capital in 1998

Little Bay is a port town under construction which is intended to be the future capital

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands

Puerto Rico is an incorporated territory of the United States

San Juan is the capital and largest city

In a referendum in 2020, 52% voted that Puerto Rico should be admitted immediately into the Union as a State

Saba

Saba is the smallest special municipality of the Netherlands

The capital of Saba is The Bottom

Mount Scenery on the island of Saba, now considered an integral part of the Netherlands following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, is the highest point of the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands at 887 m

Saint Barthelemy

Saint Barthelemy is a French overseas collectivity. Until 2003 Saint Barthelemy was a French commune forming part of Guadeloupe

Gustavia is the main town and capital. Named in honour of King Gustav III of Sweden

Sint Eustatius

Sint Eustatius is a special municipality of the Netherlands in the northern Leeward Islands. The capital is Oranjestad

Caribbean Netherlands consists of the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, known as the BES islands

Turks and Caicos Islands

Turks and Caicos Islands is a British Overseas Territory consisting of two groups of islands southeast of the Bahamas. The capital is Cockburn Town

United States Virgin Islands

United States Virgin Islands are an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States

Named by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493 for Saint Ursula and her virgin followers. The main islands are Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas. Formerly the Danish West Indies, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in 1916

Charlotte Amalie, located on Saint Thomas, is the capital and largest city

Bermuda

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Bermuda is Britain's second oldest remaining British Overseas Territory. It lies 1,000 km southeast of North Carolina, 1,700 km northeast of Cuba and 1,500 kn north of the British Virgin Islands

Capital – Hamilton

Largest city – St Georges

Bermuda is an archipelago consisting of 181 islands

Bermuda is divided into nine parishes

Somers Isles was Britain’s oldest colony. Named after Admiral George Somers

St George’s was the first capital of Bermuda

St. George's Island is one of the main islands of the territory of Bermuda

Greenland

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Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the world's largest island, located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans

Capital and largest city – Nuuk

Highest point – Gunnbjorn Fjeld, which is also the highest mountain north of the Arctic circle

Greenland ice sheet is a vast body of ice covering 1,710,000 square kilometres (660,235 sq mi), roughly 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is the second largest ice body in the world, after the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Cape Farewell is the southernmost point of Greenland

Ilulissat Icefjord is a fjord in western Greenland. At its eastern end is the Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier, the most productive glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. Larger icebergs typically do not melt until they reach 40 – 45 degrees north

Petermann glacier connects the Greenland ice sheet to the Arctic Ocean

Scoresby Sound is a large fjord system of the Greenland Sea on the eastern coast of Greenland

Northeast Greenland National Park is the world's largest national park

Kaffeklubben Island is an uninhabited island off the northern tip of Greenland. It contains the most northerly point of land on Earth

King Christian IX Land and King Frederick VIII Land are geographical areas of Greenland

Hispaniola

Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the region's second largest in area, after the island of Cuba

The island is divided into Dominican Republic to the east and Haiti to the west

Saint Martin

Saint Martin is shared between France (Saint Martin) and the Netherlands (Sint Maarten). it is the smallest inhabited sea island divided between two nations

Princess Juliana International Airport is the main airport on Sint Maarten. The airport has very low-altitude flyover landing approaches, owing to one end of its runway being extremely close to the shore and Maho Beach

Physical Geography

Regions

The Canadian Shield, also called the Precambrian Shield, Laurentian Shield, or Laurentian Plateau, is a large thin-soiled area over a part of the North American craton (a deep, common, joined bedrock region) in eastern and central Canada and adjacent portions of the US, composed of base rock dating to the Precambrian Era

Continental Divide (or Great Divide) of the Americas is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from, 1) those river systems which drain into the Atlantic Ocean and 2) those river systems which drain into the Arctic Ocean

Mountains

Highest mountains in North America – McKinley, Logan, Pico de Orizaba

Rocky Mountains stretch more than 3,000 miles from the northernmost part of British Columbia to New Mexico. Within the North American Cordillera, the Rockies are distinct from the Pacific Coast Ranges and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada which all lie further to the west. The highest point is Mount Elbert in Colorado

Appalachian Mountains extend over 2,000 miles from Newfoundland and Labrador to Alabama. The highest point is Mount Mitchell, in North Carolina

Appalachian Trail extends between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately 2,181 miles long

Mount Saint Elias is the second highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, being situated on the Yukon and Alaska border

Maya Mountains are located in Belize and eastern Guatemala

American Cordillera is a chain of mountain ranges (cordilleras) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western ‘backbone’ of the Americas. Aconcagua is the highest peak of the chain. It is also the backbone of the volcanic arc that forms the eastern half of the Pacific Ring of Fire

Deserts

Sonoran Desert covers large parts of the southwestern United States (in Arizona and California), as well as the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur

Chihuahuan Desert covers parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States

Rivers

Longest rivers of the United States – Missouri, Mississippi, Yukon, Rio Grande

St. Lawrence River flows from Lake Ontario into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean and forming the primary drainage outflow of the Great Lakes Basin. The river traverses the provinces of Ontario and Quebec as well as the U.S. state of New York, and is part of the international boundary between Canada and the United States. It also provides the basis for the commercial St. Lawrence Seaway

Thousand Islands constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario

Thousand Island dressing is named after the Thousand Islands region

Just Room Enough Island is located in the Thousand Islands chain, belonging to New York. The island is known for being the smallest inhabited island

Seas

Beaufort Sea is in Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska

Lincoln Sea is a body of water in the Arctic Ocean, stretching from Cape Columbia, Canada, in the west to Cape Morris Jesup, Greenland

Greenland Sea borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Greenland Sea is often defined as part of the Arctic Ocean. Molloy Deep, within the Greenland Sea, is the deepest point of the Arctic Ocean

Lomonosov Ridge is an underwater ridge of continental crust in the Arctic Ocean. It spans 1800 km from the New Siberian Islands over the central part of the ocean to Ellesmere Island of the Canadian Arctic islands. Named in honour of Russian scientist and polymath Mikhail Lomonosov

Salish Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean located in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington. It includes the Strait of Georgia, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Puget Sound

Strait of Juan de Fuca forms the principal outlet for the Georgia Strait and Puget Sound, connecting both to the Pacific Ocean. It provides part of the international boundary between the United States and Canada

San Juan Islands are an archipelago between the state of Washington and Vancouver Island

Sargasso Sea is an elongated region in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by ocean currents. On the west it is bounded by the Gulf Stream; on the north, by the North Atlantic Current; on the east, by the Canary Current; and on the south, by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current

Gulf of Paria is an inland sea located between Trinidad and Venezuela. In the north, the Gulf is connected to the Caribbean Sea through the Dragons' Mouths. In the south, the Gulf is connected to the Atlantic through the Columbus Channel, also known as the Serpent's Mouth

Gulf of Fonseca is in the Pacific Ocean and borders El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua

Mona Passage separates the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico

Yucatan Channel separates Mexico from Cuba

Puerto Rico trench has a maximum depth of 8648 metres at Milwaukee Deep, which is the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean and the deepest point not in the Pacific Ocean

Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, also known as the Great Mayan Reef, is a marine region that stretches over 1000 km from the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula down to Belize, Guatemala and Honduras