Civilisation/World Geography - North America
United States of America
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
Alabama (AL)
Capital – Montgomery
Largest city – Birmingham
Alaska (AK)
Capital – Juneau
Largest city – Anchorage
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
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
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
Disenchantment Bay is in Alaska
Alexander Archipelago is in Alaska
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is in Alaska
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 in Alaska is the largest city by area in USA
Mount Aniakchak is a volcanic caldera located in the Aleutian Range of Alaska
Kodiak Island – 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
Arizona (AZ)
Capital and largest city – Phoenix
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
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
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
Petrified Forest National Park is in Arizona
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
Arkansas (AR)
Capital and largest city – Little Rock
Mississippi River forms most of the eastern border of Arkansas
Hot Springs National Park is in Arkansas
California (CA)
Capital – Sacramento
Largest city – Los Angeles
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
Los Angeles is known as ‘the big orange’
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
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
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
Crystal Cathedral campus is a Christian megachurch in the city of Garden Grove, within Orange County in Southern California
John Wayne airport is in Orange County
John Paul Getty museum is in Malibu
San Francisco cable cars are the world’s only mobile National Monument
Golden Gate Bridge designed by Joseph Strauss in 1937
The eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge is currently scheduled to open to traffic in 2013
Yerba Buena Island connects the western and eastern spans of the Bay Bridge
The Immigration Station on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay processed approximately one million Asian immigrants and has been designated a National Historic Landmark
San Diego International Airport is on the site of a municipal airport named Lindbergh Field
San Diego has one of the world’s largest zoos
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
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
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
Mono Lake, California contains bacteria that grow in high concentrations of arsenic
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
Largest county by area – San Bernadino County, California
Colorado (CO)
Capital and largest city – Denver
Mount Elbert is highest mountain in Rockies
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
Colorado River drains into the Gulf of California
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
Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountains is higher than any point in the United States east of its longitude
Connecticut (CT)
Capital – Hartford
Largest city – Bridgeport
Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum is in Connecticut
Delaware (DE)
Capital – Dover
Largest city – Wilmington
Delaware is divided into three counties, named New Castle, Kent, and Sussex
Florida (FL)
Capital – Tallahassee
Largest city – Jacksonville
Florida is the US state most affected by lightning
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
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
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)
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando
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
Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida 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
Georgia (GA)
Capital and largest city – 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
Savannah was first state capital of Georgia
Hawaii (HI)
Capital and largest city – Honolulu
Mount Kilauea is the most active volcano in Hawaii. Kilauea emits large quantities of sulphur dioxide
Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands
Pearl Harbour is on the island of Oahu
Honolulu is on Oahu
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’
Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on earth in terms of area covered
Kauai the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands
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
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
Hilo is the main town on The Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island
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
Idaho (ID)
Capital and largest city – Boise
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)
Capital – Springfield
Largest city – Chicago
The Wrigley Building is a skyscraper located directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago
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
The loop is the downtown area of Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in Illinois
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
Tribune Tower is a neo-Gothic building in Chicago. It is the home of the Chicago Tribune and Tribune Company
Home Insurance Building in Chicago was built in 1884. It was the first building to use structural steel
Sears Tower was designed by Bruce Graham and Fazlur Khan. In 2009, Sears Tower was renamed Willis Tower
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
Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield contains Lincoln’s Tomb
Indiana (IN)
Capital and largest city – Indianapolis
Fort Wayne is the second largest city in Indiana
Iowa (IA)
Capital and largest city – Des Moines
Maharishi Vedic City is a city in Jefferson County, Iowa
Kansas (KS)
Capital – Topeka
Largest city – Wichita
Lebanon is the centre of the 48 contiguous states
Boot Hill Museum is in Dodge City
Kentucky (KY)
Capital – Frankfort
Largest city – Louisville
The Bethlehem, Kentucky post office offers a special postmark during the Christmas season
Louisiana (LA)
Capital – Baton Rouge
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
New Orleans is known as “crescent city”
Louis Armstrong airport serves New Orleans
Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans from 1897 to 1917
Maine (ME)
Capital – Augusta
Largest city – Portland
Maine is the lobster capital of USA
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
Maryland (MD)
Capital – Annapolis
Largest city – Baltimore
Andrews air force base is in Maryland
Goddard Space Flight Centre was established in 1959
Massachusetts (MA)
Capital and largest city – Boston
Boston is known as the ‘Athens of the Americas’
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
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
Michigan (MI)
Capital – Lansing
Largest city – Detroit
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
Straits of Mackinac is the narrow waterway separating Michigan's Lower Peninsula from its Upper Peninsula. It connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron
Mackinac Island is an island and resort area located in Lake Huron
Minnesota (MN)
Capital – St. Paul
Largest city – Minneapolis
Minnesota is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes"
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
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
Mississippi (MS)
Capital and largest city – Jackson
Tupelo is in Mississippi
Missouri (MO)
Capital – Jefferson City
Largest city – Kansas City
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
Montana (MT)
Capital – Helena
Largest city – Billings
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)
Capital – Lincoln
Largest city – Omaha
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
Nevada (NV)
Capital – Carson City
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
Great Basin is a desert in Nevada
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
New Hampshire (NH)
Capital – Concord
Largest city – Manchester
”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 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
New Jersey (NJ)
Capital – Trenton
Largest city – Newark
New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state, but the most densely populated
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 Mexico (NM)
Capital – Santa Fe
Largest city – Albequerque
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
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
National Museum of Nuclear Science & History (formerly named National Atomic Museum) is located in Albuquerque
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
New York (NY)
Capital – Albany
Largest city – New York
New York is built on a bedrock of schist
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
Madison Avenue is associated with advertising
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 is used to be called Longacre Square. Renamed in honour of the New York Times
St. Patrick’s is a gothic-style Catholic cathedral in New York
St. John the Divine is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York
The Russian Tea Room is a restaurant in New York, located at 150 West 57th Street between Carnegie Hall Tower and Metropolitan Tower
Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan opened in 1902, and was designed by architect Goldwin Starrett
Sixth Avenue is the Avenue of the Americas
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
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
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
4 World Trade Center (also known by its street address, 150 Greenwich Street) will be 978 feet tall
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
Exchange Place is the subway station at Ground Zero
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
Brill Building in Manhattan is famous for housing music industry offices and studios where some of the most popular American music tunes were written
John D Rockefeller financed the building of the United Nations headquarters
Park51, originally named Cordoba House, is a planned $100 million, 13-story, glass and steel Islamic community centre and mosque in Lower Manhattan
Flatiron Building was originally called the Fuller Building. Located at 175 Fifth Avenue
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
Harlem is a district in Manhattan
Gracie Mansion – home of New York mayor
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
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 (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
JFK Airport is on Long Island. Known as Idlewild until 1963, one month after the assassination of JFK
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’
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)
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
New York subway opened in 1904
Washington Arch is a marble triumphal arch in Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, celebrating the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration
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
George Washington Bridge, connecting Manhattan to New Jersey, carries approximately 102 million vehicles per year, making it the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge
Empire State Building completed in 1931.1250’ high. Designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon
Brooklyn Bridge crosses the East river. Designed by John Roebling. Opened in 1883
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
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 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
Yonkers – city in New York. Name derived from Adriaen van der Donck
Lake Placid is in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York (the biggest national park in the US outside Alaska)
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
North Carolina (NC)
Capital – Raleigh
Largest city – Charlotte
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
North Dakota (ND)
Capital – Bismarck
Largest city – Fargo
Ohio (OH)
Capital and largest city – Columbus
Cleveland is the second 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
Oklahoma (OK)
Capital and largest city – Oklahoma City
Will Rogers World Airport serves Oklahoma City
Tallgrass Prairie Preserve is protected as the largest tract of remaining tallgrass prairie in the world
Oregon (OR)
Capital – Salem
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)
Mount Hood is the highest point in Oregon
Oregon is slightly larger than UK
Pennsylvania (PA)
Capital – Harrisburg
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
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
Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts is concert hall located in Pittsburgh
Three Mile Island is in the Susquehanna River, near Harrisburg
Rhode Island (RI)
Capital and largest city – Providence
Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, but the second most densely populated of the 50 US states
South Carolina (SC)
Capital and largest city – Colombia
Charleston is the oldest and second largest city in South Carolina
South Dakota (SD)
Capital – Pierre
Largest city – Sioux Falls
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
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)
Capital – Nashville
Largest city – Memphis
Graceland is a mansion on an estate in Memphis that was home to Elvis Presley
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”
Texas (TX)
Capital – Austin
Largest city – Houston
Texas is the second most populous (after California) and the second largest of the 50 U.S. states (after Alaska)
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 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
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 the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area is known as The Metroplex
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
Utah (UT)
Capital and largest city – Salt Lake City
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-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River
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
Great Salt Lake is the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere, and the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world
Vermont (VT)
Capital – Montpelier
Largest city – Burlington
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
Virginia (VA)
Capital – Richmond
Largest city- Virginia Beach
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
Washington (WA)
Capital – Olympia
Largest city – Seattle
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”
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
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
West Virginia (WV)
Capital and largest city – Charleston
West Virginia is located entirely within the Appalachian Region, and the state is almost entirely mountainous
Wisconsin (WI)
Madison is the capital of Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city of Wisconsin
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)
Capital and largest city – Cheyenne
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 Theodore Roosevelt established the first national monument, Devils Tower in Wyoming, in 1906
Ulysses S Grant made Yellowstone the first National Park in 1872
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
Lafayette Park is overlooked by the White House
Statue of Freedom is a 6 m high statue on top of Capitol building
Washington has no skyscrapers
Washington Monument is tallest structure in Washington
Lincoln Memorial was completed in 1922. Designed by Henry Bacon
Jefferson Memorial is a neoclassical building designed by John Russell Pope
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
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which was completed in 1982, is in Constitution Gardens adjacent to the National Mall, just northeast of the Lincoln Memorial
The Smithsonian Institution is the largest museum complex in the world. It operates 19 museums and the National Zoo
The Willard InterContinental Washington is an historic luxury hotel located two blocks east of the White House
Dumbarton Oaks is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighbourhood
K Street is notorious for the density of its lobbying firms
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
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
Chesapeake Bay is the largest inlet off the Atlantic coast, and has coastlines on Virginia and Maryland
Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Toledo are all on Lake Erie
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
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
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 common US city name is Franklin (17)
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
Susquehanna River is the longest river entirely within the USA that drains into the Atlantic Ocean
Missouri River is known as ‘the big muddy’
First state capital alphabetically – Albany
Last state capital alphabetically – Trenton
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
Delaware Bay is bordered by Delaware and New Jersey
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 – 1st Los Angeles County, 2nd Cook County, Illinois, 3rd 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
Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow 1770 km² peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida border. Okefenokee is the largest "blackwater" swamp in North America
Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake entirely in USA
Supai Group is a slope-forming section of red bed deposits found in the Grand Canyon
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
Snake River is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, and the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean
Green River is the chief tributary of the Colorado River
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
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
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)
Canada
Canada was known as La Nouvelle France
Canada produces 35% of world’s uranium
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
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
Provinces –
Alberta
Capital – Edmonton
Largest city – Calgary
Calgary is third largest city in Canada
Jasper national park is in Alberta
Alberta is named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Victoria, the Queen of Canada and Albert, Prince Consort
Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885, in the Canadian Rockies
Lake Louise is in Banff National Park Alberta
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
Most of the oil sands (tar sands) of Canada are located in northern Alberta
British Columbia
Capital – Victoria
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
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
Manitoba
Capital and largest city – Winnipeg
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
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
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
Nova Scotia
Capital and largest city – Halifax
Sable Island, situated off the coast of Nova Scotia, is known as the “graveyard of the Atlantic”
Ontario
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 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
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
Thunder Bay is the most populous city on Lake Superior
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
Sudbury Basin is the second-largest impact crater on Earth
Prince Edward Island
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
Quebec
Capital – Quebec City
Largest city – 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
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
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
Quebec City was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain
Plains of Abraham is a historic area in Quebec City
Saskatchewan
Capital – Regina
Largest city – Saskatoon
Saskatchewan is the only Canadian province with four straight boundaries
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
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
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
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’
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
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
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
Mexico
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 Greater Mexico City population is 21.2 million people, making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere
Torre Mayor is a skyscraper in Mexico City. With a height of 225 m, it is the tallest building in Latin America
Soumaya Museum in Mexico City contains a large collection of casts of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. It is owned by the Carlos Slim Foundation
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
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
Juarez is called "the most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones”
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
Chihuahua is the largest state of Mexico
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
