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Joshua Bell

Joshua Bell

Joshua Bell (born December 9, 1967) is an American violinist. Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana and studied the violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under Josef Gingold. At the age of fourteen, he appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti. He made his debut at Carnegie Hall in 1985 with the St Louis Symphony Orchestra. He has since played with many of the world's major orchestras and conductors. As well as the standard concerto repertoire, Bell has performed new works - he is the dedicatee of Nicholas Maw's violin concerto, the recording of which won Bell a Grammy, and gave the world premiere of the work in 1993. He performed the solo part on John Corigliano's Oscar-winning soundtrack for the film The Red Violin. He also plays chamber music. Bell is currently in possession of the Gibson Stradivarius of 1713. Joshua Bell currently serves as an Artistic Partner for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (beginning with the 2004-2005 season).

External links


- [http://www.joshuabell.com/ Official website] Bell, Joshua Bell, Joshua Bell, Joshua Bell, Joshua Bell, Joshua Bell, Joshua ja:ジョシュア・ベル

1967

1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January


- January 4 - Algerian revolutionary Mohammed Khider is shot in Madrid.
- January 6 - Vietnam War: USMC and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta.
- January 10 - Segregationist Lester Maddox inaugurated as governor of Georgia.
- January 13 - Military coup in Togo under the leadership of Etienne Eyadema.
- January 14 - The New York Times reports that the US Army is conducting secret germ warfare experiments.
- January 15 - Louis Leakey announces that he has found prehuman fossils from Kenya - he names the species Kenyapitchecus Africanus.
- January 15 - United Kingdom enters the first round of negotiations for EEC membership in Rome.
- January 16 - Italy announces support for United Kingdom's EEC membership.
- January 18 - Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler," is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life in prison.
- January 18 - Jeremy Thorpe becomes leader of the Liberal Party
- January 23 - In Munich, trial begins against Wilhelm Harster, accused of murder of 82,856 Jews (including Anne Frank) when he led German security police during the German occupation of Netherlands. He is eventually sentenced to 15 years in prison.
- January 26 - Parliament of the United Kingdom decides to nationalize 90% of British steel industry.
- January 27 - Apollo 1: US astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee are killed when fire erupts in their Apollo spacecraft during a test on the launch pad.
- January 27 - USA, Soviet Union and UK sign the Outer Space Treaty.
- January 31 - West Germany and Romania form diplomatic relations.

February


- February 2 - The American Basketball Association is formed.
- February 3 - Ronald Ryan becomes the last man hanged in Australia, executed for the murder of a prison guard, which he committed while escaping from prison in December 1965
- February 4 - Soviet Union protests the demonstrations before its embassy in Peking
- February 5 - Lunar Orbiter 3 is launched.
- February 5 - Italy's first guided missile cruiser, the Vittorio Veneto (C550), is launched.
- February 5 - General Anastasio Somoza Debayle becomes president of Nicaragua.
- February 6 - Aleksei Kosygin arrives in the UK for an eight-day visit. He meets the Queen on the 9th.
- February 7 - Chinese government announces that it can no longer guarantee safety of Soviet diplomats outside the Soviet embassy building
- February 7 - Serious brush fires in southern Tasmania claim 62 lives
- February 10 - The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified
- February 14 - King Constantine II of Greece flees the country when his coup attempt fails
- February 15 - Soviet Union announces that it has sent troops to near Chinese border
- February 18 - China sends three PLA divisions to Tibet
- February 18 - New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison claims he is going to solve the John F. Kennedy assassination and that it was planned in New Orleans
- February 22 - Suharto takes power from Sukarno in Indonesia.
- February 22 - Donald Sangster becomes the new Prime Minister of Jamaica, succeeding Alexander Bustamante.
- February 23 - Trinidad and Tobago are the first Commonwealth nation to join the OAS.
- February 24 - Moscow forbids its satellite states to form diplomatic relations to West Germany
- February 25 - Chinese government announces that it has ordered the army to help in the spring seeding.
- February 25 - Britain's second Polaris missile submarine, HMS Renown, is launched.
- February 26 - Soviet nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk.
- February 27 - Dutch government supports British EEC membership
- February 27 - Dominica gains independence from the United Kingdom.
- February 27 - The Outer Space Treaty was signed in Washington, London, and Moscow (entered into force October 10, 1967).

March


- March 1 - The city Hatogaya, located in Saitama, Japan is founded
- March 1 - Brazilian police arrest Franc Paul Stangli, ex-commander of Treblinka and Sobibór concentration camps
- March 1 - Red Guards return to schools in China.
- March 1 - The Queen Elizabeth Hall is opened in London.
- March 4 - The first North Sea gas is pumped ashore at Easington Co Durham.
- March 4 - Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, the disposed democratically elected prime minister of Iran, dies while under house arrest.
- March 7 - Jimmy Hoffa begins his 8-year sentence for attempted bribery of jury
- March 9 - Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva defects to USA via the US Delhi Embassy.
- March 12 - Indonesian State Assembly takes all presidential powers from Sukarno and names Suharto as acting president.
- March 13 - Moise Tshombe, ex-prime minister of Congo is sentenced to death in absentia
- March 14 - The body of President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery
- March 14 - Nine executives of the German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal are charged for breaking German drug laws because of thalidomide
- March 16 - In the Aspida case in Greece, 15 officers are sentenced to 2-18 years in prison accused of treason and intentions of coup
- March 18 - Supertanker Torrey Canyon runs aground in between Land's End and the Scilly Isles
- March 19 - Referendum in French Somaliland favors the connection to France
- March 21 - Military coup takes place in Sierra Leone.
- March 28 - Pope Paul VI issues the encyclical Populorum Progressio.
- March 29 - 13-day TV strike begins in USA.
- March 29-March 30 - RAF planes bomb the Torrey Canyon and sink it
- March 29 - The First French nuclear submrine, Le Redoutable, is launched.
- March 29 - The SEACOM cable system is inaugurated.
- March 31 - President Lyndon Johnson signs the Consular Treaty.

April


- April 2 - UN delegation arrives in Aden due to approaching independence. They leave April 7 and accuse British authorities for lack of cooperation. British say the delegation did not contact them.
- April 4 - Martin Luther King, Jr denounces Vietnam War during a religous service in New York City
- April 6 - Georges Pompidou begins to form the next French government.
- April 7 - Six-Day War: Israeli fighters shoot down seven Syrian MIG-21s.
- April 9 - The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) takes its maiden flight.
- April 13 - Conservatives win the Greater London Council elections.
- April 14 - 10,000 march against the Vietnam War in San Francisco.
- April 15 - Large demonstrations against the Vietnam War in New York City and San Francisco.
- April 20 - Surveyor 3 probe lands on the Moon.
- April 20 - A Swiss Britannia turboprop crashes at Toronto, Canada, killing 126.
- April 21 - Greece is taken over by military dictatorship led by George Papadopoulos, forcing King Constantine II to flee.
- April 23 - A group of young radicals are expelled from the Nicaraguan Socialist Party (PSN). This group goes on to found the Socialist Workers Party (POS).
- April 24 - Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies during reentry of Soyuz 1 after the spacecraft's parachutes fail to deploy properly.
- April 28 - Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses military service.
- April 28 - Montreal hosts Expo '67; it is to coincide with the centennial of Canadian Confederation.
- April 29 - Fidel Castro announces that all intellectual property belongs to all people and that Cuba intends to translate and publish technical literature without compensation.
- April 30 - Moscow's 537m-tall TV tower is finished.

May


- May 2 - The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup.
- May 2 - Harold Wilson announces that United Kingdom has decided to apply for EEC membership
- May 3 - Big gold robbery in London.
- May 4 - Lunar Orbiter 4 launched.
- May 6 - Dr Zakir Hussain is the first Muslim to become president of India.
- May 6 - 400 students seize the administration building at Cheyney State College, Pennsylvania
- May 8 - The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
- May 10 - Greek military government accused Andreas Papandreou of treason
- May 11 - United Kingdom and Ireland apply officially for EEC membership
- May 12 - Linda Ronstadt launches her first single 'Different Drum' with band The Stone Ponies.
- May 17 - Syria mobilizes against Israel
- May 17 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt demands withdrawal of the peacekeeping UN Emergency Force in Sinai. UN secretary-general U Thant complies (May 18). On May 23 Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran, blockading Israel's southern port of Eilat.
- May 18 - Tennessee Governor Ellington repeals the "Monkey Law" (see the Scopes Trial)
- May 18 - In Mexico, schoolteacher Lucio Cabañas begins a guerilla campaign in Atoyac de Alvarez, west of Acapulco in the state of Guerrero
- May 19 - The Soviet Union ratifies a treaty with the United States and United Kingdom banning nuclear weapons from outer space
- May 19 - Yuri Andropov becomes the chief of KGB
- May 22 - The Innovation department store in the centre of Brussels (Belgium) burns down. It is the most devastating fire in Belgian history, which results in 323 dead and missing and 150 wounded.
- May 22 - Nasser announces the closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
- May 25 - Celtic F.C. become the first British team to reach a European Cup final and also to win it, beating Inter Milan 2-1 in normal time.
- May 27 - Naxalite Guerrilla War Beginning with a peasant uprising in the town of Naxalbari, this Marxist/Maoist rebellion sputters on in the Indian countryside. The guerrillas operate among the impoverished peasants and fight both the government security forces and the private paramilitary groups funded by wealthy landowners. Most fighting takes place in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.
- May 27 - The Australian referendum, 1967 passes with an overwhelming 90% support, allowing the Government of Australia to make special laws for Indigenous Australians.
- May 30 - Biafra, in eastern Nigeria, announces its independence.
- May 30 - At the Ascot Speedway in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined up in a row.

June

motorcycle
- June 1 - The Beatles release Sgt Pepper, one of rock's most acclaimed albums. The mythologised "Summer of Love" kicks into high gear.Moshe Dayan becomes Israel's Secretary of Defense.
- June 2 - Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran turn into fights, during which young Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June
- June 5-June 10 - Israel defeats Arab neighbours in Six-Day War, occupying West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai peninsula and Golan Heights
- June 5 - Murderer Richard Speck sentenced to death in electric chair for murder of nurses
- June 7 - Two Moby Grape members arrested for contributing to delinquency of minors
- June 8 - Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident - Four Israeli fighter jets and four Israeli warships fire at USS Liberty off Gaza, killing 34 and wounding 171
- June 10 - Israel and Syria agree to observe a United Nations-mediated cease-fire.
- June 10 - Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Israel.
- June 10 - Margrethe, heir apparent to the throne of Denmark, marries French count Henri de Laborde de Monpezat.
- June 11 - A race riot in Tampa, Florida
- June 12 - The United States Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia declares all U.S. state law which prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional. [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/loving.html]
- June 12 - Venera program: Venera 4 is launched (it will become the first space probe to enter another planet's atmosphere and successfully return data)
- June 13 - Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall is nominated as the first African American justice of the United States Supreme Court - [http://www.supremecourthistory.org/02_history/subs_timeline/images_associates/082.html]
- June 14 - Mariner program: Mariner 5 is launched toward Venus
- June 14 - The People's Republic of China tests its first hydrogen bomb.[http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/china/nuke.htm]
- June 17 - The People's Republic of China announces a successful hydrogen bomb test.
- June 23 - Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference. [http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/diary/1967/670623.asp]
- June 26 - Pope ordinates 276 new cardinals (one of them Karol Wojtyła).
- June 27 - First automatic cash machine (voucher-based) is installed in the office of the Barclays Bank in Enfield, England.
- June 27 - A race riot in Buffalo, New York - 200 arrested
- June 28 - Israel declares annexation of East Jerusalem.
- June 30 - Moise Tshombe, former prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is kidnapped to Algeria.

July


- July 1 - Canada celebrates its first one hundred years of Confederation.
- July 1 - The first colour television broadcasts begin on BBC2 in UK on certain programmes. A full colour service began on BBC2 on December 2.
- July 1 - American Samoa's first constitution becomes effective.
- July 3 - A military rebellion led by a Belgian mercenary Jean Schramme begins in Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- July 4 - British parliament decriminalizes homosexuality
- July 5 - Troops of Belgian mercenary commander Jean Schramme revolt against Mobutu and try to take control of Stanleyville, Congo
- July 5 - Israel annexes Gaza
- July 6 - Nigerian forces invade Biafra following latter's secession May 30: beginning of the Biafran War.
- July 12 - Greek military regime strips 480 Greeks of their citizenship
- July 13 - Newark, New Jersey race riots.
- July 15 - Detroit race riots.
- July 16 - Prison riot in Jay, Florida - 37 dead
- July 18 - United Kingdom announces closing of its military bases in Malaysia and Singapore. Australia and USA do not approve
- July 18 - Humberto Castelo Branco, ex-president of Brazil, dies in a plane accident near Fortaleza
- July 20 - Pablo Neruda receives the first Viareggio-Versile prize
- July 22 - The town of Winneconne, Wisconsin, announces secession from the United States because it is not included in the official maps and declares war. Secession is repealed the next day
- July 23 - 12th Street Riot: In Detroit, Michigan, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city (43 killed, 342 injured and ~1,400 buildings burned)
- July 24 - During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! (Long live free Quebec!). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians.
- July 29 - Explosion and fire aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin leaves 134 dead.
- July 29 - Georges Bidault moves to Belgium where he gets an political asylum

August


- August 1 - Race riots in the United States spread to Washington, D.C.
- August 1 - Israel annexes East Jerusalem.
- August 3 - Sweden switches to right-hand traffic.
- August 7 - Vietnam War: The People's Republic of China agrees to give North Vietnam an undisclosed amount of aid in the form of a grant.
- August 7 - General strike in the old quarter of Jerusalem protests Israel's unification of the city.
- August 8 - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded.
- August 9 - Vietnam War: Operation Cochise initiated - United States Marines begin a new operation in the Que Son Valley.
- August 10 - Schramme's troops take border town of Bukavu.
- August 14 - UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act declares participation in offshore pirate radio illegal.
- August 15 - British Labour Government bans pirate radio stations.
- August 19 - West Germany receives 36 East Germany prisoners it has "purchased" through the border posts of Herleshausen and Wartha.
- August 21 - Truce in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- August 21 - The People's Republic of China announces that it has shot down American planes violating its airspace.
- August 25 - Leader of American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell, is shot dead.
- August 30 - Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

September


- September 1 - Ilse Koch, also known as the "Bitch of Buchenwald", commits suicide in the Bavarian prison of Aichach.
- September 2 - Roughs Tower claimed by Paddy Roy Bates and declared Principality of Sealand
- September 3 - Nguyen Van Thieu is elected President of South Vietnam
- September 3 - H-Day in Sweden. At 5:00 AM local time, all traffic in the country switched from left-hand traffic pattern to right-hand traffic.
- September 4 - Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins - The United States Marines launch a search and destroy mission in Quang Nam and Quang Tin Provinces. The ensuing 4-day battle in Que Son Valley kills 114 Americans and 376 North Vietnamese
- September 5 - Sweden changes to driving on the right
- September 10 - In Gibraltar, only 44 out of 12.182 voters support union with Spain.
- September 17 - Riot in a football match in Kaysei, Turkey - 44 dead, about 600 injured.
- September 17 - Jim Morrison and The Doors defy CBS censors on The Ed Sullivan Show when Morrison sang the word "higher" from their #1 hit Light My Fire when asked not to.
- September 27 - Queen Mary arrives Southampton at the end of her last transatlantic voyage
- September 30 - BBC Radio 1 launched.

October


- October - Patterson-Gimlin film of a purported bigfoot taken.
- October 2 - Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first black justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
- October 3 - An X-15 research aircraft with test pilot Pete Knight establishes an unofficial world fixed-wing speed record of Mach 6.7
- October 8 - Guerrilla leader Che Guevara and his men are captured in Bolivia. The next day Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution
- October 12 - Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the U.S. Congress for peace initiatives were futile because of North Vietnam's opposition
- October 17 - Premiere of the musical Hair Off-Broadway.
- October 19 - Mariner 5 probe flies by Venus.
- October 21 - Egyptian surface-to-surface missile sinks the Israeli destroyer Eilat, killing 47 Israeli sailors. Israel retaliates by shelling Egyptian refineries along the Suez Canal.
- October 21 - Ten of thousands of Vietnam War protesters march in Washington, D.C.
- October 25 - Abortion bill passes in British parliament.
- October 26 - Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran is officially crowned.
- October 27 - Charles De Gaulle vetoes British entry into EEC – again.
- October 29 - Mobutu's trooops launch an offensive against mercenaries in Bukavu
- October 30 - British troops and Chinese demonstrators clash in the border of China and Hong Kong.
- October 30 - Mayor A.V. Sorensen of Omaha, Nebraska declares the following day to be Grace Bible Institute Day in the city of Omaha.

November


- November 2 - Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson holds a secret meeting with a group of the nation's most prestigious leaders ("the Wise Men") and asks them to suggest ways to unite the American people behind the war effort. They conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war
- November 3 - Vietnam War: Battle of Dak To begins - Around Dak To (located about 280 miles north of Saigon near the Cambodian border) heavy casualties are suffered on both sides (the Americans narrowly won the battle on November 22).
- November 4-November 5 - Mercenaries of Jean Schramme and Jerry Puren withdraw from Bukavu over Shangugu Bridge to Rwanda
- November 5 - Hither Green rail crash - commuter train derails in South-East London - 40 dead, 80 injured
- November 6 - Rhodesian parliament passes pro-Apartheid laws.
- November 7 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- November 7 - Carl B. Stokes is elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the first African American mayor of a major United States city
- November 9 - Apollo program: NASA launches a Saturn V rocket carrying the unmanned Apollo 4 test spacecraft from Cape Kennedy
- November 11 - Vietnam War: In a propaganda ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, three American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong and turned over to "new left" antiwar activist Tom Hayden
- November 15 - Cyprus conflict eye-witness account: "In the afternoon of November 15 National Guard (Greek Cypriot Army) organised by General Grivas attacked two villages, Kophinou (Tr. Gecitkale) (a wholly Turkish Cypriot village) and Ayios Theodoros (Tr Bogazici) (a Greek/Turkish village) with an estimated 10000 men. The total T.Cypriot population in these villages was under 3000. 24 in all, some armed but mainly unarmed Turkish Cypriot civilians were killed - one 90 year old men in particular was wounded, and burnt to death in the front of his house where he fell. Women and children forced out of their houses were forced to pass by the burning corpse. In the morning of 16th of November, Turkey threatened invasion by bombing various Greek Cypriot army positions at which stage the National Guard withdrew releasing all civilians forcefully kept in various public places eg schools/cinemas in the two villages."
- November 17 - Vietnam War: Acting on optimistic reports he was given on November 13, US President Lyndon B. Johnson tells his nation that, while much remained to be done, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress." (two months later the Tet Offensive makes him regret his words)
- November 17 - French author Regis Debray is sentenced to 30 years in Bolivia
- November 19 - UK pound devalued from 1 GBP = 2.80 USD to 1 GBP = 2.40 USD.
- November 21 - Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."
- November 22 - UN Security Council Resolution 242 is adopted by the UN Security Council, establishing a set of the principles aimed at guiding negotiations for an Arab-Israeli peace settlement
- November 24 - Cambodian triple agent Inchin Lam killed
- November 29 - Vietnam War: US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces his pending resignation and that he will become president of the World Bank. This action was the result of US President Lyndon B. Johnson's outright rejection of McNamara's early November recommendations to freeze troop levels, stop bombing North Vietnam and hand over ground fighting to South Vietnam
- November 30- The People's Republic of South Yemen becomes independent from the United Kingdom

December


-
- December 4, 1850 hours - A volcano erupts on Deception Island in Antarctica.
- December 4 - Vietnam War: US and South Vietnamese forces engage Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta (235 of the 300-strong Viet Cong battalion were killed).
- December 5 - Benjamin Spock and Allen Ginsberg arrested for protesting against Vietnam War
- December 9 - Nicolae Ceauşescu becomes the Chairman of the Romanian State Council - that is, de-facto dictator of Romania.
- December 11 - The Concorde is unveiled in Toulouse, France
- December 15 - Silver Bridge over Ohio River in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapses - 46 dead. It has been linked to the so-called Mothman mystery.
- December 17 - Harold Holt, Australian prime minister, disappears when swimming at a beach 60 km from Melbourne.
- December 19 - Professor John Archibald Wheeler uses the term

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United