The contiguous United States are the 48 U.S. states A U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of commonwealth rather than state. State citizenship is on the continent of North America that are south of Canada The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three, plus the District of Columbia Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. The City of Washington was originally a separate municipality within the Territory of Columbia until an act of Congress in 1871 effectively merged the City and the.[1] The term excludes the states of Alaska Alaska was purchased from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at about two cents per acre . The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959 and Hawaii The state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles . At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight "main islands" are (from the northwest to southeast) Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and Hawaiʻi. The last is by, and all off-shore U.S. territories United States territory is any extent of region under the jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters . The United States has traditionally proclaimed the sovereign rights for exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managing its territory. This extent of territory is all the area belonging to, and under the and possessions, such as Puerto Rico Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: "Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" — literally Associated Free State of Puerto Rico), is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands.[2][3][4][5]

Together, the 48 contiguous states and D.C. have an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles (8,080,464.25 km²). Of this, 2,959,064.44 sq mi (7,663,941.71 km²) is land, comprising 83.65% of U.S. land area. Officially, 160,820.25 sq mi (416,522.38 km²) is water area, comprising 62.66% of the nation's water area. Its 2000 census population was 279,583,437, comprising 99.35% of the nation's population. Its population density Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key geographic term was 94.484 inhabitants/sq mi (36.480/km²), compared to 79.555/sq mi (30.716/km²) for the nation as a whole.[6]

The map below shows the contiguous United States and, in an inset box in the lower left, the two states that are not contiguous.

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Delaware Maryland New Hampshire New Jersey Massachusetts Connecticut West Virginia Vermont Rhode Island

Other terms

While coterminous U.S. and conterminous U.S. have the same precise meaning as contiguous U.S., other terms commonly used to describe the 48 contiguous states have some degree of ambiguity.

Continental United States

Because Alaska is also on the North American continent, the term continental United States, if interpreted literally, should also include that state,[7] so the term is sometimes qualified with the explicit inclusion or exclusion of Alaska to resolve any ambiguity.[8][3][9][10][11] The term was in use prior to the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states of the United States, and at that time usually excluded outlying territories of the U.S.[12][13] However, even before Alaska became a state, it was sometimes included within the "Continental US".[14]

The lower 48

The term lower 48 may or may not include the District of Columbia (which is not part of any of the 48 states). The National Geographic The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history style guide recommends the use of contiguous or conterminous United States instead of "lower 48" when the 48 states are meant, unless used in the context of Alaska.[15]

CONUS/OCONUS

CONUS is a technical term used by the US Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense is the U.S. federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the United States armed forces. The organization and functions of the DOD are set forth in Title 10 of the United States Code which is specifically defined as the 48 contiguous states but is silent on the District of Columbia.[5] OCONUS is the same term with addition of O for outside, thus Outside of Contiguous United States (OCONUS).[citation needed]

Terms used in the non-contiguous states

Both Alaska and Hawaii, because of their own location relative to the contiguous United States, have their own unique labels for it.

Alaska

Alaska became the 49th state of the United States on January 3, 1959. Alaska is on the northwest end of the North American continent, but separated from the rest of the United States by Canada. In Alaska, given the ambiguity surrounding the usage of continental, the term "continental United States" is almost unheard of when referring to the contiguous 48 states. Several other terms have been used over the years. Most Americans are familiar[citation needed] with the term "Lower 48", which for many years was the most common Alaskan equivalent for "contiguous United States". However, since the 1980s Alaskans have increasingly adopted the term Outside In Alaska, Outside or the Outside refers to any non-Alaska location. Though commonly used by Alaskans to refer to other U.S. states, it may also refer to international locations distant from Alaska, including Canada or Russia. The term has been in use since at least the beginning of the 20th century and is believed to be an adaptation of a similar to refer to the rest of the United States. Alaskans will speak of going Outside to vacation or will refer to being born Outside.[16][17][18] When traveling to another state, Alaskans also say that they are going "down south".[citation needed]

Hawaii

Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States on August 21, 1959. The Hawaiian Islands are located in Oceania Oceania is a geographical, and often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term "Oceania" was coined in 1831 by French explorer Dumont d'Urville.[dubious – discuss] The term is also sometimes used to denote a continent comprising Australia Continent and proximate and are about 2,200 miles (3,500 km) from the North American mainland. In Hawaii and overseas American territories An insular area is a United States territory, that is neither a part of one of the fifty U.S. states nor the District of Columbia, the federal district of the United States, for instance, the terms "the Mainland" or "U.S. Mainland" are used to refer to the continental United States.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "United Airlines website". http://www.unitedcargo.com/help/glossary.jsp?pageIndex=C. Retrieved 2008-11-25. "Contiguous United States: The 48 adjoining states and the District of Columbia."
  2. ^ continental, adj., "being the part of the United States on the North American continent; also : being the part of the United States comprising the lower 48 states" Merriam-Webster, Inc. (2003). Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, Inc.. ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 0877798095. [dubious – discuss]
  3. ^ a b Random House (1991). Random House Webster's College Dictionary. New York: Random House. ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 0679401105.
  4. ^ These maps show the contiguous 48 states and D.C., but not Alaska and Hawaii.
  5. ^ a b "CONUS" seems to be used primarily by the American military and the Federal government and those doing business with them.
  6. ^ "Population and land area from Census of 2000". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-context=dt&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-CONTEXT=dt&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_P001&-tree_id=4001&-transpose=N&-redoLog=false&-all_geo_types=N&-geo_id=01000US&-geo_id=04000US02&-geo_id=04000US15&-search_results=04000US15&-_showChild=Y&-format=&-_lang=en&-show_geoid=Y. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
  7. ^
  8. ^ *"National Geographic Style Manual". http://stylemanual.ngs.org/intranet/styleman.nsf/fe865d1098fe36e58525665100675485/5e9222e01432afcb852566980056c49e. Retrieved 2008-11-25. "The continental United States comprises the 48 plus Alaska."
  9. ^ "U.S. Navy Style Guide". http://www.navy.mil/tools/view_styleguide_all.asp. Retrieved 2008-11-25. "CONUS - "Continental United States" CONUS refers to the 48 contiguous states."
  10. ^
  11. ^ "Alaska Airlines website". http://www.alaskaair.com/as/mileageplan/AwardsUSACanada.asp.
  12. ^ "Abstract of the 1900 Census (1904), p.xiii" (PDF). http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/00319143.pdf. "The area … is continental United States, by which is meant that part of the United States lying on the continent of North America south of the Canadian boundary. It thus excludes Alaska and the recent insular accessions of Hawaii, Porto Rico (sic), the Philippine Islands, Guam, Samoa..."
  13. ^ "… merchandise to foreign countries from continental United states, Puerto Rico, and the territories of Alaska and Hawaii." United States Foreign Trade (1950-1953)
  14. ^ "In the absence of any such statement, Alaska probably would be regarded as a part of the continental United States." Inland Marine and Transportation Insurance (1949)
  15. ^ "National Geographic Style Manual". http://stylemanual.ngs.org/intranet/styleman.nsf/fe865d1098fe36e58525665100675485/5e9222e01432afcb852566980056c49e. Retrieved 2008-11-25. "Use contiguous or conterminous for the 48 states. The continental United States comprises the 48 plus Alaska. In Alaskan context, lower forty-eight may be used."
  16. ^ [http://alaskaanswers.com/alaska/?p=98 Alaska Answers weblog ]
  17. ^ Speak Alaskan
  18. ^ About Alaska

External links

Categories: Subdivisions of the United States The territory of the United States is may be divided into three classes of non-overlapping top-level political divisions: the 50 States, the federal district, Washington, D.C., and a variety of insular areas. There are many other political divisions overlapping with or subordinate to the above. See also Freely associated states

 

The above information uses material from Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a.
Some facts may not have been fully verified for accuracy. [Disclaimers Wikipedia is an online open-content collaborative encyclopedia, that is, a voluntary association of individuals and groups working to develop a common resource of human knowledge. The structure of the project allows anyone with an Internet connection to alter its content. Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by]
This page was last archived by our server on Tue Jul 27 21:34:30 2010. [ refresh local cache ]
Displaying this page or its contents does not use any Wikimedia Foundation's resources.
The owners of this site proudly support the Wikimedia Foundation.

[Hide]▼
'Contiguous United States' News
NOAA: US Winter and February Cooler Than Average - Docuticker (blog)
news.google.com
NOAA: US Winter and February Cooler Than Average

Docuticker (blog)

... for the winter season (December through February) and the month of February, state that temperatures were below normal for the contiguous United States . ...
Google News Search: Contiguous United States,
Tue Jul 27 21:34:32 2010
'Contiguous United States' Images
usa gif
idahogeology.org
usa gif
557px x 898px | 275.70kB

[source page]

View the Seismicity Map of the Contiguous United States

Yahoo Images Search: Contiguous United States,
Tue Jul 27 21:34:32 2010
'Contiguous United States' Blogs
Fred Fish Memorial Award #2 Goes to Texas Ham
arrl.org
Fred Fish Memorial Award #2 Goes to Texas Ham

unknown

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:04:00 GM

The Fred Fish Memorial Award was created in honor of Fred Fish, W5FF (SK), a legendary VHF+ operator who became the first amateur to work and confirm all 488 Maidenhead grid squares within the 48 . contiguous United States. on 6 meters. ...

Google Blogs Search: Contiguous United States,
Tue Jul 27 21:34:33 2010
'Contiguous United States' Answers
If you travel directly east from the contiguous united states, which two continents could u reach?
Q. If you travel directly east from the contiguous united states, which two continents could u reach?
Asked by Shyam R - Sun Sep 17 08:53:02 2006 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Europe and Africa
Answered by rosecitylady - Sun Sep 17 08:56:10 2006

Yahoo Answers Search: Contiguous United States,
Thu Jul 29 05:28:44 2010
[Hide]▲