Geography of the United States

The term "United States", when used in the geographical sense, is the contiguous United States, the state of Alaska, the island state of Hawaii, the five insular territories of Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa, and minor outlying possessions. The United States shares land borders with Canada and Mexico and maritime borders with Russia, Cuba, the Bahamas, and other countries, in addition to Canada and Mexico. The northern border of the United States with Canada is the world's longest bi-national land border.

From 1989 through 1996, the total area of the US was listed as 9,372,610 km2 . The listed total area changed to 9,629,091 km2 in 1997 , to 9,631,418 km2 in 2004, to 9,631,420 km2 in 2006, and to 9,826,630 km2 in 2007 . Currently, the CIA World Factbook gives 9,826,675 km2 , the United Nations Statistics Division gives 9,629,091 km2 , and the Encyclopædia Britannica gives 9,522,055 km2 . These sources consider only the 50 states and the Federal District, and exclude overseas territories. The US has the 2nd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 11,351,000 km2 .

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