United States » Maps and Geography

The United States is the world's third largest country by land area. The contiguous U.S is bounded by the North Atlantic Ocean to the east and the North Pacific Ocean to the west, between Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. Alaska is bounded by the Pacific to the south and the Arctic Ocean to the north, with Canada to the east. The island state of Hawaii is situated in the Pacific, southwest of the North American mainland.

The landscape of the United States is extremely varied. In the east, rolling hills and temperate forests prevail, transitioning to prairies, boreal forests, and the relatively young Rocky Mountains in the west, with savanna and desert including the Grand Canyon among the more arid landscapes in the southwest. The northwest has the highest concentration of active volcanoes in the U.S. In the south, especially in Florida, subtropical forests and marshlands can be found. In Alaska, prominent mountain ranges rise up sharply from broad, flat tundra plains; numerous volcanoes can be found throughout the Alexandr and Aleutian Islands south and west of the Alaskan mainland. Hawaii, a chain of tropical, volcanic islands, is a popular tourist attraction.