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[3] [4] The colloquial term "Lower 48" [5] is also used, especially in relation to Alaska. The related but distinct term continental United States includes Alaska, which is also on North America, but separated from the 48 states by British Columbia in Canada, but excludes Hawaii and all the insular areas in the Caribbean and the Pacific. [1] [6]
As the United States' westward expansion, the country's western border also shifted westward, and consequently, so did the location of the Northwestern and Southwestern United States. In the early years of the United States, newly colonized lands lying immediately west of the Allegheny Mountains were detached from Virginia and given the name ...
Extreme points in the 50 states: Point Barrow, Ka Lae, Sail Rock, Peaked Island Extreme points in the contiguous 48 states: Northwest Angle, Ballast Key, Sail Rock, Bodelteh Islands Extreme points of the U.S. on the North American continent: Point Barrow, Cape Sable, West Quoddy Head, Cape Prince of Wales Extreme points in all U.S. territory ...
It contains the highest point in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney (14,505 ft or 4,421 m). It is located at the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, just 84.6 mi or 136.2 km west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at the Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park at 279 ft or 85 m below sea level. [16]
The westernmost point in the contiguous United States is at Cape Alava, south of Cape Flattery in Olympic National Park. However, the westernmost tip of Cape Flattery is almost exactly as far west as Cape Alava, the difference being approximately 5 seconds of longitude, about 360 feet (110 m), at high tide and somewhat more at low tide.
The geographic center of the United States is northeast of Belle Fourche in Butte County, South Dakota 1] while that of the contiguous 48 states is near Lebanon in Smith County, Kansas The geographic center of North America lies near Rugby, North Dakota ( 48°10′N 100°10′W / 48.167°N 100.167°W / 48.167; -100.167 ), though ...
The United States of America is a federal republic [1] consisting of 50 states, a federal district (Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States), five major territories, and various minor islands. [2] [3] Both the states and the United States as a whole are each sovereign jurisdictions. [4]
Four states (Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, and Pennsylvania) have expanded substantially by acquiring additional federal territory after their initial admission to the Union. In 1912, Arizona was the last state established in the contiguous United States, commonly called the "lower 48".