Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition
Independence date
4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)
Religions
indigenous beliefs 47%, Roman Catholic 38%, Protestant 15% (1998 est.)
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)
Languages
Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African languages
English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii
Southern Africa, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Namibia and Democratic Republic of the Congo
North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico
Area
1,246,700 km sq
9,826,675 km sq
Coastline
1,600 km
19,924 km
Climate
semiarid in south and along coast to Luanda; north has cool, dry season (May to October) and hot, rainy season (November to April)
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
