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"States of America" redirects here. For the sovereign states of the Americas, see List of sovereign states and dependent territories in the Americas.
For a broader coverage related to this topic, see U.S. state and Territories of the United States.
A map of the United States showing its 50 states and District of Columbia
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] The 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., are in central North America between Canada and Mexico; the two other states, Alaska and Hawaii, are in the northwestern part of North America and an archipelago in the mid-Pacific, respectively, while the territories are scattered throughout the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.