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Besides the 48 conterminous states that occupy the middle latitudes of the continent, the United States includes the state of Alaska, at the northwestern extreme of North America, and the island state of Hawaii, in the mid- Pacific Ocean.
The USA borders Canada in the north; its southern 3,155 km long border to Mexico is partly furnished with a great wall (or fence). The United States also shares maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, and Russia. With an area of 9,833,516 km², the USA is the third-largest country in the world.
Most of them were located on the east coast of what is now the USA and Canada. With the Declaration of Independence in 1776, 13 of the former British colonies joined together to form a confederation, the entirety of which is the "United States of America". Over time, the union grew to 50 states.