In all, the country consists of fifty states, one capital city territory called Washington, D.C. (for "District of Columbia"), and assorted smaller commonwealths and protectorates. It is so huge (third largest overall, behind Russia and Canada respectively), in fact, that it would take days on end to drive from one opposite end to the other. One state of the fifty, Texas, the largest state in the mainland, is almost three times as large as the entire United Kingdom. So if you're planning to come here, don't expect to hit all the widespread landmarks in one trip unless you have a lot of time to spend and don't mind paying for many flights or sitting through long car drives (we don't have all that many passenger trains here anymore, aside from more local, smaller train lines that work within a city or across a fairly small set of towns).
Over the course of the late 19th century to the present, the United States became a superpower and from the 1940s on became commonly considered to be one of, if not the, most powerful countries on the planet — being basically uncontested in this role from the 1990s to the mid 2010s. It is technologically advanced and possesses a huge industrial base, a colossal military, and immense financial wealth. It is known for its soft power, and is among the largest exporter of modern media, its products being seen the world over.
The country's government consists of three branches, with the head of one of these (the executive branch) being commonly viewed as a main political leader: the elected President of the United States, Joe Biden as of January 20, 2021.[1]