United States (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

The United States of America is a federal republic consisting of fifty-three states and a federal district, as well as several territories. It is commonly called the United States (US, USA, U.S. or U.S.A.) and colloquially as America. The country is situated in the northern part of American continent, where its fifty-three contiguous states and Mayflower Capital District, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Colonization (1609–1775)
European colonization in the area that known today as the United States of America was started at the Colony of New Netherland, a Dutch settlement located in present-day New York City and the Hudson River Valley in 1614. The Dutch were Calvinists who built the Reformed Church in America, but they were tolerant of other religions and cultures. The New Netherland Colony left an enduring legacy on American cultural and political life, including religion tolerance and free trade. The city was captured by the English in 1664; they took complete control of the colony in 1674 and renamed it as New York.

The Plymouth Colony, an English settlement, was also established at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 by the English religious separatists called the Pilgrims. They arrived aboard a ship named the Mayflower and held a feast of gratitude which became part of the American tradition of Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims were soon followed by other Puritans, who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony at present-day Boston in 1630. Later, in 1691, these two English colonies were united into the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

There were twenty English colonies in North America by 1775, thirteen among them later rebelled against the British rule and formed the First Union of the United States of America. Those colonies were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. By the 18th century, the American colonies were growing very rapidly because of the abundant supplies of food and low death rates which attracted a steady flow of immigrants.