Location Information

Miami, United States of America
Language: English
Currency: Dollars

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated almost entirely in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and the capital district of Washington, D.C., lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The USA is boarded by Canada and Mexico.

The first known inhabitants of the area now known as the United States are believed to have arrived over a period of several thousand years beginning approximately 20,000 years ago by crossing the Bering land bridge into Alaska. Relatively little is known of these early settlers compared to the Europeans who colonized the area after the first voyage of navigator Christopher Columbus in 1492 for Spain. The first European known to set foot in the continental U.S. was Juan Ponce de León, who arrived in Florida in 1513, though there is some evidence suggesting that he may have been preceded by John Cabot in 1497.

Due to the immense size and spread of topology in the US the climate is incredibly varied. If there is a "general" climate then it is temperate, but it is also tropical in Florida and Hawaii, arctic in Alaska, arid in the Great Basin of the southwest and semi-arid in the Great Plains to the west of the Mississippi River. The northern states are the coldest, with bitter, freezing winters - especially in the plains, Midwest and Northeast. Hot summers are the norm throughout the US, except in New England, Oregon and Washington State, all of which are rainier and less predictable than the rest of the country.

Ranging from New York in the north to Washington DC, the Mid-Atlantic is home to a number of the nation's most densely populated cities, but also rolling mountains and traditional seaside resorts like Long Island and the Jersey Shore. Northern Florida is similar to the rest of the South, but head further south into the megaresorts of Orlando, retirement communities, tropical Caribbean-influenced Miami, the Everglades swamp, and 1200 miles of sandy beaches. Texas, the second biggest state in the nation, it's like a whole other country (and in fact, once was). The terrain ranges from south-eastern swamplands to the cattle-ranching South Plains to the miles of sandy beaches of South Texas to the mountains and deserts of West Texas. The spectacular snow-covered Rockies offer outdoor pursuits such as hiking, rafting, and skiing on some of the greatest snow on Earth. There are also deserts and some large cities. California offers world-class cities, deserts, rain forests, snowy mountains, and a famous beach lifestyle. Northern California (centred around the Bay Area) and Southern California (centred around Los Angeles) are culturally very different.

Because the United States has long attracted immigrants from a wide variety of nations and cultures, the cuisine of the United States is diverse and can be difficult to define. Many of the American cuisines have origins from another nation, or part of the world, and have been Americanized.

Miami is a major city in southeastern Florida, in the United States. Miami’s importance as an international financial and cultural center has elevated Miami to the status of world city. Because of Miami’s cultural and linguistic ties to North, South, and Central America, as well as the Caribbean, Miami is many times referred to as “The Gateway of the Americas”.

Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896, though the area was first inhabited for more than a thousand years by the Tequesta Indians and was claimed for Spain in 1566 by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. A Spanish mission was established a year later in 1567. In 1836 Fort Dallas was built and subsequently, was a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War.

Miami has a true tropical climate with hot, humid summers, and warm, dry winters. The city does experience cold fronts from November through March. Most of the year is warm and humid, and the summers are almost identical to the climate of the Caribbean tropics. In addition, the city gets most of its rain in the summer (wet season) and is relatively dry in winter (dry season).

Medical Precautions:

None.