WORLD LEADER The US is the world's richest country, and its leading products include iron and steel, timber and paper products, electronic equipment, cars, and aircraft. Women now make up almost half of the countrv's total workforce. 
In less than 400 years, the United States of America (USA) has grown from wild countryside inhabited by native peoples to the world's most powerful industrial nation. The country is made up of 50 states, including Alaska in the far north and Hawaii in thePacific Ocean. There are two major mountain ranges, the Appalachians to the east and the Rockies to the west, while much of its center is covered by the gently sloping Great Plains. Vast supplies of coal, oil, and minerals, together with mass immigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries, helped business and industry grow fast. Today, American products and culture are recognized throughout the world.