United States and the People

No country on earth has a population as diverse and a culture as varied as the United States. It is very diversity that makes American life as complicated as it is. The United States is a nation. On the other hand, even after four centuries, that nation is still a great experiment. The United States occupies a continent and has many varied regions. Over the course of several centuries, immigrants from all over the world came to the United States and brought their own cultures and traditions. The tradition of immigration continues today, creating vital new American communities. The blending of these traditions gives the United States its great strength as a nation. The same mixture creates challenges and problems.

It is said American came from everywhere. In a country as large and dynamic as the United States, nationalities and races mix. People are individuals; they don't always act or think in predictable ways as members of groups. For convenience, however, we'll classify Americans according to several factors. The first is race: European (White), African (Black), Asian or Native American (American Indian). But even this is not a perfect classification system, since Hispanic Americans (those with a Spanish language background) can also be white, black or even part Native American.