The United States of America, also known as the United States, U.S., USA, and America, is a Federal Constitutional Republic composed of 30 States and a Federal District, the District of Columbia. The country spans the central part of the North American continent, and is surrounded by Quebec, Assiniboia and Alyseka to the north, and the Confederate States of America, Texas and Mexico to the south, and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west.