Atlas of the United States

United States
The United States with states and capitals shown.
Location of the United States

The United States of America, or USA, is a country located in central North America that plays a significant role in the modern world, not only materially but also, according to the Bahá’í Writings, spiritually as well. The third-largest country in the world by area, it is comprised of 50 states, the federal district (and capital) of Washington D.C., over 300 Indian reservations, and a number of territories. Bahá’ís live in all 50 states of the country, their affairs administered by three National Spiritual Assemblies: those of Alaska, Hawaii, and the United States (for the 48 contiguous states). The latter 48 states are further divided into 12 regions administered by Regional Councils, each grouping together one or more states. Bahá’í population was estimated at over 150,000 believers in 2006, residing in over 7,000 localities including over 100 Indian reservations, with South Carolina, South Dakota and Alaska each having relatively significant proportions of believers.

The Bahá’í Faith was first mentioned publicly in the United States in 1893, resulting in an initial group of believers including Thornton Chase, who became known as the first American to declare his belief in Bahá’u’lláh. Groups were established throughout the country in the following years, and, hearing news from Ashkabad where the Bahá’ís were building a House of Worship, the fledgling community petitioned ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for permission to build one of their own. Under the leadership of Corinne True, the project was approved and the Bahá’í Temple Unity was formed at the first National convention in 1909. The community continued to develop, with a focus on raising up administrative institutions, on publishing literature, and on supporting racial harmony and amity in the country. In 1927, the National Spiritual Assembly framed its constitution, which has served as a model for many other institutions throughout the world. In 1944, the centennial year of the Bahá’í Faith, every state in the nation had at least one local Bahá’í administrative body.

National Assembly: United States
Official Website: http://www.bahai.us/
Statistics
Population: 322,179,605
Bahá’í pop.: 156,892
Local Assemblies: 1,163
History
First Bahá’í to visit: Anton Haddad
First local Bahá’í: Thornton Chase
First National Assembly: 1925, with Canada
1948, independently
First National Convention: 1909

Regions of the United States

Interactive map of the United States, showing state boundaries.

The United States is divided into fifty states and several territories and minor outlying islands. Forty-eight states, known collectively as the contiguous United States, are spread across the mainland located in central North America. Of the remaining two states, Alaska is located at the very northwestern tip of North America, while Hawaii consists of a chain of islands located in the central Pacific Ocean.

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  Orthographic view of the United States
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  Standard Federal regions
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  Boundaries of Regional Bahá'í Councils (2024)
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  Boundaries of Regional Bahá'í Councils (2016)

As defined in the Tablets of the Divine Plan

In the Tablets of the Divine Plan, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá addressed messages to the believers residing in different areas of North America. These were determined by the groupings shown in Complete World Geography, published by MacMillan in 1912, a book which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had access to before writing the Tablets. After the inception of the institution of the Regional Bahá’í Council in 1997, the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States initially used this division to create four Regional Councils for the United States.

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  The four American regions addressed
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  Central states (western section)
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  Central states (eastern section)
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  Northeast states (western section)
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  Northeast states (eastern section)
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  Southern states (eastern section)
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  Southern states (western section)
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  Western states (northern section)
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  Western states (southern section)

Demography

Population

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  "Megaregions", or extended metropolitan regions (2008)
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  Combined Statistical Areas (2020)
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  Population density (2010)
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  Population growth (2010s)

Language

Apart from English, a wide variety of languages are spoken in the United States. Of these, the following languages are spoken by more than 1 million people: Spanish (41.3m), Chinese (3.4m; all varieties), Tagalog/Filipino (1.72m), Vietnamese (1.52m), Arabic (1.39m), French (1.18m), Korean (1.07m), and Russian (1.04m). Linguistic maps are shown below for each of the above.

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  Percentage speaking English at home (2020)
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  Spanish home speakers (2000)
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  Chinese home speakers (2000)
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  Tagalog home speakers (2000)
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  Vietnamese home speakers (2000)
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  Arabic home speakers (2000)
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  French home speakers (2000)
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  Korean home speakers (2000)
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  Russian home speakers (2000)
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  Historical extents of Native American languages and cultures

Race and ethnicity

Many of the maps in this section were produced by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University.[1]

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  American Indian / Alaska Native (2010)
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  Asian (2010)
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  Black / African American (2010)
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  Hispanic (2010)
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  Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (2010)
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  Non-Hispanic Black (2010)
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  Non-Hispanic White (2010)
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  Minorities (2000); i.e. people who did not identify as "non-Hispanic white"

Religion

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  Plurality religious denomination (2014)
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  Largest non-Christian traditions (2010)
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  Bahá’ís as percentage of population (2010)
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  Denominations with highest percentages against religious national average (2001)
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  Importance of religion (2014)
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  Weekly religious service attendance (2014)

History

Background

European settlement

Territorial evolution in North America from 1750–2008.

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Ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

‘Abdu’l-Bahá's travels through North America in 1912.

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Ten Year Crusade

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Media

A collection of media related to the United States Events (Conferences • Conventions (Nat'l) • Establishments • Holy days • Publications • Seasonal schools (Summer • Winter)) Maps • Buildings and structures • Bahá’í centres (Local • National) • Cities • Schools • Houses of Worship People (Children) • Spiritual Assemblies (Local • National) • Atlas

Notes and references

General remarks The Bahai.media Atlas of the World is an organized and commented collection of geographical and historical maps. The main page is therefore the portal to maps and cartography. That page contains links to entries by country, continent and by topic as well as general notes and references. Every entry has an introduction section in English. The text of the introduction(s) is based on the content of the Bahaipedia encyclopedia. For sources of the introduction see therefore the Bahaipedia entries linked to. The same goes for the texts in the history sections. Historical maps are included in the continent, country and dependency entries. The status of various entities is disputed. See the content for the entities concerned. Notes References