Contiguous United States

Continental United States (English for continental United States ' ) refers to the 48 U.S. states on the North American continent, which are contiguous, so have common land boundaries.

It does not include Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. Territories. Washington, D.C. is commonly miteingebunden in the group of the 48 continental states, even though the District of Columbia is not a real state.

Overall, the Continental United States cover an area of 8,079,461 square kilometers.

In the parlance of the U.S. military CONUS is the acronym for Continental United States. CONUS only closes the continental 48 states, but not Hawaii and Alaska

Synonyms

The term Continental United States is inaccurate because Alaska is also on the North American continent. Therefore, there are some common synonyms:

• Contiguous United States ( contiguous United States ')
• Coterminous (or conterminous ) United States (, contiguous United States ')

Alaska and Hawaii

Some places have to describe their affiliation to the United States because of its special geographical position their own classification and terminology. In Hawaii, one speaks of the Mainland or U.S. Mainland (, main land '), if you think the continental United States.

In Alaska, the term Continental United States is rarely if ever used to, when describing the 48 contiguous states of the continent. Instead, the term is often lower 48 (the " lower 48 " ) in use. This is due to the local patriotism and in the particular geographical situation of Alaska, however, incorrect because Hawaii is the southernmost state of the United States. In addition, the concept Outside (, (da) 'outside' ) in use, especially in long-established residents of Alaska.