Territories of the United States

Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the United States government. The various U.S. territories differ from the U.S. states and Native American tribes in that they are not sovereign entities. Territories are classified by [|incorporation] and whether they have an "organized" government through an organic act passed by Congress. U.S. territories are under U.S. sovereignty, and may be treated as part of the United States proper in some ways and not others. Unincorporated territories in particular are not considered to be integral parts of the United States, and the Constitution of the United States applies only partially in those territories.
The U.S. currently has fourteen territories in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Five territories are permanently inhabited, unincorporated territories; the other nine are small islands, atolls and reefs with no native population. Of the nine, only one is classified as an incorporated territory. Two additional territories are claimed by the United States but administered by Colombia. Historically, territories were created to administer newly acquired land, and most eventually attained statehood. Others, such as the Philippines, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau, later became independent.
Many organized incorporated territories of the United States existed from 1789 to 1959. The first were the Northwest and Southwest territories and the last were the Alaska and Hawaii territories. Thirty-one territories became states. In the process, some less-populous areas of a territory were orphaned from it after a statehood referendum. When a portion of the Missouri Territory became the state of Missouri, the remainder of the territory became an unorganized territory.
Politically and economically, the territories are underdeveloped. People in U.S. territories cannot vote for the President of the United States, and they do not have full representation in the U.S. Congress. Territorial telecommunications and other infrastructure is generally inferior to that of the continental United States and Hawaii, and some territories' Internet speed was found to be slower than the least developed countries in Eastern Europe. Poverty rates are higher in the territories than in the states.

Legal status of territories

The U.S. has had territories since its beginning. In the chapter of US federal law on immigration and nationality, the term "United States" is defined, unless otherwise specified, as "the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands". A 2007 executive order on environmental, energy, and transportation management defined American Samoa as part of the US "in a geographical sense".
Organized territories are lands under federal sovereignty which were given a measure of self-governance by Congress through an organic act subject to the Congress's plenary powers under the of the Constitution's Article Four, section 3.

Permanently inhabited territories

The U.S. has five permanently inhabited territories: Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, and American Samoa in the South Pacific Ocean. American Samoa is in the Southern Hemisphere, while the other four are in the Northern Hemisphere. About 3.56 million people in these territories are U.S. citizens, and citizenship at birth is granted in four of the five territories. Citizenship at birth is not granted in American Samoa—American Samoa has about 32,000 non-citizen U.S. nationals. Under U.S. law, "only persons born in American Samoa and Swains Island are non-citizen U.S. nationals" in its territories. Because they are U.S. nationals, American Samoans are under U.S. protection, and can travel to the rest of the U.S. without a visa. However, to become U.S. citizens, American Samoans must become naturalized citizens, like foreigners. Unlike the other four inhabited territories, Congress has passed no legislation granting birthright citizenship to American Samoans. In 2019, a federal court ruled that American Samoans are U.S. citizens, but the judge put the ruling on hold, and the litigation is ongoing.
Each territory is self-governing with three branches of government, including a locally elected governor and a territorial legislature. Each territory elects a non-voting member to the U.S. House of Representatives. They "possess the same powers as other members of the House, except that they may not vote when the House is meeting as the House of Representatives"; they debate, are assigned offices and staff funding, and nominate constituents from their territories to the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, Air Force and Merchant Marine academies. They can vote in their appointed House committees on all legislation presented to the House, they are included in their party count for each committee, and they are equal to senators on conference committees. Depending on the Congress, they may also vote on the floor in the House Committee of the Whole.
As of the 116th Congress the territories are represented by Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa, Michael San Nicholas of Guam, Gregorio Sablan of Northern Mariana Islands, Jenniffer González-Colón of Puerto Rico and Stacey Plaskett of U.S. Virgin Islands. The District of Columbia's delegate is Eleanor Holmes Norton ; like the district, the territories have no vote in Congress and no representation in the Senate. Additionally, the Cherokee Nation has delegate-elect Kimberly Teehee, who has not been seated by Congress.
Every four years, U.S. political parties nominate presidential candidates at conventions which include delegates from the territories. U.S. citizens living in the territories cannot vote in the general presidential election, and non-citizen nationals in American Samoa cannot vote for President.
The territorial capitals are Pago Pago, Hagåtña, Saipan, San Juan and Charlotte Amalie. Their governors are Lolo Matalasi Moliga, Lou Leon Guerrero, Ralph Torres, Wanda Vázquez Garced and Albert Bryan.
Among the inhabited territories, Supplemental Security Income is available only in the Northern Mariana Islands; however in 2019 a U.S. judge ruled that the federal government's denial of SSI benefits to people in Puerto Rico is unconstitutional.
American Samoa is the only U.S. territory with its own immigration system. American Samoa also has a communal land system in which ninety percent of the land is communally owned; ownership is based on Samoan ancestry.

Name	Location	Area	Population	Capital	Largest town	Status	Acquired
	Polynesia		49,437	Pago Pago	Tafuna	Unincorporated, unorganized	April 17, 1900
	Micronesia		168,485	Hagåtña	Dededo	Unincorporated, organized	April 11, 1899
	Micronesia		51,433	Saipan	Saipan	Unincorporated, organized	November 4, 1986
	Caribbean		3,193,694	San Juan	San Juan	Unincorporated, organized	April 11, 1899
	Caribbean		106,235	Charlotte Amalie	Charlotte Amalie	Unincorporated, organized	March 31, 1917

History

American Samoa: territory since 1900; after the end of the Second Samoan Civil War, the Samoan Islands were divided into two regions. The U.S. took control of the eastern half of the islands. In 1900, the Treaty of Cession of Tutuila took effect. The Manuʻa islands became part of American Samoa in 1904, and Swains Island became part of American Samoa in 1925. Congress ratified American Samoa's treaties in 1929. For 51 years, the U.S. Navy controlled the territory. American Samoa is locally self-governing under a constitution last revised in 1967. The first elected governor of American Samoa was in 1977, and the first non-voting member of Congress was in 1981. People born in American Samoa are U.S. nationals, but not U.S. citizens. American Samoa is technically unorganized, and its main island is Tutuila.
Guam: territory since 1899, acquired at the end of the Spanish–American War. Guam is the home of Naval Base Guam and Andersen Air Force Base. It was organized under the Guam Organic Act of 1950, which granted U.S. citizenship to Guamanians and gave Guam a local government. In 1968, the act was amended to permit the election of a governor.
Northern Mariana Islands: A commonwealth since 1986, the Northern Mariana Islands were part of the Spanish Empire until 1899 and part of the German Empire from 1899 to 1919. They were administered by Japan as a League of Nations mandate until the islands were conquered by the United States during World War II. They became part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in 1947, administered by the United States as U.N. trustee. The other constituents of the TTPI were Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. A covenant to establish the Northern Mariana Islands as a commonwealth in political union with the United States was negotiated by representatives of both political bodies; it was approved by Northern Mariana Islands voters in 1975, and came into force on March 24, 1976. In accordance with the covenant, the Northern Mariana Islands constitution partially took effect on January 9, 1978, and became fully effective on November 4, 1986. In 1986, the Northern Mariana Islands formally left U.N. trusteeship. The abbreviations "CNMI" and "NMI" are both used in the commonwealth. Most residents in the Northern Mariana Islands live on Saipan, the main island.
Puerto Rico: unincorporated territory since 1899; Puerto Rico was acquired at the end of the Spanish–American War, and has been a U.S. commonwealth since 1952. Since 1917, Puerto Ricans have been granted U.S. citizenship. Puerto Rico was organized under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. In November 2008, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that a series of Congressional actions have had the cumulative effect of changing Puerto Rico's status from unincorporated to incorporated. The issue is proceeding through the courts, however, and the U.S. government still refers to Puerto Rico as unincorporated. A Puerto Rican attorney has called the island "semi-sovereign". Puerto Rico has a statehood movement, whose goal is to make the territory the 51st state. See also Political status of Puerto Rico.
U.S. Virgin Islands: purchased by the U.S. from Denmark in 1917 and organized under the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands in 1954. U.S. citizenship was granted in 1927. The main islands are Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix.
Statistics

Except for Guam, the inhabited territories lost population in 2020. Although the territories have higher poverty rates than the mainland U.S., they have high Human Development Indexes. Four of the five territories have another official language, in addition to English.

Territory	Official language	Pop. change	Poverty rate	Life expectancy in 2018–2020	HDI	GDP	Traffic flow	Time zone	Area code	Largest ethnicity
American Samoa	English, Samoan	–1.4%	65%	74.8	0.827	$636 million	Right	Samoan Time	684	Pacific Islander
Guam	English, Chamorro	+ 0.2%	22.9%	79.86	0.901	$5.92 billion	Right	Chamorro Time	671	Pacific Islander
Northern Mariana Islands	English, Chamorro, Carolinian	–0.55%	52.3%	76.1	0.875	$1.323 billion	Right	Chamorro Time	670	Asian
Puerto Rico	English, Spanish	–1.59%	43.1%	79.78	0.845	$104.98 billion	Right	Atlantic Time	787, 939	Hispanic / Latino
U.S. Virgin Islands	English	–0.37%	22.4%	79.57	0.894	$3.85 billion	Left	Atlantic Time	340	African-American

The territories do not have administrative counties. The U.S. Census Bureau counts Puerto Rico's 78 municipalities, the U.S. Virgin Islands' three main islands, all of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands' four municipalities, and American Samoa's three districts and two atolls as county equivalents. The Census Bureau also counts each of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands as county equivalents.
For statistical purposes, the U.S. Census Bureau has a defined area called the "Island Areas" which consists of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The U.S. Census Bureau often treats Puerto Rico as its own entity or groups it with the states and D.C. Puerto Rico data is collected annually in American Community Survey estimates, but data for the other territories is collected only once every ten years.

Governments and legislatures

See also: Politics of American Samoa, Politics of Guam, Politics of the Northern Mariana Islands, Politics of Puerto Rico, and Politics of the U.S. Virgin Islands
The five major inhabited territories contain the following governments and legislatures:

Government	Legislature	Legislature form
Government of American Samoa	American Samoa Fono	Bicameral
Government of Guam	Legislature of Guam	Unicameral
Government of the Northern Mariana Islands	N. Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature	Bicameral
Government of Puerto Rico	Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico	Bicameral
Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands	Legislature of the Virgin Islands	Unicameral

Political party status

The following is the political party status of the governments of the U.S. territories as of 2020:

Courts

Each of the five major territories has its own local court system:

Of the five major territories, only Puerto Rico has an Article III federal district court ; it became an Article III court in 1966. This means that, unlike other U.S. territories, federal judges in Puerto Rico have life tenure. Federal courts in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands are Article IV territorial courts. The following is a list of federal territorial courts, plus Puerto Rico's court:

American Samoa does not have a federal territorial court, and so federal matters in American Samoa are sent to either the District court of Hawaii or the District court of the District of Columbia. American Samoa is the only permanently inhabited region of the United States with no federal court.

Demographics

See also: Demographics of American Samoa, Demographics of Guam, Demographics of the Northern Mariana Islands, Demographics of Puerto Rico, and Demographics of the U.S. Virgin Islands
While the U.S. mainland is majority non-Hispanic white, this is not the case for the U.S. territories. In 2010, American Samoa's population was 92.6% Pacific Islander ; Guam's population was 49.3% Pacific Islander and 32.2% Asian ; the population of the Northern Mariana Islands was 34.9% Pacific Islander and 49.9% Asian; and the population of the U.S. Virgin Islands was 76.0% African-American. In 2019, Puerto Rico's population was 98.9% Hispanic or Latino, 67.4% white, and 0.8% non-Hispanic white.
Throughout the 2010s, the U.S. territories lost population. The combined population of the five inhabited territories was 4,100,594 in 2010, and 3,569,284 in 2020.
The U.S. territories have high religiosity rates—American Samoa has the highest religiosity rate in the United States.

Economies

See also: Economy of American Samoa, Economy of Guam, Economy of the Northern Mariana Islands, Economy of Puerto Rico, and Economy of the U.S. Virgin Islands
The economies of the U.S. territories vary from Puerto Rico, which has a GDP of $104.989 billion in 2019, to American Samoa, which has a GDP of $636 million in 2018. In 2018, Puerto Rico exported about $18 billion in goods, with the Netherlands as the largest destination.
Guam's GDP shrank by 0.3% in 2018, the GDP of the Northern Mariana Islands shrank by 19.6% in 2018, Puerto Rico's GDP grew by 1.18% in 2019, and the U.S. Virgin Islands' GDP grew by 1.5% in 2018. In 2017, American Samoa's GDP shrank by 5.8%, but then grew by 2.2% in 2018.
American Samoa has the lowest per capita income in the United States—it has a per capita income comparable to that of Botswana. In 2010, American Samoa's per capita income was $6,311. As of 2010, the Manu'a District in American Samoa had a per capita income of $5,441, the lowest of any county or county-equivalent in the United States. In 2018, Puerto Rico had a median household income of $20,166. Also in 2018, Comerío Municipality, Puerto Rico had a median household income of $12,812 Guam has much higher incomes

Minor Outlying Islands

The United States Minor Outlying Islands are small islands, atolls and reefs. Palmyra Atoll, Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll and Wake Island are in the Pacific Ocean, and Navassa Island is in the Caribbean Sea. The additional disputed territories of Bajo Nuevo Bank and Serranilla Bank are also located in the Caribbean Sea. Palmyra Atoll is the only incorporated territory, a status it has maintained since Hawaii became a state in 1959.
The status of several territories is disputed. Navassa Island is disputed by Haiti, Wake Island is disputed by the Marshall Islands, Swains Island is disputed by Tokelau, and Bajo Nuevo Bank and Serranilla Bank are disputed by Colombia, Jamaica, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They are uninhabited except for Midway Atoll, whose approximately 40 inhabitants are employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and their services provider; Palmyra Atoll, whose population varies from four to 20 Nature Conservancy and Fish and Wildlife staff and researchers; and Wake Island, which has a population of about 100 military personnel and civilian employees.
The two-letter abbreviation for the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands is "UM".

Name	Location	Area	Status	Notes
	Polynesia		Unincorporated, unorganized	Claimed under the Guano Islands Act on October 28, 1856. Annexed on May 13, 1936, and placed under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of the Interior.
	Polynesia		Unincorporated, unorganized	Claimed under the Guano Islands Act on December 3, 1858. Annexed on May 13, 1936, and placed under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department.
	Polynesia		Unincorporated, unorganized	Claimed under the Guano Islands Act on October 28, 1856. Annexed on May 13, 1936, and placed under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department.
	Polynesia		Unincorporated, unorganized	Last used by the U.S. Department of Defense in 2004
	Polynesia		Unincorporated, unorganized	Claimed under the Guano Islands Act on February 8, 1860. Annexed on May 10, 1922, and placed under the jurisdiction of the Navy Department on December 29, 1934.
	Polynesia		Unincorporated, unorganized	Territory since 1859; primarily a National Wildlife Refuge and previously under the jurisdiction of the Navy Department.
	Caribbean		Unincorporated, unorganized	Territory since 1857; also claimed by Haiti
	Polynesia		Incorporated, unorganized	Partially privately owned by the Nature Conservancy, with much of the rest owned by the federal government and managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service. It is an archipelago of about fifty small islands with a land area of about, about south of Oahu. The atoll was acquired through the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii in 1898. When the Territory of Hawaii was incorporated on April 30, 1900, Palmyra Atoll was incorporated as part of that territory. When Hawaii became a state in 1959, however, an act of Congress excluded the atoll from the state. Palmyra remained an incorporated territory, but received no new, organized government. U.S. sovereignty over Palmyra Atoll is disputed by the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.
	Micronesia		Unincorporated, unorganized	Territory since 1898; host to the Wake Island Airfield, administered by the U.S. Air Force. Wake Island is claimed by the Marshall Islands.

Disputed

The following two territories are claimed by multiple countries, and are not included in. However, they are sometimes grouped with the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands. According to the GAO, "the United States conducts maritime law enforcement operations in and around Serranilla Bank and Bajo Nuevo consistent with U.S. sovereignty claims."

Name	Location	Area	Status	Notes
Bajo Nuevo Bank	Caribbean		Unincorporated, unorganized	Administered by Colombia. Claimed by the U.S. and Jamaica. A claim by Nicaragua was resolved in 2012 in favor of Colombia by the International Court of Justice, although the U.S. was not a party to that case and does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICJ.
Serranilla Bank	Caribbean		Unincorporated, unorganized	Administered by Colombia; site of a naval garrison. Claimed by the U.S., Honduras, and Jamaica. A claim by Nicaragua was resolved in 2012 in favor of Colombia by the International Court of Justice, although the U.S. was not a party to that case and does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICJ.

Incorporated and unincorporated territories

Congress decides whether a territory is incorporated or unincorporated. The U.S. Constitution applies to each incorporated territory as it applies to the local governments and residents of a state. Incorporated territories are considered to be integral parts of the U.S., rather than possessions.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in its 1901–1905 Insular Cases, ruled that the constitution extended to U.S. territories. The court also established the doctrine of territorial incorporation, in which the constitution applies fully to incorporated territories and partially in the unincorporated territories of Puerto Rico, Guam and, at the time, the Philippines.
In the 1901 Supreme Court case Downes v. Bidwell, the court said that the U.S. Constitution did not fully apply in unincorporated territories because they were inhabited by "alien races".
The U.S. had no unincorporated territories until 1856. Congress enacted the Guano Islands Act that year, authorizing the president to take possession of unclaimed islands to mine guano. The U.S. has taken control of many islands and atolls, especially in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, under this law; most have been abandoned. It also has acquired territories since 1856 under other circumstances, such as under the Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish–American War. The Supreme Court considered the constitutional position of these unincorporated territories in Balzac v. People of Porto Rico, and said the following about a U.S. court in Puerto Rico:
In Glidden Company v. Zdanok, the court cited Balzac and said about courts in unincorporated territories: "Upon like considerations, Article III has been viewed as inapplicable to courts created in unincorporated territories outside the mainland... and to the consular courts established by concessions from foreign countries..." The judiciary determined that incorporation involves express declaration or an implication strong enough to exclude any other view, raising questions about Puerto Rico's status.
In 1966, Congress made the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico an Article III district court. This sets Puerto Rico apart judicially from the other unincorporated territories, and U.S. district judge Gustavo Gelpi express the opinion that Puerto Rico is no longer unincorporated:
In Balzac, the court defined "implied":
In 2018, a lower court ruling ruled that former Illinois residents living in Puerto Rico, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands cannot file absentee ballots because those regions are part of the United States.
In analyzing the Insular Cases, Christina Duffy Ponsa of the New York Times said the following: "To be an unincorporated territory is to be caught in limbo: although unquestionably subject to American sovereignty, they are not considered part of the United States for certain purposes but not others. Whether they are part of the United States for purposes of the Citizenship Clause remains unresolved."
The specifications of 22 USC 611 show that the United States may have additional territories under military jurisdiction.

Supreme Court decisions about current territories

The 2016 Supreme Court case Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle ruled that territories do not have their own sovereignty. That year, the Supreme Court declined to rule on a lower-court ruling in Tuaua v. United States that American Samoans are not U.S. citizens at birth.

Supreme Court decisions about former territories

In Rassmussen v. U.S., the Supreme Court quoted from Article III of the 1867 treaty for the purchase of Alaska:
The act of incorporation affects the people of the territory more than the territory per se by extending the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the Constitution to them, such as its extension to Puerto Rico in 1947; however, Puerto Rico remains unincorporated.

Alaska Territory

Rassmussen arose from a criminal conviction by a six-person jury in Alaska under federal law. The court held that Alaska had been incorporated into the U.S. in the treaty of cession with Russia, and the congressional implication was strong enough to exclude any other view:
Concurring justice Henry Brown agreed:

Florida Territory

In Dorr v. U.S., the court quoted Chief Justice John Marshall from an earlier case:
In Downes v. Bidwell, the court said: "The same construction was adhered to in the treaty with Spain for the purchase of Florida... the 6th article of which provided that the inhabitants should 'be incorporated into the Union of the United States, as soon as may be consistent with the principles of the Federal Constitution'."

Southwest Territory

Justice Brown first mentioned incorporation in Downes:

Louisiana Territory

In Downes, the court said:

Former territories and administered areas

Organized incorporated territories

Unincorporated territories

Corn Islands : leased for 99 years under the Bryan–Chamorro Treaty, but returned to Nicaragua when the treaty was annulled in 1970
Line Islands: disputed claim with the United Kingdom. U.S. claim to most of the islands was ceded to Kiribati upon its independence in 1979, but the U.S. retained Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll and Jarvis Island
: sovereignty returned to Panama under the Torrijos–Carter Treaties of 1978. The U.S. retained a military base and control of the canal until December 31, 1999.
Philippines : military government, 1898–1902; insular government, 1901–1935; commonwealth government, 1935–1942 and 1945–1946 ; granted independence on July 4, 1946
Phoenix Islands: disputed claim with the United Kingdom; U.S. claim ceded to Kiribati upon its independence in 1979
Quita Sueño Bank : claimed under the Guano Islands Act; claim abandoned in a September 7, 1981 treaty
Roncador Bank : claimed under the Guano Islands Act; ceded to Colombia in September 7, 1981 treaty
Serrana Bank: claimed under the Guano Islands Act; ceded to Colombia in September 7, 1981 treaty
Swan Islands : claimed under the Guano Islands Act; ceded to Honduras in a 1972 treaty
Administered areas
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Haiti
Nanpō Islands and Marcus Island : Occupied after World War II, and returned to Japan by mutual agreement
Nicaragua
Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa : returned to Japan in an agreement including the Daitō Islands
: U.N. trust territory administered by the U.S.; included the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau, which are sovereign states, along with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Veracruz : after the Tampico Affair during the Mexican Revolution
Other zones
Participation in the Occupation of the Rhineland
Participation in the Occupation of Constantinople
Participation in the Occupation of Austria-Hungary
Occupation of Greenland
Occupation of Iceland in World War II ; military base retained until 2006.
Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories, in Allied-controlled sections of Italy from the July 1943 invasion of Sicily until the September armistice with Italy. AMGOT continued in newly liberated areas of Italy until the end of the war, and also existed in France.
Clipperton Island : occupied territory, returned to France on October 23, 1945.
United States Army Military Government in Korea: Occupation south of the 38th parallel from 1945 to 1948.
American zones of Allied-occupied Germany
Occupation of Japan after World War II
American occupation zones in Allied-occupied Austria and Vienna
American occupation zone in West Berlin
Free Territory of Trieste : The U.S. co-administered a portion of the territory with the United Kingdom.
Grenada invasion and occupation
Coalition Provisional Authority
Green Zone, Iraq
Flora and fauna

Further information: Fauna of the United States: territories
The territories of the United States have many plant and animal species found nowhere else in the United States. All U.S. territories have tropical climates and ecosystems.

Forests

The USDA says the following about the U.S. territories :
Forests in the U.S. territories are vulnerable to invasive species and new housing developments. El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico is the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest system.
American Samoa has 80.84% forest cover and the Northern Mariana Islands has 80.37% forest cover—these are among the highest forest cover percentages in the United States.

Birds

See also: Birds of American Samoa, Birds of Guam, Birds of the Northern Mariana Islands, Birds of Puerto Rico, Birds of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Birds of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, and List of birds of the United States
U.S. territories have many bird species that are endemic.
Introduction of the invasive brown tree snake has harmed Guam's native bird population—nine of twelve endemic species have become extinct, and the territorial bird is extinct in the wild.
Puerto Rico has several endemic bird species, such as the critically endangered Puerto Rican parrot, the Puerto Rican flycatcher, and the Puerto Rican spindalis. The Northern Mariana Islands has the Mariana swiftlet, Mariana crow, Tinian monarch and golden white-eye. Birds found in American Samoa include the many-colored fruit dove, the blue-crowned lorikeet, and the Samoan starling.
The Wake Island rail was endemic to Wake Island, and the Laysan duck is endemic to Midway Atoll and the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. Palmyra Atoll has the second-largest red-footed booby colony in the world, and Midway Atoll has the largest breeding colony of Laysan albatross in the world.
The American Birding Association currently excludes the U.S. territories from their "ABA Area" checklist.

Other animals

See also: Mammals of American Samoa, Mammals of Guam, Mammals of the Northern Mariana Islands, Mammals of Puerto Rico, Mammals of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Mammals of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, Reptiles of American Samoa, Reptiles of Puerto Rico, Fauna of Puerto Rico, and Fauna of the U.S. Virgin Islands
American Samoa has several reptile species, such as the Pacific boa and Pacific slender-toed gecko. American Samoa has only a few mammal species, such as the Pacific sheath-tailed bat, as well as oceanic mammals such as the Humpback whale. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands also have a small number of mammals, such as the Mariana fruit bat; oceanic mammals include Fraser's dolphin and the Sperm whale. The fauna of Puerto Rico includes the common coquí, while the fauna of the U.S. Virgin Islands includes species found in Virgin Islands National Park.
American Samoa has a location called Turtle and Shark which is important in Samoan culture and mythology.

Protected areas

There are two National Parks in the U.S. territories: the National Park of American Samoa, and Virgin Islands National Park. There are also National Natural Landmarks, National Wildlife Refuges, El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico, and the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.

Public image

In The Not-Quite States of America, his book about the U.S. territories, Doug Mack said:
Organizations such as Facebook view U.S. territories as not being part of the United States—instead, they are viewed as equivalent to foreign countries. In response to Facebook's view, former Guam representative Madeleine Bordallo said, "It is an injustice that Americans living in the U.S. territories are not treated as other Americans living in the states. Treating residents of Guam and other U.S. territories as living outside the United States and excluding them from programs perpetuates misconceptions and injustices that have long had a negative impact on our communities".
Representative Stephanie Murphy of Florida said about a 2018 bill to make Puerto Rico the 51st state, "The hard truth is that Puerto Rico's lack of political power allows Washington to treat Puerto Rico like an afterthought." According to Governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rosselló, "Because we don't have political power, because we don't have representatives, senators, no vote for president, we are treated as an afterthought." Rosselló called Puerto Rico the "oldest, most populous colony in the world".
Rosselló and others have referred to the U.S. territories as American "colonies". David Vine of the Washington Post said the following: "The people of are all too accustomed to being forgotten except in times of crisis. But being forgotten is not the worst of their problems. They are trapped in a state of third-class citizenship, unable to access full democratic rights because politicians have long favored the military's freedom of operation over protecting the freedoms of certain U.S. citizens." In his article How the U.S. Has Hidden Its Empire, Daniel Immerwahr of The Guardian writes, "The confusion and shoulder-shrugging indifference that mainlanders displayed at the time of Pearl Harbor hasn't changed much at all. give a truncated view of their own history, one that excludes part of their country." The 2020 U.S. Census excludes non-citizen U.S. nationals in American Samoa—in response to this, Mark Stern of Slate.com said, "The Census Bureau's total exclusion of American Samoans provides a pertinent reminder that, until the courts step in, the federal government will continue to treat these Americans with startling indifference."

Galleries

Members of the House of Representatives

Territorial governors

Satellite images

Inhabited territories

Uninhabited territories (minor outlying islands)

Maps

Popular movies

The Hunger Games (film) - 2012 American dystopian action thriller science fiction-adventure film directed by Gary Ross and based on Suzanne Collins’s 2008 novel of the same name. It is the first insta...
untitled Captain Marvel sequel - part of Marvel Cinematic Universe....
Killers of the Flower Moon (film project) - Killers of the Flower Moon - film project in United States of America. It was presented as drama, detective fiction, thriller. The film project starred Leonardo Dicaprio, Robert De Niro. Director of...
Five Nights at Freddy's (film) - Five Nights at Freddy's - film published in 2017 in United States of America. Scenarist of the film - Scott Cawthon....

Popular books

Book of Revelation - The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament, and consequently is also the final book of the Christian Bible. Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: apok...
Book of Genesis - account of the creation of the world, the early history of humanity, Israel's ancestors and the origins...
Gospel of Matthew - The Gospel According to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament and one of the three synoptic gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, rejected and executed in Israel, pronounces judgement on ...
Michelin Guide - Michelin Guides are a series of guide books published by the French tyre company Michelin for more than a century. The term normally refers to the annually published Michelin Red Guide , the oldest...
Psalms - The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms , the Psalter or "the Psalms", is the first book of the Ketuvim , the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and thus a book of th...
Ecclesiastes - Ecclesiastes is one of 24 books of the Tanakh , where it is classified as one of the Ketuvim . Originally written c. 450–200 BCE, it is also among the canonical Wisdom literature of the Old Tes...
The 48 Laws of Power - non-fiction book by American author Robert Greene. The book...

Popular television series

The Crown (TV series) - historical drama web television series about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, created and principally written by Peter Morgan, and produced by Left Bank Pictures and Sony Pictures Tel...
Friends - American sitcom television series, created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast sta...
Young Sheldon - spin-off prequel to The Big Bang Theory and begins with the character Sheldon...
Modern Family - American television mockumentary family sitcom created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan for the American Broadcasting Company. It ran for eleven seasons, from September 23...
Loki (TV series) - upcoming American web television miniseries created for Disney+ by Michael Waldron, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, shar...
Game of Thrones - American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It...
Shameless (American TV series) - American comedy-drama television series developed by John Wells which debuted on Showtime on January 9, 2011. It...