Puerto Rico profile

23 February 2012 Last updated at 11:36 GMT Hispanic, Afro-Caribbean and North American influences meld in Puerto Rico, a self-governing commonwealth that belongs to the United States.

The subtropical Caribbean territory is urbanised, industrialised and relatively prosperous.

The US invaded and occupied Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War of 1898, ending centuries of rule from Spain. The US saw the island as a strategic asset and ran it as a colonial protectorate.

Under American administration Puerto Rico saw growth and development. But nationalist sentiment sometimes spilled over into violence, notably in the 1930s and 1940s. Nationalists staged an armed attack in the US Congress in 1954.

A series of bombings and killings in the 1970s and 1980s were blamed on a pro-independence group, the Macheteros, or Cane Cutters. The group's fugitive leader was killed by federal agents in 2005.

Puerto Ricans are to vote on their island's political status in a referendum scheduled for August 2012. They will be asked whether they want a change in status or prefer to remain in a US commonwealth. In a second part of the referendum they will be asked to choose from three options: statehood, independence or sovereign free association. Regardless of what they decide, any change requires approval by the US Congress and president.

Puerto Rican voters, who elect a governor for the island, have tended to favour parties that support the union with the US. Puerto Ricans do not pay US income tax, and the island receives federal funds.

There is an established cycle of migration between Puerto Rico and the US; hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans have lived and worked in New York and other cities.

The once substantial US military presence has been scaled down with the closures of a major naval base and a bombing range. Rancour over the latter grew after a civilian employee was killed by a stray bomb.

Puerto Rico is vulnerable to hurricanes, like the one sweeping across the territory in this August 2011 satellite image

Explorer Christopher Columbus claimed Puerto Rico for Spain in 1493, heralding an influx of Spanish settlers. The newcomers, and the diseases they brought with them, decimated the territory's Taino indian population.

The main settlement, San Juan, became an important Spanish outpost. Slaves were brought to the island in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Puerto Rico's landscape is varied, and includes rainforests in the north-east. The territory is prone to hurricanes.

Tourism is an important money-earner; the island receives millions of visitors each year and is a port-of-call for cruise liners.

The San Felipe del Morro castle in San Juan is a UN World Heritage Site

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St Pierre and Miquelon profile

23 February 2012 Last updated at 17:03 GMT The sole remnant of France's once-extensive possessions in North America, the Atlantic islands of St Pierre and Miquelon lie off the Canadian island of Newfoundland.

With little agriculture and a troubled fishing industry, they depend on France for subsidies and on their near neighbour for goods and transport links.

Fish processing is the main economic activity, although tourism is increasingly important. The territory capitalises on its image as "France in North America".

A fisherman's cottage on the archipelago of St Pierre and Miquelon

The fishing industry was badly hit by disputes with Canada from the late 1970s over quotas and territorial waters, and by a later moratorium on cod fishing. In 1992 a tribunal awarded an economic zone to St Pierre and Miquelon that was less than 25% of the area claimed by France.

At its peak the fishery attracted hundreds of vessels from Europe every year, spawning a ship supply and repair industry.

After periods of French and British rule and frequent skirmishes between the two, the territory was restored to France in 1816. It became a French department in 1976. This was unpopular; many islanders said European integration did not take into account their remoteness.

The islands became a French "territorial collectivity" in 1985. The status - something between a department and an overseas territory - allowed French subsidies to continue and calmed Canadian fears about European exploitation of its fishing grounds.

The territory enjoyed a windfall in the prohibition era of the 1920s, when the US banned the production and sale of alcoholic drinks. It became a centre for shipping whisky, wine and rum to the US. But the end of prohibition in 1933 plunged the islands into economic depression.

Fish stocks in the seas around the islands attracted the first Europeans. A French fishing post was established in 1604. The descendants of the first settlers - including Bretons, Normans and Basques - make up much of the present population.

Rugged cliffs, hills, lakes and peat bogs characterise the mostly-barren landscape.

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United States country profile

27 January 2012 Last updated at 16:32 GMT The USA is the world's foremost economic and military power, with global interests and an unmatched global reach.

America's gross domestic product accounts for close to a quarter of the world total, and its military budget is reckoned to be almost as much as the rest of the world's defence spending put together.

The country is also a major source of entertainment: American TV, Hollywood films, jazz, blues, rock and rap music are primary ingredients in global popular culture.

The United States originated in a revolution which separated it from the British Crown. The constitution, drafted in 1787, established a federal system with a division of powers which has remained unchanged in form since its inception.

The US contains a highly diverse population, the product of numerous and sustained waves of immigration. Ethnic and racial diversity - the "melting pot" - is celebrated as a core element of the American ideology.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed racial and other discrimination, but race continues to be a live issue.

The election of Barack Obama as the country's first African-American president in November 2008 marked a defining moment in the country's chequered history of race relations.

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A replica of the Dutch ship Half Moon sails into New York Harbour to commemorate navigator Henry Hudson's arrival there in 1609.

The original people of north America, who made up several distinct groups of native Americans, went into decline with the arrival of settlers and now constitute a minority of the population.

The early settlers came predominantly from the British Isles. Large numbers of black Africans were taken as slaves to work the plantations of the Americas, while millions of Europeans in search of political freedom and economic opportunity constituted a third stage of immigration.

Today, Asians from the Pacific rim and Hispanics from the southern Americas are among those seeking what their predecessors wanted - the promise of prosperity and freedom which remains one of the defining hallmarks of "the American dream".

Despite relative prosperity in recent years, the gap between rich and poor remains a major challenge. More than 30 million Americans live below the official poverty line, with a disproportionate percentage of these being African-Americans and Hispanics.

Furthermore, the global financial crisis of 2008 has left the US facing its most challenging set of economic circumstances since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

9/11 aftermath The wealth gap remains a big issue, with millions of Americans living in poverty

The terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 had a momentous impact as the country continued to re-define its role as the world's only superpower.

In October 2001 the US led a military campaign in Afghanistan which unseated the Taleban regime. However, the man thought to have inspired the 9/11 attacks, Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden escaped the operation and eluded the US until 2011, when killed in a US special forces operation in Pakistan.

In March 2003 Washington initiated military action in Iraq which led to the toppling of the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

US foreign policy has often mixed the idealism of its "mission" to spread democracy with the pursuit of national self-interest.

Given America's leading role on the international stage, its foreign policy aims and actions are likely to remain the subject of heated debate and criticism, as well as praise.

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Canada country profile

1 February 2012 Last updated at 16:21 GMT Canada is the second largest country in the world after Russia. However, its population is only about one-fifth of Russia's.

Nearly 90% of Canadians live within 200km of the border with the United States, which means that Canada contains vast expanses of wilderness to the north.

The relationship to its powerful neighbour is a defining factor for Canada. The US and Canada have the world's largest trading relationship.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, involving Canada, the US and Mexico, has brought a trade boom for Canada. But thorny issues abound. American moves which impact on Canadian exports, in the form of tariffs on Canadian timber and increased subsidies for US farmers, have created particular tension.

Vancouver rates as one of the world's most liveable cities

Canada is also worried about pollution from US factories near the border, and about the possible impact on the environment of the exploitation of oil deposits in Alaska.

Canada pursues a foreign policy that is distinct from that of the US. The country has committed troops to the American-led war on terror, but does not back the US trade embargo on Cuba. Canada did not send troops to join the US-led war in Iraq.

After the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, the challenge of securing the 9,000-km Canada-US border from possible terrorist infiltration prompted both countries to look at ways of sharing information.

Immigration

Immigration has helped to make Canada one of the world's richest nations. Challenges related to discrimination and integration are gaining increasing attention. Many recent newcomers hail from Asia. Canada's indigenous peoples make up less than two per cent of the population. The way in which provincial governments share land and natural resources with native groups is an ongoing issue.

Separatist aspirations in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec are a major domestic issue. A referendum in 1995 saw advocates of an independent Quebec only narrowly defeated. Subsequent opinion polls indicated a fall in support for independence and the pro-independence Parti Quebecois was defeated in 2003's provincial election.

The concept of nationhood for Quebec resurfaced in late 2006, when parliament agreed that the Quebecois should be considered a "nation" within a united Canada. The move was largely symbolic, having no constitutional or legal grounding.

Canada has been asserting its sovereignty in the Arctic with growing vigour and has become embroiled in territorial spats with the US and Denmark. At stake is the possible bounty from previously-untapped reserves of oil and gas.

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