The United States of America is officially 248 years old as of July 4, 2024. This age is counted from the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which marked the formal separation of the thirteen original British colonies from Great Britain and the birth of the nation
. While the official age of the United States is based on its independence in 1776, the history of the land and its people goes back much further. Indigenous peoples inhabited the Americas for at least 15,000 years before European colonization began in the late 15th century
. The first permanent English settlement, Jamestown, was established in 1607, which is another significant historical date but not considered the nation's founding
. In summary, the United States as a sovereign country is 248 years old in 2024, but the land and its human history extend back tens of thousands of years.
