When Franklin began his work on this great experiment in 1751, some 25 years prior to the Declaration of Independence, the colonies were anything but united, and they had little interest in becoming so.

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The United Nations does not list them as colonies because they were settled long before Morocco existed in its present shape.

ECONOMIST: Spain in North Africa

Researchers at the University of Texas are warning that the invasive species from South America has the potential to change the ecological balance in the southeastern United States, largely because the ants can wipe out colonies of what's been widely considered the insect villain of the region, the fire ant.

CNN: 'Crazy ants' a threat in southern U.S.

Those 13 British colonies on a sliver of the East Coast were the forerunners of what would become the 50 United States.

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America isn't a country united by ethnicity the way, say, Japan is, the way France used to be before immigrants from former colonies made its population more diverse.

CNN: Limits to power