[[File:US_embassies_2007.png|right|thumb|400x400px|Diplomatic missions of the United States of America
]]
The United States has the second largest number of active diplomatic posts of any country in the world after the People's Republic of China, including 272 bilateral posts (embassies and consulates) in 174 countries, as well as 11 permanent missions to international organizations and seven other posts (as of May 2025). It maintains "interest sections" (in other states' embassies) in Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea.
History
In the period following the American Revolution, George Washington sent a number of close advisers, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Francis Dana, and John Jay, to the courts of European potentates in order to garner recognition of U.S. independence, with mixed results.United States Department of State, Timeline of U.S. Diplomatic History, 1775–1783 Diplomacy and the American Revolution. Accessed 29 August 2008.
The first overseas consulate of the fledgling United States was founded in 1790 in Liverpool, Great Britain, by James Maury Jr., who was appointed by Washington. Maury held the post from 1790 to 1829. Liverpool was at the time Britain's leading port for transatlantic commerce and therefore of great economic importance to the United States. President George Washington, on November 19, 1792, nominated Benjamin Joy of Newbury Port as the first U.S. Consul to Kolkata (then Calcutta), India. Joy was not recognized as consul by the British East India Company but was permitted to "reside here as a Commercial Agent subject to the Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction of this Country." The United States' first owned overseas property is the American Legation in Tangier, which was a gift of the Sultan of Morocco in 1821. In general during the nineteenth century, the United States' diplomatic activities were done on a minimal budget. The U.S. owned no property abroad and provided no official residences for its foreign envoys, paid them a minimal salary, and gave them the rank of ministers rather than ambassadors who represented the —a position which the U.S. only achieved towards the end of the nineteenth century.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the State Department was concerned with expanding commercial ties in Asia, establishing Liberia, foiling diplomatic recognition of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, and securing its presence in North America. The Confederacy had diplomatic missions in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Papal States, Russia, Mexico, and Spain, and consular missions in Ireland, Canada, Cuba, Italy, Bermuda, and Bahamas.
The United States' global prominence became evident in the twentieth century, and the State Department was required to invest in a large network of diplomatic missions to manage its bilateral and multilateral relations.United States Department of State, Websites of U.S. Embassies, Consulates, and Diplomatic Missions . Accessed 29 August 2008. The wave of overseas construction began with the creation of the State Department's Foreign Service Buildings Commission in 1926.
Following the 1984 US embassy bombing in Beirut, and a 1985 report by Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, new guidelines for American diplomatic buildings focusing on security were issued. It advised that facilities should be located within a single, well-defended site, away from heavily populated areas.
As of 2024, America had the two largest embassy complexes in the world, in Baghdad and Beirut.
! scope="row"
! scope="row"
Current missions
Africa
Douala Embassy Branch Office Casablanca Consulate General Lagos Consulate General Cape Town Consulate General Durban Consulate General Johannesburg Consulate General
America
Santa Cruz de la Sierra Consular Agency Porto Alegre Consulate General Recife Consulate General Rio de Janeiro Consulate General São Paulo Consulate General Belo Horizonte Embassy Branch Office Fortaleza Consular Agency Manaus Consular Agency Salvador Consular Agency Calgary Consulate General Halifax Consulate General Montreal Consulate General Quebec City Consulate General Toronto Consulate General Vancouver Consulate General Winnipeg Consulate Bávaro Consular Agency Puerto Plata Consular Agency Guayaquil Consulate General San Pedro Sula Consular Agency Montego Bay Consular Agency Ciudad Juárez Consulate General Guadalajara Consulate General Hermosillo Consulate General Matamoros Consulate General Mérida Consulate General Monterrey Consulate General Heroica Nogales Consulate General Nuevo Laredo Consulate General Tijuana Consulate General Acapulco Consular Agency Cabo San Lucas Consular Agency Cancún Consular Agency Mazatlán Consular Agency Oaxaca City Consular Agency Piedras Negras Consular Agency Playa del Carmen Consular Agency Puerto Vallarta Consular Agency San Miguel de Allende Consular Agency Cusco Consular Agency
Asia
Guangzhou Consulate General Shanghai Consulate General Shenyang Consulate General Wuhan Consulate General Hong Kong Consulate General Bengaluru Consulate Chennai Consulate General Hyderabad Consulate General Kolkata Consulate General Mumbai Consulate General Surabaya Consulate General Medan Consulate Denpasar Consular Agency Erbil Consulate General Tel Aviv Embassy Branch Office Fukuoka Consulate Nagoya Consulate Naha Consulate General Osaka Consulate General Sapporo Consulate General Almaty Consulate General Karachi Consulate General Lahore Consulate General Peshawar Consulate General Cebu City Consular Agency Dhahran Consulate General Jeddah Consulate General Busan Consulate Kaohsiung Branch Office Chiang Mai Consulate General Istanbul Consulate General Adana Consulate Izmir Consular Agency Gaziantep Branch Office Dubai Consulate General Ho Chi Minh City Consulate General
Europe
Banja Luka Embassy Branch Office Mostar Embassy Branch Office Nuuk, Greenland Consulate Bordeaux Consulate General Lyon Consulate General Marseille Consulate General Rennes Consulate General Strasbourg Consulate General Düsseldorf Consulate General Frankfurt Consulate General Hamburg Consulate General Leipzig Consulate General Munich Consulate General Thessaloniki Consulate General Florence Consulate General Milan Consulate General Naples Consulate General Genoa Consular agency Palermo Consular agency Venice Consular agency Amsterdam Consulate General Willemstad, Curaçao Consulate General North Nicosia Ambassadorship Office Foreign Missions in TRNC, mfa.gov.ct.tr (without date). Skopje Embassy Tromsø American Presence Post Kraków Consulate General Poznań Consular agency Ponta Delgada Consulate Barcelona Consulate General Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Consular agency Málaga Consular agency Palma de Mallorca Consular agency Seville Consular agency Valencia Consular agency Geneva Consular agency Zürich Consular agency Belfast Consulate General Edinburgh Consulate General Hamilton, Bermuda Consulate General George Town, Cayman Islands Consular agency
Oceania
Melbourne Consulate General Perth Consulate General Sydney Consulate General Auckland Consulate General
International organizations
Geneva Switzerland Delegation Nairobi Kenya Permanent Mission Rome Italy Delegations Vienna Austria Delegations
Closed missions
Africa
Oran Consulate General 1993 Benghazi Consulate General 2012 Kisangani Consulate General Unknown Lubumbashi Consulate General 1995
Americas
Maracaibo Consular Agency 2019
Asia
Qingdao Consulate General 1950 Tabriz Consulate General 1979 Davao City Consulate Unknown
Europe
Stuttgart Consulate General 1995 Palermo Consulate 1994 Vladivostok Consulate General 2020 Yekaterinburg Consulate General 2021 Bradford Consulate 1953 Bristol Consulate 1948 Cardiff Consulate 1963 Glasgow Consulate 1965 Kingston upon Hull Consulate 1948 Liverpool Consulate 1962 Manchester Consulate 1963 Newcastle-on-Tyne Consulate 1953 Plymouth Consulate 1948 Southampton Consulate 1948
Oceania
Missions to open
See also
Notes
External links
|
|
