The People's Republic of New England, or simply New England (sometimes called The Northeast), is a constituent republic of the Union of American People's Republics bounded to the north by Canada, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Washington City District, to the southwest by the People's Republic of Appalachia, and to the west by the Great Lakes Union of Communes. In addition to the traditional region of New England (the former states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut), the People's Republic also contains the former Mid-Atlantic states of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. New England has a total area of 265,134 square miles (686,694 km2) and a population of 42,175,749, making up about 18% of America's total population. Though lacking a unified cultural identity, New England is the nation's most economically developed, densely populated, and culturally diverse. Much of New England was strongly conservative before the Second American Civil War, and northern New England was one of the last areas of the continental United States to be incorporated into the UAPR.