The United States of America

Europeans didn’t know that two large continents, inhabited by other people, lay on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The first Europeans to reach North America were Icelandic Vikings, about the year 1000. Five centuries later, the demand for Asian spices, textiles, and dyes made the European navigators seek for shorter routes between East and West. The Italian navigator Columbus landed on one of the Bahama Islands in the Caribbean Sea. But he was convinced that he had found a western route to Asia. The land discovered by Columbus was named after Amerigo Vespucci, another Italian who explored the eastern coast of South America shortly after Columbus’ voyages.

The United States is the fourth-largest country in the world, with an area of over 9 million square kilometers. It borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south. Alaska and Hawaiian Islands are geographically detached. On the Atlantic shore of the United States, the northern coast is rocky and uninviting, but the middle and southern Atlantic coast rises gently from the sea. The Appalachians, which are in the East, are old mountains. To the west of the Appalachians is the Central Lowland, The Great Lakes, across the Central Lowland, are thought to contain about half of the fresh water of the world. They extend for almost 1,600 kilometres.

The Great Plains are like the flat top of a great table. They are stopped by the Rocky Mountains, ‘the backbone of the continent.’ Scientists call them young mountains. They are high, rough and irregular in shape.

The main rivers are the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Colorado and the Ohio. One of the most fascinating places in North America is Niagara Falls. At about more than 900 meters wide and about 60 meters at their highest point they are really two giant waterfalls divided by a small island: the one in Canada, the other in the US. Bridges link the American and Canadian sides.

Different parts of the USA experience extremes of heat and cold characteristic of hot tropical deserts or cold arctic continental regions. Another feature of the weather and climate of the United States is the variation of weather over quite short period at all seasons of the year.

The population of the US is over 308 million people. Almost 700 000 immigrants come to the United States every year.

The USA is a federal republic. The president, elected for 4 years, is the head of the state and government. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the chief commander of the United States Armed Forces. The legislative power belongs to the Congress which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Congress makes and changes lows, establishes federal taxes. The flag of the USA is the most complicated in the world. It consists of 13 stripes; they represent the 13 colonies, which in 1776 declared themselves free and independent of England. The 50 white stars represent the number of states nowadays.

The USA is a highly developed country. It has many natural resources, such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, rich soil for agriculture and forests. The US produces cars, chemicals, electronic equipment. Ship-building is developed there too. Agriculture is wide-spread and highly mechanized.

The educational system in the US is similar to that in Great Britain.

The capital of the USA is Washington. The other big and important cities are New York, Boston, Chicago, etc. Washington was founded in 1790 on a site chosen by George Washington, the first President of the USA. It is not the largest city in the US, its population is a little over 600000 people. In the political sense, however, it is the most important city. All government departments are in the capital. The White House, where the US president lives and works, the Capitol, the home of the US Congress, and the Supreme Court, are all in Washington. Pennsylvanian Avenue is Washington’s ceremonial street and the site of the president’s inaugural day parade.

Washington is a major American cultural centre. There are a lot of monuments and museums there. Among them are the National Gallery of Art, the National Air and Space Museum, the Lincoln Memorial and others.

New York is the most populous city in the United States, the most densely populated major city in North America. New York City is home to an almost unrivaled collection of world class museums, galleries. New York is regarded as one of the great intellectual, financial, and cultural centers of the world. The city serves as an enormous engine for the global economy, and is home to more than 500 companies.

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