MINERALS

The USA has large resources of COAL (уголь) in the Appalachian Mountains, NATURAL GAS+OIL (in the Cordillera region), IRON ORE in Lake Superior Region (железная руда). Gold and silver + rare metals in the Cordilleras.

The USA is self-sufficient in cold, other resources are imported.

In resources of natural gas and coal the USA holds the 1^st place in the world.

3. Native Americans were the first people to live in America. The Indians had probably arrived 10,000-30,000 years before the European colonization started at the end of the 15^th century. They came from Asia to North America by way of the Bering Strait. By the time the white men appeared the Indians had spread and occupied all parts of the New World.

Native Americans helped the Pilgrim Fathers and other white settlers to get used to life on the new continent.

Pocahontas – she was 12 years old when English settlers came to Jamestown in Virginia and she saved the life of one of the leaders of the expedition John Smith. She threw her arms around him to prevent her father, who was an Indian chief, from killing him. He often visited the colonists and brought them food and gifts but they did not act in the same way. They kidnapped her and held her hostage to control the tribe.

Later she married one of the white colonists and travelled with him to England. At the age of 21 she died of smallpox. She had a son.

The Indians gave food to the white settlers.

Inventions:

Indian corn and white potatoes - were first planted by American Indians. They also introduced the settlers to more than 80 other foods (potato, tomato, peanut, squash, banana and so on).

Cacao (chocolate) and tobacco were among the new crops.

Indian invented cocaine which was used to kill pain and many other drugs which are used today not only for medical purposes.

They invented canoes (ка’ну), pipes, moccasinsand so on.

Although the Indians helped the European settlers in many ways, the latter did not treat the natives in the same way. They soon began to cheat them and seize their lands. The whites did not respect Indian culture. They considered them to be savage (дикие). So the Native Americans and white settlers became enemies.

They were doomed to defeat since 1) white settlers had gunsand bullets while the Indians had bows and arrows. 2) white settlers were able to unite while the Indians were divided in small tribes which were hostile to each other

In 1786 the US government forced the Indians to live on special territories (called reservations). These lands were the worst (in the southwest or the northwest). In the middle of the 19^th century they were forbidden to leave the reservations without permission. At the end of the 19th century there were only 250,000 Indians.

Today there are about 2.5 million Native Americans.

The majority live in the federal reservations in the southwest and they are free to live, of course. On the reservations traditional Indian customs, languages have survived. Tourists often visit the reservations to observe the Indians’ way of life. On and off the reservations, Native Americans are one of the most deprived and most unhappy of minority groups in the US.

To improve the quality of life for Indians, the US government established the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It’s responsible for the Indians’ cash payments, agricultural equipment, farm animals. They have free schools and hospitals on the reservations. The Indians still have to pay income taxes.

Contribution to the American English:

1) Thousands of mountains, lakes, rivers, cities, states have Indian names – Ohio, Chicago, Massachusetts, Montana.

2) Common nouns: tobacco, moose, canoe and so on.

4. The USA was opened to European colonization by the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. He wasn’t the first to discover it as the Vikings from Scandinavia visited the country of North America in 11^th century but there were seamen and raiders and didn’t try to settle on the land permanently. The American continent was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a noble man from Florence who helped to organize Columbus’s second voyage in 1493.

In 1565 the 1^st permanent white settlement in North America was founded in Florida by the Spaniards.

In 1607 the 1^st permanent English colony Jamestown was established in Virginia.

The history of English 1^st settlement began in April, 1607, when 3 ships anchored near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. The white settlers found out from the Indians how to grow tobacco. Tobacco was very popular in Europe and Virginia became a rich colony.

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