THE BASICS:
Official name: The United States of America (US or USA)
Status: a federal republic, a union of fifty states
Area: 9,372,614 square kilometres
Population: 265,562,845 people
Capital: Washington, D.C. (the District of Columbia),
567,094 people
The Geography of America
The United States of America is a big and diverse country. It is the fourth largest country in the world after Russia, Canada and China.
The United States of America is in the central part of the North American Continent. The country is washed by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and by the Pacific Ocean on the west. In the north, the USA shares its border with Canada and in the south with Mexico.
The present territory of the USA consists of three separate parts:
n the USA proper (the continental USA);
n Alaska (in the north-western projection of North America);
n the Hawaiian Islands (in the centre of the Pacific Ocean).
The continental US is divided into three areas:
Eastern - a highland;
Central - a plain
Western - mountaneous, including the Rocky Mountains,
the Cordillera and Sierra Nevada.
The chief rivers are the Mississippi River with its tributaries, the Missouri and the Ohio, also the Rio Grand, the Colorado and the Columbia. The Mississippi River – called by Native Americans “ Father of Waters ” – lives up to that tribute to its size, power, and majesty. The second longest river in the world after the Nile, the Mississippi extends almost 4,000 miles.
In the northern part of the USA there is a region of the five Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario). The Lakes play an
important role in the economic life of both the United States of America and Canada.
The USA has many climates. There are places that are warm all year round, and there are places covered with ice and snow where summer never comes.
The USA is a highly developed industrial country. It is rich in oil, gas, copper, gold, silver and other metals. The country has rich deposits of coal and iron ore in the Appalachian range, and oil and gas in Texas and California.
Of all the regions in the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii are in sharp contrast to each other. The geography and climate and kinds of people who have settled them have shaped their destinies differently. But all are bound together by a way of life that is American.
Main American Cities
Washington, D.C.
Washington is the capital of the United States of America. The city was named after George Washington, the first American President. Washington was founded in 1791 and, from the start, was planned as the capital. It is situated on the left side of the Potomac River in the District of Columbia.
TheDistrict of Columbia was named in honour of Christopher Columbus who discovered America. It stretches for 10 square miles and it is not part of any state.
Washington is a political, administrative and cultural centre. It is the seat of the US Government.
Washington is like no other city in the USA. New York may be the centre of finance, shopping, and entertainment, but Washington is the home of government. 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, D.C.
A few places of interest in Washington are the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial (dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence), the Library of Congress, the John F. Kennedy Centre (the National Cultural Centre), the National Gallery of Art, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Washington has many museums. Among them are: the National Museum of American History, National Archives, National Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Smithsonian Museum.
The Smithsonian Museum is made up of fourteen museums and galleries, offering 140 million objects of broad appeal. Two of the museums are devoted to science and industry and the others to the arts and history.
Washington does not resemble other big cities of the U.S. It is distinguished by its calmness, stability and prosperity.
New York: The Big Apple
New York is the largest city in the United States, with a population of over 7 million. It is situated in south-eastern New York state at the mouth of the Hudson River. The city consists of five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.
The Statue of Liberty meets those who come to New York by sea. It has a torch of freedom in one hand and a tablet welcoming the millions of immigrants who pass by her. The statue was presented to America by France in 1886.
New York is the financial and business centre of the country with Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange. It is also a city of skyscrapers including the Empire State Building (102 floors), the Rockefeller Trade Centre and the United Nations group (39 floors).
New York is a great cultural centre known as the “Theatre Capital of the World”. Most of the city’s theatres are clustered around Times Square and on Broadway. There is also Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Ballet.
Philadelphia
City of Brotherly Love
It was here that Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin drafted the Declaration of Independence, and that the Founding Fathers drew up a Constitution for the new nation. Philadelphia is a leading centre of cultural life in the country. Here are situated the Kertse Institute of Music, the richest musical library in the world, and the Philharmonic Society. The people of Philadelphia lovingly Nickname the Society “A century-old-Lady”.
Boston
The Cradle of Liberty
Boston is the “Hub” of America, one of its oldest cities. It has always been the chief U.S. wool market, and now it is the centre of electronics and machinery. It is also the Athens [`æqinz] of America, its cultural birthplace.
Chicago
The Windy City
Chicago is the industrial metropolis of the Midwest, with the busiest airport in the world (O’Hare), the tallest building (the Sears Tower), and the largest grain market and biggest post office building.
Chicago produces more steel, more radios, more TV sets, and more machine tools than any other area in the U.S.
Los Angeles
The City of Angels
More than any other city in the United States Los Angeles arouses strong emotional responses. A city that some believe to be paradise, others regard as the last word in horror; a city that some claim to be exciting, dynamic, and romantic, others see as superficial and selfish.
The city has many fine museums and art galleries. Among them are the beautiful J.Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, with its exquisite statues, furniture and paintings, and the George C. Page Museum, which houses the bones of prehistoric animals.
