The United states of America

The United States of America is the fourth largest country in the world after Russia, China and Canada. It also includes Alaska in the north and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The total area of the country is about nine and a half million square kilometres. Alaska is the largest of America's 50 states and it is 400 times the size of Rhode Island which is the smallest. The country is so large that a coast-to-coast trip by plane will take five and a half hours, by train three days and by car from five to six days. The USA borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south. The south-eastern coast of the country is washed by the Gulf of Mexico and the US also has coasts on the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The USA has a seaborder with Russia.

The USA is made up of 50 states and the District of Columbia where the capital of the country, Washington, is situated. The population of the country is about 250 million people. Some states are more densely populated than the others, for example, Alaska has half of the Rhode Island's population. More citizens of the USA live in rural areas. It is not surprising that most of the people of the United States live in the eastern half of the country although California on the West Coast is the most populous state. It is to the East Coast the first settlers from Europe came when they crossed the Atlantic. They were attracted by the fertile lands of the Atlantic coast in the southeast and inland beyond the eastern Appalachian mountains. This part of the country gets enough rainfall for crops, has valuable forests and most of the country's riches in iron and coal deposits. As America expanded westward, so did its farmers and ranchers, cultivating the grasslands of the Great Plains and finally the fertile valleys of the Pacific Coast. Today American farmers plant spring wheat on the cold western plains, raise corn, wheat and fine beef cattle in the Midwest, and rice in the damp heat of Louisiana. Florida and California are famous for their vegetable and fruit production, and the cool, -rainy northwest states are known for apples, berries and vegetables.

The land varies from heavy forests covering 2,104 mln hectares, to barren deserts, from high-peaked mountains (the highest peak is Mount McKinley in Alaska) to deep canyons (Death Valley in California is 1,064 meters below sea level). The highest mountains in the USA are the Cordilleras that run the length of the west coast and include the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.

America's largest rivers are the Mississippi with its tributary Missouri, the Rio Grande, the Ohio and the Columbia. The broad Mississippi River system runs 5,969 kilometers from Canada into the Gulf of Mexico and is the world's third longest river after the Nile and the Amazon. The USA is famous for its five Great Lakes: Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, Lake Superior and the Michigan. The first four lakes are on Mount McKinley

the border with Canada and are the largest and deepest in the USA. There are also a lot of small lakes and the northern state of Minnesota, for example, is known as the land of 10,000 lakes.

The territory of the USA is so large that it lies in different climatic zones. The greater portion of the country is situated between 30 and 49 degrees Northern Latitude and its climate is moderate continental.

The USA is rich in mineral resources; their wealth provides a solid base for American industry. It has major deposits of oil and gas in Texas and Alaska, coal in Virginia and Ohio, gold in Alaska and California, silver in Nevada, non-ferrous metals in Arkansas and Colorado.

Houston is America’s fourth largest city and the third largest port. The Mission Control Center at Houston monitors all NASA space flights.

The USA is a highly developed industrial country. Among the most important manufacturing industries are aircraft, computer techniques – hardware and software, cars, television sets, furniture. Electronic and electric engineering, transport, communication can be found almost in all large cities of the USA.

The largest cities of the USA are New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago Philadelphia, Detroit and some others.

The United States is a democracy. It means that the Constitution, laws and traditions of the USA give the people the right to decide who will be the leader of their nation, who will make the laws and what the laws will be. The Constitution guarantees individual freedom to all.

Congress meets in the Capitol.

According to the Constitution of the USA, the powers of the government are divided into 3 branches: the executive

heated by the President, the legislative, exercised by the Congress and the judicial. The Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are two political parties in the USA: the Republican and the Democratic.

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.

 

Washington, the capital of the United States, is in the District of Columbia (D.C.). This special district, named after Christopher Columbus, is not in any state, because it is the home of the federal government.

When it was decided that the new coun­try needed a new city for its capital, President George Washington himself helped pick the spot—a marshy area where the Potomac and Anacostia rivers come together. French engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant created a design based on Versailles, a palace built for King Louis XIV in the 17th century. The capital city would be crisscrossed by broad avenues, which would meet in spacious squares and circles.

Creating Versailles from a marsh was no easy task. Building went slowly, and people were reluctant to move to the new capital. For years, pigs roamed through unpaved streets. There was said to be good hunting right near the White House! Matters were not helped when, during the War of 1812, the British burned parts of Wash­ington. This episode did, however, give the White House its name. The president's house was one of the buildings burned, and after the war it was painted white to cover up the marks.

Washington is the most important and most beautiful city of the country. It differs from the other cities as there are no skyscrapers: any building of the city can't be more than 40 metres tall not to hide the city's many monuments from view.

The Capitol is the tallest building of the city and the seat of Congress. The White House is another well-known building, where the current president of the USA lives during his term and works in the Oval Office which is located there.

The White House is open for tours and tourists visit it almost any day of the year.

In Washington museums you can see different things: the original of the Declaration of Independence, the largest blue diamond in the world and even the dresses of Presidents' wives. Washington, D.C. today

Washington is an important scientific and cultural center. There are five universities there (the most famous are Georgetown University, George Washington University and Howard University), the National Academy of Science and the famous Library of Congress, one of the largest libraries in the world. Every book, magazine on newspaper produced in the USA have to give a copy to the Library to keep. It is paid for by the government and is open to the public. The Library contains more than 13 million books and newspaper and 19 million manuscripts, including the personal papers of the US presidents.

In Washington, D.C. there are memorials to the most famous American Presidents. The Lincoln memorial is built in the style of a classic Greek Temple. It has 36 columns. Each column represents the state in the Union of Lincoln's time. Inside the Memorial there is the statue of Abraham Lincoln.

In Potomac Park the 555-feet monument of George Washington was erected in 1888. It’s called the “pencil” because of its shape.

Outside the city there is the Arlington National Cemetery. John F. Kennedy, the 35^th American President was buried here. Americans remember and honor their national heroes.