USA

The USA (or The United States of America) is situated on the south part of North America and covers more then 9,3 million square kilometers. It is the fourth largest state in the world. USA has population about 260 million people. It has borders with two states: Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. East coast is dipped by the Atlantic Ocean and west coast by the Pacific Ocean. The United States of America is federal state with 50 states, 48 are on the continent and Alaska with Hawaii is situated out of continent. Alaska occupies the north-western end of the North American continent and is separated from the USA by Canada. Hawaiian Islands are situated in the Mid-Pacific, approximately halfway between American and the Asian continent. There is also one district, District of Columbia – this territory is not state, it is area of capital city Washington.

We can divide USA into five territories. The first is the Appalachian Higlands, which interferes from Canadian area on the north to Atlantic lowlands on the south. It is long stretch of mountains. The second is the Mississippi Lowlands on the south, along the Gulf of Mexico. It is place, where the Mississippi River runs to sea. The third territory is the Great prairies in the central part of USA. In this territory lie also five big Canadian lakes: the Superior Lake, the Michigan Lake, the Ontario Lake, the Huron Lake, the Eire Lake, which create a natural border with Canada. Next part is the Cordilieras. There are the Cascadian mountain, the Rocky mountain and the Sierra Nevada – the highest mountain with the highest peak Mt. Whitney (4418 m). Last territory creates Coastal Range along west coast.

The USA lies in the moderate climate zone and there is climate determinate by ocean. Only in central part is mostly a continental climate with great temperature differences between summer and winter or day and night. There are too differences between east cost with more rainy weather and west coast with dry and hot weather and soft winters.

The longest river is the Mississippi River, which flows from north to south. It is about 6000 km long. Next important rivers are for examples the Rio Grande, which forms natural border with Mexico, or the Colorado with with well-known Grand Canyon, the Ohio,the Missouri, the Snake or the Yukon in Alaska.

The United States of America is home for more then 260 million people, density is about 26 people per 1 square kilometer. The most of people are European origin, so they are children of first settlers. But there lives a lot of Afro-American, Hispanics, or Asian people. So we can say, that the USA is a cosmopolitan country.

The capital city is Washington D.C. It is seat of the government and president. A lot of American institutions and offices have a seat there. The largest city is New York with 18 million inhabitants including agglomeration. Next famous cities are Chicago – with 8 millions people including conurbation, Detroit – it is called city of automobiles and there is seat of General Motors company, Philadelphia – it was the first capital city of US, Pittsburgh – heart of steel, Boston – center of the Harvard University, New Orleans – town of jazz, Salt Lake city – city of Winter Olympic Games in 2002, Los Angeles – city of films stars and centre of film industry, it is second biggest town – it has about 14,5 millon people including conurbation, San Francisco – with Golden Gate bridge or Houston with NASA center – important cosmic base.

There are many places of interest. Well-known are American national parks with beautiful nature – Yellowstone National Park – it was established in 1872 and it is the oldest and largest in the USA, there are about 3 000 geysers and hot springs, Yosemite National Park – includes the highest waterfall in the USA and many giant sequoias or the Grand Canyon. The River Niagara, flowing from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is famous for the Niagara Falls – one of the main American tourist attraction. These falls is almost 60 meters high and 1 200 m wide. In the Monument Valley there are many red stone spires, columns and chimneys. Mt.Rushmore is 1 890 m high mountain with colossal portrait heads of the US presidents – Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt.

History is very important too. Till 1400 native Indians were the only inhabitants in the USA. In 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered America. The first English colony was founded in Virginia at Jamestown in 1607. During the 17th century many colonists settled in the country. From these settlements became the 13 colonies under British rule. The War of Independence – British government started to charge new taxes on the imported goods (for example: sugar, coffee, textiles etc.). Americans began boycotting British trade. In 1775 at Lexington the War began. Later George Washington took over the command of a Continental Army. The Continental Congress began to work as a national government and on July 4th, 1776 they agreed on the Declaration of Independence written mainly by Thomas Jefferson. This is the day, when the USA was founded. The War of independence lasted till 1783. The new constitution was adopted in 1787. Civil War – About 60 years in 19th century of never ending discuses about slaves freedom led to the Civil War between the North and the South. In April 1865 the Union Forces from the north won the War.

The political system has three main parts or branches: the first of them is the legislative branch, which is made up of elected representatives. They make the Congress – its seat in the Capitol in Washington. Congress has two parts: House of Representatives with 435 lawmakers who are elected according to the population of each state for two years. Second part is The Senate, which has 100 members (2 from each state voted for 6 years). Congress makes federal laws or bills. The executive branch is represented by the President and 13 executive departments. President is chosen in nationwide elections every 4 years and can be voted only two-time. President has quite strong position and wide authorities. He is Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces, he represented own country abroad, he has right veto to refused bill, grants somebody pardon. The Vice-President, who came from same political party as the President is the chairman of the Senate. The President is George William Bush junior. The departments are State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health, Education, Energy, Transportation, Human Services, Housing and Urban Development. The judicial branch is made up of Federal Districts Courts, 11 Federal Courts of Appeals and at the top is the Supreme Court. There are two powerful political parties, which struggle about real power in state. The Democratic Party is more liberal, they support social and economic programs. The Republican Party supports individual initiative. Today President is a leader of Republicans.

The American flag has 13 red and white stripes and on the blue field in the top corner there are 50 white stars. Each star represents one of the 50 states and each strip represents one of original state.

USA has the biggest economy of the world, so we can say, that is the richest country of the world. It has strong business position in the world. There are produce of engines, automobiles, ships, electronics and computers. There are big companies such as General Motors, IBM, Coca-cola, Nike, Motorola, Apple Computers, and Microsoft etc. The biggest trade partners are Canada and Mexico and Japan. Currency is dollar, which has 100 cents. Official language is English.

Natural resources are for example extensive minds of black coal, which is used in heavy industry, petrol and natural gas mainly in Texas and California, gas, gold, zinc, magnesium etc. For agriculture are important mainly corn and wheat in central part, cattle breeding, cotton, sugar, fruit or vegetable.