THE NORTHEAST: MASSACHUSETTS

It is one of New England States with a coastline on the Atlantic. The interior is hilly, rising to over 30,000 feet. The Merrimack and Connecticut are the chief rivers.

Boston is the capital and largest city.

The State became one of the original 13 States. Almost everyone knows at least a little about the early days of Massachusetts. The names of Plymouth, Boston, Cape Cod, Salem, Concord and Lexington are also familiar. Plymouth is the very place where the Pilgrim Fathers on board the "Mayflower" landed in 1620 to found the Plymouth Colony. It is in Lexington that the American Revolution began. This town is matched historically with its Revolutionary twin, Concord. The "shot heard round the world" was fired in Concord.

From earliest colonial days, the Massachusetts men were fishermen. Fish, lobsters, and clams certainly saved some of the settlers from starvation. Fishing is still a big industry. Until the middle of the 19th century Massachusetts sent whaling vessels on voyages to the Pacific Ocean.

Part of Massachusetts is a good farming country. The Connecticut Valley produces general crops, including potatoes, but its successful tobacco farms are more famous. One of the best known specialities of the State is its cranberry crop, grown at the landward end of the Cape Cod.

Early Massachusetts was well forested, and every port had a shipyard where fishing boats were built, and also wooden trading vessels which were sailed by the Massachusetts men to the ports of Europe, Asia and Africa, and to domestic ports farther south on the Atlantic coast. The traders brought back raw materials that gave Massachusetts an early start in manufacturing.

Cotton from the South was the basis of the textile industry in which Massachusetts was a leader until the 20th century. Then the South became the center of cotton manufacture but Massachusetts still has many textile mills, as well as a wide variety of other manufacturing industries.

Now Massachusetts is a highly industrial State. Electrical machinery, including electronics and communications equipment, has become the State's leading product.

Massachusetts has many famous universities and colleges. Across the Charles River, close to Boston, stands Cambridge, where the cultural history of America has developed side by side with the history of Harvard University (the country's oldest). Named after John Harvard, a clergyman, who at his death in 1638 left the institution a few hundred books and half his estate, Harvard has turned into one of the largest, richest, and best universities in the world.

THE SOUTH: FLORIDA

The State is completely different from all other southern States. It consists mainly of a peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The entire State is flat, with only a very few hills in the interior. In the south there is a swampy region.

Agriculture is the chief industry, and sugar, псе, cotton, tobacco and tropical fruits are grown. Fishing is important, and there are valuable forest reserves. Cattle raising is gaining importance.

Florida was chosen by NASA as a perfect launching place. At Cape Kennedy, formerly Canaveral, is the US Missile Test Center from which satellites are sent into manned space and orbital flights.

Although an agricultural State by geography, inclination and climate, it has been developed primarily as a resort area. The shorelines are sandy, with miles of fine white bathing beaches. So the State's leading business activity is tourism.

Tallahassee is the capital but Jacksonville and Tampa are larger. Miami is a famous resort on the southeast coast. Other resort towns are Palm Beach, Key West, Venice.

Florida was discovered in 1513 and was bought by the USA from Spain in 1819, becoming a State in 1849.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 417