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The United States of America is situated in the central and southern part of the North American continent. The present territory of the USA consists of three separate parts: two of them, the USA proper and Alaska, are situated in North America. The Hawaiian Islands, situated in the central part of the Pacific Ocean, are the third part. Administratively the country is divided into 50 states and the District of Columbia. It has an area of 540.939 square miles. It is bounded by Canada in the north and Mexico in the south. The country is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Gulf of Mexico in the south. The population of the country is 239 million people, who are called Americans.

The official language of the United States is American English.

The continental part of the USA consists of the highland regions and two lowland regions. The highest regions are the Appalachian mountains in the east and the Cordillera in the west. Between the Cordillera and the Appalachian Mountains are the central lowlands which are called prairie and the eastern lowlands are called the Mississippi valley. The highest top in America situated in Alaska is McKinley, it is 6.194 metres high; in the Cordillera – Witny, it is 4418 metres high, in the Appalachian Mountains the highest top is Michel, it is 2.037 metres high.

The Mississippi together with the Missouri form the longest river in the world (7.3 00km). The greatest rivers of the USA are the Columbia, the Colorado, the Saint Lawrence River and the Hudson river.

The Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon are visited by million of tourists from all over the world. Amass of water is falling over a cliff 50 metres high with a terrible noise, and the roar of the waterfalls can be heard at a distance of 25 kilometres. You can enjoy a fantasy of rainbow.

As for the Grand Canyon, it stretches over 347 kilometres long, and its depth is more than 1500 kilometres. It is impossible to describe its wonderful play of colours.

The chain of lakes situated between the USA and Canada is known as the Great Lakes. The region of the five Great Lakes includes Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario. The Great Lakes contain about half of the world's total supply of fresh water.

The climate of the country is mostly temperate but varies from tropical (Hawaii) to arctic (Alaska). The USA is a very large country, so it has some climatic regions. The coldest regions are in the north where much snow falls in winter. The south has the subtropical climate. The temperature may go down to -40° С in the northern part in winter; in the south the temperature may be as high as +49° С in summer.

About one third of the United States is forestland. The forests include pine, oak, maple, birch, walnut, chestnut, palm-tree etc. On the north-west coast one finds the forests of huge sequoia. Some of these trees are 3000 years old. The tallest trees in the world are the Californian redwoods, most of them are more than 90 metres high.

The animal life of the continental part is diverse, with numerous red foxes, squirrels, minks, antelopes, mountain goats, black bears, white-tailed deer, bisons and a great number of smaller animals and birds. In arctic zones one can see whale, seal, polar bear, wolverine, deer and a great number of birds.

There are 32 national parks in the USA. The most interesting among them is Yellowstone park, where you can see a lot of wild animals such as the elk, bison, bear, deer, small animals and birds. Nearly 10 thousand geysers, wonderful lakes, hot springs, cliffs and waterfalls can be found there. Every year 2.5 million tourists from different countries enjoy the beautiful nature of the park.

The United States of America is rich in a variety of mineral resources. It is the world leader in the production of many important mineral resources: aluminium, copper, lead, nickel, salt, phosphates, uranium and zinc. The USA is rich in oil, coal and natural gas, gold, silver, mercury, magnesium, titanium. Heavy industry prevails in the USA, including such branches as mining, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, oil and gas industry, shipbuilding, ship-repairing, mechanical engineering and chemical industries. Being well developed light industry includes textile and footwear industries. Computers and automatic systems characterize the advance in technology.

The USA has a highly developed automobile industry. It would be no exaggeration to say that cars have become the symbol of American way of life. Shipbuilding is developed along the Atlantic coast. The food industry is also well developed. Agriculture is prominent in the economy of the United States. The USA producеs half of the world's corn, soy-bean, wheat, tobacco, rice, cotton and barley. The country grows tomatoes, strawberries, onions, oranges, tangerines, lemons and grapefruit, tobacco. Live-stock, poultry are highly developed in the country.

Speaking about American character it is necessary to say that the Americans are very energetic and are proud of their independence, their right to make up their own minds. At the same time they are considered sentimental. They can laugh at themselves and their country, they can be self-critical, remaining intensely patriotic.

The capital of the country is Washington D.C. (District of Columbia). It was named in honour of the first president. Washington is the beautiful administrative city with practically no industry.

The main seaports of the USA are New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1451