United States of America (USA)

The USA is a large country with an area of over 9,5 million square kilometres and with a polpulation of 250 million people. It has only two near-by states: Canada in the north and Mexico in the south. Eastern banks are washed by the Atlantic ocean, western banks by the Pacific ocean. There is a Gulf of Mexico in the south-east. Because of its area, the USA is the very various country. It has many mountains - for example Rocky Mountains in the west, Appalachian Mountains in the east and Alaska Range with the highest mountain of the USA - Mt. McKinley. There is a Central Lowland between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains and the Great Plains between the Central Lowland and the Rocky Mountains. They are both very good for agriculture. The longest river of the USA - Mississippi - even some other rivers, for example St. Lawrence or Colorado, are used for a naval traffic. Along the border with Canada there are famous Great Lakes, including well-known Niagara Falls.

The USA consists of fifty states: a block of 48 continental states, Hawaii and Alaska. The capitol is Washington with its own District of Columbia. There is also a seat of the President - the White House. The legislative branch of the federal government is the Congress, which is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Although Washington is the capitol, the biggest city is New York with a population of over 18 million people. Other famous and big cities are for example Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia and Detroit. Over 80% of population are white people, 12% are blacks, 3% come from Asia and only 0,8% are Indians. The majority of people live in cities.

The USA is the richest country in the world, most Amaricans consider themselves members of the middle class. However, there are many very poor people living on streets or in very terrible houses. Export is very important for American economy, the most exported products are machines, cars, chemicals and food. The Americans import oil, cars and food. In the USA we can find all sorts and types of industry, the most important are power supply, output, machine-tool, nuclear, paper and chemical industry. Coal is mined mainly in Pensylvania and in North and South Dakota, oil in Texas, iron around the Great Lakes, gold in California. Cars are made mainly in Detroit, paper in Washington or in Oregon.

The US holds a leading position in the world´s agricultural production.

An area, called the Corn Belt, is used for growing of corn, and cereals. Other important plants are cotton, tobbaco, soya and fruit, usually in Florida.

Traffic is very important, too. People usually use highways, trains, planes (the biggest airports are in Chicago, New York and Dallas), boats and ships (the biggest harbors are New Orleans, New York and Houston, inland harbors are Duluth, Pittsburgh and St. Louis).