There are many English speaking countries. Australia, USA, Great Britain, New Zea-land and Canada are the main. I would like to start with…
Australia is also called Down Under or Oz, but the official name is the Common-wealth of Australia. First European settlers were convicts who had been transported from Britain. Australia has a population of about sixteen and a half million people. In a country of over seven and a half million square kilometers - the sixth largest in the world- this is very small population. Over eighty per cent of Australia` s population is of British origin and that can be seen in many aspects of Australian life. English is the national language, cricket is the national game, and they drive on the left. Australia is a huge country and has a wide range of climates from the tropical rain forests to the mild temperate climate. About two-thirds of the land is desert or semi-desert.

As a result most of the central and western parts of Australia are uninhabited or inhabited only by sheep. Over half the population lives in the southeast corner of the country between two state capitals of Sydney and Melbourne. Sydney is the largest city but it is not the capital. Australia is federal state and it has separate capital city Canberra. The Commonwealth of Australia consists of five states {Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania} and two territories {the Northern Terri-tory and the Canberra Capital Territory}. The head of government is the Prime Minister, but the Head of State is still the British monarch. Currency is Australian dollar. Mining, industry and agriculture are Australia` s most important sources of income. More recently, tourism has become important, too. Tourists come to enjoy Australia` s warm climate, to see the unique animals such as the platypus, the koala and the echidna, and to see beautiful natural features like the Great Barrier Reef and the mysterious Ayers Rock.

The American continent was probably discovered by Vikings around the year 1000 AD. The existence of the American continent was not known in Europe until the voyage of Columbus in 1492. Then thousands of colonists came from Europe also because of Gold Rush of 1848.
The United States of America has a population about 250,000,000 people and it covers an area of over 9,370,000 square kilometers. The three largest cities are New York, Los Ange-les, and Chicago. In the East there are Appalachian Mountains, but more famous are Rocky Mountains in the West. The USA is a federation of fifty states including Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. The US can be divided into four main land regions. The Northeast or New England states are rich in raw materials. It has become the centre of industry. The USA is rich in most of the metals and minerals needed in basic industries. The most important products are coal, oil, natural gas, iron, steel and glass. The South region is mainly agricultural growing cotton and tobacco.

The state of Florida is different from the rest of the South. There are pine forests, orange plantations and beaches. In centre of the US territory, called the Midwest, there are vast plains where mainly wheat is grown. It is the region where agriculture is greatly developed. The West is the region called also Rocky Mountains states. The natural beauties of national parks such as Yosemite National Park in California and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming are world famous. Thousands of tourists visit Rocky Mountains and the California beaches every year. The Mississippi River is the longest in the US. Its length is about 6000 kilometers. The five Great Lakes, four of which lie on border with Canada are the major lakes of the US. They contain about half of the world` s fresh water. They are- Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario {Sally makes halusky every October}. The most heavily industrialized areas of the US are the Northeast and the area around the Great Lakes. Detroit, Michigan is considered the automobile capital of the world. The great coastal ports of San Francisco and Boston are also important to trade. The System of American Gov-ernment is based on the principles established in the Constitution written in 1787 and in the Bill Rights. The President of the US is chosen in national election for four years. The Legisla-tive Branch- Congress -consists of the senate and the House of Representatives.

The second largest country in the world is Canada. On the South it borders with the USA {Great Lakes}. The east of this country is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the west by the Pacific Ocean and the north by the Arctic Ocean. The population of this country is small- only 28,000,000 people. Canada has 10 provinces and 2 territories. The territories are the Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories. Very few Canadians live in igloos or use dog sleds for transportation. In Canada are mild springs, hot summers and pleasantly crisp au-tumns. The three largest cities are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Canada` s official Head of Government is Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, who is also the Queen of Canada.
The Federal Parliament consists of two ”houses”: the House of Commons and the Senate. Each province has its own government, which takes care of its highways, power, lakes and forests, and education. The Canadian education system varies from province to province. Canada became known officially as the Dominion of Canada on July 1st, 1867. Almost 1,000,000 immigrants came from Britain to settle in the Canadian colonies creating great in-creases in wheat production and the lumber industry {drevo}.

The first time European to sight New Zealand was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. Later the British explorer James Cook came to this part of the world and discovered the country in 1769. The native people who scared off Tasman and with whom Cook was able to make friends are known as Maoris and are a Polynesian people. New Zealand has a popula-tion of about 3,500,000 people. Only about twelve per cent of the population today are Maoris and there are very few pureblooded Maoris. There are two main Islands which are far larger than any of the rest and these are quite simply called the North Island and the South Island. Almost 80 per cent of the population live on the North Island which is actually the smaller of the two. The capital is Wellington situated on the south coast of the island. In the north, be-tween two bays is Auckland the largest city in the country with almost a third of the popula-tion.

There is a lot of volcanic activity on the island. The most active volcano is on White Island. In the centre of the country is small area of Rotorua full of thermal lakes, exploding geysers and hot mud pools. In the very centre of island is the gigantic lake Taupo the area of which is 606 square kilometers. It is actually the crater of what may have been the biggest volcanic eruption ever. World famous are the Franz Jozef glacier and Mount Cook. New Zea-land` s national symbol is bird known as the kiwi. It is in danger of extinction now. Sheep outnumber humans by more than 20 to one are important for the country` s industry. There are even more of another animal, a small marsupial with a long tail known as a possum but these are considered a pest and cause a lot of damage to undergrowth.