The United States of America

GEOGRAPHY
The USA are situated in southern part of North America. It´s neighbours are Canada on north, Mexico on south and the Russia in Alaska.
Central plains are bounded by the Rocky Mountains and the Coastal Mountains to west, the Appalachian Mountains to east. The highest mountain in the USA is Mount McKinley in the Alaska Range which is 6194 m high.
The largest rivers are the Mississippi and the Missouri. The border with Canada is in it´s central part made by the Great Lakes Region. USA share with Canada Lake Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario.
There are many national parks in the USA, especially in Rocky Mountains Region (e.g. Yellowstone, Grand Canyon...).

POPULATION
The USA population is about 245 million. There are 106 major ethnic groups in America today. America is sometimes called „melting pot“ or the „salad bowl“, or the „Pizza“, because people living here are of all possible oringins and the races can mix together. Now there are about 79% white peole, 12% black people, 1.5% Asian and Pacific islanders and 0.6% American Indians and Eskimos.
The main language spoken here is American English but various ethnic minorities speak their original languages (Chinese, Spanish).

NATIONAL ECONOMY
The main industrial items are manufacturing steel, car industry, electronics, machinery, clothing. Nearly half of the country is a farmland, however only 21% is arable. The main agriculture products are corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, tobacco, cattle breeding, fruit and vegetables. The USA is rich in the following mineral resources: coal, copper, lead, uranium, gold, iron mercury, oil.

GOVERNMENT TYPE AND ADMINISTRATION
The USA is a republic with the President as the head of the state. It is a federation of 50 states with 48 on the continent, Alaska in the north and Hawaii in the Mid – Pacific south – west of San Francisco. There is also one district, D.C: - District of Columbia – it means the land of Columbus – this territory is not a state, the state capitol is situated here. The largest state is Texas, the smallest Rhode Island. The capital is Washington, D.C.

Other big cities according to the population are New York (7 mil.), Los Angeles and Chicago (3 mil.), Houston and Philadelphia (1,7 mil.), Detroit (1 mil.).

INTERESTING PLACES
Besides the US capital and New York there are many places worth seeing, such as many national parks and large urban areas.
On western coast the most well-known places are Los Angeles and San Francisco. Los Angeles is the second largest. Here we can find the famous film centre Hollywood and luxurious quarters (Beverly Hills). Each year in April the American Film Academy awards Oscars for the best film of the year. LA is also the centre of crime. LA university is called California Technology Institute. The biggest ZOO in the world is there. San Francisco, one of the cleanest and most picturesque cities is the victim of frequent earthquakes. It has several quarters. Berkeley University is there. In the south there are following important centres : New Orleans is the city where jazz was born. Houston with the NASA centre and Johnson Space Centr. Florida is mainly a tourist area with long beaches on Miami. The biggest centres in the est are Philadelphia – one of the oldest cities. Chicago lies on the bank of Lake Michigan. In Chicago the first skyscrapers was built in 1882. Chicago is the centre of steel and iron industries. Detroit is the centre of US car industry ( Pontiac, Chevrolet, Ford, Chrysler, Cadillac).