United States of America

Geography:

The U.S.A are situated in southern part of the North America and is bounded to the north by Canada, to the west by the pacific Ocean, to the south by Mexico and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Territory of USA is around 9mil sqkm. The highest mountain is Mouth McKinley in the Alaska. The largest rivers are the Mississippi and Missouri. Famous lakes are placed in Great Lakes Region near Canada. Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario share the USA with Canada. There are many nationals’ parks in the USA, especialy in the Rocky Mountains Region e.g.Yellowstone, Grand Canyon.
Climate. There is big variation of climate. Temperatures change from the artic cold in northern Alaska to subtropical warmth of Hawaii and the Gulf Coast States.

Population:

Population is around 250mil mostly of European origin and also of Afro-American, American Indian, Japenese, Chinese and order origin. Aroun 79 percent of inhabitants live in urban areas. About 14% of the population are classified as non-white. The American Indians account only about 0.3% of population. Official language is American English, but various ethnic minorities speak their original languages. American English differs from British English in vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling. (Color, program) The USA is a federation of 50 states including Alaska and Florida (Alaska is separated from the continental U.S.A by Canada. Hawaii is situated halfway between America and the Asian continent). The most densely populated are the northeastern states of NY, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan. This region includes some of the greatest cities, e.g. NY (14mil people) Washington D.C., the capital of USA, Philadelphia, and the biggest industrial centres, e.g. Chicago and Detroit. The northeast is centre of industry. The most important products are coal, oil, natural gas, iron, steel and glass. Each state is theoretically sovereign having its own constitution and government.

Regions:

Northern region of the USA is called New England. Its region, where some of first colonists settled. (Traditions, architucture) Some of famous universities e.g. Harvard and Yale are in New England
In the center of US territory is Midwest. It’s famous for plains of wheat (pšenica) and tornadoes.
The Southern states e.g. Missisippi, Lousiana, Arkansas are mainly agricultural growing cotton and tobacco. There were used Negro slaves to work on plantations.

Florida is famous for its beaches, orange plantations, pine forests and hurricanes.
South West. There is larger state Texas situated. It’s famous for oil, prairies, and cattle ranches. In New Mexico and Arizona still live many Indians in reservations. In this state is also Grand Canyon.
American West is very thinly populated, but there are many natural beauties and it’s attractive for the visitors. Rocky Mountains, California beaches, a Francisco, A with Hollywood.

American political system

The USA is a republic where The Constitution divides the powers of the government into free branches- the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch and the Judicial Branch.
The president heads the Executive Branch. The president of USA is chosen in national election for four years and may be re-elected for another four years. He recommends programs and laws, appoint federal judges.
The Legislative Branch-Congress - consists of Senate and the House of Representatives with 435 members. Each state elects two Senators. Congres must approve bills before they became law.
Judicial Branch is headed by the Supreme Court, which consists of the Chief Justice of the US and eight associate Justices.

History:

The Vikings around the year 1000AD probably discovered the American continent but Columbus discovered USA for Europe in 1492. In 1584 was established the first English colony called Virginia and the first permanent settlement was founded in 1607 and was called Jamestown. In 1620 a group of puritan refugees from England known as the Pilgrim fathers reached the coast of North America on their ship Mayflower and founded a settlement Plymouth there. The first colony in the north was called New England. The settlers in New England were hard working, courageous and therefore the colonies were prosperous. During the Great English Revolution the Royalists emigrated to Virginia, where they established large tobacco-plantations.13 colonies wanted to lessen their dependence on Britain. On December the 16. 1773 against the duty on tea about 50 citizens attacked 3 English ships with a cargo of tea and emptied it into the sea. This event is known as "The Boston Tea Party". The War began in1775. And in 1776 Congress proclaimed The Declaration of Independence. The famous general in the Revolutionary War was George Washington who later became the first American president. The peace treaty was finally signed in 1783.The constitution of the USA was signed and became effective in1787.

The next period is known as The Period of territorial expansion to the West.
The civil war was caused by the fact, that there existed two economic and social systems: the capitalist one in the North and the slave one in the South. In 1860 the republican candidate Abraham Lincoln won the elections and became the president of the U.S.A. In April 1861 civil war began. The southern states, organized as the Confederate States of America under president Jefferson Davis fought against the federal Union of the Northern states under President Abraham Lincoln. In 1865 the American Civil war ended in the victory for the North. The slavery was abolished in 1863.Next period is called The Period of reconstruction. In 1867 Alaska was bought from Russian for 7 million dollars. 20 million emigrants from Europe came to U.S (1870-1910). In 1904-1914 the Panama Canal was built and it increased the influence in the Central America.
The U.S.A entered the World War 1 in 1917. After the war the U.S.A was the richest country and the past-war period was "The Period of increasing prosperity". But the crash on Wall Street in 1919 was the beginning of deep worldwide crises.
The U.S.A entered the Second World War in December 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. During the war the U.S.A played a leading role in the Tar East, Italy, Normandy. The characteristic feature of the period after the war was the cold war between the U.S.A and the U.S.S.R. In 1953 American troops fought in the Korean War. J. Kennedy solved successfully the Cuba crises. In 1963 J. Kennedy was assassinated. During Kennedy and Johnson’s period the U.S.A was more deeply involved in the war in Vietnam. The war was ended 1973 the peace treaty was signed by Richard Nixon. In 1974 he was forced to resign of the Watergate affair. Next president Gerald Ford signed the Helsinki agreement. Participans from 39 nations promised to respect others sovereignty and to cooperate in the field of human rights. In 1980 the U.S. president Ronald Reagan with the U.S.S.R. president Gorbatchow started the well-known summits. The first important summit was in 1985 in Reykjavik.

Which places would you like to visit and why?
Do you thing it would be a big problem for you to adapt yourself to the American way of life?
Are there any differences between American and Slovak culture?
Relief of the country:
It consists of eastern Appalachian Highlands, interior planes-prairies and western Rocky Mountains. The highest point is Mount Mitchell (over 2000 m). Interior plains include Central Lowlands including the Great Lake and the Great Plain. Western Highlands are covering 1/3 of the country. The highest peak is Mt.

Whitney (4400 m).

Rivers and Lakes:

Rivers entering the Atlantic - they are short, not very deep and not very important for economy. These are like Hudson, Potomac, Delaware, and Susquehanna. Hudson is only navigable river. The main river entering into Mexico Gulf is Mississippi. With many important tributaries like Missouri, Arkansas, Ohio, Kansas River.
Mississippi is the biggest and the longest river.
Rio Grande flows through the american-mexician border. In western part the well-known rivers are: Columbia, Sacramento, Colorado with its famous Colorado Canyon.
The greatest and the largest lakes are Great Lakes: Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior.
Natural Resources:
The U.S. is rich in mineral resources, especially oil, zinc, copper, lead, silver and gold, aluminium, coal and iron.
Climate:
The U.S. as a whole has a good conditions. This block of 48 states is temperate zone. Extreme south has subtropical climate. The Atlantic coast is relatively cold with heavy snowfalls in winter. Summers are hot and very humid. The Middle West einters are colder and longer while summers are hot and dry. The gulf coast has mild climate with good rainfall. This western mountainous part has long and cold winters with heavy snowfalls. Summers are very hot. There are some deserts and very dry plateans in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. The Pacific coast has a milder climate then the Atlantic one, owing to mild winds flowing from the Pacific.