13.The United States of America
Is
situated in the south of North America. It borders Canada in the north, Mexico
in the south and Russia in Alaska. It lies between the Pacific and the Atlantic
Ocean. Alaska lies between the Pacific Ocean and the Artic Ocean. The longest
rivers are: the Mississippi and the Missouri. The Mississippi is the third
longest river in the world. In the west the longest rivers are the Colorado,
the Rio Grande and the Columbia (The Rio Grande on the Mexican borders). The
border with Canada is in its central part make by the great lakes region lakes
Superior, Ontario, Michigan, and Erie.
History
In 1620 the ship named
Mayflower brought 102 English men, women and children to America. They were
puritans, members of a religions sect. They called themselves the Pilgrim
Fathers. The winter was very cold and half of them dead. In spring they planted
corn and other plants with help and advice from the Indians. In autumn (October
1621) they celebrated good harvest and had a feast with much food. They called
this day of Thanksgiving.
Foundation of United States
British government started
to charge new tax on sugar; coffee, textiles and the colonist refused to pay
and so British soldiers were sent to Boston. In 1773 a group of patriots dressed
as Indians threw British tea into the British harbour. This event is none as
the Boston Tea Party.
In 1775 the war between
England and American colonist began. Later George Washington took over the
command of American army. The war of Independence lasted till 1783, when
Britian signed the peace treaty and recognized the U. S. The day of
Independence is celebrated on the 4th July.
Civil War
Negroes first came to
America from Africa as slaves. They worked on the cotton fields of south.
Northern states wanted to abolish slavery but southern economy was based on
large plantations where slaves were used to grow cotton, rice and tobacco.
About 60 years of never disputes lead to the Civil War between the North and
the South. It was the worst episode in American history. It started after
Abraham Lincoln was elected president. The North won in April 1865. Lincoln was
assassinated in April 1865 short after the end of the war. The war had two main
good results it put an end to slavery which was abolished in 1865 and it also
decided that America was a single and indivisible.
Nation. This war however
took more American lives than any other war conflict (635,000 dead).
Big cities
New York
It is the biggest city in
the U.S. It belongs to the largest cities in the world. The population is about
14 million. It has five parts- Manhattan, Queen, The Bronx, Staten Island, and
Brooklyn. The black quarter Harlem is in the northern part of Manhattan. The
original inhabitants were Indians. The Dutch bought Manhattan Island from the
Indians in 1625 for goods worth 25$. The original name was New Amsterdam. In
southern part of Manhattan there used to be a wall against Indians. Now there
is Wall Street the centre of financial. The city was built on a modern plan
of streets and avenues, which follow a geometry shape and are numbered. Streets
run east west and avenues north south, for example 5th avenue is the
shopping centre. Only a few of them the oldest- have got their names for
example Wall Street or Broadway. Broadway is centre of cultural live. New York
is famous for its Manhattan skyline- a large number of skyscrapers on a small
area. They started to build skyscrapers because of the lack of space and the
high price of land on the island.
Washington, D.C.
- Is the capital of the
U.S.A. It is not such as large as New York. Only about 1 million people live
there. The city is named after the first American president George Washington.
Washington is a city of government offices and some musician and art galleries.
There are some well-known monuments for example Washingtons monuments and the
Lincoln memorial. There are the most important buildings in the U.S.
The Whitehouse is
residence of the American president. The Capitol is the seat of the Congress.
The Pentagon is the centre of military forces. There are no factories
and industries in Washington and that is why the city is so clean and nice. No
building can be higher than the Capitol. That is why you cannot see any
skyscrapers there.
Interesting places
Besides Washington and New
York there are many places worth seeing such as many national parks and large
cities. On western coast the most famous places are
Los Angeles and San
Francisco. In L.A. we can find the famous film centre Hollywood and luxurious
grater Beverly Hills. The American academy awards Oscars for the best film of
the year in April of every year. L.A. is also the centre of crime. The bigest
ZOO in the world is here. San Francisco is one of the cleanest cities. It is
the victim of frequent earthquakes. There is a large Chinatown. It is the
largest settlement outside Asia [eja]. Florida is a tourist area with long
beaches in Miami-the biggest centre in the east Philadelphia. It is one of the
oldest cities. It used to be the first U.S. capitol. Chicago lies on the banks
of lake Michigan. Detroit is the centre of U.S. car industries-Ford, Chrysler
and General Motors. Yellowstone
National Parks is the worlds widest geyser area. There are about 3000 geysers
and hot spring.
Political parties
There are two main
political parties- Republican and Democratic. The Congress is divided into two
parts- The House of Representatives and The Senate. The House of
Representatives consist of 435 lawmakers. They are elected according to the
population of each state. The Senate has 100 members, two members of each
state. They serve six years. The Presidents can be elected every four years in
November. The president can be elected too only two terms.
Flag
The American flag consists
two parts- one smaller blue oblong with 50 white starts (one stars for each
state) and one larger oblong with six white and seven red stripes for the
original 13 states. The flag is sometimes called Stars and Stripes.