2. The United States of America

2. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

• its capital city is Washington DC (Dictrict of Columbia)

• the official language is English

• their currency is called US dollar

• the country consist of 50 states + Washington DC

• the head of the state is the President Donald Trump

GEOGRAPHY AND WEATHER

• the USA is located on the continent of North America

• its the fourth largest country in the world

• there is the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east

• there are 50 states + Washington DC

  • 48 of them are located in central North America

  • Alaska is in the north-western part of NA and Hawaii is in the Pacific

• the highest mountain is Mount McKinley in Alaska and the largest river is the Mississippi River

• in the central US there are hot summers and cold winters with thunderstorms and tornadoes

• Southwester America is much drier with deserts

• Alaska has an artic climate while Florida and Hawaii have tropical climate

POLITICAL SYSTEM

• the US is a federal republic

• the goverment consists of 3 branches: the legislative, the executive and the judical

  • the legislative branch makes the laws and is represented by 2 houses of US Congress

    • the Senate and the House of Representatives

  • the executive branch include the office of President and goverment departures

  • the judical branch consists of the Supreme Court and lower courts

• there are 2 main political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats

• every state has its governor

HISTORY

• the original people of the USA are American Indians → they came to America thousands of years ago from Asia

• after CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS discovered America in 1492 Europeans started settling the continent

• the were 13 English colonies but they had to pay high taxes to England which they didn’t like

  • so they declared independence in 1776

• the worst time was the Civil War in 19th century when the Northen and Southern states fought agains each other due to South’s desire to continue the slavery

FLAG

• the flag contains 13 red and white stripes → representing the original 13 colonies

• and 50 white stars on a blue backgroud → representing the states

SPORT

• american football is the most popular sport

• other popular sports are basketball, baseball and ice hockey

• the Super Bowl (American football championship game) is the most watched television program of the year

FAMOUS PEOPLE

• WALT DISNEY – creator of cartoon characters

• MARILYN MONROE – actress

• NEIL ARMSTRONG – first man on the moon

• MICHAEL JACKSON – singer

PLACES OF INTEREST

• viz 4. otázka