the USA

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Geography

• The USA is composed of 50 states and one federal district.

• The capital city of the US is Washington, D. C. (District of Columbia).

• 48 states of the USA are situated in the northern part of the American continent.

• Alaska, the 49th state, occupies the north-western end of North America.

• Hawaii, the 50th state, is situated in the Pacific Ocean.

• The USA is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean in the east and by the Pacific Ocean in the west.

• The USA borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south.

• The US´s best-known mountains are the Rocky Mountains.

• The highest mountains are in Alaska, where is the highest mountain in the U.S., Mount McKinley (6, 194 m).

• The USA has many rivers, e. g. the Mississippi (the longest river), the Missouri, the Rio Grande, the Yukon (the longest river in Alaska, 3000 m).

• There are many lakes in the USA. The largest of them are the Great Lakes

• There are various variations of climate in the USA. For instance, Hawaii lies in the tropical zone and Alaska lies in the arctic zone.

History

• the continent was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1498.

• Name of America came from Amerigo Vespucci

• The USA was officialy founded on the July 4th, 1776, as a result of the War of independence.

• In 1789 George Washington became the first President of the US

• The biggest and the bloodiest war America fought was the Civil War (1861 – 1865), the turning point in the war was the Abolition of slavery (zrušení otcovství)

The flag and the anthem

• The U. S. national flag is known as the “Stars and Stripes”.

• It has 13 white and red stripes in memory of the 13 original states.

• 50 white stars in a blue field represent the 50 states of the union.

• The national anthem is called “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

Population

• There live over 330 million people in the USA.

• the first inhabitants were Native Americans

• Also known as “the melting pot of nations” because there is almost every nation.

• Most immigrants are from Mexico, People’s Republic of China, Philippines, India, Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Vietnam, Jamaica, South Korea, and Guatemala.

Political system

• the USA is a representational federal republic

• Joe Biden is the current President of the U.S.A.

• The law-making body is congres, which is made up of 2 parts: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

• 2 political parties: the democrats and the republicants

• The currency in the USA is the dollar ($), divided into 100 cents (¢).

Cultural life

• American culture has given many outstanding (vynikající) writers, filmmakers, and musicians to the world.

• The country has developed several distinctive (charakteristický) types of popular music: jazz, blues, country and western, rock and roll.

Famous places

• Yellowstone National Park- oldest national park, they are many of hot geysers.

• Yosemite National Park- in Sierra Nevada in California, beautiful nature

• The Death Valley- in eastern California, the lowest place in the USA

• Grand Canyon – created by the Colorado River, in Arizona

• Niagara Falls- between the USA and Canada, about 50 meters high