2017-11-01
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The United States of America (“Land of opportunity”, “Melting Pot”, “God′s Country”, often called the United States (US) or America, is a country in North America. It is made up of 50 states, a federal district, and five territories. It has great influence over world finance, trade, culture, military, politics, and technology.
The USA is situated in North America between 2 oceans: the Atlantic Ocean to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the West. The USA borders on Canada in the north and Mexico in the south. The total area is about 9,363,000 sq. km. which makes it the forth largest state in the world.
The USA consists of 50 states and the District of Columbia where the capital of the country, Washington, is situated. The states are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Montana, New York, Washington, etc. Alaska (1,530,700 sq. km.) is America′s largest state. In 1959 Alaska became the 49th state of the USA. It is called “the land of icebergs and polar bears”.
The population of the USA is 325 million people (2017). The most populated cities are New York (8 million people) and Los Angeles (3,7 million). The USA is often called “a melting pot” //котел, в котором переплавляются нации where economic and social pressures have forced non-speaking immigrants to drop their native tongue and habits. People of different nationalities live and work there: Frenchmen, Italians, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Swedes, Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Russians, Chinese, Japanese, etc.
Half the territory of the USA is mountainous with the Appalachian Highland in the east and the Cordilleran Highland (including the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada) in the west. Between them there are vast valleys known as the Great Valley.
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America′s largest rivers are the Mississippi (“father of waters”) with its tributary Missouri (6,4000 km), the Rio Grande (a natural boundary between Mexico and the USA), the Ohio, the Columbia and the Colorado (“a river of enormous fury ” – wild, restless and angry).
The USA is famous for its 5 Great Lakes: Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, Lake Superior and the Michigan. The first four lakes are on the border with Canada and are the largest and deepest in the USA. There are also a lot of small lakes. For example, Minnesota is known as the land of 10,000 lakes.
The USA has several climatic regions: from the continental climate in New England to subtropical in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida. The weather ranges from the warm, wet conditions of the Appalachian Highland to the desert conditions of the western states.
The USA is rich in mineral resources. It has major deposits of oil and gas in Texas and Alaska, coal in Virginia and Ohio, gold in Alaska and California, silver in Nevada, non-ferrous metals in Arkansas and Colorado.
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