2020-07-01
120The US is the fourth-largest country in the world (after Russia, Сanada and China) and has the fourth-largest population. The nation is divided into fifty states, fourty-eight of which lie between Canada and Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Two other states, Alaska and Hawaii are not joined to the 48 continental states. Alaska is a peninsula stretching into the Pacific, and Hawaii is a chain of voulcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean. Both Alaska and Hawaii entered the Union in 1959.
Eastern & Southern states. (Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Washington DC, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Lousianna, Maine, Maryland, Massachussets, Missisipi, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvannia, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia).
The East and the South are linked by the Appalachian Mountains. Once dangerous places, full of fierce wild animals, now they are important wild-animals reserves and major tourists attractions. East of the Appalachians is a coastal plain which extends south from New York city to the Mexican border. It contains most of the population of the US and the country’s largest industrial and manufacturing aerias. The South was once chiefly an agricultural region whose economy was based on cotton and fruits. Since World War II it has rapidly industrialized and some of the most important US high-tech and space industry centres are found in Alabama, Texas (Houston), and Georgia (Atlanta).
Midwestern states. (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missoury, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wiskonsin).
Claciers retrieting after the Ice Age flattened much of the land in the Southern states of the Midwest and left rich deposits. Fertile farming land resulted and for more than 100 years the Midwest has been the breadbasket of the US. It produces most of the countrie’s grain-spring wheat in the north and winter wheat and corn in the centre and south. Soybeans are an important crop in Iowa. Wisconsin is famous for its herds of dairy cattle and is the nation’s biggest producer of butter and cheese. Midwest is the aeria rich in mineral wealth and much of the country’s iron and steel industry is located here. The largest city in the Midwest is Chicago which also ranks third-largest in the US. It stands on the shores of Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes.
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Western and Mountain states. ( Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming)
These are the states of the Rocky Mountains whose deep valleys and high peaks have produced the most spectacular scenery in the land. There are variations in the climate from the hot deserts of southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah to the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada. In addition to dry deserts there are large forests mainly of evergreens. Oregon with its thick pine forests supplies more of the nations timber than any other state. The population of this region is fairly small.
Nicknames of the states
The nicknames serve to describe the nature or geography of a state, its history the way of life and the traditions of people. Kansas, for example, is situated in the central part of the USA, that is why one of its nicknames is the Central state. Alaska is the Great Land, because its territory is the largest in the USA compared to all other states. The Grenn Mountain state Vermont is situated in the Green Mountains. The people living there are called «Green mountain boys».
The White Mountain state is New Hampshire whose northern part lies in the White Mountains. There are several states whose nicknames are connected with lakes and rivers. The lake state is Michigan which is in the valley of Great Lakes. Utah on the west side of the Rocky Mountains is called The Salt Lake State, because Great Salt Lake is situated on its territory. The Blackwaterstate is the nickname of Nebraska, because the water on its rivers is dark. Some nicknames are connected with climatic conditions. The Sunshine state is Kansas which is in the centre of the Cyclone zone of the US. Some nicknames describe states known for their agriculture. The Garden state is New Jersey on the Atlantic coast. Minnesota has two nicknames – The Bread & Butter and The Wheat state. Many nicknames are connected with history. The first state to ratify the Constitution was Delaware. That is why it was nicknamed The First State. Wyoming was the first to give women the right to vote. So it was nicknamed Equality state. The people of Illinois where Abraham Lincoln became his political activity are very proud of this and they call their state The Land of Lincoln.
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About the national flag
«This flag which we honor and under which we serve is the emblem of our unity our power our thought and purpose as a nation.»
President Woodrow Wilson
In the British colonies of North America before the Revolution each of the 13 colonies had its own flag. The American colonies also shared Britain’s Union flag, or «Union Jack». When the colonists declared their independence from Britain, they carried a variety of flags into battle. The flag of the United States, like the nation itself, changed slowly. On January 2, 1776, the first of the United States was raised at Cambridge. Massachusetts, by General George Washington. It consisted of 13 stripes, red and white, with a blue canton bearing the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, similar to the «Union Jack». On June 14 1777 the Continental Congress resolved that the flag of the thirteen stripes red and white that the union be 13 stars white in blue fields representing a new constellation.
June 14 is celebrated each year a «Flag day».
As each new state was added to the Union a star and a stripe were added to the flag. It became apparent that the stripes would soon appear to be thin lines. In 1818 congress resolved that the 13 stripes denoting the 13 original colonies be restored and a star added for each new state.
Who designed the flag? Francis Hopkinson a delegate to Congress in 1776 claimed he designed the flag and he sent Congress a bill for his services. Congress did not pay. No one knows who actually designed it. Did Betsy Ross make the first Stars and Stripes? – There is no proof that Betsy Ross made the first flag at the request of President George Washington. Nevertheless, the Betsey Ross legend is the nation’s favourite story about the flag.
Who called the flag «Old Glory»?- William Driver a sea capitain of the Salem Massachussets is said to have named the flag «Old Glory» when he first raised it on his brig in 1824. His daughter presented that flag to the Smithsonian Institution.
How do we know which flag?-There are no photographs of the early flags. There are only paintings and drawings made by artists. Frequently artists simply imagined how the flags looked. For example, in Emanuel Leutze’s famous paintings «Washington crossing the Delaware» the flag is shown with its stars in a circle. Leutze created this painting in 1851, 75 years later after the event. No one really knows for sure if this flag was carried at that time.
