The United States of America

National flag

The USA flag is called " The Stars and Stripes". It was adopted as the national flag in 1777. Its stripes, six white and seven red, symbolise the original thirteen states while 50 white stars in the blue field represent each of fifty American states.

National Crest

The symbol of the USA is the eagle.

The Land

 With an area of 9,529,063 km2 the US is the fourth largest country in the world, or nearly times bigger than the UK. Mainland USA (encluding Alaska), contains the 48 states and stretches for 4,500 km from the Atlantic in the East to the Pacific in the West and North-South it extends from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico.Hawaii, the 50th state, is situated in the South-west in the Pacific Ocean.

 The U.S. is a land of contrasts, consisting of such varied landscapes as the highland region of Appalachia in the East, the Rocky Mountains in the West and the Great Plains in the centre so that it could well seem like many lands in one.

On the Atlantic Coast are the ever changing colours of the sea, from cold granite-grey in the North to the deep blue-green of Biscayne Bay and the waters of the Florida Keys

in the South.In Florida waters you can see sand sharks, rays,and silver bonefish from flat-bottomed glass boats.

The warm waters of the gulf Stream sustain the reefs,which are composed of trillions of living organisms,and protect them from the ravages of hurricanes and winter storms.The Gulf of Mexico washes the shorelines of the Southern states from western Florida to Texas.

On the Pacific Coast, tall tall forests of yellow-brown kelp provide food and shelter for a wide variety of creatures.In between, the Great Lakes of the Midwest-Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior- might quality as seas anywhere else in the world.

National parks and nature reserves can be found throughout the U.S.From the nature reserves of Florida and the vast parks of the West, with their geysers, waterfalls and evergreen forests of Wyoming s Yellowstone to the rainbow canyons of Utah s Zion and,of course,Arizona s Grand Canyon, nature can be enjoed in its various forms while also protected for the generations to come.

The American Anthem

It was written in 1814 and is called "The Star-sprangled Banner":

O say,can you see by the dawn s early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilinght s last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thro the perilous fight

O er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming,

And the rockets red glare,the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof thro the night that our flag was still there;

O say does that star-sprangled banner yet wave

O er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

The People 

Population: 261,550,000 of which 83 percent are Whites, 12  percent Blacks, 1 percent Indians and 4 percent of other races.The density of population is low because about 70 percent live in urban areas.

The native American peoples were as diverse as those who would come later in tall ships from Europe.The native Americans consisted of the following groups:The Mach Indians in the Pacific Northwest, the Pueblo peoples in South-West, the Plains Indians (Northern Plains,Central Plains),the Cherokee in the semi-tropical regions of the South-east,and the 5 tribes of the eastern woodlands of what is now New England and the Mid-Atlantic states.

In both co-operation and conflict with the Europeans, the first Americans made a lasting imprint on the nation.

They continiue to do so as they strive to keep alive their folkways,faith,and memories.

Other countries proudly display their culture.America joyfully displays its lively present- in the street and on the beach.Other countries talk of their culture.America talks of its way of life.Americans are people who value variety.

Martin Luther King,Jr. was right to challenge the image of America as a melting pot.He said it was,in fact,a good bowl of vegetable soup in which you could taste the carrots,potatoes,leeks and peas, all separately,and together.

Geography in Figures

Political system

The United states of America is a federal republic. It consists of 50 states and the district of Columbia (D.C.).Each state has its own government,laws,education and taxes.The federal government is responsible only for matters concerning the country as a whole,i.e. foreign affairs,defence and finance.

Unlike great Britain,the USA has a written constitution.The Constitution was officially adopted in 1790 by the thirteen states which were origianally united in the federation:Delaware,Pennsylvania,New Jersey,Georgia,Connecticut,Massachusetts,Maryland,South Carolina,North Carolina,New Hampshire,Virginia,New York and Rhode Island.

The government set by Constitution has 3 separate branches. Each of them has powers over the others and at the same time none of them is given the ultimate power which belongs to the people.The 3 branches consist of the President who holds the executive power,the Supreme Court with judicial power and the Congress with legislative power.

The head of the federal government is the President. His powers are relatively wide. He is elected directly by the voters every four years.He appoints also with the approval of the senate, the federal government and federal judges.He can also veto laws passed Congress.The President' s veto is counterbalanced by the Supreme Court 's power to declare presidential acts unconstitutional.Congress can,in turn,pass laws over the veto by a two-thirds majority.

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