2)Outline the physical features of the us. The chief mountain ranges and plains the main rivers and lakes. The climatic regions. The main mineral resources and their role.

American Studies (Part I Minerals, Part II весь)

3) Describe how the New World was settled paying attention to the story of the Native Americans - unique, tragic and inspiring. How do they fare today? Their contribution to the country and American English.

4)Examine the beginning of the colonization of North America by the first settlers from Europe. What considerations influenced many people to move to America? Who were the Pilgrim Fathers? Whv are thev held so high bv the Americans? The Mayflower Compact.

The United States of America was originally peopled by Indians and was opened to European colonization by the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the later discoveries of John Cabot in 1497 — 1498 and Jacques Cartier in 1534 — 1541. The Indians had probably arrived 10,000 to 30,000 years before, coming from Asia to North America by way of the Bering Strait. By the time the white man appeared, the Indians had

spread and occupied all parts of the new world. Estimates of the number of Native Americans living in what is now the United States at the beginning of European colonization range from two to eighteen million, with most scholars agreeing on the lower figure. Indian culture was very diverse and had a great impact on the newcomers. The first Europeans to arrive in North America were the Norse or Vikings traveling west from Greenland where they had founded a settlement in the year 985.

In 1001 Leif Ericson established a Norse settlement at L'Anse-aux-Meadows in northern Newfoundland in present day Canada. However, they failed to make it a permanent settlement

and soon it was lost and forgotten.

Christopher Columbus hoped to reach Asia sailing west in 1492. Instead he landed on one of the Bahama Islands in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus never stepped on the mainland

United States, but his explorations aroused tremendous interest among the Europeans. The American continent was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a noble man from Florence who helped to organize Columbus's second voyage in 1493.

After Columbus, there were many expeditions organized by the Spanish, the English, the French and the Dutch. In 1497 a navigator named John Cabot arrived in Newfoundland on a mission for the English king which later gave Britain claims to North America. It also opened the way to

the rich fishing grounds around Newfoundland.

In 1534 the Frenchman Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River and claimed the surrounding territory for France. However, it took some time before permanent settlements were established in North America.

The planting of a new nation in America was no holiday undertaking. It meant grim, dirty, toilsome, dangerous work. In many respects it was a forbidding land. It could be reached only by a voyage so perilous that some ships buried as many people as they

landed. But despite all its drawbacks, it was well fitted to become the home of energetic, thriving people.

The first permanent white settlement in North America was founded at St. Augustine in Florida by the Spaniards in 1565. In 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh established the first British colony on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina, but it didn't survive. In 1607 the English would try again, and this time the colony succeeded at Jamestown in Virginia, named after the English king James I. Thus a new era was opened in the colonization of North America.

Most European emigrants — and in the early stages the people from the British Isles prevailed — left their homelands to escape political and religious oppression, as well as economic difficulties and poverty. The colonists might not have survived had it not been for the help of friendly Indians, who taught them how to grow native crops — corn, beans,potatoes, squash, tobacco. Agriculture was slowly developed; in 1612 John Rolfe began to grow tobacco, and as it brought high prices in the London market, everyone took it up. Yet growth was slow.

By 1619 Virginia had no more than two thousand people. That year was notable for three events. One was the arrival of a ship from England with 90 "young maidens" who were to be given as wives to those settlers who would pay 120 pounds of tobacco for their transportation. This tradition was continued. Equally important was the initiation of a representative

government in America.

On July 30, 1619, in the Jamestown church where

John Rolfe several years earlier had established peace with the Indians by marrying Pocahontas, met the first legislative assembly on the continent: a governor, six councillors, and two burgesses (representatives) each from ten plantations. The third significant event of the year was the arrival in August of a Dutch ship with Negro slaves, of whom it sold twenty to the settlers. This marked the beginning of the slave trade which eventually became v/idespread in America. An important event in the colonization of North America took place in 1620 when a group of colonists known as the Pilgrim Fathers came to North America on the famous ship the Mayflower and settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts. They were separatists in England, or members of the Puritan movement wishing to purify the Church of England by making religious services simpler and discipline stricter. That is why ttiey were called Puritans (from the Latin "purus" — to make pure).

They were perlecuted by English authorities, and so many fled to Holland, but they were not happy in the new country and eventually decided to settle in the New World. Having secured a patent to settle in America, 102 Pilgrims left their home country in September and landed on Cape Cod in Massachusetts in December 1620.

The Pilgrim leaders knew that in order to organize

their lives in the new land they had to establish rules of behaviour. So 41 men

aboard the Mayflower signed a special document known as the Mayflower Compact to abide by "just and equal laws" drafted by leaders of their own choosing, which was the first agreement for self-government in America. They also chose their first governor. That winter more than half of them died of cold and disease, but neighbouring Indians provided information that would sustain them: how to grow crops.

The next summer they raised good crops, and in the fall a ship brought new settlers. Their resolution never faltered and the colony continued to expand. Then in rapid succession other

English colonies emerged.

The Puritans hoped to build "a city upon a hill" — an ideal society and were very intolerant to those who disagreed. One Puritan who disagreed was Roger Williams. Forced to leave Massachusetts Bay in 1635 he set up the neighbouring Rhode Island colony where complete separation of church and state as well as freedom of religion was practiced.

In 1634 Maryland was settled as a refuge for Catholics and in 1681 William Penn, a wealthy Quaker received a large tract of land which became known as Pennsylvania. Here religious tolerance was practiced attracting German, Swedish and Dutch settlers. It was here he founded Philadelphia the "City of Brotherly Love". In 1626 Dutch settlers bought Manhattan Island from local Indian chiefs and built the town of New Amsterdam which in 1664 was seized by the English and renamed New York after the brother of the English

king — the Duke of York. Georgia was settled in 1732, the last of the 13 colonies to be established along the Atlantic shore. The French controlled Canada and Louisiana, which included the entire Mississippi basin. The Spaniards controlled Florida.

Few colonists could pay the cost of the passage to America; therefore most

migrants arrived as indentured servants, or contract labourers agreeing to work for the agencies, usually for four to seven years. Another source of labour for the plantations in the southern colonies was slavery when Africans were brought to America in shackles to serve for a lifetime. The colonies shared a tradition of representative government.

The king of England appointed the governors, but they had to rule in cooperation with an elected assembly. Voting was restricted to landowning white males. Quite often the governors ignored the opinion of the assembly, especially on matters of taxation which led to conflicts and confrontation leading to a growing rift between the colonies and Britain.

During this time Britain and France were major rivals, and their interests clashed arply in North America. By 1756 England and France were involved in the Seven Years war (1756 — 1763). In this war Spain took the side of France. England's superior strategic position and her competent leadership ultimately brought victory. In the peace of Paris, signed in 1763, France relinquished all of Canada and all the territory of Louisiana east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans. Spain lost Florida. Thus as a result of the war Britain's rule in North America became much stronger, and France's dream of an empire North America was actually over. However Britain's victory led directly to a growing conflict with its American colonies.

5) Describe the role of immigration in the making of the American nation - a "melting pot" of nations. Characterize the main ethnic groups. Give a brief survey of the present population of the USA: density, distribution and other characteristics.

African Americans

There was one group of immigrants came to North America unwillingly. These wereAfricans, 500,000 of whom were brought over as slaves from 1619 until 1808, when slave

trade became illegal. The practice of owning slaves and their descendants continued, however, mostly in the agrarian US South, where many labourers were needed to work

the fields. The process of ending slavery was long and tough. On January 1, 1863, midway through the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation,

which abolished slavery in those states that had seceded. Slavery was abolished throughout the United States with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution in 1865.

Even after the end of slavery, however, American blacks were hampered by segregation and inferior education. In search of opportunity, African Americans formed an internal wave of immigration, moving from the rural South to the urban North. But many urban blacks were unable to find work; by law and custom they lived apart from whites,

Hispanic Americans

It is very common to walk down the streets of a US city today and hear Spanish spoken. In 1950 fewer than four million US residents were from Spanish-speaking соuntries. Today that number is about 35 million (or some 12,5 per cent of the US population).

About 50 per cent of Hispanics in the United States have origins in Mexico. The other 50 per cent come from a variety of countries, including El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Colombia. Thirty-six per cent of the Hispanics in the United

States live in California. Several other states have large Hispanic populations, including Texas, New York, Illinois, and Florida, where hundreds of thousands of Cubans fleeing

the Castro regime have settled. There are so many Cuban Americans in Miami that the Miami Herald, the city's largest newspaper, publishes separate editions in English

and Spanish. The widespread use of Spanish in US cities has generated a public debate over language.

Some English speakers point to Canada, where the existence of two languages (English and French) has been accompanied by a secessionist movement. To head off such a development in the United States, some citizens are calling for a law declaring

English the official language of the United States. Others consider such a law unnecessary and likely to cause harm. Recognition of English as the official language, they argue, would stigmatize speakers of other languages and would lead to discrimination.

To date, 26 states have adopted various forms of Official English Legislation. Hawaii is officially bilingual. In Alaska and Arizona, English-only initiatives have been declared unconstitutional. But there is no federal legislation in effest making English the country's official language.

Asian Americans

Today Asian Americans are one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the country. About 10 million people of Asian descent live in the United States. Although most of them nave arrived recently, they are among the most successful of all immigrant groups. They nave a higher income than many other ethnic groups (many of them working in high-tech industry), and large numbers of their children study at the best US universities as undergraduate

and graduate students. Today there are approximately 40,000 Chinese restaurants operating in the USA, which is twice as many as all McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's combined!

New Immigrants

The United States continues to accept more immigrants than any other country; in 1990, its population included nearly 20 million foreign-born persons. The revised immigration law of 1990 created a flexible cap of 675,000 immigrants each year, with certain categories of people exempted from the limit. That law attempts to attract more skilled workers and professionals to the United States and to draw immigrants from countries that have supplied relatively few Americans in recent years. It does this by providing "diversity" visas. In 1990 about 9,000 people entered the country on diversity visas from such countries as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Peru, Egypt, and Trinidad and Tobago. Despite policy variations the US continues to be a major magnet in the world receiving about 900,000 legal immigrants annually.