Lecture I.

Introducing the usa. Physical and human geography. National symbols.

The United States of America, commonly called the United States or simply America, lies in the central part of the North American continent with the Atlantic Ocean to the East, the Pacific to the West, Canada to the North, and Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico to the South.

The United States covers an area of 9,631,419 sq. km., making it the 3^rd largest country in the world. The population of the country is 295,734,134 (2005). The UN forecast for 2025 is 325,573 thousand, and for 2050 – 349,318 thousand.

Until the 1500s, what is now the United States was largely a wilderness. Small groups of Indians lived scattered over the land between the Atlantic and the Pacific. People in Europe saw in this vast “new world” a chance to build new and better lives. Through the years large numbers of immigrants from Europe and from almost every other part of the world settled in the country. Except for black Africans brought in as slaves, these immigrants came seeking the rights and the opportunities that had become part of the American way of life. As a result of this immigration, the United States today has one of the world’s most varied populations. It has been called “a nation of immigrants”.

Being the leading capitalist country the USA has covered a most complicated and contradictory way of development in the more than 200 years of its existence. The USA past shows scientific, industrial, agricultural growth and welfare and alongside with this fantastic economic crises and high rates of unemployment.

The USA is divided into 50 states and the District of Columbia ( the territory under the capital Washington), the seat of the national government.

The USA is a country of great differences. At the same time, it has surprising similarities when one considers its size. The differences are partly a result of the geography. One cannot generalize about the weather, the landscape, or even the way of living because the nation occupies nearly half of a continent. In it can be found high mountains and the flattest of prairies, tropical heat and arctic cold, fertile valleys and deserts. There is a variety of natural resources. All sorts of products are raised, and there are industries of every kind. Some of the most densely and the most sparsely populated areas of the world are found in the United States.

If you want to go from San Francisco to New York by train, you must ride more than three thousand miles. On your way you will pass fertile plains of the famous fruit – rising area, the Sierra Nevada mountains with their snow – capped peaks and clear mountain lakes, the Salt Lake desert, the plains of sheep and cattle country known as the land of cowboys, and the richest industrial region of the country. You finally arrive in New York, the largest city in the USA.

The states of the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, are often divided into seven major regions. Each region is made up of states, that have similarities in geography, climate, economy, traditions and history. These regions are: New England, the Middle Atlantic States, the Southern States, the Midwest, the South Western States and the Pacific Coast States.