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The United States of America
Country Facts
Area: The total area is over 9.8 million sq km
Population: (October 2009 est.) is 306 million
Capital City: Washington, District of Columbia
People: The United States is a multicultural country with people from all over the world who have now made the USA their home. The Ethnic Groups are: White 81.7%, Black 12.9%, Asian 4.2% Amerindian and Alaska native 1.0%, Native Hawaiian and Other 0.2%.
Language: The main language is English although Spanish is spoken by a sizeable minority.
Religion(s): Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, Others 10%, no religious affiliation 10%
Currency: Dollar: 1 US Dollar is made up of 100 cents.
Major Political Parties: There are two main political parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, both organised at State and Federal level.
Government: Constitution-based Federal Republic with a strong democratic tradition.
Head of State: President Barack Obama (January 2009); Vice President Joe Biden (January 2009).
Foreign Minister: Hillary Rodham Clinton (January 2009).
The United States of America is the fourth largest country in the world (after Russia, Canada and China). It occupies the southern part of North America and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. It also includes Alaska in the north and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The USA borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south. It also has a sea-boarder with Russia.
The highest mountains are the Rocky Mountains, the Cordillera and the Sierra Nevada. The highest peak is Mount McKinley which is located in Alaska.
America's largest rivers are the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Rio Grande and the Columbia. The Great Lakes on the border with Canada are the largest and deepest in the USA.
The climate of the country varies greatly. The coldest regions are in the north. The climate of Alaska is arctic. The climate of the central part is continental. The south has a subtropical climate. Hot winds blowing from the Gulf of Mexico often bring typhoons. The climate along the Pacific coast is much warmer than that of the Atlantic coast.
The USA is a highly developed industrial country. It's the world's leading producer of copper and oil and the world's second producer of iron ore and coal. Among the most important manufacturing industries are aircraft, cars, textiles, television sets, armaments, furniture and paper.
The United States is a federal union of 50 states, each of which has its own government. The seat of the central (federal) government is Washington, DC. According to the US Constitution the powers of the government are divided into 3 branches: the executive, headed by the President, the legislative, exercised by the Congress, and the judicial. The Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
There are two main political parties in the USA: the Republican and the Democratic, though there's hardly any difference between their political lines.
The national banner of the United States of America, commonly known as "The Starts and Stripes" or "Old Glory", is a flag bearing 50 stars and 13 stripes. Each star represents a present-day state and each stripe stands for one of the original colonies.
Cities of the US
Amounts large and famous American cities are Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Washington is the capital of the USA. It is situated on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia. G. Washington chose the place. The city was founded in 1791 and named after the first president. Now Washington is the residents of the president and the congress. The center of the city is on Capital Hill. This building houses both the senate and a House of Representatives. The White House is one of the oldest buildings in the city. It is the president's residence. White House consists of 132 rooms and tourists may visit only portions of the ground floor and first floor. The White House grounds are open to the public only once a year for the annual Egg Roll held on Easter Monday. Washington is a large scientific and cultural center. There are five universities in the city. The national academy of sciences and the library of congress are in Washington too. The national museum, the old and new national galleries of art, Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln memorials are among the city sites.
New York («Big Apple») is the largest city in the USA. Dutch settlers founded the city in 17 century. The heart of the New York is Manhattan. The main street, Broadway, is the street there most famous theaters are situated. And there are a lot of other famous streets which known nationwide. Wall Street is famous for finance. Madison Avenue means advertising, and Fifth Avenue is famous for world-class shopping. One of the famous buildings in the world is the Statue of Liberty. It was built in 1886. It was a present from the people of France. About 12 million immigrants passed through New York when they came to America. When you come to New York by sea the first thing, which you will see it is the Statue of Liberty, America's symbol of freedom!
USA Holidays
Memorial Day is a legal holiday, observed annually on the last Monday in May in most of the United States. It honours the nation's armed services killed in wartime. The holiday, originally called Decoration Day, is traditionally marked by parades, memorial speeches and ceremonies, and the decoration of graves with flowers and flags. Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868, on the order of General John Alexander Logan for the purpose of decorating the graves of the American Civil War dead. It was observed on May 30 until 1971, when most states changed to a newly established federal schedule of holiday observance.
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Although the signing of the Declaration was not completed until August, the Fourth of July holiday has been accepted as the official anniversary of United States independence and is celebrated in all states and territories of the U.S. The Fourth of July is traditionally celebrated publicly with parades and pageants, patriotic speeches, and organized firing of guns and cannons and displays of fireworks. Family picnics and outings are a feature of private Fourth of July celebrations.
Thanksgiving Day, a legal holiday in the U.S., was first celebrated in 1620. The Pilgrim Fathers, a band of Puritans in England who sought freedom of worship, set forth for America in the sailing-ship Mayflower. Three months after leaving Plymouth Harbour, they reached the shores of what is now called New England, and Founded the America township of Plymouth. Although they often had difficult times with the native Red Indian tribes, the colony soon prospered and more and more settlers joined them. The Indians used a new kind of grain, which the settlers called "Indian corn" (now termed maize) and they ate strange birds called turkeys. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving. In 1951, the United States Congress named the fourth Thursday of November a Thanksgiving Day with a feast of turkey and Indian corn.
New Year's Day is the first day of the year, January 1 in the Gregorian calendar. In the Middle Ages most European countries used the Julian calendar and observed New Year's Day on March 25, called Annunciation Day and celebrated as the birth to the Son of God. With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, Roman Catholic countries began to celebrate New Year's Day on January 1.The custom of visiting friends, relatives and neighbours on New Year's Day is one of the Old World traditions. A favourite place to see the old year out is New York City's Time Square.
Christmas is an annual festival, held on December 25, to celebrate the Nativity, or birth of Christ. The Christmas tree, an evergreen trimmed with lights and other decorations, is derived from the so-called paradise tree, symbolizing Eden.
Saint Valentine's Day, a holiday honouring lovers, is celebrated on February 14. There is a custom of sending greeting cards or gifts to express affection. The cards, known as valentines, are often designed with hearts to symbolize love. The holiday probably derives from the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalis (February 15). The festival gradually became associated with the feast day (February 14) of two Roman martyrs, both named St. Valentine, who lived in the 3rd century. St. Valentine has traditionally been regarded as the patron saint of lovers.