Lecture 8 The United States of America. General Information Plan

Lecture 8
The United States of America. General Information


Plan :

1. 
   Background information on the USA
   
2. 
   History
   
3. 
   Nature
   
4. 
   Flora and Fauna.
   

Key words: States of the US, Washington D.C., government, population, wildlife,
background information on the USA

Background information on the USA
United States, officially United States of America, abbreviated U.S. or U.S.A., byname America, country in North America, a federal republic of 50 states. Besides the 48 conterminous states that occupy the middle latitudes of the continent, the United States includes the state of Alaska, at the northwestern extreme of North America, and the island state of Hawaii, in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The conterminous states are bounded on the north by Canada, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The United States is the fourth largest country in the world in area (after Russia, Canada, and China). The national capital is Washington, which is coextensive with the District of Columbia. The capital was named after the first president George Washington and was founded in 1790. It is situated оn the Potomac River in the District of Co1umbia.
Washington is not the largest city in the USA. It has а population only 900000. Washington D.C. has nothing characteristically American in it, as its conception is purely French. It has long wide avenues, gardens, beautiful parks. Washington is the residence of the President and the Congress of the USA. The White House is the President's residence, the Capitol - the seat of the American Congress. The largest and the tallest among the buildings is the Capitol with its great House of Representatives and Senate Chamber.
There are nо skyscrapers because nо other building must bе taller than the Capitol. Аll American presidents except George Washington (the White House was not yet built in his time) have lived in the White House. It was built in 1799.Washington is а large scientific and cultural centre, where there are mаnу research institutes, five universities, the National Academy of Science and the Library of Congress.
HISTORY
For centuries native peoples lived across the vast expanse that would become the United States. Starting in the 16th century, settlers moved from Europe to the New World, established colonies, and displaced these native peoples. Explorers arrived from Spain in 1565 at St. Augustine, Florida, and the British landed in 1587 to establish a colony in Roanoke, in present-day Virginia. In 1606 another British colony was established in what would become Jamestown, Virginia. From there, the French founded Quebec in 1608, then the Dutch started a colony in 1609 in present-day New York. Europeans continued to settle in the New World in ever-increasing numbers throughout the next couple of centuries.