The United States of America

The USA is the most powerful and the most advanced capitalist country. It leads the world in industrial and agricultural production. The total area of the USA is over nine million square kilometres (9,364,000 sq. km). The population of the country is over 248 million people. The capital is Washington, D.C.

Location

The United States proper (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) is situated in the central part of the North American continent. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, from Canada in the North to Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Gulf of California in the south. The USA is an extremely large country in North America. In size, the United States ranks fourth among the nations after Russia, Canada, and China. It possesses many islands in the Pacific Ocean and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the Atlantic. It has military bases scattered all over the world.

The continental part of the USA consists of four physical geographical parts: two highland and two lowland regions. The highland regions are the Appalachian Mountains in the east, and the Cordillera and the Rocky Mountains in the west. The highest peak in the Appalachian Mountains is 2,037 metres high. The highest peak of the Cordillera in the USA is 4,418 metres high. The Appalachian Mountains are very old. The valleys between them are rich in coal. The Rocky Mountains are considered to be young, high, rough, and irregular in shape. Between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains there are the central lowlands, called the prairie, and the eastern lowlands, called the Mississippi valley.

The five Great Lakes, between the USA and Canada, include the Lake Superior, the Lake Michigan, the Lake Huron, the Lake Erie, and the Lake Ontario. They are all joined together by short rivers or canals, and the St. Lawrence River joins them to the Atlantic Ocean. In the west of the USA there is another lake called the Great Salt Lake.

The main rivers of the USA are the Mississippi, flowing south to the Gulf of Mexico (it is the second largest river in the world after the Nile); the Missouri, flowing into the Mississippi; the Rio Grande, flowing along the boundary between Texas and Mexico into the Gulf of Mexico; the Yukon, flowing north-west and then south-west from Canada through Alaska to the Bering Sea; the Colorado, flowing into the Gulf of California; the Columbia, flowing into the Pacific Ocean, and the St. Lawrence and the Hudson River, flowing into the Atlantic Ocean.

Climate, Vegetation and Wildlife

The USA is a very large country, so it has several different climate zones. The coldest regions are in the north and north-east, where much snow falls in winter. 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 region around the Great Lakes is known for its changeable weather. In general, the climate in North America is much colder than in Europe and the average annual temperature of New York, for example, is 11 ° C.

In the East the principal trees are poplar, birch and fir. The Northern Appalachians and the upper Great Lakes region are dominated by mixed forests of birch, beech, maple and pine. Much of southern Florida and the lower Mississippi River valley are covered by marsh grasses. In the Western mountains on the lower slopes are open woodlands. The warm-winter desert areas of Southwest support much cactus. The Pacific Northwest has dense coniferous forests with fir, and spruce among the principal trees. Northwestern California has dense stands of giant redwoods (sequoias) along the coast.

Throughout Midwest and in much of Texas the native vegetation has been largely removed to make way for agriculture.

The animal population of the United States was both numerous and prolific in aboriginal times. Since the advent of the white man, with his firearms and with his need of land for agriculture, the animal population has been greatly reduced. Whole species have been exterminated, or preserved in other than the wild state.

The northeastern forests abounded in animals of all kinds and sizes. Deer, skunks, grey and red squirrels, black bears, rabbits and hares, beavers, minks, and moles were common. Great flocks of birds were present, including migratory wild fowl. Reptiles included turtles, salamanders, and several species of snakes.

In the forests of the Southeast opossums abounded and along the coasts were alligators and sea cows. Crocodiles were present in the extreme south of Florida. Great numbers of large birds, such as the flamingo, the whooping crane, were common in the swamps and marshes.

The Interior Plains had vast herds of grazing animals, especially bisons and antelopes. The higher mountains of the West were the home of the mountain sheep, mountain goat, grizzly bear, marmot, and rock rabbit.

The deserts have a highly specialized world, equipped to avoid heat and reduce water losses to a minimum, like the sidewinder rattlesnake, which keeps much of its body off the ground to avoid contact with that searing surface.