15.The Central Northwest.

It includes the states of Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri and the western states of North and South Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas. It is a country of planes, the chief agricultural region of the US, the "Breadbasket" of the nation.

Minnesota - "The north star state". Manufacturing of farm products has in recent years become the leading industry. The state has been the largest source of iron in the US. Tourism is the major industry, the state also has high agriculture with live-stock and corn.Iowa - 'the hawk eye state" produces the 10th of the nation's food supply; 2nd to Texas in cattle.Missouri - "The show-me state". Industrial and agricultural importance to nation's and largest rivers - the Mississippi and Missouri. The leading industry is agriculture. The chief crop is corn. Wheat, tobacco, soy­beans and cotton are also grown. Cities: St. Units and Kansas city.Nebraska is rich with the grass and grain agriculture which is its mainstay. It is 3^rd in cattle.Kansas - a part of the "Great American Desert", is the leading, wheat producer and flour-miller, as well as one of the lop 10 mining states farms covering 95% of the land area produce the biggest winter wheat crop in the nation.S. Dakota has contained the geographical center of the US as well as the leading gold-mining center. S. Dakota draws lots of tourists annually: it has one of the country's most famous land marks and tourist attractions.

N. Dakota. Agriculture and mining are 2^nd of its mainstays.

16. American Civil War The Am.Civil War (1861–1865) was a civil war between the United States of America (the "Union") and eleven Southern slave states that declared their secession from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). The Union included all of the free states and the five slaveholding border states and was led by Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party. The Confederacy was led by Jefferson Davis. In 1859 John Brown tried to begin a slave rebellion in Virginia but was quickly captured and hanged. North was preparing to end slavery by bloody warfare. South voted against Lincoln but the N. supported him and he won the election. A few weeks later South Carolina voted to leave the Union. It was joined by the Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. They proclaimed themselves an independent nation – the Confederate states of America, the war began. Southerners proclaimed that they were fighting not just for slavery, the S.was waging a war for independence – a second Am. Revolution. The Confederates had the advantage of fighting on their home territory; they had superb soldiers, cavalrymen and generals but they were outnumbered by the Union forces. The Union navy quickly imposed blockade, which created serious shortages of war material and consumer goods in the Confederacy. Lincoln’s two priorities were to keep the US one country and to rid the nation of slavery. On January 1, 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which granted freedom to all slaves in areas still controlled by the Confederacy. The Southern army won some victories in the early part of the war but Confederate commander Robert E. Lee's loss at Gettysburg in early July, 1863 proved the turning point. . The capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson by Ulysses S. Grant completed Union control of the Mississippi River. In 1864 a Union army under General William Sherman captured Atlanta, Georgia, and began his famous March to the Sea. Confederate resistance collapsed after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war caused 620,000 soldier deaths. But it put an end to slavery. All slaves in the Confederacy were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, which stipulated that slaves in Confederate-held areas, but not in border states or in Washington, D.C., were free. Slaves in the border states and Union-controlled parts of the South were freed by state action or by the Thirteenth Amendment, although slavery effectively ended in the U.S. in the spring of 1865.

17. The West. The Mountain States. The West is a region of scenic beauty on a grand scale. In much of the West, the population is sparse and the federal government owns and manages millions of hectares of undeveloped land. 8 states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Arizona. "arizonac", meaning "place of the small spring". Arizona was the 48th state to join the U.S. in 1912. It is rich in farm and mineral products and manufacturing is growing rapidly.  Vast irrigation systems have transformed the desert into rich farmland. The outstanding scenic feature is Grand Canyon, one of the seven wonders of the world. Colorado. from a Spanish word meaning "red" or "ruddy". Prospectors discovered gold in the middle of the last century, and the mining booms beginning in the late 1850s spurred Colorado's initial growth. The state's economy broadened when irrigated agriculture developed, and by the late 19th century livestock raising had become important. Early industry was based on the processing of minerals and agricultural products. In the second half of the 20th century the industrial and service sectors have expanded greatly. Denver is an important financial center. Camping, hiking, hunting and fishing. Idaho, the 43rd state, joined the U.S. in 1890. Logging as well as mining are big industries in the state. Best known for its potatoes. I. has a rugged landscape with some of the largest unspoiled natural areas in the country. Snow-capped mountain ranges, swirling white rapids, peaceful lakes and steep canyons. Montana. from the Latin word meaning "mountainous." M. was admitted into the Union as the 41st state in 1889. The state is the fourth largest state of the United States. Western Montana is a land of tall, rugged mountains; while eastern M is a land of broad plains. M experienced sudden development when gold was discovered in 1862. Agriculture: Cattle, wheat, barley, sugar beets, hay, hogs. Industry: Mining, lumber and wood products, food processing, tourism. Nevada's from the Spanish word meaning "snow clad". A mountain region that includes semiarid grasslands and sandy deserts, and is the most arid (dry) state in the nation. . Large, luxurious casinos in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Reno. Agriculture: Cattle, hay, dairy products, potatoes. Industry: Tourism, mining, machinery, printing and publishing, food processing, electric equipment. New Mexico is called the Land of Enchantment. The state has a large Hispanic population, as New Mexico was under Spanish control from the 16th century until about 1846. Part of the "Old West", New Mexico was a place known for cowboys and cattle drives. The landscape ranges from rose-colored deserts to snow-capped mountains. Utah from the Ute, meaning “people of the mountains,” an Indian tribe who lived there before the pioneers arrived. One of Utah's most interesting places to visit is Mormon Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Agriculture: Cattle, dairy products, hay, turkeys. Industry: Machinery, aerospace, mining, food processing, electric equipment, tourism. Wyoming gets its name from the Algonquin words for "land of vast plains." In 1890, Wyoming became the 44th state. The first state to elect a woman governor. Yellowstone National Park (the world's first national park). Active geysers, spectacular towering waterfalls, hot springs, deep canyons and excellent fishing. Agriculture: Cattle, sugar beets, sheep, hay, wheat. Industry: Mining, chemical products, lumber and wood products, printing and publishing, machinery, tourism.

18. The Pacific States. California. 5 states Alaska, C, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington C is on the West Coast of the US, along the Pac O. It is the most populous state. Its 4 largest cities: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco (considered to be the most beautiful). Is known for its varied geography, ethnically diverse population(White Am, White Hispanics, Black Am,Asian Am,Am Indian, mixed, Latino).Geography is rich, complex, and varied. In the middle lies the C Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada to the east, the Cascade Range in the north and the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. The Sierra Nevada include the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney. About 35% of the state's total surface area is covered by forests. C is famous for earthquakes. It is vulnerable to tsunamis, floods, droughts, Santa Ana winds, has sev volcanoes. It is the 3d-largest st by land. Along with C's prosperous agric industry, other industries include aerospace, petroleum, computer and information technology. C ranks among the 10 largest economies in the world, and were it a separate country it would be 34th among the most populous countries. Climate varies from Mediterranean to subarctic. The 2 most prominent rivers are the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River. The official language has been English. C also has sev imp seaports (the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach in Southern C). C is governed as a republic, with 3 branches of government: the executive branch consisting of the Governor of C and the other independently elected constitutional officers; the legislative branch consisting of the Assembly and Senate;and the judicial branch consisting of the Supreme Court of C and lower courts. The capital is Sacramento. C is divided into 58 counties.

19. The Pac States(Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii)/ All have coastlines on the Pac. O. (and are the only that border that O). Additionally, Nevada and Arizona are sometimes incl. despite the fact that neither of these states actually border the Pac. This is primarily because of strong ties that each state has to neighboring California. Hawaii is on an archipelago in the central Pac. O. southwest of the continental US. Was admitted to the Union in 1959, as the 50th st. Its capital is located in its major city, Honolulu. At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the 8 "main islands". Hawaii is the largest, and is often called the "Big Island" to avoid confusion with the st as a whole. H is the only st of the US that: is not geograph. located in North Am; completely surrounded by water, continuously grows in area(due to active lava flows). The 1t recorded Europ. contact with the islands was in 1778 by Br. explorer James Cook. H has 2 official lang: Eng and Hawaiian. Washington is named after G. Washington, the 1t President of the US. Was carved out of the western part of W Territory and admitted to the Union in 1889. W is sometimes called W state or The state of W to distinguish it from the US capital. W's position on the Pac O and the harbors of Puget Sound give the state a leading role in maritime trade with Alaska, Canada. W is a land of contrasts. The deep forests of the Olympic Peninsula, such as the Hoh Rain Forest, are among the only temperate rainforests in the continental US, but the semi-desert east of the Cascade Range has few trees. Mount Rainier, the highest mountain in the state, is covered with more glacial ice than any other peak in the lower 48 states. W is a leading agric. st. Oregon joined the Union in 1859. The region was part of the O Territory that was created after Euro-Am settlement began in the 1840s. Salem is the capital, while the most populous city is Portland. The valley of the Willamette River in western O is the most densely populated and agriculturally productive region of the st. The origin of the name "Oregon" is unknown. According to Stewart, the name came from an engraver's error in a French map published in the early 1700s, on which the Ouisiconsink (Wisconsin) River was spelled "Ouaricon-sint", broken on 2 lines with the -sint below, so that there appeared a river named "Ouaricon". Alaska is the largest st, one of the wealthiest and most racially diverse. Was purchased from the Russian Empire in 1867 for $7.2 mln. The land went through sev. administer. changes before becoming the 49th state in 1959. The name "A" is derived from the Aleut "the mainland". A is larger than the combined area of the next 3 largest states(Texas, California, Montana). A's economy relies heavily on petroleum extraction. A's main export product (excluding oil and natural gas) is seafood, primarily salmon, cod, pollock and crab. Agricultural production is primarily for consumption within the state.