A country study of the usa

Lecture I

Geographical description

The Economy at Home

Climate

United States Agriculture

General Information

The USA, commonly called US or America, is a federal constitutional republic, comprising 50 states, District of Columbia (D.C.) and some territories and dependencies under the jurisdiction of the USA. They are insular areas scattered around the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

The country’s modern name of the USA was first used in the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 and later adopted in the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. The singular form for the USA is now standard (The US is...). The plural is retained in the idiom “these United States”.

For those who don’t know - D.C. is a federal area on the Potomac River, coextensive with the capital (federal capital), governed by the Congress. Its area is 69 sq.miles, the population is approximately 540,000 people. Columbia, a once popular name for the US, was derived from the name of Christopher Columbus. At present it is used in the name of D.C.

General Information

The part of the country comprising the older 48 states and D.C. is collectively referred to as contiguous / conterminous US. The contiguous US and the state of Alaska are collectively referred to as continental US. The State of Alaska with Canada along the Eastern border is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea and the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean. It faces the North-East of Asia across the Bering Strait. It was bought from Russia in 1867.

There is one more state – the State of Hawaii, an island group (archipelago) in the mid-Pacific Ocean. Honolulu is the capital, and the naval base of Pearl Harbor is close to the town.

Both Alaska and Hawaii have self-government, with an elective legislative assembly, and each sends voting delegates to the US Congress. The governor in each state is elected by the people of the state.

The largest state by its territory is Alaska and the smallest – Rhode Island. The US states are divided into counties (округа, графства) and in Louisiana – historically, parishes (приходы). The largest metropolitan areas are New York (20 mln. people) and Los Angelos (15 mln. people).

The total land and inland water area of the US, exclusive of the Great Lakes, is 3,717, 813 sq. miles = 9.63 mln. sq. km. The territories and dependencies comprise Guam, the commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Palmira Atoll, an archipelago (50 islands 1,56 sq miles), to the south of Honolulu. They have some local government, but mostly are administered by the US Secretary of the Interior and by the US Navy departments as naval bases.

In short, the United States is a federal union of fifty states. The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. The original thirteen states were the successors of the thirteen English colonies that rebelled against British rule.

Proclaiming themselves "states," they issued the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. A federal convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic. In the nineteenth century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii.

Most of the rest have been carved from territory obtained through war or purchase by the U.S. government.

The exceptions are Vermont, Texas, and Hawaii; each was an independent republic before joining the union.

Early in the country's history, three states were created out of the territory of existing ones: Kentucky from Virginia; Tennessee from North Carolina; and Maine from Massachusetts. West Virginia broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War. The most recent state—Hawaii—achieved statehood on August 21, 1959.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the states do not have the right to secede from the union.

Motto: In God We Trust (official) E Pluribus Unum (Latin, traditional) (Out of many, one) Anthem: “The Star-Spangled Banner”

The US is home to about 1/16 of the Earth’s people. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.

Its population is approximately 305,777,000 (including 11,2 mil. illegal immigrants - 2008 estimate). Now, in the world there are approximately 6,650,638,900 people.

The United States is the third largest country by total area, and third largest by land area and by population. It is the most populous nation in the world, after China and India.

But it’s not one of the most thickly populated countries. According to the 2008 estimate Its population amounts to approximately 70 persons per square mile as compared with England’s 742 persons, Italy’s 491, and the Netherlands’ 918.

The average density masks the high densities of states such as New-York (350), Massachusetts (654), New-Jersey (now over 1,000 people per square mile), etc. These states are well established, manufacturing and trading areas, with intensive farms outside and many large cities. By contrast, Alaska has only 0.4 persons per sq. mile, Nevada – 2.6, South Dakota – 8.9. All these thinly settled states are in the Cordilleras or Western highlands, and all suffer from at least partial aridity.

By the way, each state has a nickname, e.g., Arkansas – “Land of opportunities”, Delaware – “the Blue Hen State”, Georgia – “The Peach State”, State of New-York – “The Empire State”, etc.

Geographical Description

The country occupies about 1/19 of the length surface of the globe, the third largest territory after Russia and Canada by total land.

The US, almost rectangular in shape, nearly twice as wide from East to West as it is deep from North to South, is situated practically entirely in the Western Hemisphere: the contiguous US stretches from the Pacific Ocean on the West to the Atlantic Ocean on the East, with the Gulf of Mexico to the Southeast; it is bordered by Mexico on the South and Canada on the North.

The US shares borders with Canada along the Great Lakes: the Huron, the Eire, the Ontario and the Superior. Lake Michigan is the only lake which fully belongs to the US.

This vast stretch of land, i.e. 3,000 miles from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast, has great natural advantages and resources.

The country lies midway between tropical heat and arctic cold.

The land is as varied as it is vast. In it there are plains and mountains, grasslands and forests. One region may bask in the sun all the year round and another has cool, rainy weather in summer and deep snows in winter.

The mineral resources vary from precious gold to everyday lead and zinc. Most abundant are the coal, oil, iron, copper and other minerals that form the basis of modern industry.

Major Landforms

Let’s begin our geographical description by locating the three major mountain ranges. These three major ranges generally traverse the country from north to south.

First, look at the Eastern United States, where we find the Eastern U. S. mountain range, the Appalachian Mountains. As geologically old mountains, the Appalachians generally are no higher than about 3,500 feet. The Appalachians stretch from Central Alabama to some Canadian provinces.

The Appalachian Highlands include as a part of the system some ridges: the Blue Ridge in North Carolina with the highest point Mount Mitchell in North Carolina (2,037ft), the Green Mountains in Vermont, the White Mountains in New Hampshire, the Adirondack Mountains in the state of New York.

Traveling west, we find the next great range of mountains, the Western U. S. mountain range, the Rockies. The Rockies are geologically younger than the Appalachians and, therefore, higher and more rugged. The Rockies stretch from the Mexican border throughout Canada and Eastern Alaska. The highest point is Mount Elbert in Colorado (14,433ft).

Finally, near the West Coast, you will see both the Sierra Nevada (the Sierras) and the Cascade mountain ranges. The Sierras and the Cascades make up the Western Coastal Range. It is in the Sierras where the highest peak in the conterminous United States is located. This is Mount Whitney with an elevation of some 14,500 feet.

Alaska Range extends from the Alaska Peninsula to the border of Yukon Territory, Canada. At 20,320 feet (6,194 m), Alaska's Mount McKinley is the country's tallest peak.

Now let's discuss the geography of land areas that these great mountain ranges divide. It will be convenient if we begin with the Western Coastal Range and move toward the East. This huge area basically consists of plateaus and plains. The area between the Coastal Range and the Rockies is often called the Intermontane Plateau and makes up one third of the area of the country. The area is generally higher and drier than the areas that lie to the East.

Major Landforms

Further to the East, as we leave the Rockies, we enter the vast interior lowland. The vast interior lowland comprises one half of the area of the United States.

Geographically this lowland contains three distinct regions.

Starting at the Rockies and moving eastward are the Great Plains with flat, fertile prairies, the highest and driest of the three regions.

East of the Great Plains and continuing to the Appalachian Mountains are the Central Lowlands.

The third and last region is the Coastal Plain, which extends from Texas in the Southwest through the Florida peninsula and all the way to New York in the Northeast.

The Piedmont Belt is a strip of hilly land between the Coastal Plain and the real Appalachian Mountains.

Climate

The largest river is the Mississippi (“The Father of Waters”-Indian). Like the major mountain ranges, the Mississippi with its largest tributaries (branches): the Missouri and the Ohio runs from north to south. The Mississippi, fed with the water of many tributaries, drains into the Gulf of Mexico in the South. A huge, navigable river, the Mississippi is 2,348 miles long. Many American regions and even states are named after American rivers.

The Great Lakes are the largest freshwater group of lakes in the world. The Great Lakes are accessible to the sea via the St. Lawrence River. The St. Lawrence allows oceangoing ships to enter the Great Lakes and at the same time allows the lakes to drain into the Atlantic Ocean.

The deepest lake is Crater Lake in Oregon (580 meters).

In the drier West, only three major river systems reach the Pacific Ocean. These are the Colorado, the Columbia, and the San Joaquin-Sacramento rivers.

The United States is a large country, it has 11 major types of climates just within the conterminous states. There are three more types of climates in Hawaii and Alaska, but we won't be discussing these two states today either. I just wanted to mention these numbers to give you an idea of the variety of climates to be found in this country. If I tell you that there are only 15 major climate types in the world, this may give you an idea of the complexity of this topic.

Extremities of the American climate

The West Coast of the continental US (Washington, Oregon and Northern California along the Cascades) and areas of Alaska make up part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of heavy tectonic and volcanic activity (90 percent of the world’s earthquakes). California experiences minor earthquakes in a regular basis. Active volcanoes are common throughout Hawaii’s islands.

Extreme weather is not uncommon: most of the world's tornadoes occur within the continental United States, primarily in the Midwest.

The US experiences, by a large margin, the most frequent and powerful tornadoes in the world. A strip of land from North Texas north to Kansas and east into Tennessee is known as Tornado Alley. A devastating tornado was observed near the place of Dimmitt, the state of Texas, on June 2, 1995.

Other natural disasters that are frequent in the country are fierce winds:

gales (the speed of wind-38 m. per hour) and hurricanes (the speed of wind-more than 75 m. per hour).

The states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and they can hit anywhere along the Gulf Coast or the Atlantic Coast as well as Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Total devastation in the place of Gulfport, New Orleans and many other cities in the states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, followed hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Localized flooding can, however, occur anywhere, and mudslides from heavy rain can cause problems in any mountainous area, particularly the Southwest. Other natural disasters include tsunamis around Pacific Basin, mudslides and forest fires in the West, snowstorms paralyzing cities in the Northeast.

East and West

The dividing line between the east and west very roughly follows the line of longitude 100° west. This boundary line is also called the 100^th meridian.

The eastern area has a generally humid climate. The warm moist air moves in from the Gulf of Mexico and from the Atlantic Ocean. The temperatures in this area increase rather regularly from north to south. Therefore, people who live in the North experience short, warm summers and long, cold winters.

On the other hand, people who live in the South experience long, hot summers and short, mild winters.

Of course, this is a very simplified picture of the climate of the East. Being close to the ocean actually moderates climate considerably and even a city as far north as New York City, which is on the ocean, has an average annual temperature of 55° (13° C). And some areas in the east have very changeable weather because the warm-air flows from the south often meet cold air masses sweeping down from the north.

In fact, people who live in New England often joke: "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute!"

The western area of the United States has a more complex climatic pattern. If you remember, the major mountain ranges of the United States are located in the western half of the country. The West, on the whole, is drier than the East. Temperatures in the western climatic area are influenced not only both by latitude and elevation but also near the coast by the moderating influences of the ocean.

This means that we cannot describe the different temperatures in the western area as simply as we can in the eastern area. There are mountain peaks that are continually covered with snow in winter, while the most southern desert areas are hot most of the year. In Death Valley, a part of the Mohave Desert no life exists here except a few varieties of the cactus and lizards.

In some of the central parts of the country far from the moderating effects of the ocean, there are great extremes of temperatures from season to season.

Economy at Home

A former Prime Minister of Canada once remarked that being a neighbor of the United States was a little like being in bed with an elephant. What he meant, of course, was that small changes in the United States' policy or economy often have huge effects on the United States' neighbors and other countries.

The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with a nominal 2006 gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$13 trillion (over 19% of the world total).

To understand why the United States is such a great economic power, it would help to look at two factors. First, the U.S. labor force is relatively well-educated, and second, the country has vast supplies of many natural resources. These two factors, trained workers and great natural resources, contribute to making the United States one of the greatest economic powers in the world.

Now let's take a look at exactly how the U.S. labor force is divided. We'll be breaking up the economy into six sectors. Most people in the world, I suppose, think of the United States as an industrial country and, indeed, it has been highly industrial throughout much of its history.

However, by the end of the present time, there has been a trend toward less manufacturing and more jobs in the service sector. The service sector is that part of the economy which, as we might expect, performs services rather than produces goods. The services can range from a haircut to maid service or to services performed by a doctor or a lawyer, for example. The service sector comprises over one third of the U.S. work force, the largest single segment and the one that continues to grow.

Manufacturing occupies a little less than a quarter of all U.S. workers. Commerce, which includes wholesale and retail stores, makes up about the same as manufacturing, a little less than a quarter of the labor force.

Transportation and communication makes up about 8%, and a little over 5% of U.S. workers are employed by the civil service, or government.

About 3% of the work force are occupied in agriculture, forestry and fishing.

The United States produces 10% of all world exports. ($ 575 billion) The United States' leading trading partners for both imports and exports are Japan, Canada, West Germany, Mexico, Britain and, of course, China.

The United States' major imports ($ 749 billion) are petroleum, automobiles, electrical equipment, non-electrical machinery, and chemicals. Its major exports are machinery, transportation equipment, chemicals, and agricultural products, including corn and soybeans.

The United States in recent years has had a negative balance of trade. A negative balance of trade simply means that the United States imports more goods than it exports.

Сharacteristics of the American economic system.

There are three characteristics of the American economic system. These are individual ownership of property, free enterprise, and free competitive market.

1. Property is not only physical such as homes and land, but also intellectual: songs, books, inventions. This property is protected by law.

2. Free enterprise is the freedom to produce, to sell and to buy goods without government intervention. People are free to choose their jobs and to sell their labor at whatever price they can get for it. Businessmen are free to use their resources to compete in the marketplace, free to try to make profit. Consumers are free to choose products and services and, using here economic terms of supply and demand, consumers influence the decision of business people.

3. For competition to exist there must be 2 conditions: 1) a large number of sellers and buyers to control the market and 2) free entry and exit in the market. New businesses must move in the market freely. If they fail to make a profit in the market they hoped for, they must leave the market. It's normal of the competitive system to have failures and bankruptcies.

In order for these three characteristics of the American economic system to work, it is necessary for the government to have a limited role in the economy. In a pure capitalist system, the government's role would be severely limited. For example, the government would only make laws concerning contracts and property rights.

The government would also be responsible for the national defense.

Finally, in a pure capitalist state the government would provide those goods which private business could or would not ordinarily provide, such as roads and canals. The idea in a pure capitalist system is for the government not to interfere in private business.

Four Basic Reasons for Government Interference.

The first reason why the government tries to regulate the economy is to protect the environment. Since the costs of polluting the environment can affect all members of society, the government uses various legal means to try to regulate businesses and to protect the environment. Companies must comply with certain government regulations. For example, companies may be required to install expensive pollution control equipment. The government also has regulations about how and where toxic wastes can be dumped and imposes fines upon those companies which do not follow these regulations.

The second reason the government interferes with the economy is to help people who for some reason beyond their control earn little or no income. These people may be too young or too old or too ill or otherwise unable to support themselves. The government has various public assistance or welfare programs which are paid for with tax money to help these people.

The third reason why the government interferes in the economy is to try to see that the marketplace stays competitive. Early in the century the government passed antitrust and monopoly regulation law. Antitrust laws were passed to prevent businesses from joining together to drive other businesses out of the marketplace. Monopoly regulation laws were also designed to prevent a situation where one business, because of its size and strength, just naturally drove all other similar businesses out of the marketplace.

The government believed that it was better to interfere in the economy to be sure that competition was protected. The government still enforces these laws today. For example, the government recently forced the telephone company, a giant monopoly, to split up into smaller companies. This allowed other companies to enter the market and compete with these smaller companies.

The last, fourth reason for the government's interfering with the economy is to maintain economic stability.

Basically, the government uses three methods to achieve stability.

The first is taxation, by which the government collects money from people and businesses.

The second method used to keep the economy stable is through expenditure, the money that the government spends.

And the third method the government uses to maintain stability is controlling the interest rate on money it lends to businesses. Let's look at each of these methods in more detail.

First, let's look at how the government uses taxation to stabilize the economy. If the economy is growing too fast, inflation becomes a problem. The government can raise taxes to take money out of the economy and lower the inflation rate. However, raising taxes can also lead to increased unemployment. Therefore, the government has to be very careful to regulate taxes to keep unemployment and inflation in balance.

The second way how the government promotes stability is through its own expenditure, as I just mentioned. The government has a huge amount of money to spend every year. Some of its decisions about how to spend the money are based on economic conditions in different industries or in different parts of the country. For example, the government may try to help the economy of a certain by buying goods and services from businesses inside that state.

And the third way is by controlling the interest rate on the money the government will lend to business. If the economy is growing too slowly, the government lowers the interest rate. The lowering of the interest rate will encourage individuals to borrow more money to begin new businesses and expand old businesses. If the government feels the economy is growing too fast, the government raises the interest rate. Raising the interest rate will discourage investment in new businesses and business expansion. These three ways, taxation, expenditures, and setting the interest rate, are the governments main means of maintaining stability.

United States Agriculture

To start, I'd like to say that a striking feature of U.S. agriculture is that a relatively small number of farmers produce an enormous quantity of crops and livestock. Farmers make up only 3% of U.S. workers. At the same time, each farmer produces enough for 80 people. It isn't surprising, then, that the average farm is large, about 440 acres in area. For those of you more familiar with the metric system, 440 acres is about 178 hectares.

It should be easy to see why the United States is one of the world's leading exporters of food. There are three basic reasons for this high productivity.

The first reason, as we learned earlier, is that the United States has a temperate climate. There are few places where the climate is too extreme to permit agriculture.

The second is that the United States has a great deal of flat, fertile land that doesn't generally require irrigation. In fact, about 50% of the land is arable and another 20% is suitable for pasture land.

The third reason for this high productivity is agricultural technology. We'll be talking more about agricultural technology later.

The major U.S. farm products

First, let's look at the major U.S. farm products and where they are raised. Of course, many of the products are raised in every part of the country. But to make things simpler, I'll give you the major areas of production. You can refer to your map of the major geographical divisions of the United States as you listen if you aren't already familiar with these divisions.

The eleven major farm products include, of course, both crops and livestock. The United States' biggest product and agricultural export is cattle and beef. Cattle is raised in the Midwest and, not surprisingly, in the western United States, where low rainfall makes it more difficult to grow crops. Second, dairy products are produced mostly in the northern part of the country, east of the Rockies.

The next three major products are all grains, grown largely in the vast middle part of the country. These grains are corn, soybeans, and wheat. Some corn, soybeans, and wheat are raised as food for cattle and for hogs, or pigs, which are the sixth major agricultural product. Hogs are raised primarily in the Midwest.

Technology

Another major product, poultry and eggs, is commonly raised in the South. Vegetables and fruit, two other major crops, are raised in many parts of the country. However, California is the number one U.S. producer of vegetables and is a leading producer of many kinds of fruit.

The last two crops cannot be eaten like the previous ones but are economically important. These are cotton and tobacco. Both cotton and tobacco are raised mostly in the South; cotton, in addition, is raised in the Southwest and in California. Let's check to make sure you got all these products down, from number one to number eleven in terms of importance:

1. Cattle and beef

2. Dairy products

3. Corn

4. Soybeans

5. Wheat

6. Hogs and pork

7. Poultry and eggs

8. Vegetables

9. Fruit

10. Cotton, and

11. Tobacco

These are only the major U.S. farm products. As a large country with a temperate climate, the United States produces almost all of the world's major crops.

Technology

Now let's take a look at how technology affects U.S. agriculture.

I have already mentioned that technology is one cause of the high productivity of U.S. farmers. Technology in U.S. agriculture can be seen in three different areas.

First, agriculture is mechanized; that is, planting and harvesting are almost always done by machine.

Second, U.S. farmers freely use chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase productivity. Both chemical fertilizers and pesticides are the result of modern agricultural technology.

Third, technology has given farmers new hybrid grains and livestock, which are more productive than the traditional grains and livestock.

Since U.S. farms are both large and productive, we would expect U.S. farmers to be very rich people. Strangely, this is not often the case. The very fact that farmers produce a surplus of meat, grains, or dairy products often makes the price of these products lower.

The government has tried to solve this problem in two ways. It sometimes tries to restrict the amount of land which farmers plant in certain crops. The government also buys the surplus production in order to control prices. Unfortunately, these measures are not always successful. The result is that the typical U.S. farmer is an example of the case where "successful" does not necessarily mean "rich".

United States of America
Largest city		New York City
Official languages		None at federal level (English is an official language in 28 states)1
National language		English (de facto)2
Demonym		American
Government		Federal presidential constitutional republic
Independence from Great Britain
-	Declared	July 4, 1776
-	Recognized	September 3, 1783
Area
-	Total	9,826,630 km² [1](3rd3) 3,794,066 sq mi
-	Water (%)	6.76
Population
-	2008 estimate	303,369,000[2] (3rd4)
-	2000 census	281,421,906[3]
-	Density	31/km² (144th) 80/sq mi

A Nation of Immigrants

General Statistics

Culture, Race and Ethnicity

Ethnic Roots of Immigrants

General Statistics

The United States is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations. The United States has often been called "a nation of immigrants". There are two good reasons for this.

First, the country was settled, built, and developed by generations of immigrants and their children.

Secondly, even today America continues to take in more immigrants than any other country in the world.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the United States is counted among the most heterogeneous societies in the world. Many different cultural traditions, ethnic sympathies, national origins, racial groups, and religious affiliations make up "we the people" (American nation).

Nonetheless, it would be very misleading to view America simply as a collection of different immigrant groups and ethnic or religious loyalties.

It is not true (as is often stated) that there are more Irish, more Germans, and more Puerto-Ricans living in New York City than there are in Dublin, Frankfurt, or San Juan. Nor do most New Yorkers think of themselves primarily as Jews, Negroes, Puerto-Ricans, Italians, Germans, or Irishmen. Rather, among the Americans in New York, there are many who (or whose ancestors) originally came from Africa, Ireland, Germany, or Puerto Rico, and so on.

In fact, 94% of all Americans today were born in the United States (as compared, for example, with 85% in 1910). As a result, those tens of millions of Americans who proudly acknowledge their ethnic roots are still "more American" than they are Irish, Italian, German, or Puerto Rican.

Of all the many different nationalities and ethnic groups which have gone into making of America, some have quickly assimilated. They have largely lost or intentionally given up many of those specific markers which would make them much different from their neighbors.

This process of assimilation, or "Americanization," – becoming part of the "melting pot” or the “pizza"or the"salad bowl" (whichever metaphor is to your liking) – has characterized the immigrant experience in American history. Other Americans have, while becoming American in other ways, maintained much of their ethnic identities.