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 total area of the country is about nine and a half million square kilometres.

The USA borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south. It also has a sea-boarder with Russia. The USA is made up of 50 states and the District of Columbia, a special federal area where the capital of the country, Washington, is situated. The population of the country is more than 270 million.

If we look at the map of the USA, we can see lowlands and mountains. 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 hang 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 world's second producer of iron ore and coal. Aiming the most important manufacturing industries are aircraft, cars, textiles, radio and television sets, armaments, furniture and paper.

Though mainly European and African in origin, Americans are made up from nearly all races and nations, including Chinese and native Americans. The largest cities are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, San-Francisco, Washington and others. 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.

Washington is the capital of the United States of America. It's situated in Washington the District of Columbia and is like no other city in the USA. It's the world's largest one-industry city. And that industry is government.

The White House, where the US President lives and works, the Capitol, the home of the US Congress, and the Supreme Court, are all in Washington. Washington was named after the first US President George Washington. He selected the place for the capital and Pierre L'Enfant, a French engineer, designed the city.

Washington was first settled in 1790 and since 1800 it has been the federal capital. Washington is one of the most beautiful and unusual cities in the United States. In the very centre of it rises the huge dome of the Capitol — a big white dome standing on a circle of pillars. The 535 members of the Congress meet here to discuss the nation's affairs. It's easy to get lost in this huge building, full of paintings and statues. Not far from the Capitol is the Library of Congress, the largest library in the States. It contains more than 13 million books, more than 19 million manuscripts, including the personal papers of the US presidents.

The White House is the official residence of the US President. He works in the Oval Office. One can hardly find a park, a square or an open area in Washington without a monument or a memorial. The most impressive and the best-known ones are the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. There are some important museums in Washington where you can see all kinds of things: famous paintings and sculptures, the dresses of Presidents's wives, the original of the Declaration of Independence, the largest blue diamond in the world, etc. There are5 universities in Washington. There are no skyscrapers in Washington, because they would hide the city's many monuments from view. No building in the city may be more than 40 metres tall. Thousands of tourists visit Washington every day. People from all parts of the United States come to see their capital.

Although New York is not the capital of the United States (and not even of New York State), it is the biggest and most important city of the country. Situated at the mouth of the deep Hudson River, it has always been the gateway to the USA. But it is more than just a door: it is also a window through which the life of the whole nation may be observed.

New York is many things to many people. It's the financial and media capital of the world. It's the headquarters of the United Nations. It's the centre of American cultural life. It's the national leader in fashion and entertainment. The "Big Apple", as New York City is nicknamed, is a city unlike any other. It has everything for everyone. It offers the best, the biggest and the brightest of everything. . It is a place of excitements, beauty and...contradictions. There is, for example, no canal on Canal Street, Battery Park is not a power station, and Times Square is a triangle. As they say, only in New York!

New York is known as a "melting pot", because people of different races and nationalities make up its population of more than 7 million. About 13 of every 100 people in New York were born in another country. More than 80 languages are spoken throughout the neighbourhoods and streets of the city. There are places where the English language is hardly ever heard.

When people say "New York City" they usually mean Manhattan. It is the real centre of the city. The Empire State Building, Rockefeller Centre, the United Nations building, tremendous traffic, dazzling advertisements, Central Park, Times Square, Broadway, Harlem, Chinatown, the most famous avenues and streets — all these are to be found in Manhattan.

The map of Manhattan seems unusual to a European eye. It is crossed from north to south by avenues and from east to west by streets. Only one avenue, Broadway, runs east to west. Each avenue has either a name or a number. The streets are numbered from one to over a hundred. Only a few of them have names.

Wall Street in Manhattan is the financial heart of the USA and the most important banking centre in the world.

Broadway is the symbol of American theatre, as Hollywood is of American cinema.

The intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue forms world-famous Times Square, the heart of the New York Theatre District. It is one of many New York City "squares" that are actually triangles. New Year's Eve celebrations always start here and at midnight a large red ball is lowered down to show that the New Year has begun.

Park Avenue represents luxury and fashion because of its large expensive apartment houses.

Madison Avenue is known as the centre of advertising industry. Fifth Avenue is the most famous shopping centre.

The "Stars and Stripes" is a popular name for the red, white and blue flag of the United States. Another popular name is the "Star Spangled Banner". This is also the name of the National Anthem of the United States.

Every country has its own flag. In 1776 the thirteen colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. So the United States were born.

George Washington was a general of the American Army. He decided that the United States also needed a flag. There is a story that General George Washington asked Betsy Ross to make the flag. She used three colours: red, white, and blue. The red colour was for courage, white was for liberty, and blue was for justice.

She sewed thirteen red and white stripes and thirteen white stars in a circle on a blue square. The thirteen stars and stripes stood for the number of states at the beginning of the United States. On June 14, 1777, the Congress confirmed this flag as the National Flag.

Later new states joined the United States. And in 1818 the Congress made another law about the flag. The thirteen stripes stayed the same, but for each new state there was a new star. Today there are fifty stars on the flag. Hawaii Island was the last star in 1959.

The USA is a federation of 50 states, which was set up by the Constitution in 1787. Under the Constitution, the federal government is divided into 3 branches.

The legislative power is vested in Congress, which is made up of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are 100 senators, 2 from each state and they serve for
6 years, 1/3 of them being elected every 2 years. The number of the members of the House of Representatives is 435. They are elected by the electorate of each state according to population and serve 2 years. Both houses have to approve the bill for it to become a law. But before that each bill is sorted by a committee. It is Congress that declares wars. A treaty with a foreign country
has to be debated and approved by Congress before it comes into force. The same control applies to the laws at home.

The executive branch is headed by the President who proposes bills to Congress. He also enforces federal laws, administers national government and makes treaties. Being the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he appoints higher officers.
It is he, who formulates foreign policy, represents the USA abroad and is the leader of the nation.
The President is the head of the Cabinet. It consists of 11 members who are called Secretaries, for example the State Secretary, who has the functions of the minister for foreign affairs. The President together with his cabinet is responsible for carrying out laws. The President can veto a bill unless Congress by a two-thirds vote shall overrule him.

The judicial branch is made up of Federal District Courts, 11 Federal Courts and the Supreme Court, which consists of 11 judges. Federal judges are appointed by the President for life.
The Supreme Court deals with complaints against the Constitution. Federal Courts decide cases, involving conflicts between states or citizens of states. There are two major political parties in the USA, the Democratic party and the Republican party. Inside both parties there are moderates and right-wingers, though the Democrats are still
considered more liberal. The presidential elections take place every four years in November. At first the candidates seek nomination inside their own
party. To be nominated they have to win in the primaries. The President isn't elected directly, but by the voters from every state. The Inauguration takes place on the 20th of January when
the President is sworn in and makes an inauguration speech. He runs the elections together with the future vice-president. They
can be elected only for 2 terms.