Geographical position of the USA

The USA occupies the central part of the North American continent. It borders on Canada in the north and Mexico in the south. It is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the east, by the Pacific Ocean in the west and by the Gulf of Mexico in the south.

The present territory of the USA consists of three separate parts. The USA proper and Alaska are situated in North America. The Hawaii are situated in the central part of the Pacific Ocean.

The area of the country is about 9,400,000 km2. Its population is about 256 million people.

No general statement can be made about the landscape of the USA. It is a country of mountains and prairies, valleys and deserts. About one half of the territory in the west is occupied by the Cordilleras. In the east there are the Appalachian Mountains. Between these great mountain chains central and large valleys lie.

The Rocky Mountains extend from Alaska through Canada and the USA to Mexico. Together with the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California they have snow-capped peaks and clear mountain lakes.

The Great Lakes are situated in the north-east of the country. They are Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan. The largest rivers of the USA are the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Columbia, the Colorado, and the Yukon. American rivers have very expressive names: the Snake River, the Milk River, the Green River, the Sweetwater River, the White River.

The USA has rich deposits of coal, oil, iron, zinc, copper, silver, phosphate rock, natural gas, uranium and nonferrous metals. The country has one fourth of the world’s coal deposits.

The United States of America covers an area of almost 9,400,000 square kilometers. It is twice as large as all the countries of Europe combined, exclusive of the U.S.S.R. It is two and a half times smaller than the Soviet Union.

The USA is advantageously placed in the middle of the North American continent, in the temperate zone between latitudes 25° and 49° N. It is washed by the Atlantic in the east and the Pacific in the west-and controls the Panama Canal connecting these two oceans. Thus placed between two oceans it has free access to the trade routes of the world. At the same time, these vast expanses of water have always served as reliable safeguards in time of war. Its land boundaries are on countries that are no danger in case of war. In the course of the last hundred years the USA has fought many a war, but ever on foreign soil. Its own land has always remained untouched. Modern means of warfare, however, have put an end to this advantage of the United States.

Alaska, the adjacent lands and the Aleutian Islands in the north-west (over 1,500,000 square kilometers) and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean also form part of the USA. The United States has possessions in the West Indies and in the Pacific.

Natural Features.

Across the eastern part of the United States extend the Appalachians, a group of low and much denuded mountains. There is iron ore here and rich deposits of coal along the western slopes. Between the Appalachians and the Atlantic lie the coastal lowlands.

The north-eastern coastline is richly indented and contains many convenient bays. The lowlands continue southward into the Peninsula of Florida, which is rich in phosphor-rites. The climate of Eastern United States is temperate continental, with a heavy rainfall.lt is colder, however, than that of Europe in the same latitudes. In New York (latitude 41° N) the average January temperature is 1°C below zero, the July temperature 23 °C above zero, while in Naples the January temperature is 8° C above zero, the July temperature 24° C above zero. The mixed and broad-leaved forests that once covered this part of the country have been cut down. Florida and the neighboring areas enjoy a wet sub-tropical climate, the average January temperature being 15° C above zero. Here there is evergreen vegetation, including magnolia, palm, and evergreen oak and different kinds of pine. In the central, boggy part of the peninsula there is cypress. In the most beautiful places there are resorts, but these can be afforded only by the rich. The centre of the country is a vast plain (called the Great Central Plain) that sinks towards the south and merges into the Mississippi Lowlands. It is drained by the Mississippi River and its tributaries, the deep Ohio flowing from the Appalachians and the long but shallow Missouri from the Cordilleras. The climate here is continental, with sharp weather changes. In the south, on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, it is subtropical. Westward the climate becomes drier gradually. The forests disappear and in their stead stretch forest-steppes and steppes (prairies). The soil almost everywhere is ploughed up and under cultivation. This is the so-called Prairie Plateau, or Great Plains.

There are rich deposits of iron ore along the shores of Lake Superior, to the north of the plain. In the central part of the Great Central Plain, south-west of Lake Michigan, there is coal and poly-metallic ore. The southern part, west of the lower course of the Mississippi, is a rich oil and gas district.

Across the western part of the United States extend the Cordilleras, a young mountain system consisting of a number of lofty ranges. Between the Rocky Mountains, on the one hand, and the Cascade Mountains and Sierra Nevada, on the other, there is a series of plateaus — the Great Basin and others. These are crossed by the Colorado and Columbia Rivers. On their way to the Pacific they cut deep canyons through the plateaus; the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River is 1,800 meters deep. These rivers are rich in water-power.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-28