The General outline, including geography

LECTURES IN AMERICAN STUDIES

LECTURE 10

THE GENERAL OUTLINE, INCLUDING GEOGRAPHY

10.1. General description: what comes to mind first?

10.1.1. The United States of America, commonly called the United States or simply America (which is not correct, of course, but nobody cares), lies in the central part of the North American continent with the Atlantic Ocean to the East, the Pacific to the West, Canada to the North, and Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico to the South. The United States covers an area of 9,6 million square km. It has a population of about 300 million people. The states form a federation, each state being different from another in size and population. The largest states in area are Alaska, Texas, and California. The smallest state is Rhode Island. The state with the largest population is California followed by Texas, and New York. Only 480,907 people live on the plateaus and rugged mountains of Wyoming, the least populous state.

10.1.2. The scenery of the United Sates is as varied as the size of its states. There are great rivers, the longest being the Mississippi with its west tributary the Missouri. World-famous is the region of the Great Lakes, situated in the north-east of the United States bor­dering Canada. It is a system of five great lakes (Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario) joined together by natural channels. The Niagara Falls, great rapids situated on the short Niagara River joining Lakes Erie and Ontario, are famous all over the world.

The country was one of the first to establish national parks on a large scale. A number of picturesque areas have become national parks such as Yellowstone National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Rocky Mountains National Park in the Rocky Mountains area; Yosemite National Park on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains; Grand Canyon National Park etc. There is a place that associates with US leadership, Mount Rushmore. Architect Borglum covered the face of Mount Rushmore with the heads of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

10.1.3. American lifestyle is associated with large modern cities. The most well-known of these are New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Miami, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and a number of others. The capital Washington DC has a lot of symbols of the country such as t he Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial, the White House and many others. Another symbol of the USA is the Statue of Liberty located on an island in New York Harbor.

10.1.4. Still, a great proportion of the country consists of open land dotted with farm-houses and small towns. In some regions small communities are still provincial. The usual town of average size, in any part of the United States, has its "main street", with the same types of stores selling the same products. Every town has the same type of drug-store and supermarket. 'One-storied' America still exists.

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