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About the country
.
United States - a country in
North America.
Area - 9,518,900 km ² (fourth in the
world by area).
Population - more than 309 million people (third place).
Capital - the city of Washington.
United States border with Canada, Mexico, and Russia.
By the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean.
Administrative divisions: 50 states and the District of Columbia, the U.S. submission also a number of island territories.
USA was formed in 1776 by combining the thirteen British colonies that declared their independence.
Economy: currently the largest in the world ($ 14.2 trillion)..
U.S. has powerful armed forces, including the largest navy, have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, a founding member of NATO. The U.S. has the second most total power nuclear capacity in the world
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geography
The main territory of the United States (known
as the continental states) is located in North America,
stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west.
In the south of the U.S. border with Mexico, to the north - Canada.
In addition, in the U.S. are still two of the state. In the far north-west of the continent is Alaska also borders with Canada. The Pacific Ocean is Hawaii.
Russian border runs through the Bering Strait. The U.S. also has thousands of islands in the Caribbean (eg, Puerto Rico) and the Pacific (American Samoa, Midway, Guam, etc.).
Within the United States there are several major physiographic regions.
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In the east, along the Atlantic coast stretches
Appalachinskaya mountain range. To the west and south of
this area is aligned to form a low-lying areas along major rivers which flow U.S.. Further west the terrain turns into vast plains and prairies, called the Great Plains, which is preceded by the Cordillera mountains. The mountain ranges occupy the entire western part of the country and rather abruptly cut off to the Pacific Ocean. Most of Alaska occupy the northern Cordillera.
Hawaiian archipelago is a series of volcanic islands up to 4205 m
relief
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Rivers and lakes
River runoff from the territory of
the United States by the pools of three oceans
- the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic.
The main body of water (between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans) traverses the eastern part of the Cordillera, and to the Arctic Ocean basin is only a small part of the northern states and Alaska. Meeting point of the three watersheds located on Mount-Triple Divide Peak.
Water availability is not uniform all over the country - the height of the layer of annual runoff in the states of Washington and Oregon is 60-120 cm, and on the interior highlands and plateaus of up to 10 cm
Large lakes in the north of the country - the Great Lakes. Smaller undrained salt lakes located in depressions of the Great Basin. Inland waters are widely used in industrial and municipal water supply, irrigation, hydropower and navigation.
Most of the runoff owned U.S. Gulf of Mexico basin of the Atlantic. The largest river system formed the Mississippi River (length 3757 km, the annual flow of 180 km ³) and its countless tributaries, the largest of which - Missouri (length 4127 km), Arkansas (2364 km) and Ohio (1579 km).
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Great Lakes - a system of freshwater lakes
in North America, the U.S. and Canada. Includes a
number of large and medium-sized reservoirs, linked by rivers and straits.
An area of about 245.2 thousand km ², the water volume 22.7 thousand km ³.
By itself the Great Lakes are the five biggest: Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario. Contact them several medium lakes.
The lakes belong to the basin of the Atlantic. Stoke on the St. Lawrence River.
great lakes
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Since the country is located in a large
area, it represented almost all climatic zones.
Most of the
U.S. is located in the temperate zone, south of the subtropical climate prevails, Hawaii and southern Florida are in the tropics and the north of Alaska belongs to the polar regions.
The Great Plains west of the 100th meridian referred to as semi-desert, the Great Basin, and the area around it are arid and coastal areas of California - Mediterranean climate. Climate type within a zone can vary considerably depending on the terrain, proximity to the ocean, and other factors.
The main component of the U.S. Climate jet stream is a high-rise - powerful airflow, bringing moisture from the North Pacific. Moisture-laden winds from the Pacific Ocean actively irrigate U.S. west coast.
Frequent tornadoes are a known feature of the climate of North America, the United States ahead of any other country in the number of tornadoes.
Hurricanes are common in the United States. East coast of the island of Hawaii and especially southern U.S. states bordering the Gulf of Mexico, the most affected by this disaster.
climate
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The slopes of the Cordillera are covered with
thick pine forests, Appalachia - forests of broad-leaved trees,
prairie is almost gone. Prevalent in northern Alaska tundra vegetation.
Forests cover about 30% of the land, vegetation, mostly Alaskan tundra with mosses and lichens, but in the south of the State of coniferous and mixed forests. In the north of the "continental" of the U.S. grow thick mixed forest: spruce, pine, oak, ash, birch, sycamore. Further south, forests become smaller, but there are plants such as magnolia and rubber, and the Gulf Coast are growing mangroves. In the west begin semiarid and arid regions with predominantly grass and desert vegetation. In such regions, the most common yucca, various shrubs, and in the Mojave Desert - "cactus forest." To higher ground grow pine and Ponderosa. In California is quite common chapparel, as well as numerous fruit trees (basically citrus). Sierra Nevada forests grow giant redwoods. In the north east coast are coniferous and mixed forests of spruce, cedar, pine, and larch.
Flora
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fauna
The fauna is also represented respectively climatic zones
in the north is ground squirrels, bears, deer, elk,
trout in the rivers of many on the coast of Alaska, walruses and seals. In the forests of the eastern United States, home to grizzly bear, deer, fox, wolf, skunk, badger, squirrel and a large number of small birds. Gulf Coast can see such exotic birds like pelicans, flamingos, green kingfisher. Here are found several species of alligators and poisonous snakes. On the Great Plains at the time lived tens of thousands of buffaloes, but now they left quite a bit and is mainly in national parks. In mountainous areas, the western United States can be found such large animals, such as elk, deer, pronghorn, mountain goat, brown bear, wolf, bighorn. In desert regions inhabited mostly reptiles (including rattlesnakes), and small mammals such as opossum.
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minerals
The subsoil is rich in the United States
of various natural resources, including - coal, lignite, iron
and manganese ore.
Cordillera, Colorado Plateau, the Great Plains and Primeksikanskaya lowlands have deposits of copper, zinc, lead, silver, chromite, vanadium, tungsten, molybdenum, titanium, complex, uranium, mercury ore, gold, sulfur, phosphates, and other chemical raw materials.
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government
The U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1787, defines state
powers transferred to the federal government of the United
States. The powers of the federal government are not defined by the Constitution, shall U.S. states.
The U.S. Constitution is the principle of separation of powers:
The federal government is composed of legislative, executive and judicial authorities, acting independently of each other.
The highest legislative body - a bicameral Congress:
the lower house - the House of Representatives, the upper house - the Senate.
The highest executive body - the U.S. president. President - Head of State, Chief of the armed forces. There is a vice-president.
Highest judicial authority - the U.S. Supreme Court.
The main political parties - the Republican and
Democratic.
There are many smaller parties.
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population
Indian tribes populated the U.S. territory of about
10 thousand years ago, and their descendants remained the
dominant ethnic component to the end of XVII century. Modern people - descendants of relatively recent (XVII-XX centuries) of immigrants from Europe (mainly Western) and Africa. It should be noted that the full right to be called Americans receive only the children of immigrants born in the United States. There remains a clear distinction between foreigners and natives, between which there is a large cultural and linguistic distance. This difference, however, is limited to the internal division. Americans United States - a diverse, heterogeneous nation with conflicting racial composition. Dominant in all respects and regions (except Hawaii) is now Europoid race - came from the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland and other European countries. Further distinguished African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Indians and others, who account for over a third of the population.
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The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted
December 15, 1791, proclaims the separation of church and
state, which the founding fathers understood as a ban on the establishment of state religion, like the one that took place in the UK. A survey conducted in 2002, Pew Global Attitudes Project, the U.S. - the only developed country where most people say that religion plays a "very important" in their lives.
The U.S. government does not keep official statistics on religion. According to the CIA World Factbook for 2007, 51.3% of the U.S. population consider themselves Protestant, 23.9% - Catholics, 12.1% do not belong to any denomination, 1.7% - the Mormons, 1.6% - members of other Christian denominations, 1.7% - Jewish, 0.7% - Buddhists, 0.6% - Muslims, 2.5% - Other or not specified, 4% - atheists.
religion