Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe
THE U.S.A.
Plan to the lecture
1. General Information
2. Location
3. Geography
4. The face of the land
5. Climate and weather
6. The population
7. Similarities and specific features of America
8. The American people
(Слайд 3) 1. GENERAL INFORMATION
The USA is the most powerful and the most advanced capitalist country. It leads the world in industrial and agricultural production. Labour is the father of the production, and land is the mother of it, the latter being highly favourable.
The total area of the USA is over nine million square kilometres (9,364,000 sq. km). The population of the country is over 321 million people. The capital is Washington, D.C. The country’s motto is “In God We Trust”.
The United States of America is a federation of states (now there are 50 states) which was established by the Constitution in 1787. Each state has its own government and its own capital city.
The flag of the U.S.A., popularly called “the Stars and Stripes and Old Glory”, was adopted in 1777. It consists of 13 horizontal stripes, alternately red and white, equal to the number of the original states with a blue union marked with white stars equal in number to 50 states today. The red stripes proclaim liberty, the field of blue stands for loyalty.
The coat-of-arms of the U.S. represents an eagle with wings outspread, holding a bundle of rods – the symbol of administering – in the left claw and an olive twig – the emblem of love – in the right claw.
The motto on the coat-of-arms is “E Pluribus Unum” (“One out of many” in Latin).
It was in 1812 that the nickname of the U.S. “Uncle Sam” appeared. Uncle Sam Wilson of New York supplied beef to the U.S. Army during the war of 1812 stamping his barrels with the letters “U.S.”. This beef became known to the army as Uncle Sam’s and later this familiar name became associated with the U.S. Government.
(Слайд 2) Словарь
| established by the Constitution | - образована на основании Конституции |
| “the Stars and Stripes and Old Glory” | - «звезды, полоски и древняя слава» (описание флага США) |
| stripe | - полоска |
| alternately | - чередуясь, через одну |
| proclaim | - провозглашать |
| courage | - храбрость |
| liberty | - свобода |
| loyalty | - верность, преданность |
| coat-of-arms | - герб |
| eagle | - орел |
| wings outspread | - распростертые крылья |
| bundle of rods | - пучок розог |
| administering | - управление |
| claw | - клюв |
| olive twig | - оливковая ветвь |
| motto | - надпись (на гербе) |
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(Слайд 4) 2. Location
The United States proper (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) is situated in the central part of the North American continent. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, from Canada in the North to Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Gulf of California in the south. The USA is an extremely large country in North America. In size, the United States ranks fourth among the nations after Russia, Canada, and China. It possesses many islands in the Pacific Ocean and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the Atlantic. It has military bases scattered all over the world.
The continental part of the USA consists of four physical geographical parts: two highland and two lowland regions. The highland regions are the Appalachian Mountains in the east, and the Cordillera and the Rocky Mountains in the west. The highest peak in the Appalachian Mountains is 2,037 metres high.
( Слайд 5) 3. A PANORAMIC VIEW OF AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY
Americans’ encounter with their land has been abrupt and often violent, consuming much of the nation’s energies. Americans had to confront and come to terms with a huge, wild country. It has been said that America is a nation with an abundance of geography but a shortage of history. It took less than 400 years to subdue more than 3 million square miles of territory. Even today much of the U.S. remains relatively unpopulated.
Settlement of the American land was often a painful process. Territory was usually settled before it was well known, and people learned geography from hard experience by trial and error.
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Today the United States is the fourth largest country in the world, in both size and population. It covers an area of 3,618,465 square miles. The U.S. is divided into 50 states. Those which border one another on the continent are grouped into seven regions: New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont), Middle Atlantic States (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania), Southern States (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia), Midwestern States (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin), Rocky Mountain States (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming), Southwestern States (Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas) and Pacific Coast States (California, Oregon, Washington). In addition, Hawaii and Alaska are grouped separately.
( Слайд 6) 4. The Face of the Land
The framework of America is built around a huge interior lowland that has yielded some of the country's greatest agricultural and mineral wealth. It contains a large portion of its population and is the heart of what politicians like to call “middle America”. The region is drained by the Mississippi River and its great tributaries, one of the largest navigable river systems of the world. The Mississippi is the traditional dividing line between “East” and “West”. To east and west, the land rises to mountain ranges that flank the lowland to either side and separate in from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The Mississippi is one of the world's great continental rivers. It flows some 3,970 miles from its northern sources in the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico, making it one of the world's longest waterways. The Missouri is its chief western branch. Where the Missouri pours into the Mississippi from the west, it colors the river deep brown with small pieces of soil. Farther downstream where the clear waters of the principal eastern tributary, the Ohio, join the Mississippi, evidence of the difference between the dry west and rainy east becomes apparent. For miles, the waters of the two rivers flow on side by side, without mixing. Those from the west are brown because they wash away the soil in areas of sparse vegetation. The waters from the east are clear and blue. They come from hills and valleys where plentiful forest and plant cover has kept the soil from being washed away.
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Like the Mississippi, all the rivers east of the Rockies finally reach the Atlantic; all the waters to the west ultimately flow into the Pacific.
The two great rivers of the Pacific side are the Colorado in the south, and the Columbia, which originates in Canada and drains the north The Columbia flows with quiet dignity.
The Rio Grande, about 1,990 miles long, is the foremost river of the Southwest. It forms a natural boundary between Mexico and the United States, which together have built irrigation and flood control projects of mutual benefit.
North of the Central Lowland, extending for almost 994 miles, are the five Great Lakes which the United States shares with Canada.
( Слайд 7) 5. CLIMATE AND WEATHER
On arriving in America Europeans had to learn to cope with the variety of unfamiliar climates and vegetation. European climatic experience was not a very useful guide for survival in America. That was especially true in the subtropical South and the arid West, regions that provided unexpected opportunities but also posed obstacles for which there were no obvious analogies in the Old World.
Europeans expected America to be much the same, as America faced the Atlantic, just like Europe. The truth was quite different. America’s western air comes not from the ocean, as in Europe, but from the continental interior which is extremely cold in the winter and oven like in the summer.
The northernmost zone, adjacent to the Canadian border, is region of northern forest that stretches from Maine across northern New England and the upper Great Lakes. Here the growing season very short, and the winters are long and fiercely cold. For farmers has always been miserable country.
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Southward the temperature moderates. The growing season longer, winters are milder, and summers are hot. Because America, summers were considerably hotter and longer than in Europe. American crops often yielded a larger harvest.
Still farther southward one crosses an invisible but crucial line called the Mason-Dixon Line. The central features of Southern climate are hot humid summers and a long growing season. The climate is good for a variety of valuable subtropical crops, such as indigo, rice and cotton. Monopoly of the American South came to an end in the century as a result of competition from Indian cotton.
The climate of the Central Basin is rather moderate. Moist and dry years alternate. Intensive plowing exposed the cultivated soil to the storms.
Further west, in the semi-arid region of short grass where farms and cattle ranches begin. In years when rain is plentiful, the prairie grasses grow well and the herds of cattle grow fat. But during frequent droughts large herds of cattle suffer and may even die. The first farmers and ranchers had to learn climatic laws the hard way.
The only substantial humid region in the western United States is wedged into a narrow strip between the Pacific coast and the Sierra-Cascade ridge line. Unlike the East, with its continental extremes of summer and winter temperature, West Coast temperatures are moderated all year long by westerly winds from the ocean so that the entire coast from Canada to Mexico enjoys cool summers and mild winters.
On the West Coast, winter is the rainiest time everywhere, and summers almost everywhere are very dry. Under natural conditions brushfires are part of the natural ecological cycle, and periodic burning keep brush down and grasslands open. But when fires get started in California cities – and it is impossible to prevent them all – they can be devastating.
Despite drought and fire, Americans have found California's Mediterranean climatic zone a particularly alluring place. Near the coast summers are cool and pleasant, and even the mild rainy winter is often not very rainy, except in the far north. The combination has attracted both tourists and permanent residents from harsher climates in the North and East.
So the large variety of geographic and climatic environments in America guaranteed that people in America would find both opportunities and challenges.
( Слайд 8) 6. The Population
When the first census was taken in 1790, much of the country had not even been explored, and much of it did not belong to the United States, but to France and Spain. The “western settlers” of that day were in the Appalachian Mountains.
By 1854, the United States had acquired the western part of the country by purchase and by treaty. This region had been unified politically, and there were about as many people living west of the Appalachians as east of them. At that time people seriously believed that the task of settling and developing the country would require at least 500 years. The speed with which it actually was settled is one of the most exciting stories in American history.
At first, the settlers pushed westward in thin lines along the rivers; then they began to fill the intervening spaces throughout the middle of the country. And there, dramatically, the movement of the population jumped to the Pacific.
As of the census taken in the year 2000 the population of the United States was 281, 421, 906. Just over three quarters of the people live in urban areas and the rest in rural areas. The peoples of the United States represent many cultures and ethnic groups from around the world. After a growth of 13 million since the 1990 census Hispanics primarily from Latin America) number about 35 million people, just about equal to the number of Afro-Americans, who had previously been the largest minority in the country. Native Americans comprise less than one half of one percent of the total population. Minorities of Asian descent include Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, as well as people from India and Pakistan. More and more people are now claiming to belong to more than one of the government’s official ethnic and racial categories.
( Слайд 9) 7. SIMILARITIES AND SPECIFIC FEATURES OF America
The United States is similar to most other countries in the world. Like other countries the United States changes quickly. Values and people are changing and many people are afraid of these changes.
The 1950s was the last decade of calm for this country. It was a problem free time when life was predictable. Since that time there have been many changes in the country. Americans are getting older and the number of senior citizens increases. People have fewer babies because of birth control, the high cost of raising children and because of the uncertainty about the future.
Americans are moving, too. They go to the warmer parts of the country, to some of the older cities, to some large suburban areas. They have to create new friends wherever they go. Sometimes, the office becomes the new neighborhood and people at the office become their friends and “neighbors”.
America is a wealthy country, but wealth is not evenly distributed. There are homeless people, hungry children, and crime in the country. Some foreigners have the idea that “the streets are paved with gold”. Hard work brings great results but unemployment is a problem in many parts of the country. For some Americans, the United States is not a land of opportunities.
American women work more now, but still do not have the same opportunities for equal salaries and career as men. They often find that they have two jobs now: taking care of the house and the children and working at the office. Since 1960s the number of single-parent families increased.
Americans bring up their children to be independent. It is a part of American culture. Small children learn to do things on their own. They learn to take care of themselves, clean their rooms, help with the dishes and the laundry, spend time away from their parents in day care, with a baby sitter or alone. Most teenagers try to find summer or after-school jobs, so that they can have their own money. Students usually work part-time and during summer vacations.
Young people get married later than they used to. Women usually get married at the age of 24, men – at the age of 26. Newly married couples often postpone having children, while they are establishing their careers.
Racial discrimination is illegal, but prejudice and fear of other groups still exist. Religion is a private issue.
Americans worry about the same things as other people around the world, about their children, and how their lives will be. They worry about nuclear war, international terrorism. They know that this time is a period of change and face many difficulties, but perhaps the pioneer spirit which built the country will help Americans change, improve and adapt to the future.
( Слайд 10) 8. The American People
The United States has the third-largest population in the world (after China and India). In 1990, population of the United States passed the 250,000,000 mark.
The most distinctive characteristic of the United States is its people. As nineteenth-century poet Walt Whitman said the United States “is not merely a nation but a nation of nations”. People from around the world have come to the United States and influenced its history and culture.
The native Americans
The first people on the American continent came from Asia. They came across the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska at various times when the sea level dropped. The first migration might have been as early as 40,000 years ago. Once in America, these people migrated east across North America and south through central and South America. When Columbus arrived in the fifteenth century, there were perhaps 10 million people in North America alone. They had developed many different kinds of societies. These were the peoples that Columbus called “Indians”, in the mistaken belief that he had reached the East Indies.
The story of the westward growth of the United States was also the story of the destruction of the Native Americans, or Indians. Today there are about 1.5 million Indians in the United States. Western states have the largest Indian populations. About one-third of the Native Americans live on reservations, land that was set aside for them. Most of the others live in cities. Poverty and unemployment are major problems, especially on the reservations.
The British
Beginning in the 1600s, the British settled the eastern part of North America. By the time of the American Revolution (1776), the culture of the American colonists (their religion language, government, etc.) was thoroughly British – with an American “twist”. In a sense, then, the British culture was a foundation on which America was built. Also over the years, many immigrants to the United States have come from the United Kingdom and Ireland.
African-Americans
From 1620 to 1820 by far the largest group of people to come to the United States came, not as willing immigrants but against their will. These people were West Africans brought to work as slaves, especially on the plantations, or large farms of the South. In all, about 8 million people were brought from Africa.
Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe
Beginning in the 1820s, the number of immigrants coming to the United States began to increase rapidly. Faced with problems in Europe – poverty, war, discrimination – immigrants hoped for, and often found, better opportunities in the United States.
During these years most immigrants were fr6m northwestern Europe – from Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, and Norway. The United States was expanding into what is now Midwest. There was a lot of land available for farming. Many new immigrants became farmers in the Midwest. To this day, German and Scandinavian influence is obvious in Midwestern foods and festivals.
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