The information about the USA

The USA lies in the central part of the North American continent between two oceans: the Atlantic Ocean to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the West. Canada to the North and Mexico to the South are the only countries bordering on the United States.

There are fifty federal states and the independent district of Columbia. Forty-nine states, including Alaska form the continental United States. Canada separates Alaska from the major territory of the USA. The 50th state, the state of Hawaii, is a group of islands situated in the mid-Pacific Ocean.

The population of the USA is more than 230 million people who speak English, Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, Yuddish, Russian and others. English is the official and predominant language.

The USA developed from English colonies. After a long eight years of struggle (1775-1783) the colonies gained their independence. The American colonists were led by a talented soldier George Washington who later became the first president of the USA. The capital was named after the first president.

There are many other big cities in the USA. New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles are the biggest of them.

The USA is a highly developed industrial country. Electronic and electric engineering, transport, communication and machine-tool industries can be found almost in all large cities of the USA.

The United States is a federal republic. The Government of the US is composed of three branches - executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch sees that laws are carried out. The legislative branch makes new laws. And the judicial branch makes sure that the laws and actions of the other branches agree with the Constitution.

The White House is the place where the President of the USA lives and works. The President is the head of the executive branch of the government. He appoints the Cabinet members, each of them becomes the head of a very important government department.

Not far from the White House is the Capitol. Here the Congress, the legislative branch of the government, meets to make laws, to govern the country. The Senate and the House of Representatives form the Congress. American politics is based on two-party system. There are the Democratic party and the Republican party in the USA.