USA

The USA covers an area of about 10 million sq. km (it is the 4^th largest country in the world). It has a population of about 270 million people. The Capital is Washington D.C. and the head of state is Barack Obama. The main cities are: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.

It shares borders with Mexico the South and Canada to the North, the Pacific Ocean to the West and the Atlantic Ocean to the East. There are 5 main areas: New England, the Midwest, the West Coast, the South, and the East coast. The country is hilly in the northeast and mountainous in the west and the east. It is flat in the central part with lowlands in the south. The longest rivers are the Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Hudson. The highest peak is Mount McKinley and the lowest point is Death Valley. The Great Lakes are Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario, and Lake Erie. Important geographical points are the Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon and the Sierra Nevada. Some national parks are Yellowstone in Wyoming and Montana, Grand Canyon in Arizona, and Yosemite in California as well as Sequoia.

The first settlements in the USA were in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia. 1619 was the year of the 1^st Thanksgiving celebration. 1776 is the year in which the Declaration of Independence was adopted and 1787 in which the Constitution was written. 1861-1865 is the period in which the Civil War took place. The North was against the South. 11 states seceded from the Union and made the Confederate states of America with Jefferson Davis as their president. The North won and in 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation abolished slavery. 1865 was when the 13th Amendment was passed and outlawed slavery completely. On the 14^th of April, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated and the blacks were still treated as a lower class. The Reconstruction Era followed. People from the North went to the South to form a democracy. In 1920, the 18^th Amendment passed a Prohibition of alcoholic drinks. The 19^th Amendment gave the right to vote to women. The KKK, a cult for white supremacy, burned down black churches. They wear white robes with hoods and carry burning crosses. In 1929, the stock market crash caused the Great Depression. In 1963, Martin Luther King carried out his “I Have a Dream” speech for non-violent methods.