The United States1 territory consists of three sep­arate parts, different in size, natural features, lev­el of development and population:

1) the main part, the United States proper, with an area of 7,800,000 square kilometres. It borders on Canada2 in the north and on Mexico3 in the south. It is washed by the Pacific Ocean4 in the west, the Atlantic Ocean5 in the east, and the Gulf of Mexico6

in the south-east;

2) Alaska7, which occupies the north-western part of the continent of North America8, including a lot of islands;

 

Nature

The United States is mostly situated in the tem­perate and subtropical zones. Alaska lies in the sub­arctic and arctic zones. The southern part of Flori­da1 and Hawaii are situated in the tropical zone.

 

Coasts

The coastline length of the United States proper is 22,860 km. The Atlantic coast is mostly lowland and greatly indented. The Pacific coast is moun­tainous, in the northern part cut by numerous fiords.

 

Climate

The United States of America occupying a large territory, it is natural that a great diversity of cli­matic conditions can be observed in different parts of the country. Besides, being crossed by mountain ranges from north to south, the country is unpro­tected from blasts of cold air from the north and warm air from the south. This is the cause of great fluctuations of temperature.

The northern part of the Pacific coast enjoys a moderate climate of temperate zones with a cool summer and a rather warm (for these latitudes) winter without a permanent snow cover and an abundant rainfall on the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains (3000-6000 mm a year).

The southern part of the Pacific coast (Califor­nia) has a Mediterranean1 climate: a hot, cloudless and dry summer and a cool and rainy winter with the mean temperatures of 20-25 °C in summer and 5-10 °C in winter. The rainfall is rather small (400-600 mm a year).

The climate on the Atlantic coast is continental-marine with cool summers and rather warm winters with a permanent snow cover in mountainous re­gions. Further to the south the climate gets warm­er, with warmer winters and hotter summers, grad­ually passing into the monsoon subtropical climate in the extreme south and Florida. The temperatures here are comparable to those on the Pacific coast of California, but the rainfall is heavier and occurs mostly in summer.

Hie plains of the Appalachian Mountains enjoy a continental climate, with warm summers and cold

winters with a permanent snow cover.

The plateaus and tablelands of the Cordilleras have an extreme continental climate with very cold win­ters and very hot summers. The highest tempera­ture is observed in the Death Valley (sometimes up to 56 °C).

 

Natural Resources

The United States of America is rich in coal, iron and oil. There are coal-mines in the Cordillera Moun­tains, in the Kansas1 City region and in the east near Birmingham2 and Pittsburgh3. Iron is mined near the Great Lakes and in the Pittsburgh, Bir­mingham and Philadelphia4 areas. In California and Texas5 there are rich oil-fields. There are also de­posits of silver and gold.

Part 10. Economy.

The United States is a country of highly developed economy.

Heavy industry includes such branches as min­ing, metallurgical engineering and chemical indus­tries. Detroit1 is a large motor-car industry centre. Shipbuilding is developed along the Atlantic coast and in San-Francisco2 on the Pacific coast.

Textile industry is also well-developed, especial­ly in the South near large cotton plantations.

Agriculture is very wide-spread, above all in the prairie regions, where wheat and other grain crops are grown.

Cotton is grown in the Mississippi Valley, tobac­co in Maryland3 and Virginia4.

California is famous for its fruit plantations, and the West — for its cattle-farming.

Poultry-farming is wide-spread in the country­side near all big cities.