The geographical position

The United States of America is also referred to as the United States, the USA, the U.S., America and the States (in colloquial speech). It is situated in the central part of the continent of North America. The USA takes the fourth position after Russia, Canada and China in size. The total area of the USA is over nine million square kilometers.

The USA occupies the territory from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. In the west it is washed by the Pacific Ocean. Its eastern coast is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It is also washed by the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea and the Caribbean Sea.

In the North the USA has a border with Canada. In the South it shares borders with Mexico.

The USA also has a sea-border with Russia and the Bahamas.

In the north-east the USA is divided from Canada by five Great Lakes, a natural boundary so to say.

Alaska in the North and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean also belong to the territory of the USA.

The state of Alaska is far from the rest of the country and is separated by Canada from the U.S. territory. The distance between the western end of Alaska and Russia is only 80 kilometres.

Hawaii became the 50th state of the USA in 1959 and they occupy the islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The USA can be divided into such big regions as New England (the north-east), Great Lakes, the Midwest (known as the Corn Belt), the South and the West (with vast areas of deserts).

Highlands and lowlands of the USA

There are two highland and two lowland regions in the continental part of the USA.

The Appalachian Mountains, the Rocky Mountains (which are called the "backbone" of the continent), Sierra Nevada in the west and the Cordilleras in the east form the highland region of the country. The Rocky Mountains house a lot of national parks.

The highest peak in the USA is in Alaska. It is called Mount McKinley and it is 6,000 metres high.

Western mountains are much higher than eastern ones. The two central lowlands that are between two highland regions are called the prairie and the Mississippi Valley.

The prairie is an area covered with grass. It lies to the west of the Mississippi.

Rivers and lakes

There are many rivers and lakes in the USA. The longest rivers are: the Mississippi River (which is one of the longest rivers in the world), the Missouri (the tributary of the Mississippi), the Ohio (also the tributary of the Mississippi), the Columbia (which flows in the western part of the country) and the Colorado (which runs from the western part of the country through deep canyons to the southern part of the country). The river that connects Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean is the St. Lawrence River and the Hudson River (in the mouth of which New York is situated).

These rivers flow into different directions: the Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico, two rivers — the Colorado and the Columbia flow into the Pacific Ocean, the Hudson and the St. Lawrence River flow into the Atlantic Ocean.

There is a huge number of lakes on the territory of the country. Huge number means that in the state of Minnesota alone there are 10,000 lakes.

Great Lakes form the biggest group of lakes in the country. They contain fresh water. They say that these lakes have half of the world’s fresh water. These five lakes are: Superior, Huron, Erie, Ontario and Michigan. Four of the Great Lakes (Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario) belong to the territories of two countries: Canada and the USA. Only lake Michigan belongs totally to the territory of the United States.

Telling about the geographical peculiarities of this country, we should mention Niagara Falls. It is one of the most beautiful scenes in the world.

The Niagara River rushes from the lake Erie to the lake Ontario over famous Niagara Falls. The flow of this river is very fast.

Niagara Falls are between Chicago and New York.

The word "Niagara" is an Indian word which means "roaring waters". And that is definitely true because the loud sound of falling water can be heard 25 kilometres away from the place. The cliff where the water is falling from is 27 metres, so it makes a very loud noise.

There is no need to say that such an amazing and beautiful place attracts a great number of tourists from all over the world, who really think this place is a wonder. Niagara Falls are in fact two giant waterfalls divided by a small island. The one, in Canada, is called the Horseshoe Falls. The other in the USA, is called the American Falls.

Great Lakes are connected by natural channels. The waters of five lakes have their outlet into the Atlantic Ocean by the St. Lawrence River.

The USA is also famous for two large salty lakes. One of them is Great Salt Lake in the state of Utah and the other is the Salton Sea in the southern part of the state of California.

Climate

Since the USA is a very big country it has a number of climatic regions on its territory. They are continental, subtropical, desert, arctic and some other regions.

Subtropical climate is in the southern part of the country. Continental climate is in the central part, the climate of Alaska is arctic. The north and the north-east are the coldest regions and much snow falls in winter there.

The climate along the Pacific Ocean is much warmer than the climate of the Atlantic coast.

Hot winds that blow from the Gulf of Mexico often bring typhoons. The weather in the region of Great Lakes is very changeable.

The USA suffers a lot from such weather extremes as hurricanes. They usually bring highly dangerous storms. The most powerful hurricanes that happened recently were hurricanes Katrina (which leveled the city New Orleans) and Rita. They took thousands of lives and caused billions of dollars of damage to the USA.

Plant life of the USA has very much in common with plants and trees of Canada.

Перевод некоторых слов и географических названий:

the USA – США, The United States of America – Соединенные Штаты Америки, the North America – Северная Америка (континент), the Pacific Ocean — Тихий океан, the Atlantic Ocean — Атлантический океан, the Gulf of Mexico — Мексиканский залив, the Great Lakes — Великие озера, the Superior — оз. Верхнее (название одного из пяти Великих озер), Lake Huron — оз. Гурон (одно из Великих озер), Lake Erie — оз. Эри (одно из Великих озер), Lake Ontario — оз. Онтарио (одно из Великих озер),Lake Michigan — оз. Мичиган (одно из Великих озер), Alaska — Аляска (американский штат), Hawaii — Гавайи (1. Американский штат; 2. Архипелаг в Тихом океане), the Appalachian Mountains (the Appalachians) — горы Аппалачи, the Cordillera Mountains (the Cordilleras) — горы Кордильеры, the Rocky Mountains (the Rockies) — Скалистые горы, Sierra Nevada — Сьерра-Невада ("sierra" букв. горная цепь), the Mississippi — р. Миссисипи, the Missouri — р. Миссури (приток р. Миссисипи), the Ohio — р. Огайо (приток р. Миссисипи), the Columbia — р. Колумбия, the Colorado — р. Колорадо, the Rio Grande — р. Рио-Гранде, the Hudson — р. Гудзон, the St. Lawrence River — р. Святого Лаврентия, a prairie — прерия, обширная степь (большая территория к западу от р. Миссисипи), the Mississippi Valley — долина р. Миссисипи, the Great Salt Lake — Большое Соленое озеро (находится в штате Юта), the Salton Sea — оз. Солтон-Си (крупное соленое озеро в южной Калифорнии), Niagara Falls — Ниагарский водопад