The USA is situated in southern part of North America. Its neighbours are Canada on north, Mexico on south and the Confederation of Independent States in Alaska. It covers the area of abut 9 400 000 sq. km. Central plains are bounded by the Rocky Mountains and the Coastal Mountains to west, the Appalachian Mountains to east and alluvialplains around the Gulf of Mexico. The largest rivers are the Mississippi and the Missouri. It’s the third longest river system in the world after the Amazon and the Nile. The border with Canada is in its control part made by the Great Lakes Region. Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario share the USA with Canada. Lake Superior is the second largest lake in the world (after the Caspian Sea). There are big variations of climate. Temperatures change from the arctic cold in northern Alaska to subtropical warmth of Hawaii and the Gulf Coast States. On western coast temperature change very little between summer and winter, the north central states have different climate in summer and winter. There are many national parks in the USA, especially in the Rocky Mountains Region, with beautiful and preserved nature e.g. Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Mount McKinley.
Kurssi yhdysvaltain dollari (USD) - Amerikan yhdysvallat
The main industrial items are manufacturing steel, car industry, electronics, machinery and clothing. Nearby half of the country is a farmland, however only 21% is arable. The main agriculture products are corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, tobacco, cattle breeding, fruit and vegetable. The USA is rich in the mineral resources as coal, copper, lead, uranium, gold, iron, mercury and oil. The main trading partners are Canada, Japan, Mexico and Great Britain.
Government type, administration and political system:
The USA with the president as the head of state is a federation of 50 states with 48 on the continent, Alaska in the
North and Hawaii in the Mid-Pacific south-west of San Francisco. There is also one district, D.C. – District of Columbia – it means the land of
Columbus – this territory isn’t a state, the state capital is situated here. The largest state is Alaska, the smallest is Rhode Island. The
capital is Washington, D.C. Other big cities according to the population are New York, Los Angels, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Detroit. The USA
is the member of all major international organisations: UN, OAS, NATO and OECD.
See 30.