The United States of America

The United States of America is one of the biggest countries in the world, after Russia and Canada, it has the largest land mass. It so big that the country passes through 5 time zones: Eastern time, central time, mountain time, pacific time and Alaskan time. The united states has 50 states, and two of these are physically separated from the American mainland. These states are Alaska and Hawaii.

Il paesaggio (landscape)

The USA can be divided into 5 geographical regions.

The Atlantic Coastal Plain: runs down the east coast, from New England down to the Mexican border. This is one of the most industrialised areas of the USA, in this regions there are New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Boston.

The Interior Plain: runs from the Canadian Border down to the Atlantic Coastal Plain. This is the agricultural heart-land of country. It is divided in 2 areas: the Central Lowlands and the Great Plains. The Central Lowlands is crossed by many rivers and it includes the Corn Belt in the east while the Great Plains in the north are the main wheat-producing region, but it is also noted for its important manufacturing areas (es. Steel mills of Chicago) [detroit].

The Pacific Slope: provides fertile farmland ans is a major industrial centre, but it's also noted for its heartquakes! In this regions there are Los Angeles, San Francisco.

The Appalachian Mountains are mountain range running from south-weast to north-east for 2400km along the Coastal Plain.

The North American Cordillera: is a vast series of mountain ranges which run west from the Great Plain throungh the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range. This range includes the famous Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon and the mount McKinley in Alaska.

The Usa has a great number of rivers. The longest river is the Mississipi. It forms the core of American's waterways and has many tributaries including the Missouri and the Ohio, all rivers east of the Rockies finally reach the Atlantic while the rivers west of the Rockies reach the Pacific.

Other rivers which flow into the Atlantic are the Hudson, the Potomac and the Delaware.

The most important rivers which flow into the Pacific are the Sacramento and the Columbia.

The rio Grande is between Usa and Mexico, it is very long and famous for supllying hydroelectric power.

The Usa is also famous for its lakes. Along the Canadian border there are 5 enormous lakes (michigan, huron, ontario, erie ans superior) infact a region known as the Great Lakes. The largest of these lakes is Lake Superior.

Another very big lake is the Great Salt Lake in Utah, it contains salt in its water.

In Usa the climate is extremely varied. Florida and Louisiana are almost tropical, while parts of alska are artic. Generally in:

the northern parts of the country have cool summers and very cold winter

cities like new york and philadelphia enjoy a climate similar to central Europe; with warm and hot summers but cold winters

other areas like Dallas and Atlanta enjoy good weather all year round, with warm summer and mild winters

the heaviest rainfall is in parts of Hawaii (12000 mm), followed by Alaska(1500 mm). The interior plains and the west coast tend to be drier.