IV. ☼ Develop your critical thinking skills. Explain:

1. Why the USA is called the country of diversity.

2. Why the Great Lakes play an important role in the economic life of the USA.

3. Why the western part of the USA has always attracted settlers.

INTERESTING FACTS

· The White Mountains got their name from the grayish white appearance of the higher peaks.

· Death Valley is now a resort. It was called so in 1849 by Gold Rush pioneers when part of them died there.

· The Grand Canyon is 1,6 km deep.

· Besides the Grand Canyon you can see the Painted Desert in Arizona where red, orange and white layers make a superb mozaic.

· The Mississippi is called «the father of waters».

· The General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California. By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth.

· There are more than 28,000,000 cats in the USA.

· The side-winder snake of the USA travels in a strange, looping motion to prevent its skin from getting burnt by the hot desert sands.

· Lake Superior is almost twice the size of Switzerland.

TOPIC 2: A BIT OF HISTORY

More than two-hundred-year-old history of the United States is rich in excitement and drama: the transformation of an untamed land into a mighty industrial power; the growth of a basically English colony into a complex multiethnic society. There have been moments of truimph and sadness, but throughout there also has been remarkable faithfulness to the democratic ideals proclaimed at the moments of the nation's birth.

COMING TO THE NEW WORLD

The first explorers and settlers

Christopher Columbus discovered the ‘New World’ almost by accident. He was looking for a shorter route to the eastern Spice Islands in Asia. The king and queen of Spain had sponsored him to sail west with three small ships: Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. He had no idea there would be land between Europe and Asia.

The great continent Columbus had discovered got its name after Americus Vespucius, an Italian. In 1501 he sailed many miles along the coast of South America. It seemed endless. Americus gave its thorough description, and the new continent was named after him. In fact, Vespucuis did not discover America, but was one of the first people to realize it might be a separate continent and not part of Asia.

After Columbus, other European explorers came looking for riches and land to claim for their countries – the Spanish, the French, the English and others.

    One of the earliest and most important settlements was Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. The 102 settlers (called Pilgrims) were from Plymouth, England. In December 1620, the Pilgrims arrived in New World on a ship called Mayflower. They were looking for religious freedom and a better life. Living in a new country was hard and half of them died during the first winter. The next spring friendly Indians helped the Pilgrims by teaching them how to fish, hunt, grow corn, pumpkins, and beans. Thus the Pilgrims established the tradition of Thanksgiving (nowadays – last Thursday in November).

From settlement to nation

More and more Europeans came to America. By the mid-eighteenth century, settlers had also come from Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany. There were also millions of slaves who were brought from Africa to work for the colonists.

By 1750, there were 13 British colonies. However, the colonies disagreed with the British government over how they should be governed and how much tax they should pay. They wanted to be independent and have a government of their own. Boston Tea Party was one of the protest acts.

On July 4, 1776, the colonists declared their independence from Britain. Led by Thomas Jefferson, representatives of all thirteen colonies met in Philadelphia to sign the Declaration of Independence. After that the colonies fought against Britain in the American Revolution or the War of Independence (1775-1783), until they finally won independence under the command of George Washington, who later became the first President of the United States of America.

A new country

After the War of Independence all the territory north of Florida, south of Canada and east of the Mississippi River formed the United States of America. The 13 colonies were free and independent.

In 1787 the American Constitution was drawn up in Philadelphia which with its 26 amendments is in force at the present time. George Washington was elected the first President of the United States. In 1800 the US Federal Government moved from Philadelphia to Washington to establish a new capital on the banks of the Potomac River.

The United States of America having won independence began to develop rapidly. The great mass of the population lived on farms and plantations or in small villages. There were only 5 cities of considerable size.

Industry too was making progress. In Massachusetts and Rhode Island the textile industry began to develop. Connecticut began to produce clocks and metallic goods, the Middle States paper, glass, and iron. The shipping industry developed. The Industrial Revolution had reached America.

Over a million of immigrants from Europe and Asia began to arrive in America every year. Immigrants often stayed on Ellis Island in New York Harbor before they could enter the United States. The Statue of Liberty was one of the first things many of them saw when they arrived. The French government gave it to the USA in 1886 as a symbol of liberty.

Cultural Background

Jamestown (Джеймстаун) – the first English settlements in the New World. In 1606 a group of London merchants formed a joint-stock company known as the Virginia Company of London. They asked King James of England to allow them to plant a colony in Virginia. The king gave them a charter for a settlement in the New World. The colonists called the settlement Jamestown, in honour of their king.

The Pilgrim Fathers (пилигримы) – were Separatists in England, or members of the Puritan movement. They wished to purify the Church of England by making religious services simpler and discipline stricter. That is why they were called Puritans. They were persecuted by English officials, and many of the Puritans fled to Holland. Several years later they moved to America.

Plymouth Colony (Плимутская колония) – the first colony established by the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth in 1620, later part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628-30) in what became known as “New England”.

Maryland (Мэриленд) – the second plantation colony successfully planted by the English in the New World. It was founded by Cecilius Calvert, Lord Baltimore in 1634. The new English colony in America was called Maryland after Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I. It was a success from the very beginning, as it had a religious toleration. This first settlement in Maryland was named St. Marys.

New Amsterdam (г. Новый Амстердам) – a Dutch colony established on Manhattan Island by Henry Hudson in 1609. The are was bought from Indian chiefs in 1626. Later Charles II, the king of Britain, granted the area to his brother, the Duke of York, who seized the Dutch colony in 1664. The town was renamed New York in honour of the Duke of York.

The Quartering Act («Четвертичный закон») – an act issued by the British government which forced the American colonies to house and feed British soldiers.

Boston Tea Party («Бостонское чаепитие») – on December 16, 1773, about 50 Boston working men disguised as Indians threw the contents of 342 chests of tea, belonging to the East India Company into the water of Boston harbor. It was a protest against British taxes on tea and against the monopoly granted the East India Company.

The Declaration of Independence (Декларация независимости) – a historical document compiled by Thomas Jefferson, adopted at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in July 4, 1776. The document proclaimed independence of the 13 North American colonies from Britain and the creation of the United States of America. The document contains the phrase: “All men are created equal … they have certain inalienable rights to … life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness).

The Founding Fathers («отцы-основатели») – in the broad sense: the participants in the process of the US foundation; in the narrow sense – the authors of the Declaration of Independence.