American Geography

The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states. The 50 states form an area of 3,615,122 sq. miles (31 times the size of Italy), making the United States the 4th largest country in the world. Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia) is between the states of Maryland and Virginia. It is a federal district and does not belong to any state. Puerto Rico and The United States Virgin Islands are not states but they are associated with United States.LAND. Alaska is the largest state. It is about the same size as Portugal, Spain, France and Germany together. Alaska is very mountanous. The highest mountain is Mount McKinley, which is 6,914 meters high – the highest in North America.Hawaii is a group of 20 islands in the Pacific Ocean, 2,397 miles from California. Only 7 of the islands are inhabited. The mountanous islands were formed by volcanic activity and ther are still a number of active volcanoes. The islands are actually the tops of volcanoes. Hawaii is one of the smallest states. It is a little smaller than Kuwait.The other 48 states stretch across the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. There is a wide variety of land forms; flat land, mountainous areas, rivers and lakes. Along the Atlantic Coast the land is flat. In land from the coast there is a low range of mountains, the Appalachian mountains.The highest point is mount Mitchell in North Carolina (2,037meters).In the middle of the continent is the great Mississipi River which flows south to the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River which flows north-east through Canada to the Atlantic Ocean. The middle part of the country is generally flat, and toward the west, it is very open – from Texas to the Dacotas this area is called the Great Plains.MOUNTAINS. To the west of the Great Plains is the Cordillera, which accounts for one-third of the United States. It is a region of tremendous variety, which can be subdivided into various other regions. The west is mountanous. There are 2 main mountain systems: the Rocky Mountains and nearer the Pacific, the Sierra Nevada and the Coast/Cascade Range. There is a dry, semi-desert area between the mountain ranges which is called the Great Basin. Geat Salt Lake is in the middle of this basin. The highest mountain in the west is mount Whithey (4,418meters) in the Sierra Nevada of California.RIVERS. The U.S. has several immensly long rivers. There are many rivers in the eastern part of the nation, the longest of which is the Missouri (3942km), a tributary of the Mississipi (3,760km). Two other tributaries of the Mississsipi – the Ohio and Tennessee – are more than 1,250 km. long. In the west the Rio grande, which forms part of the United States – Mexico border, flows for 3,016 km. and only the Colorado, Columbia and the San Joaquim-Sacramento river systems reach the Pacific.CLIMATE. Most of the country has a humid continental climate. In general, the climate of the U.S. is temperate with 4 distinct seasons. The northen half of the country usually has snow in the winter.The coldest months are December, January and February, and the warmest are June, July and August. The coldest places are Alaska, Montana, Dacotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northern Michigan, Northern New York, and Northern New England. The hottest places are Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississipi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.Southern Florida and Hawaii are subtropical. Southern California has a Mediterranean-type of climate. The driest areas are sothern California, Nevada,Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and northern Alaska. The East is much wetter than the west, and the wettest areas are in the lower Mississipi basin. The U.S. is notourious for its tornadoes. There is a tornado belt which is lying from the southern part of Missouri state.NATURAL RESOURCES. The U.S. posseses vast non-fuel natural resources. The major resource is iron, three quaters of which come from the Lake Superior region of the Great Lakes. Other basic metals and minerals mined on a large scale are zinc, copper, silver and phosphate rock (used for fertilizers). This wealth is distributed throughout most of the country, but Texas and the West (especially California) are the most important mineral-producing areas. Mining and quarring account for only 2% of General National Product (GNP).The U.S. produces one-quarter of the world’s coal and one-seventh of its petroleum, with sufficient coal reserves to last for hundred years. About half of the nation’s electric power comes from coal-fired power stations, while natural and manufactured gas supply more than 33% of the nation’s power. The main gas fields are found near the main oil fields in Texas, Lousiana and Alaska. Nuclear power is also used in many places, using uranium mined in New Mexico and Wyoming, and produces over 10% of the nation’s energy output. The Rocky Mountains contain many important metals such as lead, uranium and gold.