In the 15 th century Europeans didnt know

In the 15 th century Europeans didn’t know that two large continents, inhabited by other peoples, lay on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In 1492 an Italian sailor and mapmaker named Christopher Columbus, changed the course of history, when he landed off a small island after a long voyage with his three small ships. He named the island San Salvador. He believed he had reached the East Indies off the southern coast of Asia and named the people who inhabited it “Indians”.

Between 1492 and 1504, Columbus made four voyages. He discovered and explored the northeastern coast of Cuba, many of the Caribbean island, and parts of Central and South America, including the delta of the Orinoco River. On the island of Hispaniola, he founded the first European settlement on the New World. Two years after he returned from the fourth voyage, Columbus died convinced that he had found a western route to Asia. He never knew that his calculations based on geographical knowledge of the time, were wrong. He had expected to find Japan and China rather than Cuba and Mexico. However, the land discovered by Columbus never bore his name. It was named after Amerigo Vespucci, another Italian who explored the eastern coast of South America shortly after Columbus” voyages.

Columbus was not the first to discovered America. Leif Ericsson sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Norway in the year 1000, heading for his home in Greenland. He lost his way and landed on the northeast coast of America. He called the place “Vinland” because of the wild grapes growing there. A few years later a trader from Iceland followed Ericsson then Eriksson’s two brothers and their sister also made trips to America. After that there were no more explorations, and the Vikings did not set up any colonies on that continent.

The Mayflower transported Pilgrims to the New World in 1620, as depicted in William Halsall's The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor. The indigenous peoples of the U. S. mainland, including Alaska Natives, migrated from Asia. They began arriving at least 12, 000 and as many as 40, 000 years ago. Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached several Caribbean islands, making first contact with the indigenous people. Millions of indigenous Americans subsequently died from epidemics of Eurasian diseases.

n The first successful English settlements were the Virginia Colony in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymout Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of migration; by 1634, New England had been settled by some 10, 000 Puritans. Between the late 1610 s and the American Revolution, about 50, 000 convicts were shipped to Britain's American colonies. Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.

The United States is fourth largest country in the world in size and population. It has an area of 9, 371, 781 square kilometers and its population is 249 million people. The USA consists of 50 states.

Along the Pacific Coast the land is flat, inland from the coast there are the Appalachian Mountains. In the middle of the continent there is the great Mississippi River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The middle part of the country is generally flat; this area is called the Great Plains. In the west there are two main mountains systems the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Range. Rocky Mountains and arch. Arizona

The climate of the USA is temperate, with four distinct seasons. The northern part of the country has snow in winter. The hottest places are Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and an Arizona. Southern Florida and Hawaii are subtropical. The east is much wetter than the west. Florida Arizona

The main rivers are the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Colorado and the Ohio. The largest cities of the USA are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia. The capital of the USA is Washington. New York San Francisco

The USA has many natural resources, such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, rich soil for agriculture and forests. The economy of the USA is based upon free enterprise. The USA produces non-electric machinery, transportation equipment and cars, chemicals, food products, electronic equipment, metal products, paper and plastic products. Electric and cars

There are many ethnic groups in the United States. The largest group is Black American (about 12% of the population). Spanish-speaking people are about 9%. The fastest growing ethnic groups are Chinese, Japanese and Indochinese (3%). Native Americans are about 1% of the population. The basic language spoken throughout the country is American English

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QUESTIONS: 1. What is a popular name for the United States of America? 2. Who are the natives of the USA? 3. When did the Americans begin to celebrate Thanksgiving Day? 4. Why are the names of some places Spanish? 5. What is the national capital of the United States? 6. What Statue is the symbol of New York and the United States? Whose gift was it? 7. What other languages do the Americans speak? 8. What other big cities of the United States do you know? 9. How many stars are there on the national banner of the United States of America. What does each star represent? 10. What can you say about the climate of the USA? 11. What natural resources has the USA?