The United States of America

The United States of America is the fourth largest country in the world (after Russia, Canada and China). The USA is situated in the central part of North America. The total area of the country is 9,522,057 square kilometers. Its western coast is washed by the Pacific Ocean. Its eastern coast is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The USA borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south. It also has a sea-border with Russia.

The USA consists of three separate parts. They are the Hawaiian Islands, situated in the central part of the Pacific Ocean, Alaska separated by the Canadian territory and the rest major part of the USA.

The climate of the country varies greatly from arctic in Alaska through continental in the central part to subtropical in the south.

The United States of America is a federal republic. It consists of fifty states and the District of Columbia. The states differ very much in size, population and economic development. Each state has its own government and there is a federal or national government. Each state has its own constitution and can collect taxes.

The capital of the country is Washington D.C. (named in honour of the first President, George Washington). The population of the USA is 299,330,000 people. The seat of the federal government is Washington D.C.

According to the US Constitution (adopted after the War of Independence, September17, 1787), the powers of the government are divided into 3 branches. They are the executive, the legislative and the judicial. The executive is headed by the President and his Administration. The legislative is exercised by the US Congress. The judicial is headed by the US Supreme Court.

The President of the USA is the head of the country. The executive branch administers the laws. The US President is elected for a 4-year term. The US President commands the armed forces, conducts foreign affairs, and recommends laws to the Congress.

The Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The congress’s main function is to make laws. There are 100 senators (two from each state) and 435 representatives. The number of the representatives from each state depends on the size of the state’s population. Senators are chosen for six years.

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the country and the head of the judicial branch of US government. The US Supreme Court has nine members, appointed for life. The judicial branch interprets the laws and makes sure that the new laws are in keeping with the Constitution.

There are two main political parties in the USA: the Democratic (symbolized by a “donkey”) and the Republican (its symbol is an “elephant”).

The flag of the USA is called “Stars and Stripes”. There are three colours on the flag of the USA: red, white and blue. As there are fifty states in the USA, there are fifty stars on the American flag: one star for each state. The American flag has seven red stripes and six white stripes. There is one stripe for each of the first thirteen colonies which in 1776 became independent of England.

The eagle became the official national symbol of the country in 1782. It holds an olive branch (a symbol of peace) and arrows (symbols of strength) in its paws.

The USA is one of the greatest industrial and leading agricultural nations in the world. The USA produces around 25% of the world’s industrial products, agricultural goods and services.

The USA is rich in mineral resources, such as salt, zinc, coal, copper, iron, gold, silver and oil. Such industries as machine-building, ship-building are highly developed in the country.

The most important rivers are the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Colorado, and the Sacramento. There are five Great Lakes between the USA and Canada.

The highest mountains are the Rocky Mountains, the Cordillera and the Sierra Nevada. The largest cities are New York (the city of contrasts, financial and business centre of the USA), Los Angeles, Chicago (one of the biggest industrial cities of the USA), Philadelphia, Detroit (one of the largest centres of the automobile industry), San Francisco, Washington (the capital of the country) and others.

The USA is one of the most powerful and highly developed countries in the world. It is leader of the western world.

Canada

Profile
	Official name		Canada
	Form of government		federal multiparty parliamentary state with two legislative houses (Senate [105(1)]; House of Commons [308])
	Chief of state		Queen of Canada (British Monarch)
Representative of chief of state Governor-General
	Head of government		Prime Minister
	Capital		Ottawa.
	Official language		English; French
	Official religion		none
	Monetary unit		Canadian dollar (Can$)
	Population estimate		(2006) 32,547,000
	Total area (sq mi)		3,855,103
	Total area (sq km)		9,984,670

Canada

Canada is the second largest country in the world. Canada consists of northern part of the North American continent except Alaska. Its total area is more than 9 mln square kilometers.

In the south Canada borders on the USA and is washed by the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. There are various types of climate. Most of northern Canada has subarctic or arctic climates, with long cold winters and short sunny summers. In contrast, the populated south has temperate type of climate.

Canada has over 15 per cent of the world’s known fresh-water volume. Four of the five Great Lakes lie partly in Canada. Great Bear Lake (31,326 square kilometers) in the Northwest Territories is the largest lake situated entirely in Canada.

The longest river in Canada is the Mackenzie (4,241 kilometers), which flows into the Arctic Ocean.

Canada is rich in iron ore, nickel, copper, gold, diamonds, timber, coal, silver and other natural resources.

Canada is a federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories. In fact, the territories have a bit less power than the provinces.

The total population is over 32 mln people. The capital of the country is Ottawa.

English and French are the official languages of Canada and have equal status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all governmental institutions.

The federal Parliament is made up of the House of Commons and the Senate. The leader of the party that wins the largest number of seats in a newly elected House of Commons is asked to form the government.

The civil law follows English common law everywhere except in Quebec, where it follows the Napoleonic Code.

Canada is a world leader in the production of asbestos, nickel and different other elements, forestry products, and ranks first in the world in export of minerals. Agriculture is of major importance to the economy as a whole and still is basic in many areas. Canada is among the world’s leading wheat producers and is second in the export of wheat.

All of Canada’s provinces and territories have symbols that are special to them. Two of the most popular Canadian symbols are the beaver and the Maple leaf. The beaver represents the importance of the fur trade in the early history of Canada. On March 24, 1975, the beaver officially became an emblem of Canada. The Maple Leaf has been a symbol of Canada for over 200 years. It was used for decorating emblems and badges. The red and white flag with the Maple leaf in the middle is the first distinctly Canadian flag.

The most important cities are Toronto, Quebec, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and others.

Canada is a beautiful country with many places of interest. Nowadays Canada has more than 2,400 museums which receive nearly 54 million visits annually. These are The Prince Edward Island Potato Museum in O’Leary, the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium, the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller and others. Canada’s 37 national parks are spread throughout the country. Banff opened in 1885 is the oldest one.

Canadians are very proud of their country and its history.