Theme 1. The Country

• At least 14.000 years ago, the first American immigrants were Asian hunters getting to North America across a land bridge where Bering Strait is today.
• Original 13 states: Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire
• The United States has control over 14 territories
• 5 of the U.S. territory (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) have a permanent, nonmilitary population,...
• 1776: 13 states (tiểu bang) and territory (lãnh thổ) that extended west to the Mississippi River
• 1782 - 1783: Treaties (Hiệp ước) with the UK establish the U.S. as an independent country, bound (giáp) on the north by Canada, south by Spanish Florida, west by the Mississippi River, and east by the Atlantic Ocean
• 1803: Louisiana Purchase at $15 million from France in Napoleon time, extending west to the Rocky Mountains, doubling the size of the U.S
• 1819: Florida purchased from Spain
• 1845: The independent Republic of Texas was annexed (sáp nhập) from Mexico
• 1846: Oregon added (from a treaty with Britain)
• 1848: Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and western Colorado added (brought from Mexico)
• 1853: Southern Arizona and southern New Mexico added (Gadsden Purchase)
• 1861 - 1865: West Virginia established with help from Congress
• 1867: Alaska purchased from Russia
• 1898: Hawaii was annexed (sáp nhập) into the United States
• Time zone changes twice a year
• North east (New England): has British lifestyle, includes 6 states: Vermont New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine
• Vermont: state of green mountain
• Massachusett (MA): locate in new england, famous universities: Harvard (Massachusett-16th), MIT (Massachusett-19th), Boston (Massachusett-19th, capital and most populous city, 3rd largest library in the U.S. - Boston Public Library)
• Rhode island: smallest state → famous school: Rhode Island School of Design (19th)
• Chicago: The hub of Midwest → Windy City (located under Lake Michigan so it gets lots of wind) → A city in Illinois Nebraska
• Appalachian Mountains: great highland system of North America, 3,200 km long from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to central Alabama in the U.S., forming a natural barrier between the eastern Coastal Plain and the vast interior lowlands; combining a heritage of natural beauty and a distinctive regional culture
• Rocky Mountains (the Rockies): backbone of the great upland system in the west; stretching 4,800km from northern Alberta and British Columbia southward  to New Mexico; bordered on the east by the Great Plains and on the west by the Great Basin; Mountain range that stretches from Canada to New Mexico. Rocky Mountain: has 5 states: Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming 
• Mount. Whitney: highest mountain in the contiguous U.S. and the Sierra Nevada, 4,421m above sea level

  *Mountain range along the border between California and Nevada: Sierra Nevada

  *Mountain range that stretches from Canada to New Mexico: Cascade
• Mount. McKinley (or Denali): the highest mountain in North America, located in south-central Alaska; 6,190m above sea level; third-highest of the seven summits (the highest peaks on all seven continents) - the highest point in the United States
• Major rivers: Ohio River, Mississippi, Missouri Rivers, Colorado River and Rio Grande River forms the border with Mexico.
• The most important river is the Mississippi
• The central U.S. river system includes the three major rivers of the central United States: the Missouri converges with the Mississippi near St. Louis, and the Ohio converges with the Mississippi in southern Illinois (at Cairo).
• The Ohio River is the gateway to the west.
• The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers (This river was used by Lewis and Clark on their exploration of the west) are the transportation arteries for farm and industrial products in the Great Plains. They are links to ports and other parts of the world.
• The Colorado River supports $1.4 trillion (1/2 U.S. GDP) in annual economic activity and 16 million jobs in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming.
• The Rio Grande River forms the border with Mexico.
• Two Major lakes: Great Lake and Great Salt Lake
• Great Salt Lake:

  • Located in Utah
  • 4,400 km²
  • 6 times saltier than the oceans
• Great Lake consists of: Superior, Michigan, Huron, Ontario and Erie River
• Lake Michigan is the only lake located entirely within the U.S.
• Lake Superior is also the biggest freshwater lake in the world.
• Lake Michigan shows the city of Chicago, Illinois, in the background
• Lake Erie is the southernmost and also the shallowest of the lakes
• Lake Huron is the second largest among the lakes