THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA) 

The USA is situated on the south part of North America and covers more than 9,3 million square kilometres. It is the fourth largest state in the world. USA has population of about 260 million people and borders with two states: Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. East coast is dipped by the Atlantic Ocean and west coast by the Pacific Ocean. The United States of America is federal state with 50 states, 48 are on the continent and Alaska with Hawaii is situated out of continent. There is also one district, District of Columbia, it is a  territory not a state, it is the area of capital city Washington. 

Geography: US area can be divided into several territories. The first is the Appalachian Highlands, which interferes from Canadian area on the north to Atlantic lowlands on the south. It is long stretch of mountains. The second is the Mississippi Lowlands on the south, along the Gulf of Mexico. It is a place, where the Mississippi River runs to sea. The third territory is the Great prairies in the central part of USA. In this territory lie also five big Canadian lakes: the Superior Lake, the Michigan Lake, the Ontario Lake, the Huron Lake, the Eire Lake, which create a natural border with Canada. Next is the Cordilleras, the largest mountain range in American continent. There are the Cascadian mountain, the Rocky mountain and the Sierra Nevada - the highest mountain with the highest peak Mt. Whitney (4418 m). Last territory creates Coastal Range along west coast. 
The surface: The surface in the USA is various, there are lowlands on the east and south, prairies in the central part and mountains are mainly on the west. 
The climate: The USA lies in the moderate climate zone and the climate is determinate by the ocean. Only in the central part is mostly a continental climate with great temperature differences between summer and winter or day and night. There are also differences between east cost with more rainy weather and west coast with dry and hot weather and soft winters. 
The rivers: The longest river is the Mississippi River, which flows from north to south. Next important rivers are for examples the Rio Grande, which forms natural border with Mexico, or the Colorado, the Missouri, the Snake, the Yukon in Alaska. 
Population: The United States of America is home for more than 260 million people, density is about 26 people per 1 sq. kilometre. Around 79 per cent of inhabitants live in urban areas. The biggest of them is called megalopolis, there are for example megalopolis from Boston, throw New York, Philadelphia to Washington on east coast and San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego on west coast. The most of people are European origin, so they are children of the first settlers. But there lives a lot of Afro-American, Hispanics, or Asian people. So we can say, that the USA is a cosmopolitan country.

The towns: The capital city is Washington D.C. It is seat of the government and president. A lot of American institutions and offices have a seat there. The largest city is New York with 18 million inhabitants including agglomeration. Other famous cities are: Chicago- called the Wind City with one of the highest buildings Sears Tower, Detroit- called city of automobiles, where is the seat of General Motors company, Philadelphia - it was the first capital city of US, Pittsburgh- steel heart, Boston- the centre of the Harvard University, New Orleans – the town of jazz, Salt Lake City – the town of Mormons, Winter Olympic Games in 2002 were held there, Los Angeles- the city of films stars and centre of film industry, the biggest ZOO in the world is there, San Francisco- with Golden Gate bridge, University of Berkeley, Seattle- the city of computers, Florida – the centre of tourism, Houston with NASA centre, it is important cosmic base.
Political System: American constitution went into effect in March 1787, so we can say, that USA is quite young democratic state. The political system has three main parts or branches: the first of them is the legislative branch, which is made up of elected representatives. They make the Congress- its seat is the Capitol (Washington). Congress has two parts: House of Representatives with 435 lawmakers who are elected according to the population of each state for two years. Second part is The Senate, which has 100 members (2 from each state voted for 6 years). Congress makes federal laws or bills. 
The executive branch: is represented by the President and 13 executive departments. President is chosen in nationwide elections every 4 years and can be voted only twice. President has quite strong position and wide authorities. He is Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces, he represented own country abroad, he has right veto to refused bill, grants somebody pardon. The Vice-President, who came from same political party as the President is the chairman of the Senate. 
The departments: State, Treasury, Defence, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labour, Health, Education, Energy, Transportation, Human Services, Housing and Urban Development. 
The judicial branch is made up of Federal Districts Courts, 11 Federal Courts of Appeals and at the top is the Supreme Court. 
Political Parties: There are two powerful political parties, which struggle about real power in state. The Democratic Party is more liberal, they support social and economic programs. 
The Republican Party supports individual initiative.

The Economy: USA has the biggest economy of the world, so it can be said, that it is the richest country of the world. It has good market conditions, strong business position in the world. The USA produce engines, automobiles, ships, electronics and computers. There are big companies such as General Motors, IBM, Coca-cola, Nike, Motorola, Apple Computers, and Microsoft etc. The biggest trade partners are neighbouring Canada, Mexico and Japan. 
Natural resources: There are extensive minds of black coal, which is used in heavy industry, petrol mainly in Texas and along southern coast, gas, gold, zinc, magnesium etc. For agriculture are important mainly corn and wheat in central part, cattle breeding, cotton, sugar wheat etc.