Unit 1 The Country

Unit 1 The Country

1. Physical Features

The forty-eight contiguous states lie between the Atlantic and Pacific

Oceans, Canada and Mexico. Alaska and Hawaii are located in the far

northwest corner of the continent and the middle of the Pacific Ocean,

respectively. The interior lowland is the heart of what American

politicians

would

like

to

call

“middle

America.”

The

region

is

drained

by the Mississippi River and its great tributaries. The Appalachians on

the

east

stretch

almost

unbroken

from

Alabama

to

the

Canadian

border

and

beyond. They are much- eroded old mountains and are set back from the

Atlantic by a broad belt of coastal lowland. To the west of the interior

basin lies the mighty system of mountains that Spanish explorers named

“Cordillera”—

a collective term for all the high rough country of the

western third of the United States.

2. The Humid East

Throughout the whole region drought is a rare occurrence. The region

stretches

along

the

Atlantic

in

broad

swaths

in

three

climatic

categories:

continental, subtropical and tropical.

3. The Arid West

Although

the

west

is

known

to

be

dry

and

arid,

there

are

important

regional

differences within the arid west. There is the desert that lies in the

rain- shadow of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges and stretches north

from

Mexico

across

Arizona,

New

Mexico,

and

Nevada

into

southern

Oregon.

4. The Humid-Arid Transition

Between the humid east and the arid West, there is the great zone of

transition,

known

as

the

humid-arid

transition.

This

great

stretch

of

land,

often called the “Barn of America”, offers fine farmland.

5. The Humid Pacific Coast

The

only

substantial

humid

region

in

the

western

United

States

is

a

narrow

strip between the Pacific coast and the Sierra-Cascade ridge line,

containing two climatic categories: maritime and Mediterranean.

6. The Northeast

Stretching from Maine south through Maryland and west to the border of

Ohio,

the

whole

section

is

known

to

be

densely

populated

and

highly

urban,

and only recently economically troubled due to its declining old

industries. Since this area is one of the two earliest settlements by

British

colonists

(the

other

being

Virginia),

Americans

tend

to

trace

many

of the nation’s core values (WASP) to the region. One of the region’s

greatest

strengths

in

its

economic

competition

with

other

regions

is

its

long

tradition

of

support

for

education,

which

dates

from

the

seventeenth

century.

7. The South

Traditionally,

the

southern

region

refers

to

the

eleven

states

that

left

the

Union

to

form

the

Confederacy

during

the

Civil

War

period.

The

legacy

of rigid social structure where everyone belongs to a clearly defined

social

group

can

still

be

strongly

felt

in

the

South.

Racial

tension

tends

to be high there, and southern whites, relatively speaking, are more

conservative than white people in other regions.

8. The Midwest

The Midwest includes the states boarding the Great Lakes and the first

tiers of states west of the Mississippi River from Missouri and Kansas

north to Canada. As the Great Lakes states contain many large

manufacturing centers, they are usually termed the Industrial Midwest,

even though they are also

important

farm states.

Of all the

major cities

in

the

Midwest,

Chicago

remains

the

region’s

premier

city,

for

it

is

not

only the national hub of the commodities market and the regional hub of

air

transportation,

but

also

the

home

of

widely

diversified

industry

and

cultural institutions.

9. The West

“The West” has a place in the American mind as a myth as well as a set

of values. It represents possibility, freedom, self-reliance, and the

future. The Southwest consists of New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of

surrounding

states

from

Texas

to

southern

California.

The

Mountain

States

include

Nevada,

Utah,

Colorado,

Wyoming,

Montana

and

Idaho.

Las

Vegas

and

Ren

o stand out as “American dreamland”. The PacificCoast grew as a

populated area in the wake of the 1849 Gold Rush when many people were

attracted there by the discovery of gold. The LA metropolis is home to

the Hollywood film and media conglomerates as well as major energy,

defense and aerospace companies.

10. Europeans

About

67

%

of

all

American

citizens

are

descended

wholly

and

directly

from

people born in Europe. Of those who consider themselves to have an

identifiable

origin

in

some

particular

country,

the

largest

single

group,

even

now,

feel

“British”—

just

over

a

tenth

of

the

population.

The

great

majority of Americans are Caucasian, and the mainstream culture of the

United

States

is

primarily

WASP

in

character.

America

still

reflects

its

British

origins

in

ways

that

go

far

beyond

the

language,

particularly

in

architectural design and legal system.

11. Black Americans

Black

people

in

2005

represent

about

12.8%

of

the

total

population

in

the

U. S. A. Africans were brought to the American South in the early 1600s

as

slaves.

Southern

slavery

was

ended

only

with

the

victory

of

the

northern

states

in

the

Civil

War

of

1861-1865.

Martin

Luther

King

became

the

leader

of the Civil Rights Movement. Between the late 1950s and the 1960s, the

United States witnessed active protests, both non-violent and violent,

against

racial

segregation

of

all

kinds

in

most

of

its

major

cities.

During

the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, many laws were passed to

eliminate racial discrimination, and southern racism was soon in full

retreat.

12. Latinos/Hispanics

Americans have been using the term to refer to American residents from

such

countries

as

Mexico,

Puerto

Rico,

and

Cubans

—

the

three

major

groups

in

the

Latino

population

in

the

United

States.

In

2000,

Latino

population

replaced African Americans as the largest minority group in the United

States. By living standards, Mexican Americans or Chicanos are at the

bottom

of

the

Latino

population,

whereas

Cubans

are

at

the

top

and

Puerto

Ricans somewhere in between.

13. Asian Americans

Thanks

to

the

1965

immigration

law,

Asian

Americans

have

soared

in

numbers,

there were altogether over 10 million Asian Americans residing in the

United

States,

representing

about

3.6

percent

of

the

population.

The

first

Asians to arrive in the United States in significant numbers were the

Chinese, who initially worked in the gold mines and, later, in building

the transcontinental railroad. Praised for their industriousness,

heralded

for

their

educational

attainments,

and

lauded

for

their

economic

success, Asian Americans are often viewed as the “model minority”.

14. Native Americans