THE THE USA Alison Baxter
Oxford Bookworms Factfiles OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1
America
Think of a big, beautiful, empty land with wi th mount mo untain ains, s, forests, fore sts, lakes lak es,, animals and fish, but no people. This was wa s Ameri Am erica ca 30,000 years ago. ag o. Arou Ar ound nd that time, time , the first people peop le probably arrived in Alaska from Asia As ia.. They Th ey travelled trav elled south sout h and
after that, they brought workers -
became beca me the Nort No rt h Amer Am eric ican an Indians, India ns,
slaves - from Africa. Large numbers
and the Aztecs, Mayas and Incas and
of immigrants continued to arrive
other peoples of Central and South
from all over the world until the
Amer Am eric ica. a. Later Late r came the Inuit
middle of the twentieth century.
(Eskimos) of Canada and the Arctic.
The empty land was now full of
But there are only a few of these early
people, speaking different languages
peoples in America today.
and with different ideas. There are
In the sixteenth century Europeans started to come to America, and soon
just three countrie coun triess n o w in Nort No rt h Amer Am eric ica: a: Cana Ca nada da,, M ex i c o and the USA. But there were we re nearly several more. The 'United States of America' was wa s not no t alwa al ways ys united. The 252 million people who live in its fifty states are not all the same. So how was the USA born? How did it grow? And An d what wh at sort of country is it now?
2 The Pilgrim Father Fathers s For thousands of years, America and its peoples were unknown to the rest of the world. The Vikings visited Canada from Scandinavia around AD 1000, 10 00, but did not no t stay. Then Th en,, in 1492, a brave Italian sailor called Christopher Columbus reached the Caribbean, while he was looking for a sea route from Europe to India.
Slaves working in the tobacco fields
Columbus did not stay either. It was only in the sixteenth century that the
and went to England, where she died. The farmers discovered that it
French, the Spanish, and the
was wa s easy to gr ow toba to bacc cco o in
British all started to come and
Virg Vi rgin inia ia,, so they brough bro ughtt
live in North America.
Africa Afr ican n people peop le to wo r k
In the early seventeenth century, two very different
in the fields as their slaves.
groups of English people
Smoking was becoming
made the dangerous
very fashi fas hion onabl able, e, and
journ jou rney ey acros acr osss the Atlan At lanti tic. c.
the Americans found a big
In 1607, a group of farmers
market for their tobacco
began the colo co lony ny of Jamestown, in Virginia. They
in Europe. Pocahontas
fought with the Indians, and
In 1620, another group of 101 English men, women and
many died because they were ill and
children arrived in Plymouth,
did not have enough to eat. But
Massachusetts. We know these
Pocahontas, the daughter of an
people, who had very strong ideas
Indian chief, became a friend of
about religion, as the 'Pilgrims', or
Captain John Smith and helped him
'Pilgrim Fathers'. They did not want
and the other English people. She
to live in England because they did
later married a man called John Rolfe
not agree with the Church of
England, so they sailed to America in
Thanksgiving, and Americans still
a ship called the the Mayflower. Mayflower. They
celebrate it every year, on the fourth
became not only onl y farmers far mers,, but also
Thursday of November. It is one of
businessmen w h o bought bou ght and sold
the most important holidays in the
animal skins. They thought that all
year, and people peo ple often travel trav el many man y
men were equal and so they did not
hundreds of kilometres to be with
have slaves.
their family.
The Pilgrims too were often ill and hungry, and nearly half of them died
USA facts
in the first year. But they were helped
'America' was named after an
by friendly Indians, Indi ans, w h o showed sho wed
Italian businessman called Amerigo
them how to grow corn. In the
Vespu Ves pucci cci,, w ho sailed to South Sou th
autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims had a
Amer Am erica ica betwee bet ween n 1 4 99 and 1 5 0 2.
big dinner to give thanks tha nks for the first
Columbus called the Native
food that they had grown themselves.
Amer Am erica icans ns 'India 'In dians' ns' because he
This day became known as
thought that he had reached India.
The Pilgrim Fathers landing at Plymouth
3
The War of Independence By 1770, there were
A farmer from fro m Virg Vi rgin inia ia,, Geor Ge orge ge
thirteen colonies
Wash Wa shin ingto gton, n, became beca me the leader of
along the east coast
the American army.
of North America,
The Boston Tea Party
But the colonies did not say that
all governed by
they wanted to be fully independent
Britain. But Britain
until the summer of 1776. Thomas
was wa s a long lon g w ay
Jefferson wrote the famous
away, and the
'Declaration of Independence',
people of the
where whe re he said that the king ki ng,, George Geo rge
colonies became
III, had broken his agreement with
angry at the high
his people, because he had not let
taxes that the
them have their rights: rights to life,
government made
freedom and happiness. The day of
them pay.
the Declaration of Independence is
In December
another important American
1773 a group of men threw
oliday, celebrated each year
342 boxes of tea into the sea
on July 4.
at Boston because they did
The Americans finally
not want to pay the British
wo w o n the w ar five years year s
tax on it. This was the
later, in October 1781, and
'Boston Tea Party'.
two years after that, they were wer e free to gove go vern rn
The British government was now angry too, and in April 1775 some Americans fought a
George Washington
group of British soldiers at Lexington and Concord, in
themselves. In 1788 they made George Washington their first president.
The thirteen colonies, which
Massachusetts. A few months later,
became k no wn as 'stat 's tates es',', grew gr ew by
after the Battle of Bunker Hill, near
adding land to the south and west.
Boston, it was clear that Britain was
In 1803, Jefferson, the third
at war with its American colonies.
president, bought a piece of rich
Signing the Declaration of Independence
farmland in the mid-west from
USA facts
France; it was five times as big as
• The Th e names 'United 'Unite d States of
France itself, and it only cost $15
Amer Am eric ica' a' and 'Ame 'A meri rica can' n' were we re first
million. In 1819, the USA bought
used at the time of the War of
Florida from Spain. The United States
Independence.
wa s no w twice twi ce as big as it had been
• The American flag, the Stars Stars and
in 1781. And by 1848, after winning
Stripes, also first appeared at that
Texas and the West from Mexico, it
time. It has a stripe for each of the
had grown again so that it reached all
first thirteen states and a star is
the way from the Atlantic to the
added when a new state joins, so
Pacific, over 5,000 kilometres.
there are now fifty stars.
4 The Civi Civill War This great country of 31 million people was known as the Union, but in fact there were deep differences betwee bet ween n the No r th and the South. And in 1861 war broke bro ke out - the most mo st terrible war that the world had ever seen. At least 600,000 people died in the fighting or from illness. The war was fought to keep the United States united. It began because the
Slaves working in the cotton fields
southern states kept slaves to work in the cotton fields. Slaves
The South had some of the best
were wer e not no t allo al lowe wed d in the No rt h, and
soldiers - one was the great Robert E.
the two sides argued about whether
Lee - and they had plenty of money
they should allow them in the new
from selling their cotton to England.
lands of the West. In 1860, Abraham
But the North had more men and
Lincoln, who belonged to the
more factories. They also had
Republican party, which was against
Lincoln, one of the best presidents
keeping slaves, was elected president.
that the USA has ever had.
On December 24, South Carolina
Two famous soldiers helped the
said that it wanted to be independent
North to win the war: General
and the other southern states soon
Sherman is remembered in a famous
followed; they called themselves the
song about how he took 60,000 of
'Confederate States of America'. The
his soldiers on a journey from
fighting began on April 12 1861, at
Atla At lant nta, a, in Geor Ge orgi gia, a, to the Atlan At lanti ticc
Fort Sumter.
coast, breaking the Confederate
The Battle of Gettysburg
Abraham Lincoln
states in two; after the war, he
enough to bring the North and the
became beca me head of the Amer Am eric ican an army.
South together. Anger and arguments,
General Ulysses S. Grant was the
mostly about the rights of black
man who represented the North at
people, continued.
Ap po ma tt o x in 1 8 6 5 , when wh en the South, under Lee, accepted that they
USA fact
had lost the war. Grant was very fair
• A very important battle was won
to Lee's soldiers, who did not have to
by the No rt h at Gett Ge ttys ysbu burg rg in
go to prison. Some years later, in
Pennsylvania in 1863. Lincoln spoke
1868, he became president.
there afterwards about the brave
Sadly, in April 1865, just after the
soldiers who had died. This became
end of the war, Lincoln was shot at
known as the Gettysburg Address
the theatre by a man called John
and contains the famous words,
Wilk Wi lkes es Boot Bo oth. h. After Aft er Lincol Lin coln's n's death dea th,,
'. . . government of the people,
the new president was not strong
by the peop pe ople le,, for the peop pe ople le.'.'
5 The Wil Wild d West During the nineteenth century, more and more people went to live in the West. Wes t. M o s t of us have seen the 'Wil 'W ild d West' Wes t' in films and on televis tele vision ion,, and so we think that it was full of cowboys and fighting. But in fact there were very few cowboys - no more than 40,000 - and real cowboys did not shoot each other very ver y often. often . They Th ey were wer e hard ha rd-w -wor orki king ng
A cowboy
men, and at least a quarter of them were wer e black bla ck or M ex ic an . They Th ey took to ok
other crops instead of keeping cows.
cows from Texas up to the railway
The farms were very lonely, but
towns in Kansas and Missouri to be
soon the railways helped to bring
killed for meat. From there, the meat
people together. In 1869, the railway
was wa s sent to the East and sold. sol d.
line from the East met the line from
The cowboys almost disappeared
the West in Utah, so it was possible
after about thirty years because the
for Americans to travel right across
land was given by the government to
the USA by train.
farmers and their families. From
There were about two million
1862 to 1900, more than half a
Native Americans (or 'Indians') in
million farmers came to live in the
Amer Am eric ica a in the fifteenth century,
West, Wes t, where whe re they grew gr ew corn and
when whe n the Eur Europe opeans ans started to colonize the country. They lived by
Indians hunting buffalo
hunting and farming, and when they got horses from the Europeans, they used them to hunt buffalo. There were about 60 million buffalo and the Indians needed them
for food, clothes, houses, knives, etc. Sadly, the Europeans also brought diseases which killed the Indians. They fought and killed the Indians too, because they wanted to take their land for farms or railways. They shot millions of buffalo, so that it is said that by 1900 there were less than a thousand animals left in all of the USA - and less than 250,000 Native Amer Am eric ican ans. s. The Indian wars ended in 1890
An early American railroad
with wi th the Battle of Woun Wo unded ded Knee, Kne e, when wh en many man y Siou Si oux x men, men , wome wo men n and children were killed by Amer Am eric ican an soldier sol diers. s. After this, thi s,
different places; one man rode with wi th a bag of letters for abou ab outt
Indians had to live in special
120 kilometres and then gave
places called 'reservations'.
it to another man. In this way,
Even today, many of the
letters only took about ten
two million Native
days to cross the country.
Ameri Am erican canss live on
• One very well-known well-kn own
reservations; they
rider was Buffalo Bill
are often very poor
Cody. He later became
and a lot of them do
a soldier and a hunter;
not have jobs.
they say that he shot 4,280 buffalo buf falo in one year! year ! In the
USA facts • From 1860 to 18 61 , the the
1880s, Buffalo Bill started his Wild West Show, a kind
mail was carried from East
of travelling theatre, with the
to West and back again by
famous cowgirl Annie Oakley.
the famous Pony Express. Horses were kept at
Buffalo Bill
6
New Ne w Ameri American cans s
At the beginnin begi nning g of the nineteenth nineteen th
came from Ireland alone. Another
century most American families had
five million immigrants came from
come from Britain, Germany and
Italy, and millions more from Russia,
Scandinavia, and they were farmers
Poland and other countries of Eastern
or businesspeople. But soon that
Europe, hoping to find jobs and
began bega n to change cha nge..
freedom. America kept an 'open
Factories were built and cities
door' until 1924 and about 27
grew; poor people arrived from other
million people arrived between 1880
countries, hoping to find work.
and 1930. They were often poor, had
Between 1840 and the end of the
different religions, and had not been
century, about five million people
to school for very long; there was a lot of prejudice against them.
Chinatown, San Francisco
The Chinese immigrants in the West also met with wi th prejudice. preju dice. M an y people came to live in California after gold was found there in 1848, and among them were 300,000 Chinese. Many of the Chinese stayed to work
building buil ding the new rail ra ilwa ways ys.. Like Lik e black bla ck
USA facts
people and Native Americans, the
• Immigrants from Europe arrived
Chinese had no civil rights and after
at Ellis Island in New York,
1882, they were no longer allowed to
where whe re they were wer e check che cked ed for
enter the USA.
illness and other problems.
The Irish, Italians and Eastern
They were welcomed by the
Europeans usually stayed in the big
Statue of Liberty, which was
cities of the East or the Mid-West,
given by France to America in
like New York, Boston or Chicago,
1886. On it are written these
and worked in the factories.
word wo rds: s:
Alth Al thou ough gh most mos t of them learned lear ned
'Give me your tired, your poor .. .'
English and became Americans, they
• Today, the the biggest number of
also wanted to keep their own way of
immigrants to the USA come
life. So in many cities you can find
from Spanish-speaking countries
places known as Little Italy or
such as Mexico and Puerto Rico.
Chinatown, where the restaurants
More than six million have arrived
have Italian or Chinese food. This is
since 1980 and Spanish has
all part of what makes America an
become bec ome the second secon d languag lang uagee of
interesting and exciting country.
the United States. The Statue
of Liberty
Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island
7
Blac Black k Americans Americans
Today about 30 million of the 252 million people in the USA are black. They used to live mostly in the South, work wo rkin ing g in the cott co tton on and toba to bacc cco o fields. After the Civil War, white Southerners were angry that they had lost the war and angry that slaves were wer e n ow free. They Th ey showed sho wed a lot of prejudice against black people. Some whites whi tes joined joi ned the Ku Kl Klux ux Kl Klan an,, groups of men who dressed in white, covered their heads so that no one
so there are now more black people
knew them, and went out to beat and
in the North than in the South.
murder black people. Black men
But even in the North, they lived
could not vote until 1870, and even
separately, and in the South they
when wh en they got the right rig ht to vote vo te,, they
had to sit separately on buses and
often did not use it because they were wer e frighten frig htened. ed. In the twentieth century, black bla ck people peo ple began bega n to travel trav el
eat in separate parts of restaurants. Until 1954, they also had to go to separate schools. Then in the 1950s, a churchman called Dr Martin Luther King began to fight for the civil rights of black
to the cities of
people. Groups of black people
the North and
started to break the law, but not in a
later, to
violen vio lentt way; wa y; they refused to use
California, to
buses, buse s, so that the bus compan com panies ies lost
look for work,
money. They also went into 'whites only' restaurants. In August 1963,
A Civil Rights march
200,000 people met in Washington and heard Dr King speak about the
However, there are still problems, as was wa s show sh own n by the fighting figh ting in Los Angel An geles es in 1 9 9 2 , after a black bla ck car driver was beaten by white policemen.
USA facts • A story about the hard life life of slaves called called Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harr Ha rriet iet Beecher Stow St owe, e, was wa s one of the most popular books of the mid-nineteenth century and made a lot of people see that it was wrong to keep slaves. need for black people to be equal. He
• Harriet Tubman and Frederick Frederick
began bega n with wi th these wo r ds, ds , whic wh ich h have
Douglass were famous slaves who
become bec ome famo fa mous: us: 'I have ha ve a dream drea m . . .'
helped many other slaves escape
In 1964, a law was passed
from the South to the North using
giving black people their
a route called the 'underground
civil rights and Dr King was
railroad'.
given the Nobel Peace Prize. But in 1968, Dr King was murdered in Memphis, and fighting broke out in more than a hundred cities. During the 1970s and 1980s, prejudice against black people slowly began bega n to become beco me less importan impo rtant, t, and many black people now have good jobs in business and government.
Martin Luther King
8
The governm gov ernment ent of the th e USA
The government of the USA has three
have more Representatives. Some
separate but equal branches:
states, like Wyoming or Delaware,
Congress, the President, and the
whic wh ich h do not no t have ha ve many ma ny peop pe ople le,, only on ly
Supreme Supreme Cour Co urt. t. Women Wome n were given
have one Representative.
the vote in 1920 and all Americans
The President is head of the
can now vote when they are eighteen
departments of government which
years yea rs old. old .
carry out the laws. He (until now the
Congress makes the laws.
president has always been a man) is
There are two 'houses' of Congress:
the leader of the country (like a king
the Senate and the House of
or queen) and head of the army. He is
Representatives. There are a hundred
elected for four years, and can only be
people in the Senate (two from each
elected twice. He can say 'no' to laws
state) and they are elected for six
passed by Congress (but Congress
year ye ars. s. There The re are 4 3 5 people peo ple in the
can also say 'no' to him), and he
House of Representatives, and they
chooses the judges for the Supreme
are elected for two years only. States
Court. He lives and works in the
with wi th more mor e peop pe ople le,, like Cali Ca lifo forn rnia ia,,
White Wh ite Hous Ho usee in Wash Wa shing ington ton D C . The Supreme Court is the most
Washington DC
important court in the country and has nine judges; their job is to decide wh at the laws la ws mean. mea n. They Th ey can ca n also als o say that Congress has made a law whic wh ich h is w ro n g, or that tha t the President Preside nt has done something wrong. The USA is a union of fifty states, and as well as the national government in Washington, each state has its own government. Laws can be very different from one state to the next. They say very different
The White House
Inside Congress
things about, for example, how old you yo u must mus t be to vote vo te,, get ge t marri mar ried, ed, leave school or drive a car. Different states punish criminals differently too; in some states, you can be killed for murdering someone, in others you only go to prison.
USA fact • There are only two important political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. The Republicans want people people to work to help themselves, and so they think that taxes should be low. The Democrats think that the government should help the poor and so it needs taxes. But the difference between the two is not always clear and it is not always easy to say that one party is on the 'left' or on the 'right' of the other.
9 Living Living in the th e USA Most Americans who have jobs live more comfortably than people in any other country in the world. They
A 'drive-in' bank
usually work a forty-hour week and they have two weeks' holiday a year
the USA has no official religion, but
as well as the official holidays like
over 60% of Americans belong to a
Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 60%
Christian church.
of families, both the husband and the
If they don't want to go out,
wife wi fe go out ou t to wo r k . Alth Al thou ough gh more mor e
Amer Am erica icans ns can alwa al ways ys stay at home ho me,,
than 40% of the land is farmed, not
and watch television. Nearly all
many people work as farmers, and
families have a TV and it is said that
fewer Americans work in factories
an ordinary family watches seven
than in the past. Most jobs are now
hours a day! They have over 10,000
in hospitals, banks, hotels, shops, etc.
TV stations to choose from, most of
How do Americans spend their
whic wh ich h are owne ow ned d by privat pri vatee
money? Two thirds of them own
companies, not by the government.
their homes, often a house with a
Amer Am erica ican n TV progr pro gram amme mess are sold sol d
garden in a nice suburb. And at least
all over the world, and in many
85% of families have a car. They can use it to go to 'drive-in' restaurants, cinemas, banks, and even churches A suburban street
countries people watch the news on CNN. Few newspapers cover all the USA, but you can buy papers like the New York Times Times and the the Washington Post everywhere, as well as the
A shopping mall
magazines magazines Time and and Newsweek. Most Americans enjoy sports,
And, An d, of course cou rse,, Ameri Ame rican canss love to
whic wh ich h helps to keep kee p them the m healthy.
shop; the supermarket first appeared
Their favourites are baseball,
in America, and now many shops are
baske ba sketba tball, ll, foot fo otbal balll and ice hockey. hock ey.
open twenty-four hours a day. In the
Americ Ame rican an foot fo otba ball ll is very different
1990s, Americans were spending
from European football; players run
twelve hours a month in indoor
and carry the ball more than they use
shopping centres; some of the biggest
their feet.
shopping centres in the world are in the USA - Mall of America in Minneapolis covers half a million square metres! Americ Ame rican anss have to pay if they are 1 Baseball 2 Ice hockey 3 Basketball 4 American football
ill and visit a doctor or
foods with them. And
go to hospital, but they
more and more people
do not usually pay to
are interested in healthy
go to school. Schools,
eating, so they choose
like the laws, are
'low-fat' foods, or they
different from state to
refuse to eat meat.
state, but in most places, everyone goes to school for
USA facts
about twelve years. And about a
• The Th e money mon ey in the USA is the dollar, dollar,
third of school students go on to
whic wh ich h contai con tains ns a hundred hund red cents. cen ts.
university.
Some coins have special names: 50
Wh at do Amer Am eric ican anss eat? In the past, America gave a number of different foods to the rest of the
is a nickel, 100 is a dime, and 250 a quarter. • Coca Co ca-C -Cola ola was wa s first first made in 1886
worl wo rld: d: pota po tato toes es,, toma to mato toes es,, choc ch ocol olat atee
by an Amer Am eric ican an called calle d John
and corn, for example. Today,
Pemberton. Today it is sold in 195
Amer Am eric ican an 'fas 'f ast' t' food fo od is sold in
countries and Coke is one of the
restaurants in almost every country
best be st-kn know own n word wo rdss in the worl wo rld. d.
of the world. The most famous examples are probably hamburgers and hot dogs, eaten with french fries. But if you visit the USA you can also eat
• From 1920 to 1933, 193 3, during during Prohibition, it was against the law to drink alcohol in the USA, but many ma ny people peo ple still want wa nted ed to drink drin k it. So criminals like Al
all kinds of tasty
Capone became rich
food from different
by bringi bri nging ng alco al coho holl
countries: Chinese,
into the country.
Mexican, Italian . . . the immigrants who came to the USA broug br ought ht their own favourite
Fast food
10 Cities, la lakes kes and rive rivers rs Boston, where the fight for independence began in the eighteenth century, is one of the oldest cities in the USA. In neighbouring Cambridge is the oldest university in the USA, Harvard, which was opened in 1636, as well as the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Perhaps the most well-known family in twentieth-century Boston was wa s the Kennedy Kenn edy family. Like many man y
Harvard University
other Boston families, they came from Ireland. They became very rich,
your yo ur c o un tr y' He and his beautiful beauti ful
and John F Kennedy, a Democrat,
wife wif e Jacqueline Jacquel ine were wer e youn yo ung g and
became President of
popular, but sadly, in 1963,
the United States in
'JFK' was shot and killed
1960. At that time
in Dallas, Texas.
he said '. . . ask not
Everyone knows New
what wh at your yo ur count cou ntry ry
Yo rk , the biggest bigg est city in the
can do for you, but
USA. It is a great place for
what wh at you yo u can do for
theatre, shopping and Skyscrapers in New York
The Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans
restaurants. It is also the home of the United Nations, whose offices are in
Satellite picture showing the Great Lakes
a beautiful glass skyscraper. In fact, when wh en you yo u think thin k of N e w York Yo rk,, y o u
it is also known as one of the homes
probably think that the skyscraper
of black popular music.
was wa s born here. But in fact the first really tall
Henry Ford, who made the famous Ford cars, was born in Michigan,
buildings build ings were wer e built bui lt in Chic Ch icag ago o after
near Detroit. His 'Model T' (1908)
the great fire of 1871. Today, the
was wa s the first car cheap che ap enough eno ugh for
Sears Tower in Chicago (more than
ordinary people to buy. 'Anyone can
400 metres high) is the tallest
drive a Ford,' they said.
building buil ding in the USA. US A. Chicago and the other cities
Lying between Canada and the USA, the five Great Lakes are an
around the Great Lakes of the Mid-
important route for ships travelling
West have hav e more mor e factori fact ories es than
from the Atlantic, along the St
anywhere else in the USA. Detroit, on
Lawrence Seaway, to the Mid-West.
Lake Erie, is where cars are made and
Together, Lakes Erie, Ontario, Huron, Michigan, and Superior cover
The Model T
244,108 square kilometres - more
Ford
than any other group of lakes in the worl wo rld. d. If yo y o u go there in the summer, it is almost like going to the sea; you
can lie on the beach or sail a boat. But in winter it is very cold. Chicago is sometimes known as the 'windy city' because of the cold winds that bl ow in from fro m Lake Lak e Mich Mi chig igan an.. Thousands of kilometres south of the Great Lakes is the state of Louisiana, which used to be French.
The Mississippi river
The city of New Orleans, on the great Mississippi river, is famous for
USA facts
its food, which is like French and
• If you drive all all the the way down the
Africa Afr ican n food fo od together, togeth er, and for M ar di
Atlan At lantic tic coast coa st from fro m N e w York Yo rk past
Gras, when people celebrate by
Philadelphia to Washington DC,
dressing in colourful clothes and
you yo u pass from fro m city to suburb sub urb and
walk wa lkin ing g or dancin dan cing g thro th roug ugh h the
back bac k again; aga in; it almost alm ost seems to be
streets, playing music. New Orleans
one big city: a 'megalopolis'.
is also the home of jazz, which was first played by black musicians like Louis Armstrong in the 1920s. The Mississippi river is 3,778
• Niagara Niag ara Falls, between Lakes Ontario and Erie, is 51 metres high. • Ma rk Twain's real name was Samuel Clemens and he took the
kilometres long and in the nineteenth
name 'Mark Twain' from special
century was an important way of
word wo rdss used by sailors sail ors on the
travelling from north to south. Mark
Mississippi. 'Mark twain' means
Twain wrote wonderful stories about
that the water is about two
life on and around the river: river: The
fathoms, or four metres, deep.
Adventures of Tom Sawyer Sawyer (1876), and and Huckleberry Finn Finn (1884).
Niagara Falls
The Arizona desert
11
Mountai Mou ntains ns and desert deserts s
The USA has some of the biggest
for example, in the states of
cities in the world, and more than
Wyom Wy omin ing, g, Mo nt an a, C o lo rad ra d o,
three quarters of its people live in
Idaho and Utah, are great for
cities or towns. This means that there
holidays. Visitors like to go there for
are also some very empty places,
walk wa lkin ing, g, climbi cli mbing ng,, fishing, fishing , huntin hun ting, g,
which wh ich have hav e not changed chan ged much muc h since
or horseriding. You can also go skiing
the first Europeans arrived. The
in winter at towns like Aspen. The
government has kept some of them as
only big city in the Rockies is Denver,
National Parks, where people are not
whic wh ich h is one mile (1.6 (1 .6 kilometres kilom etres))
allowed to build houses or factories.
above the sea. The air is so thin there
The wonderful Rocky Mountains,
that it can make your head hurt when you yo u first arrive. arriv e.
Skiing in the Rockies
South of the Rockies lies the desert state of Arizona, where the land has fantastic colours: not just brown and green, but red, pink, orange and blue. The most famous place in Arizona is the Grand Canyon. This deep river valley val ley w a s made mad e by the C ol orad or ad o river cutting through the rock many thousands of years ago. Today it is
2,000 metres deep, 349 kilometres long, and between six and twentynine kilometres wide. You can walk down to the river, but it will take you two days to get there and back ba ck,, and you yo u must mus t take ta ke plenty of water to drink. You Yo u can also fly over it, and see the
Mount Rushmore A hot water geyser
extraordinary shapes of the rocks. Next to Arizona, New
USA facts Las Vegas, in the desert
Mexico is another dry, desert state,
state of Nevada, is a centre for
where whe re farming farm ing is difficult difficu lt and the
gambling. People make and lose
people are poor. Many Native
thousands of dollars there, playing
Ameri Am erica cans ns live there on big
cards or other games.
reservations. The Navajo, Hopi,
The Black Hills of Dakota are
Pueblo and Zuni are known for the
famous for Mount Rushmore,
beautiful beau tiful things thin gs that tha t they make ma ke from
where whe re the faces of four fou r Amer Am eric ican an
silver, for their colourful blankets,
presidents: Washington, Jefferson,
their pots and for their dancing.
Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt
Many artists have also come from
were we re cut in the rock ro ck.. It took to ok
other parts of America to live in and
fourteen years, from 1927 to 1941.
around Santa Fe and Taos.
Yell Ye llow owst ston onee Park Pa rk in Wyom Wy omin ing g and Montana is famous for the hot
Native American women making blankets
wate wa terr geyser geys er that tha t shoots sho ots up into int o the air, up to 115 metres high. Salt Lake City, the chief city of Utah, is next to a lake that is much saltier than the sea. Even if you haven't learned to swim, you could probably swim in this lake!
12
California
California is a state of differences. It
by an earth ear thqu quak akee and the fire whic wh ich h
has the lowest, driest place in the
followed it in 1906. There was a big
USA: Death Valley, which is 86
earthquake in 1989 and everyone
metres below sea level. It is very hot
knows that one day, perhaps very
there (56.7°C on the hottest day, in
soon, there will be another, but they
1913) and in some years it does not
continue living in San Francisco
rain at all. But the north of the state
because life there is fun.
is quite cold and wet. This is where
Los Angeles is the second biggest
the great redwood trees grow - the
city in the USA. It can take hours to
biggest bigg est trees in the wo rld. rl d. Cali Ca lifo forn rnia ia
drive from one side to the other - and
grows more fruit and vegetables than
people almost always drive! The
any other state in the USA, and it is
number of cars means that the city
famous for its wine. But it is also a
has a problem with dirty air; it also
centre for computers and business. It
has a lot of violence. But visitors still
has more people than any other state.
come to see Disneyland, Hollywood,
San Francisco is, many people
where whe re films are made ma de,, and Beverley Beverl ey
think, one of the most beautiful cities
Hills, where you can look at the
in the world. It was nearly destroyed
houses of famous film stars.
A Californian redwood tree
San Francisco
13
North and South, Ea East and West
Travelling north
Olympic Games
from California,
were we re held there
you yo u come to
in 1996. There
Oregon and then
are plenty of
Washi Wa shingt ngton. on.
jobs jo bs,, and people peo ple
These states are
think that, like
cool and wet,
Seattle, it is a
but very
comfortable city
beauti bea utiful ful,, with wi th
Charleston
to live in. It is
big forests and
very different
high mountains.
from the old
Since the 1980s,
cities of the
Seattle has
south:
become bec ome one of
Savannah,
the most
Georgia, and
popular cities in
Charleston,
Ameri Am erica ca;; it is
South Carolina,
the home of
for example,
new music and
where whe re there
Seattle
are still many
of coffee bars selling lots of different types of
beautif beau tiful ul old houses hous es whic wh ich h look lo ok
coffee; films and TV programmes
the same as they did 150 or more
are made about people who live in
years yea rs ago. ag o.
Seattle. A city that was once quiet is becomi bec oming ng crow cr owde ded d and expens exp ensive ive.. Away Aw ay across acro ss the countr cou ntryy is another anot her
There are so many interesting and exciting places to visit in the USA that we cannot show you them all.
city which has changed a lot in the
Use the map on the next two pages
last twenty years: Atlanta, Georgia.
to plan your own journey across
It is big and modern, with one of the
Amer Am eric ica, a, by car, by trai tr ain, n, by bus, bu s,
busiest airports airp orts in the wo rld; rl d; the
or just in your dreams!
Cold, lonely Alaska is the largest state in the USA and is separated from the other states by Canada. The American government bought it from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million and it became a state in 1959. People used to make money from fishing and hunting, and gold was found there too. But today, it is important for its oil. North Nearly 4,000 kilometres America's west of California lies Hawaii. highest This group of beautiful islands mountain, became the fiftieth state of Mount McKinley the USA in 1959. Today, (6,194 metres), people visit Hawaii for beach is in Alaska. holidays in the sun.
Texas is the
second biggest state after Alaska. There are still cowboys who work with cattle, but the modern state of Texas, like Alaska, is rich because of its oil.
The states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,
Florida is known as the 'Sunshine State'
because it is so warm and sunny. Many Americans choose to live in Florida when they retire. Oranges grow there, and visitors come to enjoy beach holidays. They can also visit Disneyworld and the Kennedy Space Center.
Connecticut and Rhode Island are known as New England. Visitors go there to see the beautiful colours of the trees, which turn red, yellow and gold in the autumn.
Exercises
A Checking your understanding Pages 1-5 Write answers to these questions. 1 When Whe n did Europeans start to come to America? 2 Wh o arrived in Massachusetts Massachus etts in 1620? 3 Why Wh y were the the American people angry with the British British government? 4 W ho was w as the the ffirst irst president president of the USA? Pages Pages 6-11 Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)? 1 The Th e northern norther n states kept slaves. slave s. 2 Abraham Abra ham Lincoln was wa s president president during the Civil War. War. 3 Buffalo were very important to the Native Nat ive Americans. 4 The immigrants who wh o arrived in the nineteenth century were wer e usually rich. Pages Pages 12-18 How much can you remember? Check your answers. 1 H o w many black people are there in the USA today? today ? 2 W ho used used the famous word wo rds, s, 'I have a dream . . .'? .'? 3 What Wh at are the names of the tw o big political poli tical parties in the USA? USA ? 4 What Wh at are American Amer icans' s' four favourite sports? Pages 19-23 19-23 How much can you remember? Where . . . 1
. . . is the oldest university in the USA?
2 . . . were the first first skyscrapers built? built? 3 . . . are are Niagara Niaga ra Fall Falls? s? 4 . . . is the the Grand Canyon? Pages Pages 24-27 Find answers to these questions. 1 Which Whi ch city city was nearly destroyed by an an earthquake in 1906? 2 Where were the Oly Olympic mpic Games held in 1996? 3 Which Whi ch state state did the Americans America ns buy from Russia Russia in 18 67? 4 Which Whi ch was wa s the fiftieth fiftieth state to join the the USA?
B Working wi th language language 1
Use these words to join these eight short sentences together to make four longer ones. because becau se but when wh en where wh ere 1 The South had some of the best soldiers. The y lost the Civil Civ il War. War. 2 The Europeans fought and killed the Native Nat ive Americans. Americans . They wanted wante d to take their land for farms and railways. 3 Immigrants arrived at Ellis Island. They Th ey were checked for illness. 4 Ma ny Americans go and live in Florida. They retire. retire.
2
Complete these sentences with information from the book. 1 Pocahontas Pocahonta s was . . . wh o . . . 2 Harriet Tubman and and Frederick Frederick Douglass Dougla ss were . . . wh o . . . 3 Thoma Tho mass Jefferson Jefferson wr wrote ote . . . where whe re . . . 4 The Indian Indian wars ended ended in 1890 with wit h . . . when . . . 5 The city of N ew Orleans is famous for . . . when .. .
C Activities 1 Imagine that you yo u are are on holiday holid ay in the USA. USA . Write a letter to a friend about abo ut the places that you have visited. 2 Imagine that you yo u were either a Pilgrim, Pilgri m, or a black slave, or an immigrant immigra nt in the nineteenth century. You are now very old. Write a short paragraph about how you came to the USA, and your life there.
D Project Project w ork or k 1 Write about abo ut the people wh o live live in your you r own country. Are they all the same? same? Were any of them immigrants? immigr ants? Did Di d they fight any wars? war s? 2 Write a short guide to your own country; include information about famous cities, beautiful places to visit, the weather, etc.
Glossary alcohol strong stro ng drinks drin ks such as beer, beer, wine wi ne,, whis wh isky ky
jud judge ge (n) the most important person in a law court
allow to let someone someo ne do something somethi ng
law law an order made by the government
celebrate to enjoy enjoy a happy happ y day civil rights the rights of all the people in a country to do the same things: vote, work etc. civil war a war between groups of people in the same country colony a country coun try that belongs to another country crops plants that farmers grow, grow , usually for food department part of a government, governm ent, busines bus iness, s, shop sh op etc. earthquake a sudden, sudden , violent violen t movement of the earth elect to choose choo se people to be in government (by voting) equal the same freedom being free gambling playing games for money government the group gro up of of people wh w h o cont co ntro roll a coun co untr tryy hunt to catch animals for food immigrant someone wh o comes to live in another country
lead to be chief leader a person wh o leads native a person born in a place, plac e, not an immigrant pilgrim a person wh o travels for a religious reason prejudice an idea (usually negative) negati ve) whic wh ich h is not no t based base d on any reaso rea son n religion foll owing owin g a god or gods represent to speak for other people retire to stop doing paid work wo rk , usually when you are old right (n) (n) what the law lets you do separate (adj) different, not joined slave a person wh o belongs to another person and has to work for no money state (n) a part of a country wit h its its own political organization tax tax (n) the money that people have to pay to the government united joined together
independence being independent
vote vote to say which whic h person you want to represent you in government
independent free, not controlled contro lled by other people
war war fighting between countries or or people in the same country
W h a t do Wh does es Am er ic ica a me mean an to yo u? Skyscrapers, President Kennedy, fast food, big cars, cowboys and Indians? But what about the mountains, the deserts and the vast lakes? And what exactly is an American? From the time before Columbus up to the present day, this book looks at the history of the USA and the many different people who live there.
OXFORD
BOOKWORMS
FACTFILES
give
important and interesting information to the reader, moving enjoyably towards real reading in English. Each book has been carefu carefully lly grad graded ed to help the learner. Cover photograph by Digital Vision
