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THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Definitions:
The official name of the nation known as "the USA" is the United
States of America.
The United States, or U.S.A, consists
of Fifty States (including two that are separated from the rest: Alaska
and Hawaii) and the District of Columbia (the area round
the federal capital Washington), and a lot of coastal islands (Long
Island, etc). The USA has land borders on the north with Canada,
and in the south west with Mexico.
The PEOPLE:
People from the U.S.A. are called Americans. Before Europeans began
colonizing North America in the sixteenth century, the continent was home
to "native Americans", commonly called "Indians", who probably reached
North America from Siberia. North America was first colonized mainly by
people from Britain and Ireland, France and Spain.
In the 19th century, large numbers of emigrants arrived from Germany and
Eastern Europe. Today, people emigrate to the USA from all over the world.
The POPULATION:
The total population of the U.S.A. is 285,739,491
(Cecember
2001 Census bureau figures); it is rising. 12% of Americans are of
Black
(or Afro-American) ethnicity, 9% of Americans are of Hispanic origin,
and 3% of Asian-Pacific origin. About 71% of Americans classify
themselves as "White non-Hispanic".
21 million Americans (almost 10% of the population) were not born in
the USA. In recent years, America has seen a population movement towards
the south and the west. Today, over 55% of the USA population
lives in these two sectors of the USA. The largest state in the USA (in
population) is California, with 30 million inhabitants.
For further details visit the US
Census Bureau website.
LANGUAGES.
There is no official language in the USA, but English,
is the language spoken by most of the population (217 million Americans
speak English as their first language). After English, the most widely
spoken language is Spanish (there are lots of Spanish-language newspapers,
radios and TV stations in the USA) - particularly in the south west of
the USA.
GOVERNMENT
The United States is a Democracy;
the government of the USA is established by the Constitution, and is divided
into
- the Executive branch
(The President and his executive office,
often called "The White House"),
- the Legislative branch (Congress
- composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate),
and
- the Judicial branch
(the Supreme Court).
None of these three branches of government has total power. The President
does not necessarily benefit from a majority in his favor in Congress,
and the Supreme Court can rule that new legislation (or old legislation)
is unconstitutional.
In many ways, the USA has one of the weakest governments
in any developed country. The President of the USA rarely has the full
power that British Prime Ministers or the French Presidents have.
Besides, states have a lot of local power, and the rights
of the individual citizen are strongly protected by the Constitution.
Congress is an elected institution; members serve a term of four
years.
The President of the USA is elected by representatives of the
different states, who have themselves been elected by the people.
This page is currently under construction, and will be extended
in due course. For links to factual US sites, consult the ESIP
links page |
