The USA

Route 66, 3940 km long, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending in Santa Monica, California, near Los Angeles,

Mount Rushmore, Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota showing the sculptures of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln The sculptures of the heads of this 4 US presidents are 18 meters high. Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor, selected these four presidents because from his perspective, they represented the most important events in the history of the United States.

Steven Spielberg - director, writer, producer. One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema.

Meryl Streep - actress, known for her versatility and accent adaptation. Nominated for a record 21 Academy Awards and won three.

Brad Pitt - actor and film producer who received many awards and nominations. One of the most influential and powerful people in the American entertainment industry.

George Clooney - actor, director, screenwriter. The only person who has been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories.

Jennifer Lawrence - actress, best known for her role in the "Hunger Games" series. She was the highest-paid actress in the world in 2015 and 2016.

Julia Roberts - actress and producer, best known for her role in "Pretty Woman". One of the most successful actresses when it comes to box office rankings.

Rosa Parks - an activist in the civil rights movement best known for her role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott where she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger.

Martin Luther King - Baptist minister and activist who became an important spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IB0i6bJIjw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IB0i6bJIjw</a>

The Wright Brothers - Orville and Wilbur, American aviators and inventors, who are considered to be the first who invented, built, and flew the world's first successful airplane.

Marilyn Monroe - real name Norma Jeane Mortenson, actress, model and singer.

Muhammad Ali - birth name Cassius Clay, professional boxer and activist.

Steve Jobs - chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), and a co-founder of Apple Inc.

Steve Jobs - chairman, CEO and a co-founder of Apple&nbsp;

Historic district: Charleston, South Carolina

South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii

Kilauea volcano on Hawaii

Universal City, Hollywood

Venice Beach, Los Angeles

Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, known for its luxury stores

Death Valley, California

Common expressions referring to students in the US

College (University) or undergraduate school

Sophomore, 10th grade ( age: 15-16) Junior, 11th grade ( age: 16-17) Senior, 12th grade ( age: 17-18)

1st year: "Freshman year" ( age: 18-19) 2nd year: "Sophomore year" ( age: 19-20) 3rd year: "Junior year" ( age: 20-21) 4th year: "Senior year" (age: 21-22)

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

This is maybe one of the most famous phrases from the Declaration of Independence. It has been cited many times and even today it hasn't lost its powerful meaning. The Declaration announced that the Thirteen Colonies then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain would become independent sovereign states no longer under British rule. It was adopted in Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776. The United States Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson, and then edited by the Committee of Five. The second paragraph of the first article in the Declaration of Independence contains the phrase "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". Jefferson's "original Rough draught" is displayed in the Library of Congress. "We hold these truths to be sacred &amp; undeniable; that all men are created equal &amp; independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent &amp; inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, &amp; liberty, &amp; the pursuit of happiness; ...&nbsp;"

MEANING: It means that every person has the the right to life and freedom. By "happiness" people usually think about the right to have everything they need for a normal living: prosperity, wellbeing and having your needs satisfied

After Wold War II the United States and the Soviet Union were the only superpowers in the world and they were - rivals. This resulted in the Cold War where the two countries confronted each other indirectly by racing each other in who had better nuclear weapons and military in general also leading to propaganda campaigns. The purpose of this was to stop the spread of communism. The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union was officially dissolved in 1991, leaving the United States as the world's only superpower. After the Cold War, the United States began focusing on modern conflicts in the Middle East and nuclear programs in North Korea. The beginning of the 21st century witnessed one of the most tragic events in American history: the September 11 attacks by Al-Qaeda in 2001, followed by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The USA vs. the USSR- one of many illustrations showing the Cold War

Today there are only 52 million acres left from the original American Indian homeland and for many Native Americans there is no possibility to make a living by farming without the use of chemicals and in some reservations commercial hunting and fishing are forbidden. Also, often there is no electricity, internet connection or phones which makes life in the reservations very hard. What's more, the infrastructure is mostly bad and by looking at all this it is no surprise that the unemployment rate is between 50% and 70%, in some reservations even higher than 80%. American Indians have the lowest average income in the US and most of them live in extreme poverty. On top of that they face the highest rates of school drop outs, child mortality, suicide, teenage pregnancy and low life expectancy ( 55 years). &nbsp;

Music lovers flock here to experience one of the best diverse indie music lineups with food and art markets, all happening over two weekends in October.

Hangout Music Festival – Gulf Shores, Alabama

Another major and irresistible music festival on a white sandy beach featuring beach volleyball, rides, art and food in May.

It takes place every year in January in Park City, Utah and is the largest independent film festival in the United States.

Fans of the "Big Bang Theory" need no explanation. It is a multi-genre entertainment and comic convention held every year in San Diego, California.  It is a 4-day event in summer. Many people spend a lot of time and energy in cosplaying ( dressing up as their most favorite characters from comics, movies, TV shows, and videogames).

41. George H. W. Bush ( 1989 - 1993 )

42. Bill Clinton (1993 - 2001)

45. Donald Trump ( president of the US since 2017)

43. George W. Bush (2001 - 2009)

44. Barack Obama (2009 - 2017)

Higher education takes place at one of the 4,495 colleges or universities and junior colleges in the country. The U.S. hold the 10th place among industrial countries for adults with college degrees. Like high school, the four undergraduate grades are commonly called freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. Students traditionally apply for admission into colleges. Schools differ in their competitiveness and reputation. Admissions criteria involve grades earned in high school courses taken, the students' GPA ( Grade Point Average), class ranking, and standardized test scores. Most colleges also take into account more personal involvement such as extracurricular activities, a personal essay, and an interview. After enrolling into university, students start their undergraduate study, where the goal is to achieve a bachelor's degree in a field known as a major. (Some students enroll in double majors or "minor" in another field of study.) The most common method consists of four years of study leading to a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), a Bachelor of Science (B.S.), or sometimes another bachelor's degree. Professional degrees such as law, medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry, are offered as graduate study after earning at least three years of undergraduate schooling or after earning a bachelor's degree depending on the program. Some students choose to attend a community college for two years before studying at another college or university. Graduate study happens after getting an initial degree where you get a more advanced degree such as a master's degree. After additional years of study and sometimes after the completion of a master's degree students can earn a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), a first professional degree, or other doctoral degrees. University education is NOT FREE in the US and students have to pay a tuition. It is quite common to start a college fund as soon as a child is born, so that he or she might have enough money by the age of 18 to pay for his tuition. Lucky ones get a scholarship to cover the costs.

Tina Turner -born Anna Mae Bullock, singer, songwriter, actress. Has been called "The Queen of Rock 'n Roll", one of the world's best-selling artists of all time.

Eminem - real name Marshall Bruce Mathers III, rapper and songwriter, the only artist to have eight number 1 albums on the Billboard 200.

Beyonce Knowles - singer, songwriter, actress. The most nominated woman in the Grammy Awards history.

Bruce Springsteen - singer-songwriter and musician, nickname "The Boss". One of the world's best-selling artists of all time.

Johnny Cash - singer, songwriter, actor. One of the best-selling music artists of all time. Remembered as a country music icon,&nbsp;but also including rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel into his work.

Kurt Cobain - singer, songwriter and musician. Remembered as one of the most iconic rock musicians in the history of alternative music.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Empire State Building, N.Y.

The Statue of Liberty, N.Y.

Madison Square Garden, N.Y.

The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia, is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. The United States also has overseas territories with different levels of independence and organization: in the Caribbean the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and in the Pacific the inhabited territories of Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, with a number of uninhabited island territories.&nbsp; The USA is the 4th largest country in the world. In terms of land and terrain the United States has many mountains. To the east are the Appalachian mountains and to the west side are the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Mount Rushmore and in Alaska is Denali (the highest peak in North America: Mt McKinley).&nbsp;Also, it has many rivers and lakes. Some rivers are: the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Colorado River… The biggest lakes are on the border with Canada and there are: Erie, Superior, Ontario, Huron, Michigan. Deserts in USA are: Sonora, Colorado, Death Valley. The United States are in a pacific fire ring and that means they have volcanoes. Volcanoes are: Mount Edgecumbe, Kilauea, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Mount Saint Helens, Sunset Crater. Some of them are on homonymous mountains.

National bird: the Bald Eagle

National mammal: North American bison

National anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1wLtAXDgqg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1wLtAXDgqg</a>

National march: "The Stars and Stripes Forever" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mRn9chmRAY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mRn9chmRAY</a>

Official national motto: "In God we trust"

"Uncle Sam" is a national personification of the United States.

Capital city: Washington D.C.

Biggest city: New York City ( the Big Apple)

Currency: The US dollar ( USD)

Official language: There is NO official language at the federal level, but English is the national language and the official language in many states. Hawaii is the only state which is officially bilingual, recognizing Hawaiian Pidgin English as an official language.

Other languages: There are at least 350 different languages spoken in the US today, the top 5 being Spanish, Chinese, French, Tagalog and Viatnamese.

Current president: Donald Trump

Longest river: Missouri River ( 3767 km) Biggest lake: Lake Superior ( 58 000 km2) Highest point: Mount McKinley (6190,5&nbsp;m)

The history of the United States began with the settlement of Indigenous people 15,000 BC. The American continents were discovered around the year 1000 by Vikings, but its existence to the European nations was discovered in the year 1492 when Christopher Columbus landed somewhere in the Bahamas.&nbsp;The first English emigrants came to America in 1620. That day is commemorated as Thanksgiving day. It's called Thanksgiving day because Indians gave the English people food and supplies to survive in the new lands. By the end of 1775 there were around 2.5 million people living in colonies (Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania i Georgia). The American Revolutionary War started when the British Empire sent packages full of tea to Boston. As the ships arrived, the American rebels threw the packages full of tea into the ocean. This event is called the Boston tea party. After that 13 colonies held a Continental congress in Philadelphia in 1774. In 1775 war was declared between the USA and the British Empire. At the end the British capitulated near Yorktown. The USA was recognized by the British Empire as an independent country in 1783 in Versailles. After the war George Washington became the first president of USA.

EDUCATION

In the US, you have the possibility to go to public or private schools or to be home-schooled. ( which means you don't go to a regular school, but get your education through either your parent, a tutor or an online teacher at home). Education is compulsory starting between five and eight and ending somewhere between ages sixteen and eighteen, depending on the state. In most schools, compulsory education is divided into three levels: elementary school, middle or junior high school, and high school. Children are usually divided by age groups into grades, ranging from kindergarten (5–6 year olds) and first grade for the youngest children, up to twelfth grade (17–18 years old) as the final year of high school.&nbsp;

In schools in the United States children write tests, assignments and get grades just like in most schools around the world and parents receive report cards several times a year. Generally the scores for individual assignments and tests are recorded for each student in a grade book, along with the maximum number of points for each assignment. End-of-term tests are mostly graded in the form of a letter grade on an A-F scale, whereby A is the best possible grade and F is a failing grade

11. James K. Polk 1845 - 1849

12. Zachary Taylor 1849 - 1850 ( died in office)

13. Millard Fillmore 1850 - 1853

14. Franklin Pierce 1853 - 1857

15. James Buchanan 1857- 1861

16. Abraham Lincoln 1861 - 1865 ( died in office)

Chinatown, San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

Walt Disney World, Florida

French Quarter, New Orleans

Walt Disney - pioneer of cartoons. As a film producer, Disney holds the record for most Oscars. He won 22 from 59 nominations.

Ernest Hemingway - novelist, short story writer and journalist. Known for "The Old Man and the Sea". "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and many others.

Frank Sinatra - singer, actor and producer. One of the most influential music artists in the 20th century. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onWf4_yl-pY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onWf4_yl-pY</a>

Helen Keller - author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a university degree.

Jimi Hendrix - rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter, &nbsp;one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music.

Neil Armstrong - astronaut and aeronautical engineer who was the first person to walk on the Moon. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwZb2mqId0A">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwZb2mqId0A</a>

5. James Monroe 1817 - 1825

6. John Quincy Adams 1825 - 1829

7. Andrew Jackson 1829 - 1837

8. Martin Van Buren 1837 - 1841

9. William Henry Harrison 1841 - 1841 ( Died in office)

10. John Tyler 1841 - 1845

Denali National Park, Alaska

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Great Smokey Mountains, Tennessee and North Carolina

Hoover Dam, Nevada and Arizona

35. John F. Kennedy ( 1961 - 1963 ) died in office

36. Lyndon B. Johnson ( 1963 - 1969)

37. Richard Nixon ( 1969 - 1974) resigned from office

38. Gerald Ford (1974 - 1977)

39. Jimmy Carter (1977 - 1981)

40. Ronald Reagan ( 1981 - 1989)

17. Andrew Johnson 1865 - 1869

18. Ulysses S. Grant 1869 - 1877

19. Rutherford B. Hayes 1877 - 1881

20. James A. Garfield 1881 - 1881 ( died in office)

21. Chester A. Arthur 1881 - 1885

22. Grover Cleveland 1885- 1889

In terms of people, the US is definitely one of the most diverse countries in the whole world. That's why it also got the nickname "Melting Pot". The United States Census officially recognizes six racial categories: White American, Black or African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and people of two or more races; a category called "some other race" is also used in the census and other surveys, but is not official. The Census Bureau also has classifications for "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino", which identifies Hispanic and Latino Americans as an ethnicity (not a race) different from others. They are at the same time the largest minority group in the nation.

Andy Warhol - artist, director and producer, leading figure in the visual arts movement known as pop art.

Elvis Presley - singer and actor, considered to be the "King of Rock'n Roll"

Billie Holiday - real name Eleanora Fagan, American jazz singer

Sitting Bull - as a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance. He was killed by Indian agency police.

Mark Twain - real name Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was a writer, publisher and lecturer best known for his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Pocahontas - a Native American woman who was captured by the English and later married an Englishman. Shown to society as a "civilized savage".

AMERICAN VERSUS BRITISH ENGLISH

Despite how much the USA and UK have in common, there are enough differences between their two versions of the English language that someone maybe doesn't always understand exactly what someone from the other country is saying. Not only have they different words for one and the same thing, but they also spell the same words completely differently, for example "colour" ( BE) and "color" ( AE) or "centre" ( BE) and "center" ( AE). Here are some examples of the difference between American and British English.

sneakers sweater vest suspenders french fries potato chips

trainers jumper, pullover waistcoat braces chips crisps

For more, watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e33vwOw8jl0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e33vwOw8jl0</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nAnT3PASak">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nAnT3PASak</a>

There are too many attractions to put in this book, so let's just name "the usual suspects" starting with the City of New York, the Big Apple. Apart from Manhattan, New York City has 4 other interesting boroughs: Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.

Manhattan -The City, the most densely populated borough of New York City

Broadway - a road where a lot of theaters are

The Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. - monument to honor Abraham Lincoln

Capitol Hill, Washington D.C. - where the US Congress is located

The White House, Washington D.C. - home of the US president

phone box queue boot windscreen indicator tyre timetable rubber post holiday wardrobe

phone booth line trunk windshield blinker tire schedule eraser mail vacation closet

Each year in October, more than 600 hot air balloons fill the skies&nbsp;in Albuquerque in New Mexico. 

Imagine pumpkins being hurtled through the air thousands of feet above ground. The best of the best are at the World Championship Punkin’ Chunkin’ event in Nassau, Delaware, where more than 100,000 people attend the three-day festival each November.&nbsp;

This celebration of beer, polka, and all things Deutsch, is held each September&nbsp;in Columbus, Ohio.

One of the biggest and best food festivals in the world taking place in July with live music, public art, and family-friendly activities.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE USA

16. In 1922, a man built a house and all his furniture entirely out of 100,000 newspapers. The structure still stands today in Rockport, Massachusetts. 17. The current 50-star American flag was designed by a 17-year-old as a school project in 1958. He got a B-. 18. The largest air force in the world is the U.S. Air Force. The world’s second-largest air force is the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps combined. 19. Statistically, the deadliest job in America is … president. Of the 45 men who’ve held the post, four have been assassinated in office. 20. 100 acres of pizza are served in the United States every day ( 1 acre = 4&nbsp;046.856 m2). 21. The United States uses 18% of the world's energy.&nbsp; 22. One sunrise in Maui is so popular, you have to pay to see it. 23. You can visit the "future birthplace" of Star Trek's Captain Kirk in Riverside, Iowa. 24. Utah is the happiest state in the U.S., followed by Minnesota. Alabama and West Virginia rank as the unhappiest states. 25. The entire town of Whittier, Alaska lives under one roof.&nbsp; 26. There are more bourbon barrels in Kentucky than there are people living there. 27. Montana's Glacier National Park has a dog employed as a "bark ranger" that helps herd wildlife away from high-traffic areas.&nbsp; 28. You can watch more than 100 ponies swim to Chincoteague Island every year in Virginia.&nbsp; 29. South Florida is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles live together in the wild. 30. There are around 5,000 commercial airplanes flying over the United States at any given time.&nbsp;

23. Benjamin Harrison 1889 - 1893

24. Grover Cleveland 1893 - 1897

25. William Mc Kinley 1897 - 1901 ( died in office)

26. Theodore Roosevelt 1901 - 1909

27. William Howard Taft 1909 - 1913

28. Woordrow Wilson 1913 - 1921

Western Diamonback Rattlesnake

Ivy League schools are generally viewed as some of the most prestigious, and are among the best universities worldwide. It is actually a sports community consisting of 8 private universities in the US: Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University.

Although NOT in the Ivy League, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is currently ranked number 1 as the best university in the world!

Apart from Christmas, New Year's Day and Easter, there are several holidays that are unique for the US. Thanksgiving - usually celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November and originated as a harvest festival. Traditional food includes of course turkey. July 4th - Independence Day: commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 and that the US were no longer connected to the British Crown. It is a holiday best known for fireworks and barbecues. Halloween - October 31st: original Irish holiday, but spread to the whole country with Irish immigrants coming to the US. Memorial Day or Decoration Day - the last Monday in May. It is a federal holiday in the US when people remember those who died while serving in the country's armed forces. Labor Day - a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It is the Monday of the long weekend known as Labor Day Weekend and it is considered the unofficial end of summer in the United States. St Patrick's Day - March 17th. Although a traditional Irish holiday, it is also celebrated in the US because of the large Irish community.

fall main street truck station wagon elevator odor pajamas program apologize diaper pacifier

autumn high street lorry estate car lift odour pyjamas programme apologise nappy dummy

loo telly sweets ice lolly torch mobile phone bin neighbour humour football pitch

restroom ( bathroom) TV candy popsicle flashlight cell phone trashcan neighbor humor soccer field

forests and temperate, subtropical, and tropical forest and jungle, canyons, basins, plateus, and mountains

occasional hilly and mountainous regions , with some badland areas

Sports

Sports are a very important part of American culture. The most popular sports are American football, basketball, baseball, soccer ( football), ice-hockey, boxing, tennis, golf, car racing, swimming, volleyball, skiing, lacrosse, snowboarding. Sports are particularly associated with education in the United States, with most high schools and universities having organized sports. College sports competitions play an important role in the American sporting culture, and college basketball and college football are as popular as professional sports in some parts of the country.&nbsp;

American football is the most popular and most watched sport in USA. The goal of the game is to bring a football to the end zone (side of the enemy team). On each side of the team there are 11 players just like in soccer. In American football there is the offense which is the attacking team and there is the defense which is the defending team. The defending team has to stop the offense from bringing the football to the end zone. The offense has four tries to get ball to the end zone or they lose the ball and the defending team now has the ball and they have to bring it to end zone. It is also one of the most violent team sports in the World so players need protection for their heads , legs , and the whole body. American football developed in the 19th century. The first professional game of football was in 1895, but that sport got to its full potential at the end of 20th century.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddwp1HyEFRE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddwp1HyEFRE</a>

Columbus Day - (October 8–14): Honors Christopher Columbus Veterans Day ( November 11th): Honors all veterans of the United States armed forces. Inauguration Day (January 20 or 21): Celebrates the United States presidential inauguration, every 4 years. Washington's Birthday ( February 15 - 21): commemoration of Washington's Birthday from February 22 to the third Monday in February. Martin Luther King Jr. Day ( January 15 - 21): honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader

Each state has festivals worth mentioning, but since there are so many, we've picked just a few:

National Apple Harvest Festival

Held during the first two weekends in October each year in Arendtsville, Pennsylvania. It's about apple picking. Festival-goers can drink fresh-pressed apple cider, try square-dancing and listen to live music in this town just outside of Gettysburg.

29. Warren G. Harding 1921 - 1923 ( died in office)

30. Calvin Coolidge 1923 - 1929

31. Herbert Hoover 1929 - 1933

32. Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933 - 1945 ( died in office)

33. Harry S. Truman ( 1945 - 1953)

34. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953 - 1961)

The national flag of the United States of America. It consists of thirteen red and white horizontal stripes with a blue rectangle in the left corner with fifty small, white, five-pointed stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 states of the United States of America, and the 13 stripes represent the thirteen British colonies that declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and became the first states in the U.S

The Great Seal of the United States. It is used to authenticate certain documents issued by the Federal government of the United States. The obverse of the Great Seal is used as the national coat of arms of the United States. The reverse has never been cut (as a seal) but appears, for example, on the back of the one-dollar bill.&nbsp;

NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE US

Native Americans, or Amerindians, American Indians, Indians, Indigenous Americans are the indigenous peoples of the United States. There are over 500 federally recognized tribes within the US. The term doesn't include Native Hawaiians and some Alaska Natives. The ancestors of modern Native Americans arrived in what is now the United States at least 15,000 years ago, possibly much earlier, from Asia. Native Americans were heavily affected by the European colonization of the Americas, which began in 1492, and their population declined rapidly because of introduced diseases, warfare and slavery. After the founding of the United States, many Native American peoples were victims of injustice, murder and all possible forms of discriminatory government policies. Today, there are over five million Native Americans in the United States.&nbsp;

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

It's simply impossible to name all the famous Americans who contributed in their own way to the culture and fame of their country. No American presidents are mentioned here because they have already a separate section at the beginning of the book. So here are just " a few" famous non-presidential people from the US in random order.

Amelia Earhart - the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1937 during her attempt to fly around the world, she and her plane disappeared and were never found.

Bob Dylan - singer and songwriter who influenced many other music artists in his 50-year career. Icon of the Civil Rights and Anti War Movement.

Emily Dickinson - one of America’s greatest and most original poets of all time.

Thomas Alva Edison - inventor of the light bulb and the motion picture camera and many other things.

Indians are nomadic people and lived of seasonal hunting of bisons. After more and more settlers occupied their lands, they were not only chased away, but the animals they hunted for food and clothes also became scarce. The irony and tragedy in their destiny is that they actually showed the first Pilgrims ( settlers) how to survive in the new land, what crops to grow and how to store them. This event was the basis for what later became the Thanksgiving we know today.

In the 19th century, the continuing westward expansion of the United States forced large numbers of Native Americans to resettle further west, often by force, almost always against their will. 100,000 Native Americans relocated to the West as a result of this Indian removal policy. In theory, relocation was supposed to be voluntary and many Native Americans did remain in the East. In practice, great pressure was put on Native American leaders to sign removal treaties. The most tragic betrayal of the Indian population happened in 1864 when 8,000 Navajos were forced to an internment camp in Bosque Redondo, where, under armed guards, more than 3,500 Navajo and Mescalero Apache men, women, and children died from starvation and disease.&nbsp;

This removal policy forced Indians to live in so called reservations. The first reservation was established in southern New Jersey on August 29, 1758. It was called Brotherton Indian Reservation and also Edgepillock or Edgepelick. Today it is called Indian Mills in Shamong Township.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7771uZGyVgk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7771uZGyVgk</a>

Bill Gates - &nbsp;principal founder of Microsoft Corporation

Madonna - born Madonna Louise Ciccone, singer, songwriter, actress. Considered to be "The Queen of Pop".

Michael Jackson - singer, songwriter, dancer, named "King of Pop". Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, with estimated sales of over 66 million copies worldwide.

Michael Jordan - former professional basketball player. One of the best basketball players of all time.

Oprah Winfrey - media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer best known for her talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show", the highest-rated television program of its kind in history. "Queen of all media".

Clint Eastwood - actor and filmmaker. Become famous in spaghetti Westerns and as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films.

The content of this digital booklet was created with the help of my 7th grade students ( 7.D) in the school year of 2017 / 2018 as part of the Erasmus + project " Going the extra mile" in my primary school "Đuro Ester" in Koprivnica, Croatia. Andreja Kerovec Letica, English language teacher at Primary school "Đuro Ester" in Koprivnica, Croatia, August 2018

Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Yosemite National Park, California

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, the archeological heritage of the Ancestral Pueblo people&nbsp;

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Considered to be the oldest national park in the world.

1. More people live in New York City than in 40 of the 50 states 2. Oregon is the fastest-speaking state in the U.S. Mississippi is the slowest 3. There is enough water in Lake Superior to cover all of North and South America in one foot of liquid. 4. There's a town in Washington with treetop bridges made specifically to help squirrels cross the street. 5. You can get a unicorn hunting license from Michigan's Lake Superior State University. 6. It would take you more than 400 years to spend a night in all of Las Vegas's hotel rooms. 7. There’s an island full of wild monkeys off the coast of South Carolina called Morgan Island, and it's not open to humans. 8. Airlines sell all their unclaimed baggage to a store in Scottsboro, Alabama, that resells everything. 9. Boston has the worst drivers out of the nation's 200 largest cities. Kansas City has the best drivers. 10. Kansas produces enough wheat each year to feed everyone in the world for about two weeks. 11. The Empire State building has its own zip code.&nbsp; 12. The Los Angeles Coroner’s Office has its own quirky gift shop called Skeletons in the Closet. 13. If Texas were its own country, it would have the 10th largest GDP in the world.&nbsp; 14. The Library of Congress contains approximately 838 miles of bookshelves—long enough to stretch from Houston to Chicago 15. At 46 letters, Massachusetts’s Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg has the longest place name in the U.S. (even though it's based on a joke)

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As the USA economy grew its slavery was getting more intense too in the southern states where slaves worked in cotton fields. As the slavery was abolished in the north, the northern states were against the slavery in the south. That's where the war between The Union (northern states) and the Confederation (southern states) started. In the beginning the Confederation was winning the war but then The Union made a comeback and at the end won the war. Slavery was completely abolished and the ex slaves were free. The annexation of Texas caused the war with Mexico from 1845-1848. The USA also expended its territory (California, New Mexico). In the year 1867 the USA bought Alaska from the Russian Empire for 7.2 million US dollars. A few decades later the USA became the world's leading economy. Being neutral at the beginning of World War I, the United States later declared war on Germany in 1917 and funded the Allied victory the following year. Women were given the right to vote in 1920, with Native Americans getting citizenship and the right to vote in 1924.&nbsp; After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States entered World War II and helped defeat Nazi Germany. Its involvement had tragic consequences by using newly invented nuclear weapons on two Japanese cities ( Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

Because of its large size and wide range of geographic features, the United States has areas of almost every global climate. The climate is subtropical in the Southern United States, tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida, polar in Alaska, semiarid in the Great Plains west of the 100th meridian, Mediterranean in coastal California and arid in the Great Basin and the Southwest.

Natural threats: volcanoes; earthquake activity around the Pacific Basin; hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts; tornadoes in the Midwest and Southeast; mud slides in California; forest fires in the west; flooding, tsunamis; permafrost in northern Alaska