Geography and a bit of economy

15.3.1. The territory of the United States is historically divided into eight regions: New England; the Mid-Atlantic region; the South; the Midwest; the Southwest; the Rocky Mountain region; the Pacific Northwest and Alaska; California and Hawaii.

New England is highly industrial, but it also has many fields, woods and small towns. New Englandis the part of the United States that is most like "old" England. It includes six states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Is­land, and Connecticut. The main city of this region is Boston.

15.3.2. The Mid-Atlantic region plays an important role in the United States. Its cities include Washington D.C, the nation's capital, and New York City, the nation's financial centre, and Philadelphia. The Mid-Atlantic re­gion is densely populated. It includes six states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary­land and West Virginia.

Economically, historically and culturally, the South is a distinct region. With its warm climate and rich soil, it developed an economy based on cot­ton export. The South includes eleven states: Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro­lina, Tennessee, Ar­kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. The main cities of the region are Miami and New Orleans.

15.3.3. The Midwest is a large, economically im­portant region. It con­tains major industrial cities and much farm­land. Geographically, the Midwest can be sub­divided into three small­er regions : the Great Lakes area with many lakes, hills and forests; the prairie area south of it, which is flat and has good soil for farming; the Great Plains area to the west, much drier than the prairie. The Midwest includes twelve states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mis­souri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. The main cities of the region are Detroit and Chicago. The Southwest area, rich in minerals, includes five states: Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.

15.3.4. The Rocky Mountain Region is very sparsely populated. Most of the population is engaged in mining, cattle-breeding and farming. The Rocky Mountain region includes five states: Montana, Ida­ho, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.

The Pacific Northwest and Alaska region is noted for its natural beauty: high steep mountains, forests and greatly indented coastlines. Portland and Seattle are important ports for trade with Asia. This region includes three states: Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

California and Hawaii states are grouped together mainly because they are relatively near each other: California is the state which is situated nearer to Hawaii than any other state. They are not alike: California is one of the largest and most populated states, the biggest cities of which are San Francisco and Los Angeles. Hawaii is one of the smallest and least populated ones. Yet there is one thing these two states have in common: lots of sun and sand.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-07