The United States of America [antikvár]

Ii^trodactioi^IN the top left hand corner of 'Old Glory', against afield of thirteen alternate red and white stripes,fifty white stars stand out on a deep blue canton. Fifty shining white stars that represent the states of the West's most powerful nation and the fourth most populous in the world - the United States of America.of those states, forty-eight lie conterminal in a broad band across the central one-tfiird of the North American continent, lapped by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west and stretching some 1,500 miles from Canada, southwards to Mexico. Alaska, the 49th state, purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7,200,000 - a 'bad buy" known as Seward's Folly at the time! -occupies the extreme North West Of North America, and like the 50th state, Hawaii, in the North Pacific, was admitted to the Union in 1959.Discovered, albeit accidently, in 1492 by one of the globe's greatest mariners, Christopher Columbus, who was actually en route for India at the time, the history of the colonisation of the New World begins effectively with the Spaniards who established the first permanent settlement at St. Augustine in Florida in 1565, some forty-two years after the landing of Ponce de Léon on the Florida peninsula. The French and British followed hot foot - Samuel de Champlain discovering the 'River of Canada' as he called the St. Lawrence and reaching Lake Huron and Ontario by 1615; the British founding their first permanent settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. It is the 'Pilgrim Fathers' - the group of English and Dutch Puritans who arrived at Plymouth in Massachusetts, in 1620, aboard the famous 'Mayflower', however, who are traditionally credited as the true founders of the United States.Life was far from easy for the early settlers, beset by disease and the rebelUng Indians whose friendliness evaporated along with their land, but they managed to survive in spite of it. New immigrants arrived to join their ranks and new towns began to spring up, and by the end of the colonial period, the colonies, swollen by pioneering souls from Germany and Ireland in the eighteenth century and increased by Swedes and ever-grovidng numbers from England, Scotland and Wales, numbered thirteen - the original thirteen states of the Union - represented in those red and white stripes on the Star Spangled Banner, after the American War of Independence marked the rout of the British in 1783.Just under eight decades later unity crumbled as the slavery issue finally rent the Northern and Southern states. Civil War raged for four years; and although the unwilling African immigrants were liberated as the Yankees triumphed, in 1865, real freedom was still little more than a dream, even in the North.With the close of the War came a fresh burst of immigration - Asians joining Europeans and the Chinese who had flocked to California after the discovery of gold in 1849 - eager and hopeful individuals who brought to America a little of the old country and contributed to the range of racial, ethnic and cultural types that is possibly the wddest of any nation.of all the states, those of New England -Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont - are the most inextricably entwined vdth the nation's early history Famous for its beautiful fall scenery, the area encapsulates the most striking aspect of the United States, the country's incredible variety of landscape and climate that ranges from fertile plains and arid deserts, tropical swamplands and chilly mountain crests, dense groves of rain forests, and rock and sand-fringed coastlines.Rock and sand-fringed coastlines are a particular specialty of Maine - along wdth countless inland lakes and vast tracts of forest, in this, the largest of the New England states, which was colonized by both the French and the British in the early part of the seventeenth century The state has plenty to offer its visitor - so much in fact that it has been aptly-named 'Vacationland'. Swimming, fishing and boating are just some of the attractions along the rugged coast, especially at picturesque Boothbay Harbor, center of one of the most delightful resort regions in Maine North of Boothbay lies beautiful Acadia National Park, while inland, myriad lakes, including Moosehead, are superb for canoeing, although the more adventurous might opt for the challenging white water of the Allagash Wilderness Waterwav In wdnter join skiers on niunerous slopes; at Bridgton, for example, which also offers winter sports and hiking in addition to its magnificent scenic views. Its cities and towns offer a wealth of historic interest, from the Marine Museum at Bath to the childhood home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the state's largest city-Portland.A land of charming old tovms, rolling hills and fertile valleys, Massachusetts, the important citadel