US Geography

The United States is a federal union of 50 states, with the District of Columbia as the seat of the federal government. The last two states joined the Union in 1959; they were Alaska (49th) and Hawaii (50th). Alaska is the largest of America's 50 states. The country occupies the southern part of North America and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. In the north the USA borders on Canada and in the south - on Mexico. It also has a sea-boarder with Russia. Taking into account the territory, the USA is the fourth largest nation in the world (after the Soviet Union, Canada and China). The USA is a land of weather contrasts. The southern parts of Florida, Texas, California, and the state of Hawaii experience warm temperatures all the year round. As for the northern states and Alaska, they have extremely cold winters. The climate of the central part is continental. The United States is known to be a land of rivers and lakes. America’s largest rivers are the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Rio Grande and the Columbia. The Great Lakes on the border with Canada are the largest and deepest in the USA.