Etymology

Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации

Федеральное агентство по образованию

Государственное образовательное учреждение высшего профессиального

Образования

«УФИМСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ НЕФТЯНОЙ

ТЕХНИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»

Кафедра иностранных языков

УЧЕБНО-МЕТОДИЧЕСКОЕ ПОСОБИЕ

по английскому языку для подготовки студентов к интернет-тестированию

Уфа 2007

ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

General information

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states, one federal district, and fourteen territories. The country is situated almost entirely in the western hemisphere. The U.S. is one of the world's most ethnically and socially diverse nations, the product of large-scale immigration from almost every corner of the globe. Its national economy is the world's largest, with a nominal 2005 gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $13 trillion.

The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard.

Etymology

Common abbreviations of the United States of America include the United States, the U.S., and the U.S.A. Colloquial names for the country include the common America as well as the States. The term Americas, for the lands of the western hemisphere, was coined in the early sixteenth century after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer and cartographer. The full name of the country was first used officially in the Declaration of Independence, which was the "unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America" adopted by the "Representatives of the united States of America" on July 4, 1776. The current name was finalized on November 15, 1777, when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first of which states, "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America.'" Columbia, a once popular name for the Americas and the U.S., was named after Christopher Columbus. It appears in the name District of Columbia.