When I was a child I had never thought about my future career. I was influenced by stories and fairy – tales and I wanted to have various adventures. Hardly any of those came true because childrens views of the world are too romantic.
Then I started to attend Basic School and all my dreams changed. I was interested in many things – in nature, music, practicing sports, in culture, in reading. I was quite good at school, I liked all my school subjects. My plans for my future career changed from day to day. I wanted to be an architect, an actor, a cook, a vet or a lab assistant, a scientist, a chemist or a pharmacist, a teacher, a journalist, an editor, a judge, a technician, a customs – officer.
When I was twelve years old, my parents advised me to go to grammar school. During my studies I began to think about my future more seriously and so did my parents. It was not easy. I wanted to work with people, I wanted to do something meaningful for them. I did not like those people who were lazy or abused their jobs. Since the first from I have been attending the films and lectures given by the Film Club. I started to like film production very seriously. Now I am keen on film history, theory, I study film magazines, books, I keep special files in my personal computer about the films I had seen, and I even shoot some short films myself. I would like to be a good film director or work in the film industry with computers which make spectacular special effects. I am really crazy about it these days.
My parents don’t share me opinion. They are right in their way, they want only the best for me. If I want to do my job well, I must have a profound knowledge of the subject. Nowadays I am studying very hard, especially humanities such as History, Literature, Psychology and Philosophy. I read books and magazines about film making and try to contact people around film industry.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of my future job? I want to devote myself to my work.
I know that is a very attractive job and it will be very difficult to get into Film Faculty. I am ready for anything. I will have to devote a great deal of time to my work. Maybe I will become only a film amateur rather than a good professional. That’s why I have also applied to the School of Social Studies.
At the end I would like to say you some basic informations about the Universities I applied.
After the First World War Brno became the second city of the Republic of Czechoslovakia in both size and significance. In 1919 three institutions of higher learning were founded here, among them Masaryk University, which soon became a hub of activity for students, teachers, and researchers. Masaryk University in Brno is the second largest university in the Czech Republic in terms of number of students in accredited degree programmes. An ever-growing number of applicants are seeking places. The university's curriculum is based on disciplines grouped under the faculties of Law, Medicine, Science, Education, Economics and Administration, Informatics, Social Studies, and Sports Studies. The university is very active in the SOCRATES/ERASMUS program - agreements have been signed with over 150 universities - and CEEPUS (links with universities in ten Central and Southeastern European countries). Recently the university has introduced special doctoral and post-doctoral scholarships for international students; individual faculties also offer scholarships in certain subjects. Masaryk University is the first university in the Czech Republic to accept applications electronically. . By filling out an electronic form, applicants can obtain a password for further individual correspondence with MU. For applications in the academic year 2002/2003, nearly a third of applicants took advantage of the opportunity to submit thein applications electronically.
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway was one of the best known American writers. He was born in 1899. his native city is Illinois. He did not stay there all his life, however. Cuba and Paris became his adopted homes. Of course he lived in the USA as well. Apart from this he undertook many expeditions to Africa where he hunted wild game.
Ernest Hemingway worked as a newspaper reporter. That is also why he was interested in public affairs.
During the First World War he served in a hospital unit. During the Spanish Civil War he remained in Spain as a war correspondent. His life was interesting and full of adventures.
Ernest Hemingway belonged to the group of writers and artists that called themselves “the lost generation”. Hemingways work includes a social critique and the atmosphere of public life. He tended to naturalism. He used a language that was concise, understandable as well as literary. His books are characterised by frequent monologues.
During his life he loved hunting, bullfighting and fishing. His life was varied and wild. His books reflect that.
For whom the bell tolls – he reacted to the Spanish Civil War by celebrating mankind. He pointed to the danger that threatened everyone. He described three days of the American volunteer Jordan and his relationship with the Spanish girl Maria.
The old man and the sea – the setting of this novel is Cuba, the city of Havana and later on the sea in the Gulf of Mexico. The action covers a very short period of time.
The idea was the lastingness of human life and its timeless calling: man can be destroyed but not defeated. The author pointed out the human dependence on nature and the mutual permanent struggle between the two. According to Ernest Hemingway it is not possible to gain mastery over nature.
All this is symbolised by the positions of the little boy and the old man, the gap between generations, the search and discovery for something new. Man carries victory hidden inside him.
The action concerns an old Cuban fisherman Santiago, who went out to sea to catch fish. Manoli is the boy who used to go with him as his helper. For forty days they had no luck, they did not catch even a single fish. For this reason the boys parents forbade him to go out to sea with the old man any more. Santiago had to catch fish on his own.
One day he recognised that it is exactly eighty-four days since he last caught a fish. He went fishing. Suddenly something bit. It was a big fish that dragged the old man along the sea with it for several days. But Santiago won.
On the way home, sharks swam by the ship several times an ate the fish. Only a skeleton of the bog fish remained. The boy was sad at the bad luck of his friend so he decided to join him at sea again.
A Farewell to Arms – Frederic Henry is the hero of this book. He is a disciplined and courageous person, but he feels detached from life. He is a young American ambulance driver with the Italian army in the First World War. Frederic Henry meets a beautiful Red Cross nurse called Catherine Barkley. Henry tries to seduce Catherine. But it is not until he gets wounded in the leg by a trench mortar shell and is taken to a hospital in Milan to convalesce, that he meets up with Catherine again who is working at the hospital.
Henry and Catherine begin a passionate affair but he has to leave Catherine when he is better to return to the battle and the war front.
Henry decides to desert the Italian Army, knowing he faces certain death. He reunites with Catherine who is pregnant with his child.
They escape to Switzerland, which is a neutral country and not involved in the war. They spend a happy time in Switzerland. They plan to marry after the baby is born. He attempts an unsuccessful Caesarian section and Catherine dies in childbirth.
Other books include: The Green Hills of Africa, Death in the Afternoon, The Fifth Column, etc.
In 1954 Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
I read The Old man and the sea. Its interesting and instructive book.
Ernest Hemingway worked as a newspaper reporter. That is also why he was interested in public affairs.
During the First World War he served in a hospital unit. During the Spanish Civil War he remained in Spain as a war correspondent. His life was interesting and full of adventures.
Ernest Hemingway belonged to the group of writers and artists that called themselves “the lost generation”. Hemingways work includes a social critique and the atmosphere of public life. He tended to naturalism. He used a language that was concise, understandable as well as literary. His books are characterised by frequent monologues.
During his life he loved hunting, bullfighting and fishing. His life was varied and wild. His books reflect that.
For whom the bell tolls – he reacted to the Spanish Civil War by celebrating mankind. He pointed to the danger that threatened everyone. He described three days of the American volunteer Jordan and his relationship with the Spanish girl Maria.
The old man and the sea – the setting of this novel is Cuba, the city of Havana and later on the sea in the Gulf of Mexico. The action covers a very short period of time.
The idea was the lastingness of human life and its timeless calling: man can be destroyed but not defeated. The author pointed out the human dependence on nature and the mutual permanent struggle between the two. According to Ernest Hemingway it is not possible to gain mastery over nature.
All this is symbolised by the positions of the little boy and the old man, the gap between generations, the search and discovery for something new. Man carries victory hidden inside him.
The action concerns an old Cuban fisherman Santiago, who went out to sea to catch fish. Manoli is the boy who used to go with him as his helper. For forty days they had no luck, they did not catch even a single fish. For this reason the boys parents forbade him to go out to sea with the old man any more. Santiago had to catch fish on his own.
One day he recognised that it is exactly eighty-four days since he last caught a fish. He went fishing. Suddenly something bit. It was a big fish that dragged the old man along the sea with it for several days. But Santiago won.
On the way home, sharks swam by the ship several times an ate the fish. Only a skeleton of the bog fish remained. The boy was sad at the bad luck of his friend so he decided to join him at sea again.
A Farewell to Arms – Frederic Henry is the hero of this book. He is a disciplined and courageous person, but he feels detached from life. He is a young American ambulance driver with the Italian army in the First World War. Frederic Henry meets a beautiful Red Cross nurse called Catherine Barkley. Henry tries to seduce Catherine. But it is not until he gets wounded in the leg by a trench mortar shell and is taken to a hospital in Milan to convalesce, that he meets up with Catherine again who is working at the hospital.
Henry and Catherine begin a passionate affair but he has to leave Catherine when he is better to return to the battle and the war front.
Henry decides to desert the Italian Army, knowing he faces certain death. He reunites with Catherine who is pregnant with his child.
They escape to Switzerland, which is a neutral country and not involved in the war. They spend a happy time in Switzerland. They plan to marry after the baby is born. He attempts an unsuccessful Caesarian section and Catherine dies in childbirth.
Other books include: The Green Hills of Africa, Death in the Afternoon, The Fifth Column, etc.
In 1954 Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
I read The Old man and the sea. Its interesting and instructive book.
New york
New York City, named “The Big Apple” by jazz musicians in the 1920s, is the city that never sleeps. It is alive and full of adventure, a magnet for people from all over the world with dreams and ambitions. Founded in 1625, it was chartered as a city in 1653. New York City is one of the largest cities in the United States and is among the largest in the world.
History – the original inhabitants were Indians, which is resembled by the name of the oldest part – Manhattan Island. This land was bought from the Indians by the Dutch at the beginning of 17th century. The original name was New Amsterdam. In 1664 the British captured the city and renamed it New York. Because of its favourable position it soon became an important trading port. In southern part of Manhattan Island there used to be a wall against Indians, now there is Wall Street – the center of financial life with the most important stock-exchange in the world.
New York City is divided into five boroughs or sections. The island of Manhattan is what many people think of when they think of New York because it is considered the “heart” of the city, but it is only one of the five boroughs. The others are Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Richmond, better known as Staten Island. The boroughs are connected to each other and to the rest of the state by bridges and tunnels. One of New York’s two major league baseball teams, the Mets, play in Shea Stadium in Queens. The Yankees, another major league team, play at the Bronx’s Yankee Stadium.
While over one and half million people are crowded into Manhattan Island, the city offers many parks and neighborhoods to contain them. The famous central Park and other smaller parks offer places to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature. Manhattan is divided into the East Side and West Side by Fifth Avenue. Housing is a big problem in Manhattan where most people rent the apartments in which they live. Over 200 000 people live in public housing projects. In the other four boroughs, many New Yorkers own their own homes.
There is so much to do and see in New York. The Empire State Building, for forty years the tallest building in the world, each year carries over a million and a half visitors to its observatory high above the city. The twin towers of the World Trade center were the tallest buildings in the city, but they were destroyed by terrorists. Madison Square Garden is the place to go to see basketball and hockey games, rock concerts, rodeos, and even the circus. The city is home to a number of zoos, including the Bronx Zoo, one of the best in the world. Museums offer a limitless variety of possibilities to view nature (The new York Natural History Museum, the Hayden Planetarium, Coney Island’s New York Aquarium), art (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art), and even an aircraft carrier (The Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum). Broadway and Times Square offer an endless variety of dramatic plays and musical productions, as well as the studios of MTV. All night dance clubs are scattered throughout the city, and patrons include the rich and famous are well as young New York working people who dance to frenetic rhythms spun by DJs.
A fabulous city, New York is a mecca to Americans living up and down the East coast of the United States and to visitors from all over the United States and the world.
History – the original inhabitants were Indians, which is resembled by the name of the oldest part – Manhattan Island. This land was bought from the Indians by the Dutch at the beginning of 17th century. The original name was New Amsterdam. In 1664 the British captured the city and renamed it New York. Because of its favourable position it soon became an important trading port. In southern part of Manhattan Island there used to be a wall against Indians, now there is Wall Street – the center of financial life with the most important stock-exchange in the world.
New York City is divided into five boroughs or sections. The island of Manhattan is what many people think of when they think of New York because it is considered the “heart” of the city, but it is only one of the five boroughs. The others are Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Richmond, better known as Staten Island. The boroughs are connected to each other and to the rest of the state by bridges and tunnels. One of New York’s two major league baseball teams, the Mets, play in Shea Stadium in Queens. The Yankees, another major league team, play at the Bronx’s Yankee Stadium.
While over one and half million people are crowded into Manhattan Island, the city offers many parks and neighborhoods to contain them. The famous central Park and other smaller parks offer places to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature. Manhattan is divided into the East Side and West Side by Fifth Avenue. Housing is a big problem in Manhattan where most people rent the apartments in which they live. Over 200 000 people live in public housing projects. In the other four boroughs, many New Yorkers own their own homes.
There is so much to do and see in New York. The Empire State Building, for forty years the tallest building in the world, each year carries over a million and a half visitors to its observatory high above the city. The twin towers of the World Trade center were the tallest buildings in the city, but they were destroyed by terrorists. Madison Square Garden is the place to go to see basketball and hockey games, rock concerts, rodeos, and even the circus. The city is home to a number of zoos, including the Bronx Zoo, one of the best in the world. Museums offer a limitless variety of possibilities to view nature (The new York Natural History Museum, the Hayden Planetarium, Coney Island’s New York Aquarium), art (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art), and even an aircraft carrier (The Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum). Broadway and Times Square offer an endless variety of dramatic plays and musical productions, as well as the studios of MTV. All night dance clubs are scattered throughout the city, and patrons include the rich and famous are well as young New York working people who dance to frenetic rhythms spun by DJs.
A fabulous city, New York is a mecca to Americans living up and down the East coast of the United States and to visitors from all over the United States and the world.
Education
British and American educational systems in comparison
with the Czech one
• Education system in Great Britain
The nowadays British system of education is quite new, from the 1990s. It gives parents more choice to choose the schools and it makes further and higher education more economically available to large numbers of people.
All children and young people between the ages 5 to 16 must get full-time education. About 93 per cent of British pupils receive their education at state schools supported by local public funds, the rest attend independent private or church schools. Most private schools have its pupils uniforms and still remain single-sex. The school year in England and Wales begins in early September and ends in the following July (Scotland varies a bit). State schools have usually six weeks off in summer and some holidays during the school year (at Christmas, Easter etc.).
Pre-schools and primary education is provided by nursery and primary schools. About 50 per cent of 3 and 4 year-old children attend nursery, day-care centres or other pre-school play groups, mostly organised by parents. At the age of 5 they go to kindergartens - they learn to draw, paint or use musical instruments there but also to read, write and a little count. At 7 many children move to primary (also basic or element) schools where the work is more systematic.
The usual age for transfer from primary to secondary education * is 11. They can attend all-inclusive Comprehensive schools , which give children all abilities and provide a wide range of secondary education. Another are Grammar schools which entered pupils on the bases of their abilities. Grammar
schools offer a mainly academic education for the 11 to 18 (or 19) year age.
Subjects taught at school are given by this national curriculum : English, Maths, Science, Technology, History, Geography, Music, Art, PE, foreign languages and optional religious education or technical and vocational education. At the ages of 7, 11, 14, there are four grades , which a pupil must pass during the school attendance and an assessments of tests show how the children study. The principal examination at about the age of 16 is the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) which is required for most jobs and further vocational training. GCSE - A level (Advanced) - gives students possibility to study more subjects - as the ‘six form’ - and these exams taken at 18 are the standard and basic qualification for entrance to university.
The expensive and prestige private secondary schools are in Eton, Harrow or Winchester.
In Scotland the curriculum and the examination system is slightly different.
About 30 per cent of 18- and 19-year people receive some form of full-time higher education. Higher education institutions include universities, teacher training colleges and other colleges 7 of technology (polytechnics), art and medicine. Those who do not study at the universities can be trained in business, law, banking, manufacturing, service industry or any other specials collages.
Great Britain has 46 universities which can be divided into three groups:
I. Oxford (1167) and Cambridge (1229) - ‘Oxbridge’ - they are the oldest and the most famous and prestige universities in UK; in Scotland there is Glasgow (1451) and Aberdeen (1494)
II. ‘Redbrick universities’ - were founded in 19th century (in London or Manchester); these schools provided some technological training in industrial areas
III. The new universities founded after 1960s (in Bristol, Sussex, Kent etc.) and during 1990s
People who pass examinations at the end of 3 or 4 years are called undergraduates and their first degree is Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) (the title is put after a name). Students with degrees B.A. or B.Sc. can study further - by attending a postgraduate course to get the degree of Master - they must work on a thesis at least for one year. They graduate the university, are called graduates and the title they get then is M.A. or M.Sc. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) is given only for a thesis in humanities and science which originally contributes to human knowledge .
At the head of the university there is a Vice-Chancellor but it is only a honorary title.
• Education system in the United States
In the USA there isn’t a national system of education. Each of the 50 states has its own education system but Federal government often gives money to schools and has very little control over administration and curriculum. All schools are controlled by an elected local body (often elected from parents) and by the city and state in which the school is located. The majority of all schools are public schools, financed by the state and there are also private schools which are often single-sex and pupils wear uniform as well as Britain. The beginning of the school year very in each state from mid-August to mid-September and usually ends in May or June.
The age of school attendance is from 7 to 16 (or from 6 to 18) years. Every child gets minimum 13 years of education. School years in the USA are called grades and the whole attending is divided into ‘groups’ of grades.
Pre-school and elementary education includes nursery and kindergartens which are up to age 5 and 6. Most of them are private and charge any money. In the elementary schools (from 6 to 11 years of age, 1st to 5th grade) pupils learn to read, write, do arithmetic, elementary science, history, geography, music, art and PE.
Secondary education * is provided by Junior High (from 11 to 14 years of age, 6th to 8th grade) and High Schools (from 15 to 18 years of age, 9th to 12th grade). Most schools offer the same curriculum: English, Maths, Science, Social studies, PE etc. This schools are comprehensive and some of them offer specialised courses such as business, computer science etc.
High schools generally organise much activity outstanding the classroom, many of them have football, basketball and baseball teams, an orchestra, a choir etc. The basic leaving school qualification is usually the High School Diploma or General Education Diploma (GED) which is awarded after passing an examination. There is no national school-leaving examination but national Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT; in mathematics and English) is used to help select students for colleges and university entrance. But finally they haven’t got any other tests to entrance higher education!
Marks in most US schools are: Excellent (A), Superior, above average (B), Satisfactory (C), Passing grade (D), Completely unsatisfactory (E).
About one third of high school graduates go on for some higher education. The system of higher education in the USA consist of following institutions:
I. Universities and colleges - its applicants are usually chosen on the basis of their high school records, recommendation from their high school teacher, some interviews or their scores on the SAT
II. Vo-techs (vocational-technical) institutions - high school graduates may take courses from six month to two years; they learn various technical skills (hair styling, business accounting, computer programming etc.) and after finishing people usually take up employment
III. Community colleges - provide vocational and semi-professional education for people with a High School Diploma for two years; than students may enter many professions
Bachelor’s degree (B.A. or B.S.) is given to students after successful completion of four years study. Bachelors graduates can study further by attending a postgraduate course to get the degree of Master (M.A. or M.S.) after one to three years of another study. The Doctoral Degrees are given after two to five years of another study.
The oldest and most respected universities - Harvard (1636), Yale University (1701), University of Pennsylvania (1740), Princeton University (1746) or College of Columbia (1754) are all private. The cost of university studies varies.
Each American university has its own curriculum. Undergraduate students must select their ‘major’ - the field in which they want their degree, plus a certain number of ‘electives’ or one ‘minor’ subject.
• Education system in the Czech Republic
The nowadays Czech system of education is quite new from the beginning of the 1990s and it was several reorganised during last years.
The school attendance is from 6 (7) to 15 (16) years and all children must pass full-time basic education. The school year in CR begins in early September and ends in the following June. All schools have eight weeks off in summer and some holidays during the school year (at Christmas, Easter etc.). The school years are called ‘classes’ in CR.
Pre-schools education is provided by nursery for 6 month to 3 (4) years old children. At the age of 4 (5) children go to kindergartens - they learn there to draw, paint but also to read, and a little count. Not many babies attending nursery in our republic because mothers usually stay with them home till their school years. At the age of 6 (or 7) children move to basic schools.
‘Basic’ schools * provided all-inclusive comprehensive education. In the 5th class pupils can to go to the 8 years Gymnasiums (11 to 18 or 19 year of age). The CR hasn’t private basic schools but has some institutions which provided basic education. They are finally controlled by the Ministry of Education.
‘Middle’ schools * provided children secondary education. Four-years ‘Gymnasiums’ offer a mainly academic education, popular are also 4 years ‘Business’ economical schools. Other types of education are 3, 4 or 5 years industrial, vocational and special institutions and schools (technical, agriculture, health, languages, preparing for practical professions etc.).
All schools fallow the national curriculum which can be little changed by the school headmaster. The main school subject are Czech language, Maths, Science (biology, physics, chemistry), History, English/German/French language, Geography, Music, Art, PE etc. Students are rated during the each school year by some tests, essays, compositions etc. The principal examination is the ‘leaving examination’ at the end of the secondary study. Good marks on the leaving certificate means big chances and basic qualification for entrance to university or any other type of higher education.
We have quite a lot of private middle schools but as well as basic schools they are finally controlled by the Ministry of Education. The prize but also the level and prestige of the study on this institutions is very different. There are also the Church schools and institutions but they are still quite rare.
Quite a lot of students, especially secondary educated in gymnasiums, go to study some form of higher education. ‘High’ education institutions include both humanistic and science universities and other specials colleges like: technology (polytechnics), music, art, medicine, business, law, banking, manufacturing, service industry etc. The Czech Republic has the network of universities in whole republic. The most prestige are Karlova University (Prague), Masarykova University (Brno) and Palackého University (Olomouc). The problem in CR is limited place for the students who have to go to the higher education as a whole and especially to the universities.
People who pass the graduation examination at the end of 3rd year of the study have degree Bachelor. They can study further to get the degree Magister (Mgr.; this title is put in front of a name) - they must work on a thesis two years. They can further study for their Doctorate degree.
At the head of the college of the university is a Dean and at the head of university there is a Vice-Chancellor.
with the Czech one
• Education system in Great Britain
The nowadays British system of education is quite new, from the 1990s. It gives parents more choice to choose the schools and it makes further and higher education more economically available to large numbers of people.
All children and young people between the ages 5 to 16 must get full-time education. About 93 per cent of British pupils receive their education at state schools supported by local public funds, the rest attend independent private or church schools. Most private schools have its pupils uniforms and still remain single-sex. The school year in England and Wales begins in early September and ends in the following July (Scotland varies a bit). State schools have usually six weeks off in summer and some holidays during the school year (at Christmas, Easter etc.).
Pre-schools and primary education is provided by nursery and primary schools. About 50 per cent of 3 and 4 year-old children attend nursery, day-care centres or other pre-school play groups, mostly organised by parents. At the age of 5 they go to kindergartens - they learn to draw, paint or use musical instruments there but also to read, write and a little count. At 7 many children move to primary (also basic or element) schools where the work is more systematic.
The usual age for transfer from primary to secondary education * is 11. They can attend all-inclusive Comprehensive schools , which give children all abilities and provide a wide range of secondary education. Another are Grammar schools which entered pupils on the bases of their abilities. Grammar
schools offer a mainly academic education for the 11 to 18 (or 19) year age.
Subjects taught at school are given by this national curriculum : English, Maths, Science, Technology, History, Geography, Music, Art, PE, foreign languages and optional religious education or technical and vocational education. At the ages of 7, 11, 14, there are four grades , which a pupil must pass during the school attendance and an assessments of tests show how the children study. The principal examination at about the age of 16 is the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) which is required for most jobs and further vocational training. GCSE - A level (Advanced) - gives students possibility to study more subjects - as the ‘six form’ - and these exams taken at 18 are the standard and basic qualification for entrance to university.
The expensive and prestige private secondary schools are in Eton, Harrow or Winchester.
In Scotland the curriculum and the examination system is slightly different.
About 30 per cent of 18- and 19-year people receive some form of full-time higher education. Higher education institutions include universities, teacher training colleges and other colleges 7 of technology (polytechnics), art and medicine. Those who do not study at the universities can be trained in business, law, banking, manufacturing, service industry or any other specials collages.
Great Britain has 46 universities which can be divided into three groups:
I. Oxford (1167) and Cambridge (1229) - ‘Oxbridge’ - they are the oldest and the most famous and prestige universities in UK; in Scotland there is Glasgow (1451) and Aberdeen (1494)
II. ‘Redbrick universities’ - were founded in 19th century (in London or Manchester); these schools provided some technological training in industrial areas
III. The new universities founded after 1960s (in Bristol, Sussex, Kent etc.) and during 1990s
People who pass examinations at the end of 3 or 4 years are called undergraduates and their first degree is Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) (the title is put after a name). Students with degrees B.A. or B.Sc. can study further - by attending a postgraduate course to get the degree of Master - they must work on a thesis at least for one year. They graduate the university, are called graduates and the title they get then is M.A. or M.Sc. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) is given only for a thesis in humanities and science which originally contributes to human knowledge .
At the head of the university there is a Vice-Chancellor but it is only a honorary title.
• Education system in the United States
In the USA there isn’t a national system of education. Each of the 50 states has its own education system but Federal government often gives money to schools and has very little control over administration and curriculum. All schools are controlled by an elected local body (often elected from parents) and by the city and state in which the school is located. The majority of all schools are public schools, financed by the state and there are also private schools which are often single-sex and pupils wear uniform as well as Britain. The beginning of the school year very in each state from mid-August to mid-September and usually ends in May or June.
The age of school attendance is from 7 to 16 (or from 6 to 18) years. Every child gets minimum 13 years of education. School years in the USA are called grades and the whole attending is divided into ‘groups’ of grades.
Pre-school and elementary education includes nursery and kindergartens which are up to age 5 and 6. Most of them are private and charge any money. In the elementary schools (from 6 to 11 years of age, 1st to 5th grade) pupils learn to read, write, do arithmetic, elementary science, history, geography, music, art and PE.
Secondary education * is provided by Junior High (from 11 to 14 years of age, 6th to 8th grade) and High Schools (from 15 to 18 years of age, 9th to 12th grade). Most schools offer the same curriculum: English, Maths, Science, Social studies, PE etc. This schools are comprehensive and some of them offer specialised courses such as business, computer science etc.
High schools generally organise much activity outstanding the classroom, many of them have football, basketball and baseball teams, an orchestra, a choir etc. The basic leaving school qualification is usually the High School Diploma or General Education Diploma (GED) which is awarded after passing an examination. There is no national school-leaving examination but national Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT; in mathematics and English) is used to help select students for colleges and university entrance. But finally they haven’t got any other tests to entrance higher education!
Marks in most US schools are: Excellent (A), Superior, above average (B), Satisfactory (C), Passing grade (D), Completely unsatisfactory (E).
About one third of high school graduates go on for some higher education. The system of higher education in the USA consist of following institutions:
I. Universities and colleges - its applicants are usually chosen on the basis of their high school records, recommendation from their high school teacher, some interviews or their scores on the SAT
II. Vo-techs (vocational-technical) institutions - high school graduates may take courses from six month to two years; they learn various technical skills (hair styling, business accounting, computer programming etc.) and after finishing people usually take up employment
III. Community colleges - provide vocational and semi-professional education for people with a High School Diploma for two years; than students may enter many professions
Bachelor’s degree (B.A. or B.S.) is given to students after successful completion of four years study. Bachelors graduates can study further by attending a postgraduate course to get the degree of Master (M.A. or M.S.) after one to three years of another study. The Doctoral Degrees are given after two to five years of another study.
The oldest and most respected universities - Harvard (1636), Yale University (1701), University of Pennsylvania (1740), Princeton University (1746) or College of Columbia (1754) are all private. The cost of university studies varies.
Each American university has its own curriculum. Undergraduate students must select their ‘major’ - the field in which they want their degree, plus a certain number of ‘electives’ or one ‘minor’ subject.
• Education system in the Czech Republic
The nowadays Czech system of education is quite new from the beginning of the 1990s and it was several reorganised during last years.
The school attendance is from 6 (7) to 15 (16) years and all children must pass full-time basic education. The school year in CR begins in early September and ends in the following June. All schools have eight weeks off in summer and some holidays during the school year (at Christmas, Easter etc.). The school years are called ‘classes’ in CR.
Pre-schools education is provided by nursery for 6 month to 3 (4) years old children. At the age of 4 (5) children go to kindergartens - they learn there to draw, paint but also to read, and a little count. Not many babies attending nursery in our republic because mothers usually stay with them home till their school years. At the age of 6 (or 7) children move to basic schools.
‘Basic’ schools * provided all-inclusive comprehensive education. In the 5th class pupils can to go to the 8 years Gymnasiums (11 to 18 or 19 year of age). The CR hasn’t private basic schools but has some institutions which provided basic education. They are finally controlled by the Ministry of Education.
‘Middle’ schools * provided children secondary education. Four-years ‘Gymnasiums’ offer a mainly academic education, popular are also 4 years ‘Business’ economical schools. Other types of education are 3, 4 or 5 years industrial, vocational and special institutions and schools (technical, agriculture, health, languages, preparing for practical professions etc.).
All schools fallow the national curriculum which can be little changed by the school headmaster. The main school subject are Czech language, Maths, Science (biology, physics, chemistry), History, English/German/French language, Geography, Music, Art, PE etc. Students are rated during the each school year by some tests, essays, compositions etc. The principal examination is the ‘leaving examination’ at the end of the secondary study. Good marks on the leaving certificate means big chances and basic qualification for entrance to university or any other type of higher education.
We have quite a lot of private middle schools but as well as basic schools they are finally controlled by the Ministry of Education. The prize but also the level and prestige of the study on this institutions is very different. There are also the Church schools and institutions but they are still quite rare.
Quite a lot of students, especially secondary educated in gymnasiums, go to study some form of higher education. ‘High’ education institutions include both humanistic and science universities and other specials colleges like: technology (polytechnics), music, art, medicine, business, law, banking, manufacturing, service industry etc. The Czech Republic has the network of universities in whole republic. The most prestige are Karlova University (Prague), Masarykova University (Brno) and Palackého University (Olomouc). The problem in CR is limited place for the students who have to go to the higher education as a whole and especially to the universities.
People who pass the graduation examination at the end of 3rd year of the study have degree Bachelor. They can study further to get the degree Magister (Mgr.; this title is put in front of a name) - they must work on a thesis two years. They can further study for their Doctorate degree.
At the head of the college of the university is a Dean and at the head of university there is a Vice-Chancellor.
Sports and games
Sport and games are very important for active relaxation and are also important for our physical and mental health.
The main difference between sport and game is that game is the ‘collective’ and the sport is more individual - it means football or basketball are games and e.g. tennis or swimming are sports.
We can practise some of sports and games indoor and some of them outdoor. In the first group there are e.g. ice-hockey, basketball, handball, figure skating or gymnastics and in the second group there are e.g. baseball, golf, winter sports such as skiing (slalom, down-hill, ski-jump), rellyes or riding. There are also sports for both indoor and outdoor - swimming, athletics (sprint, jump, javelin), football, tennis, volleyball etc. Some sports such as diving, windsurfing or racing can be quite dangerous and very expensive.
Many sports have their origin in Great Britain (England). The most specific is cricket, often called the ‘English national sport’. It has never been adopted in foreign countries (expect the Commonwealth states). Also football, golf and tennis are very popular there. Rugby (rugby football) is very popular in Scotland and has its origin there, quite popular are rowing and horse-riding too. The major sports events of the year in UK are The Grand Slam Tennis Tournament in Wimbledon (in London), The British Open Golf Championship and The Grand National (horse-riding steeple-chase ). In Great Britain the old clubs of aristocracy and very rich people have a big prestige and very long tradition.
In the USA there are especially baseball and basketball (NBA), which have its origin there, ice-hockey (NHL) and golf very popular. There is a long tradition of school sport clubs at all of the high schools and collages. Many Americans exercise for good health every day - fitness and keeping fit is an important part of American way of life.
There are also very important world’s sport events. The most famous are The Olympic Games (the Olympics), which are held every four years and have got its summer and winter part, which change once every two years. Other important events (which are held annually or every two years) are The World and The European Championships and Cups in almost every type of sports (e.g. in football, athletics, swimming, skiing etc.), The Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments, The Formula One Championship etc.
The main difference between sport and game is that game is the ‘collective’ and the sport is more individual - it means football or basketball are games and e.g. tennis or swimming are sports.
We can practise some of sports and games indoor and some of them outdoor. In the first group there are e.g. ice-hockey, basketball, handball, figure skating or gymnastics and in the second group there are e.g. baseball, golf, winter sports such as skiing (slalom, down-hill, ski-jump), rellyes or riding. There are also sports for both indoor and outdoor - swimming, athletics (sprint, jump, javelin), football, tennis, volleyball etc. Some sports such as diving, windsurfing or racing can be quite dangerous and very expensive.
Many sports have their origin in Great Britain (England). The most specific is cricket, often called the ‘English national sport’. It has never been adopted in foreign countries (expect the Commonwealth states). Also football, golf and tennis are very popular there. Rugby (rugby football) is very popular in Scotland and has its origin there, quite popular are rowing and horse-riding too. The major sports events of the year in UK are The Grand Slam Tennis Tournament in Wimbledon (in London), The British Open Golf Championship and The Grand National (horse-riding steeple-chase ). In Great Britain the old clubs of aristocracy and very rich people have a big prestige and very long tradition.
In the USA there are especially baseball and basketball (NBA), which have its origin there, ice-hockey (NHL) and golf very popular. There is a long tradition of school sport clubs at all of the high schools and collages. Many Americans exercise for good health every day - fitness and keeping fit is an important part of American way of life.
There are also very important world’s sport events. The most famous are The Olympic Games (the Olympics), which are held every four years and have got its summer and winter part, which change once every two years. Other important events (which are held annually or every two years) are The World and The European Championships and Cups in almost every type of sports (e.g. in football, athletics, swimming, skiing etc.), The Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments, The Formula One Championship etc.
Travelling
I think travelling is still very popular activity in the 20th century. People all around the world
travel for various reasons - they like travelling because it is exciting to see new places, meet new people and friends, and see the different way of life in various countries, some of them travel for cultural or scientific reasons, some on business. Travelling is always a big experience but on the other hand it can be also quite dangerous - we can meet bad people, we can get lost, our money can be stolen or we can be murdered.
The most important reason of travelling, mainly during the holidays, is tourism. Thousands of people want to see the most beautiful sights and places in the world such as Venice, London, Rome, but also Niagara Falls, NP Yellowstone, Great Chinese Wall etc. every year.
Travelling can by practised in many ways and there are many kinds of transport for travelling. Young people like hitchhiking, some people prefer going by car, by train, by plane or by bus, cheapest transport is cycling.
From time to time nearly every family spared money for spending their summer abroad. When we go abroad we usually must get necessary documents. First of all is a valid passport, besides we must change money in a bank or in a exchange-office. It is also good to know some foreign language. In our country there is lot of travel agencies and we can arrange various kinds of holidays or trips - cultural holidays to well-known historical places (e.g. Egypt, Roma, Athens) and to see nice architecture monuments, recreation holidays in sea-side resort or various mountains (the Mediterranean, the Alps etc.) or to stay with sports and educational programmes.
But we are the Czechs and we ought to have to know our republic. Because as well as in Italy or Greece we can swim in lakes, ponds and rivers mainly in south Bohemia, we can see famous monuments in the Czech, Moravian or Slovak towns and we can also meet new friends.
travel for various reasons - they like travelling because it is exciting to see new places, meet new people and friends, and see the different way of life in various countries, some of them travel for cultural or scientific reasons, some on business. Travelling is always a big experience but on the other hand it can be also quite dangerous - we can meet bad people, we can get lost, our money can be stolen or we can be murdered.
The most important reason of travelling, mainly during the holidays, is tourism. Thousands of people want to see the most beautiful sights and places in the world such as Venice, London, Rome, but also Niagara Falls, NP Yellowstone, Great Chinese Wall etc. every year.
Travelling can by practised in many ways and there are many kinds of transport for travelling. Young people like hitchhiking, some people prefer going by car, by train, by plane or by bus, cheapest transport is cycling.
From time to time nearly every family spared money for spending their summer abroad. When we go abroad we usually must get necessary documents. First of all is a valid passport, besides we must change money in a bank or in a exchange-office. It is also good to know some foreign language. In our country there is lot of travel agencies and we can arrange various kinds of holidays or trips - cultural holidays to well-known historical places (e.g. Egypt, Roma, Athens) and to see nice architecture monuments, recreation holidays in sea-side resort or various mountains (the Mediterranean, the Alps etc.) or to stay with sports and educational programmes.
But we are the Czechs and we ought to have to know our republic. Because as well as in Italy or Greece we can swim in lakes, ponds and rivers mainly in south Bohemia, we can see famous monuments in the Czech, Moravian or Slovak towns and we can also meet new friends.
Lifestyle in Britain and America
The British are said to be very polite and have very good manners - they are never tired of saying their ‘favourite’ phrases such as ‘I beg your pardon’ or ‘Excuse me’. The English word ‘gentleman’ mean a man with good manners all over the world. But they are also said to be very conservative and ‘keeping himself to himself’ - they e.g. don’t shake hands or kiss hello as people on the (European) Continent. The British are nowadays still too conservative (that) they aloof and don’t accept even high educated people who are foreign citizens (!) - a bipolar society is everyday fact in Britain. On the other hand there is a long tradition of charity, which is ordinary and obvious part of the British lifestyle.
They spend lot of their leisure time at home with the family and pets - the main stage of an Englishman’s social life is the family, the job and the club.
Not only the motto ‘My home, my castle’ explain that about 60 per cent of houses in Britain are owned by people who live in them. They also love and follow one’s traditions, like the ‘tea ceremony’ around 5 o’clock p.m.
But the British are also the democratic people and the world-famous saying ‘time is money’ shows the practical side of the British character indeed.
The Americans are mainly the mobile (or moving) nation. They ‘move away’ (or commute) for new home, new work, for holidays etc. usually x-times in their life. Also because of this, the USA is called the ‘melting pot’, the ‘pizza’ or the ‘salad bowl’ - there live and move million of people of all origins and all nationality at the same time. They are also an urban nation which means that majority of people live in bigger or smaller cities or towns.
Typical for the American lifestyle is the ideal (or theory) of the ‘American dream’ - belief that it is possible for anyone in America to win successes by their own efforts . So the ideal American is the ‘self-made’ and ‘self-reliance’ man - it is said that the first American of this kind was Benjamin Franklin. The ideal of the ‘American dream’ appears in many works of the American literature, such as in the famous F.S.Fitzgerald’s novels but it has a few negative characters there.
Another feature of the American lifestyle what is well-known all around the world is fast food eating. As well as the Europeans like to cook some food at home, the Americans like to go to some Mc’Donald’s or Kentucky Fried Chicken etc. to buy and eat chickens, hamburgers, pizzas etc. Both in Great Britain and the USA, popcorn, which is available in both sweet and salty flavours, is very popular.
They spend lot of their leisure time at home with the family and pets - the main stage of an Englishman’s social life is the family, the job and the club.
Not only the motto ‘My home, my castle’ explain that about 60 per cent of houses in Britain are owned by people who live in them. They also love and follow one’s traditions, like the ‘tea ceremony’ around 5 o’clock p.m.
But the British are also the democratic people and the world-famous saying ‘time is money’ shows the practical side of the British character indeed.
The Americans are mainly the mobile (or moving) nation. They ‘move away’ (or commute) for new home, new work, for holidays etc. usually x-times in their life. Also because of this, the USA is called the ‘melting pot’, the ‘pizza’ or the ‘salad bowl’ - there live and move million of people of all origins and all nationality at the same time. They are also an urban nation which means that majority of people live in bigger or smaller cities or towns.
Typical for the American lifestyle is the ideal (or theory) of the ‘American dream’ - belief that it is possible for anyone in America to win successes by their own efforts . So the ideal American is the ‘self-made’ and ‘self-reliance’ man - it is said that the first American of this kind was Benjamin Franklin. The ideal of the ‘American dream’ appears in many works of the American literature, such as in the famous F.S.Fitzgerald’s novels but it has a few negative characters there.
Another feature of the American lifestyle what is well-known all around the world is fast food eating. As well as the Europeans like to cook some food at home, the Americans like to go to some Mc’Donald’s or Kentucky Fried Chicken etc. to buy and eat chickens, hamburgers, pizzas etc. Both in Great Britain and the USA, popcorn, which is available in both sweet and salty flavours, is very popular.
English language
English as the world language, languages and language education
• Foreign languages and language learning
Studying foreign languages is important for everybody. We have many reasons to study them. We need it for travelling abroad , for reading foreign materials, for business communication etc. That is why people all around the world try to study foreign languages. They can understand one another. There are many occasions for studying languages such as courses, videos or cassette recorders. In our country especially German, English, French, Italy and Russian languages are learned. But the most important language for the world communication is English.
• English as the world language
English is the ‘lingua franca’ language - it means that it is the most spoken language in the world (like Latin in the Middle Ages). English is the mother tongue for approximately 4 420 million people, but also the important official language (e.g. in south Asia) and the second language (it means you learn to speak with).
• Development of the English language
The first Celtic inhabitants come to the British Isles in about 800 - 700 BC and the most important survival of this inhabitants is the existence of three languages: Welsh, and Irish and Scottish Gaelic. These languages are still spoken by some people in Wales, especially in western countries (e.g. in Cornwall) and in Scotland Highlands (for example in Welsh - Wales = Cymru, Good morning = Bore da, Thank you = Diolch; in Irish Gaelic - Dublin = Daile Atha Cliath, Good morning = Dia duit, Thank you = Go Raibh Maith Agat).
The Roman occupation started in AD 43 and lasted nearly 400 years but only few people adopt the Latin and only the British upper tribes (nobility) became romanised.
In the 5th and 6th century the first invasions of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes brought a language called Old English.
The Scandinavian invasions from the 8th to 10th century added some words from Old Norse and finally the Norman invasion in 1066 brought the impact of the Norman French language.
Until 1400 English language lost most of its inflections and grammar became generally simplified. It was recognised as ’(Modern) English’ and has been used by all social classes. In 16th century English language adopted many Latin words.
• Indo-European languages
Indo-European language is about 6 000 years old and has origin in southern Russia. It is extinct now but it was the ancestor of many modern languages.
The Indo-European tribes travelled to the north-west into Europe and to the south-east into Iran and India. The languages of Europe have been taken across the oceans to America, Australia and Africa.
Summary of most important Indo-European languages (native speakers - in millions):
Germanic: north (Scandinavian): Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish
west (German): German (118), English (420), Yiddish, Dutch, Afrikaans, Flemish etc.
Celtic: Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, Breton
Romance: Portuguese (164), Spanish (296), French (114), Italian (63), Rumanian
Slavonic: south: Slovene, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian
west: Czech, Slovak, Polish (41), Kashubian
east: Russian (285), Ukrainian, Belorussian
Iranian: west: Persian, Kurdish
east: Patho, Osettic
Indian: Bengali (171), Hindu (300), Sinhalse, Nepali
Baltic: Lithuaian, Latvian
Greek, Albanian, Armenian
- the largest number of people speak Chinese - about 720 million
• Foreign languages and language learning
Studying foreign languages is important for everybody. We have many reasons to study them. We need it for travelling abroad , for reading foreign materials, for business communication etc. That is why people all around the world try to study foreign languages. They can understand one another. There are many occasions for studying languages such as courses, videos or cassette recorders. In our country especially German, English, French, Italy and Russian languages are learned. But the most important language for the world communication is English.
• English as the world language
English is the ‘lingua franca’ language - it means that it is the most spoken language in the world (like Latin in the Middle Ages). English is the mother tongue for approximately 4 420 million people, but also the important official language (e.g. in south Asia) and the second language (it means you learn to speak with).
• Development of the English language
The first Celtic inhabitants come to the British Isles in about 800 - 700 BC and the most important survival of this inhabitants is the existence of three languages: Welsh, and Irish and Scottish Gaelic. These languages are still spoken by some people in Wales, especially in western countries (e.g. in Cornwall) and in Scotland Highlands (for example in Welsh - Wales = Cymru, Good morning = Bore da, Thank you = Diolch; in Irish Gaelic - Dublin = Daile Atha Cliath, Good morning = Dia duit, Thank you = Go Raibh Maith Agat).
The Roman occupation started in AD 43 and lasted nearly 400 years but only few people adopt the Latin and only the British upper tribes (nobility) became romanised.
In the 5th and 6th century the first invasions of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes brought a language called Old English.
The Scandinavian invasions from the 8th to 10th century added some words from Old Norse and finally the Norman invasion in 1066 brought the impact of the Norman French language.
Until 1400 English language lost most of its inflections and grammar became generally simplified. It was recognised as ’(Modern) English’ and has been used by all social classes. In 16th century English language adopted many Latin words.
• Indo-European languages
Indo-European language is about 6 000 years old and has origin in southern Russia. It is extinct now but it was the ancestor of many modern languages.
The Indo-European tribes travelled to the north-west into Europe and to the south-east into Iran and India. The languages of Europe have been taken across the oceans to America, Australia and Africa.
Summary of most important Indo-European languages (native speakers - in millions):
Germanic: north (Scandinavian): Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish
west (German): German (118), English (420), Yiddish, Dutch, Afrikaans, Flemish etc.
Celtic: Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, Breton
Romance: Portuguese (164), Spanish (296), French (114), Italian (63), Rumanian
Slavonic: south: Slovene, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian
west: Czech, Slovak, Polish (41), Kashubian
east: Russian (285), Ukrainian, Belorussian
Iranian: west: Persian, Kurdish
east: Patho, Osettic
Indian: Bengali (171), Hindu (300), Sinhalse, Nepali
Baltic: Lithuaian, Latvian
Greek, Albanian, Armenian
- the largest number of people speak Chinese - about 720 million
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, at Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of seven he started attending the local grammar school and was educated there.
When he was eighteen he married Anne Hathaway, eight years older girl from a nearby village. Six months after the wadding, their first daughter Susanna was born and two years later they had a twins - a boy Hamnet and a girl Judith.
We know only a little about Shakespeare’s life during next seven years but in 1592 he left his wife and children and became an actor and playwright in London where existed two very favourite theatres - The Theatre and The Swan - under the patronage of the King.
Shakespeare joined a group of actors called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1594 and worked as their leading actor and dramatist. This all-male company of experienced and talented players built their own theatre - the Globe. It was open to the sky and its owners, including Shakespeare, shared its profits. 1
For the next decade the Globe, on the Thames at Bankside, became one of the main London’s theatre and the home of Shakespeare’s work. Many of his greatest plays were written during those ten years, and were acted here.
In 1613 the Globe was destroyed by fire but the former Lord Chamberlain’s Men, by now called the King’s Men (under the patronage of James I), had leased 2 another smaller playhouse.
In 1612, Shakespeare returned home. His son Hamnet had died when only eleven, but his two daughters were in Stratford with his wife Anne. He was now a rich man and he bought a handsome house, New Place, the second largest in Stratford. It had two gardens, two orchards and two barns 3. Here, with his family, he spent the last years of his life and died on April 23, 1616 (the same date he was born; the legend said that Shakespeare died after the noisy birthday celebrations with his friends). He is buried at Hole Trinity Church in Stratford.
William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays, mostly in blank verse, which were commonly divided into: tragedies (T) which were mostly written during the first decade of the 17th century and show us the negative side of the new society, the mood of pessimism; comedies (C) express the typically spirit of the Renaissance, the pleasant aspect of the happy an beautiful life; others are historical plays (H) and romances (R).
The best and the most known of them are:
As You Like It (1599) - C
Hamlet (1601) - T
Othello (1604) - T
King Lear (1605) - T
Macbeth (1605) - T
Anthony and Cleopatra (1606) - H/T
The Winter’s Tale (1610) - R
The Tempest (1611) - R
Richard III (1592) - T
The Taming of the Shrew (1594) - C 4
Romeo and Juliet (1594) - T
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595) - C 5
The Merchant of Venice (1596) - C
Henry IV (1597) - H
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1598) - C
Julius Caesar (1599) - H
Beside the plays Shakespeare wrote also sonnets in his own special forms.
Shakespeare’s heroes, moral questions and human suffering inspired many artists of the periods after him, e.g. G.Verdi, S.Prokofjev, L. van Beethoven etc. The most important Czech translator of Shakespeare’s work was J.V.Sládek in the 2nd half of the 19th century.
• Romeo and Juliet
This tragedy is different from the other Shakespeare’s plays - the heroes aren’t destroyed by faults in their character and nature 6 but by the hate of their families.
The story tells us about the long hate between the two powerful houses in Verona - the House of Montague and the House of Capulet. Romeo, a Montague, falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet, at the ball and secretly marries her. Juliet’s cousin Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo refuses 7 but his friend Mercucio fights and is killed. In anger and revenge, Romeo kills Tybalt and has to run from Verona.
Juliet is commanded by her father to marry Paris, a nobleman. The Friar Laurence 8, who had secretly married them, helps Juliet by giving her magic drops which makes her seen dead, so she is put into the family vault. Romeo mistakenly believes 9 that Juliet is really dead, kills Paris at her graveside and than take poison. When Juliet wakes and find her lover’s body beside her, she stabs herself by Romeo’s dagger 10 . After this horrible events the warring families made peace.
In fact, I don’t like this play very much because of the theme - I don’t like emotional and sensitive stories like this and, in my opinion, this theme is now - at the end of the 20th century - quite leftovers 11.
• Hamlet
It is the tragedy of the suffering and hesitation of an honest, strong and responsible man who isn’t able to kill or punish without having a clear proof of guilt. 12
Hamlet, the son of the dead king of Denmark, learns the truth about father’s death from a father’s ghost at Elsinor Castle. But to make sure he pretends madness and tests the ghost’s story by having a play - resembling his father’s murder 13 - acted before his uncle Claudius, who murdered Hamlet’s father and married his mother, the queen.
The king decides to destroyed Hamlet and send him to England to have him killed there. But Hamlet returns and sees Ophelia’s funeral. Ophelia loves Hamlet but they cannot fulfil their love because of Hamlet’s plans. Claudius sends Leartes, Ophelia’s brother, to a match with Hamlet. He is wounded by Leartes’s poisoned sword but he is manages to stab 14 Claudius. The queen dies too after she drinks poisoned wine destined for Hamlet.
To be or not to be - that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to také arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? - to die, - to sleep -
No more…
• King Lear
King Lear had three daughters and he decided to divided his kingdom among them. He asked them to tell him which of them loved him best. The two elder Goneril and Regan - both already married - said they love him above all, but it wasn’t true. His youngest and most favourite daughter Cornelia, who really loved him wouldn’t tell lie and said that she give half her love to her father and half to her future husband. The king became angry and drove her away from home. All to late he recognised that his two older daughters had not spoken the true. He left their castles, wandered in a terrible storm and became mad 15 .
Cordelia, who had married the king of France, came to the England with an army to help her father. But her army is defeated, she and also her father became prisoners. Cordelia was hanged in prison and after King Lear saw her death, his heart broke and he died too.
When he was eighteen he married Anne Hathaway, eight years older girl from a nearby village. Six months after the wadding, their first daughter Susanna was born and two years later they had a twins - a boy Hamnet and a girl Judith.
We know only a little about Shakespeare’s life during next seven years but in 1592 he left his wife and children and became an actor and playwright in London where existed two very favourite theatres - The Theatre and The Swan - under the patronage of the King.
Shakespeare joined a group of actors called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1594 and worked as their leading actor and dramatist. This all-male company of experienced and talented players built their own theatre - the Globe. It was open to the sky and its owners, including Shakespeare, shared its profits. 1
For the next decade the Globe, on the Thames at Bankside, became one of the main London’s theatre and the home of Shakespeare’s work. Many of his greatest plays were written during those ten years, and were acted here.
In 1613 the Globe was destroyed by fire but the former Lord Chamberlain’s Men, by now called the King’s Men (under the patronage of James I), had leased 2 another smaller playhouse.
In 1612, Shakespeare returned home. His son Hamnet had died when only eleven, but his two daughters were in Stratford with his wife Anne. He was now a rich man and he bought a handsome house, New Place, the second largest in Stratford. It had two gardens, two orchards and two barns 3. Here, with his family, he spent the last years of his life and died on April 23, 1616 (the same date he was born; the legend said that Shakespeare died after the noisy birthday celebrations with his friends). He is buried at Hole Trinity Church in Stratford.
William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays, mostly in blank verse, which were commonly divided into: tragedies (T) which were mostly written during the first decade of the 17th century and show us the negative side of the new society, the mood of pessimism; comedies (C) express the typically spirit of the Renaissance, the pleasant aspect of the happy an beautiful life; others are historical plays (H) and romances (R).
The best and the most known of them are:
As You Like It (1599) - C
Hamlet (1601) - T
Othello (1604) - T
King Lear (1605) - T
Macbeth (1605) - T
Anthony and Cleopatra (1606) - H/T
The Winter’s Tale (1610) - R
The Tempest (1611) - R
Richard III (1592) - T
The Taming of the Shrew (1594) - C 4
Romeo and Juliet (1594) - T
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595) - C 5
The Merchant of Venice (1596) - C
Henry IV (1597) - H
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1598) - C
Julius Caesar (1599) - H
Beside the plays Shakespeare wrote also sonnets in his own special forms.
Shakespeare’s heroes, moral questions and human suffering inspired many artists of the periods after him, e.g. G.Verdi, S.Prokofjev, L. van Beethoven etc. The most important Czech translator of Shakespeare’s work was J.V.Sládek in the 2nd half of the 19th century.
• Romeo and Juliet
This tragedy is different from the other Shakespeare’s plays - the heroes aren’t destroyed by faults in their character and nature 6 but by the hate of their families.
The story tells us about the long hate between the two powerful houses in Verona - the House of Montague and the House of Capulet. Romeo, a Montague, falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet, at the ball and secretly marries her. Juliet’s cousin Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo refuses 7 but his friend Mercucio fights and is killed. In anger and revenge, Romeo kills Tybalt and has to run from Verona.
Juliet is commanded by her father to marry Paris, a nobleman. The Friar Laurence 8, who had secretly married them, helps Juliet by giving her magic drops which makes her seen dead, so she is put into the family vault. Romeo mistakenly believes 9 that Juliet is really dead, kills Paris at her graveside and than take poison. When Juliet wakes and find her lover’s body beside her, she stabs herself by Romeo’s dagger 10 . After this horrible events the warring families made peace.
In fact, I don’t like this play very much because of the theme - I don’t like emotional and sensitive stories like this and, in my opinion, this theme is now - at the end of the 20th century - quite leftovers 11.
• Hamlet
It is the tragedy of the suffering and hesitation of an honest, strong and responsible man who isn’t able to kill or punish without having a clear proof of guilt. 12
Hamlet, the son of the dead king of Denmark, learns the truth about father’s death from a father’s ghost at Elsinor Castle. But to make sure he pretends madness and tests the ghost’s story by having a play - resembling his father’s murder 13 - acted before his uncle Claudius, who murdered Hamlet’s father and married his mother, the queen.
The king decides to destroyed Hamlet and send him to England to have him killed there. But Hamlet returns and sees Ophelia’s funeral. Ophelia loves Hamlet but they cannot fulfil their love because of Hamlet’s plans. Claudius sends Leartes, Ophelia’s brother, to a match with Hamlet. He is wounded by Leartes’s poisoned sword but he is manages to stab 14 Claudius. The queen dies too after she drinks poisoned wine destined for Hamlet.
To be or not to be - that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to také arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? - to die, - to sleep -
No more…
• King Lear
King Lear had three daughters and he decided to divided his kingdom among them. He asked them to tell him which of them loved him best. The two elder Goneril and Regan - both already married - said they love him above all, but it wasn’t true. His youngest and most favourite daughter Cornelia, who really loved him wouldn’t tell lie and said that she give half her love to her father and half to her future husband. The king became angry and drove her away from home. All to late he recognised that his two older daughters had not spoken the true. He left their castles, wandered in a terrible storm and became mad 15 .
Cordelia, who had married the king of France, came to the England with an army to help her father. But her army is defeated, she and also her father became prisoners. Cordelia was hanged in prison and after King Lear saw her death, his heart broke and he died too.
London
London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom. It lies on the river Thames and covers an area of 1 580 sq kilometres. There live about 12 million in London (including conurbation). London consists of the City of London and 32 boroughs and it is the seat of the Monarch, the Parliament and the Government. There are many important historical buildings, museums, galleries, exchanges etc. so tourism is of great importance. It means London is one of the most important financial, commercial and cultural centres in the world as well as port.
The Celts settled the territory of nowadays London as early as 800 B.C. but probably the site had been inhabited in the Stone Age too. The place had been occupied by the Romans from about 55 B.C. and about 43 A.D. they established Londonium (‘Llyndum’ in Celtic - it means ‘a walled place situated high’).
When the Romans left the island in the fifth century, it remained the capital of the Britons. It kept its importance during the Anglo-Saxon time and later during the reign of the Danish kings in the 10th and 11th centuries.
During the 12th century under a reign of Norman kings (William the Conqueror was first in 1066) the royal court moved from Winchester to London for ever.
The 17th century brought much suffering to London. In 1665 more than 75 000 people died from a plague epidemic and a year later, in 1666 the Great Fire of London destroyed four fifths of the city! During the following decades hectic building activity re-built the whole town. Sir Christopher Wren was appointed as the main architect and he constructed many important buildings.
Until the reign of Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901) London acquired its present appearance and importance.
German bombing during World War II caused serious damages especially in the City, though this cannot be noticed nowadays.
A great number of popular tourist attraction can be found in London’s central and northern parts. The City of London is the oldest part of London and has been self-governing enclave from the 12th century. This part of London is the largest commercial and financial centre of Europe.
The top tourist attraction in London is the Tower of London. William the Conqueror began to built this massive fortress - the White Tower - in 1066. The Tower served till 16th century as a royal home, a prison a royal mint and observatory . Now it is a museum where tourist go to see an expositions of weapons, the Crown Jewels, the prison where many famous persons were kept (e.g. Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy ). There is also the execution block where Henry VIII’s wives, Ann Boleyn and Catherine Howard were beheaded . The Tower is guarded by the Yeomen Warders (incorrectly called ‘Beefeaters’) who still wear the uniform of Turod times. Six ravens are kept in the Tower to protect the whole Kingdom - the old legend says that the Kingdom will cease to exist when the ravens leave the Tower. There is still performed the 700 years old ceremony when the main gate is located every night.
Next to the Tower stands Tower Bridge (built in 1894), which is the most famous bridge in London. It rises in the middle to allow ships to pass up the river and the rising takes 90 seconds.
The largest and the best-known church of the city is St. Paul’s Cathedral, built by Christopher Wren in 1711 (after 35 years). It stands on the site of the previous cathedral which was damaged by the Great Fire in 1666. St.Paul’s Cathedral is built in Baroque style, the main nave is 170 meters long and the central dome rises 111 meters high - it is the second largest church in the world (after St.Peter’s Cathedral in Rome). St.Paul’s cathedral has seen many important occasions - Sir W.Churchill’s funeral service in 1965 or the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer in 1981. There are buried Admiral Nelson and Sir Ch.Wren himself.
Great Britain is the oldest parliament democracy in the world. The Houses of Parliament are the political centre of the Untied Kingdom. They were re-built in Neo-Gothic style in 1840 but the oldest part of this buildings, Westminster Hall dating back from 1097. The House of Lords is a gothic hall decorated in red, with the throne of the Sovereign and the House of Commons consist of parallel rows of green lather benches . And 97,5 meters above the Parliament rises the clock tower called Big Ben, one of the best-known London’s landmarks . But Big Ban isn’t really the mane of the clock, it is the name of the bell.
Facing the Houses of Parliament is the most important church in the country - Westminster Abbey. Its history goes back to the 11th century and since William the Conqueror times, monarchs are crowned and heroes buried there - e.g. Elizabeth I, Mary Stuart, Henry VII. On of the biggest ceremony being held in Westminster Abbey was the funeral ceremony of Princess Diana in September 1997.
Not far from the House of Parliament is Buckingham Palace, the London home of the kings and queens of Great Britain. It was built in 1703 but the first Monarch to live there was Queen Victoria in 1837.
Whitehall is the seat of Government and close to this complex there is Downing street, whose number 10 has been the home of the Prime Minister (since 1735).
Trafalgar Square is said to be the largest in London. Its name commemorates the naval victory of Admiral Nelson who defeated Napoleon’s fleet at Cape Trafalgar in 1805. In the middle of the square there is Nelson’s Column (50 meters high) with a five meters high statue of Admiral Nelson.
One side of the Trafalgar Square forms the famous National Gallery. It houses one of the greatest collections of painting from 13th to 20th centuries - e.g. da Vinci, Tizian, Rubens, van Gogh, Renoir etc.
A short way from Trafalgar Square is Piccadilly Circus. It is centre of entertainment, night clubs, theatres, cinemas and restaurants. The most beautiful view of the square is at the night when it is lit by many colourful advertisements. In the centre of the Circus at the top of the Fountain stands Eros, the Greek God of love.
Kensington Palace was competed in 1605 and later it was a residence of Sir Ch.Wren. Now it is one of the Royal Palace and it was Princess Diana’s residence till her tragically death.
There are also many parks and gardens in London. The most popular among tourists is Hyde Park. The best known part of this park is the Speaker’s Corner, where everybody can speak publicly without fear of being arrested for their opinion. Another famous parks are St.James’s Park with lake and small island form the 19th century, Kensington Gardens etc.
London is also world famous as cultural and scientific centre. There are famous Royal Opera House, National Theatre, British Museum and Library with more than 11 million volumes, Madame Tussaud’s wax museum of famous and infamous world figure etc. Pop and rock fans can visit many of London’s music arenas, especially Wembley Arena. London is the seat of many universities and collages. Many tourists visited the Old Royal Observatory in Greenwich, where the Prime Meridian of zero longitude runs.
The river Themes has been used as a highway since prehistoric times and the Port of London is considered to be one of the best in the world. There are five airports in London, the biggest of them being Heathrow west o the city and Gatwick in the south. London’s underground, often called ‘tube’ is the world’s oldest - since 1863 - and its network is about 420 km and 273 stations on ten lines. Another typical kind of transport in London are its red Double-decker buses.
The Celts settled the territory of nowadays London as early as 800 B.C. but probably the site had been inhabited in the Stone Age too. The place had been occupied by the Romans from about 55 B.C. and about 43 A.D. they established Londonium (‘Llyndum’ in Celtic - it means ‘a walled place situated high’).
When the Romans left the island in the fifth century, it remained the capital of the Britons. It kept its importance during the Anglo-Saxon time and later during the reign of the Danish kings in the 10th and 11th centuries.
During the 12th century under a reign of Norman kings (William the Conqueror was first in 1066) the royal court moved from Winchester to London for ever.
The 17th century brought much suffering to London. In 1665 more than 75 000 people died from a plague epidemic and a year later, in 1666 the Great Fire of London destroyed four fifths of the city! During the following decades hectic building activity re-built the whole town. Sir Christopher Wren was appointed as the main architect and he constructed many important buildings.
Until the reign of Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901) London acquired its present appearance and importance.
German bombing during World War II caused serious damages especially in the City, though this cannot be noticed nowadays.
A great number of popular tourist attraction can be found in London’s central and northern parts. The City of London is the oldest part of London and has been self-governing enclave from the 12th century. This part of London is the largest commercial and financial centre of Europe.
The top tourist attraction in London is the Tower of London. William the Conqueror began to built this massive fortress - the White Tower - in 1066. The Tower served till 16th century as a royal home, a prison a royal mint and observatory . Now it is a museum where tourist go to see an expositions of weapons, the Crown Jewels, the prison where many famous persons were kept (e.g. Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy ). There is also the execution block where Henry VIII’s wives, Ann Boleyn and Catherine Howard were beheaded . The Tower is guarded by the Yeomen Warders (incorrectly called ‘Beefeaters’) who still wear the uniform of Turod times. Six ravens are kept in the Tower to protect the whole Kingdom - the old legend says that the Kingdom will cease to exist when the ravens leave the Tower. There is still performed the 700 years old ceremony when the main gate is located every night.
Next to the Tower stands Tower Bridge (built in 1894), which is the most famous bridge in London. It rises in the middle to allow ships to pass up the river and the rising takes 90 seconds.
The largest and the best-known church of the city is St. Paul’s Cathedral, built by Christopher Wren in 1711 (after 35 years). It stands on the site of the previous cathedral which was damaged by the Great Fire in 1666. St.Paul’s Cathedral is built in Baroque style, the main nave is 170 meters long and the central dome rises 111 meters high - it is the second largest church in the world (after St.Peter’s Cathedral in Rome). St.Paul’s cathedral has seen many important occasions - Sir W.Churchill’s funeral service in 1965 or the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer in 1981. There are buried Admiral Nelson and Sir Ch.Wren himself.
Great Britain is the oldest parliament democracy in the world. The Houses of Parliament are the political centre of the Untied Kingdom. They were re-built in Neo-Gothic style in 1840 but the oldest part of this buildings, Westminster Hall dating back from 1097. The House of Lords is a gothic hall decorated in red, with the throne of the Sovereign and the House of Commons consist of parallel rows of green lather benches . And 97,5 meters above the Parliament rises the clock tower called Big Ben, one of the best-known London’s landmarks . But Big Ban isn’t really the mane of the clock, it is the name of the bell.
Facing the Houses of Parliament is the most important church in the country - Westminster Abbey. Its history goes back to the 11th century and since William the Conqueror times, monarchs are crowned and heroes buried there - e.g. Elizabeth I, Mary Stuart, Henry VII. On of the biggest ceremony being held in Westminster Abbey was the funeral ceremony of Princess Diana in September 1997.
Not far from the House of Parliament is Buckingham Palace, the London home of the kings and queens of Great Britain. It was built in 1703 but the first Monarch to live there was Queen Victoria in 1837.
Whitehall is the seat of Government and close to this complex there is Downing street, whose number 10 has been the home of the Prime Minister (since 1735).
Trafalgar Square is said to be the largest in London. Its name commemorates the naval victory of Admiral Nelson who defeated Napoleon’s fleet at Cape Trafalgar in 1805. In the middle of the square there is Nelson’s Column (50 meters high) with a five meters high statue of Admiral Nelson.
One side of the Trafalgar Square forms the famous National Gallery. It houses one of the greatest collections of painting from 13th to 20th centuries - e.g. da Vinci, Tizian, Rubens, van Gogh, Renoir etc.
A short way from Trafalgar Square is Piccadilly Circus. It is centre of entertainment, night clubs, theatres, cinemas and restaurants. The most beautiful view of the square is at the night when it is lit by many colourful advertisements. In the centre of the Circus at the top of the Fountain stands Eros, the Greek God of love.
Kensington Palace was competed in 1605 and later it was a residence of Sir Ch.Wren. Now it is one of the Royal Palace and it was Princess Diana’s residence till her tragically death.
There are also many parks and gardens in London. The most popular among tourists is Hyde Park. The best known part of this park is the Speaker’s Corner, where everybody can speak publicly without fear of being arrested for their opinion. Another famous parks are St.James’s Park with lake and small island form the 19th century, Kensington Gardens etc.
London is also world famous as cultural and scientific centre. There are famous Royal Opera House, National Theatre, British Museum and Library with more than 11 million volumes, Madame Tussaud’s wax museum of famous and infamous world figure etc. Pop and rock fans can visit many of London’s music arenas, especially Wembley Arena. London is the seat of many universities and collages. Many tourists visited the Old Royal Observatory in Greenwich, where the Prime Meridian of zero longitude runs.
The river Themes has been used as a highway since prehistoric times and the Port of London is considered to be one of the best in the world. There are five airports in London, the biggest of them being Heathrow west o the city and Gatwick in the south. London’s underground, often called ‘tube’ is the world’s oldest - since 1863 - and its network is about 420 km and 273 stations on ten lines. Another typical kind of transport in London are its red Double-decker buses.
Great Britain - geography, places of interest
It covers an area of 242 429 sq km and the population is 58 295 119 inhabitants. The capital city is London (6 904 600) and the main ethnic groups are: English (80 %), Scottish (10 %), Irish (4 %) and Welsh (2 %). The Great Britain currency is One Great Britain pound sterling (1 GBP), which is 100 pences.
Geography
The British Isles are two large islands - Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) and Ireland (the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland) and lie between North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. There are more than 5 000 smaller islands too (e.g. Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, the Shetlands or the Channel Islands).
Great Britain can be divided into two main regions. The highland Britain is the mountainous part and there are e.g. the Highlands of Scotland (Ben Nevis 1 342 m), the Pennines,the Cambrian Mountains or the Cheviots Hills. The lowland Britain are plains hardly ever reaching 1 300 m above sea level.
British rivers are not very long but they are quite deep because of frequent rainfalls. The biggest are the Thames (336 km), the Severn (354 km) and the Trent, which are navigable for ocean-going ships from the sea and for small vessels too. The lakes are to be found in the Lake District in England and in the Highlands of Scotland (called „lochs“). The biggest are Lake Windermere, Lake Derwentwater and Loch Ness. The biggest cities are London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh etc.
Climate
Great Britain has a mild, humid climate. There are mild winters, not very hot summers and no extremes of temperature, but frequent changes of the weather. Rain is fairly common 2 throughout the year. It is because of south-west wind blowing from the Atlantic and the Gulf Stream.
Places of interest
There are many interesting places in UK besides its capital London. One of the most popular tourist attraction is Stratfort-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. The top attraction is the house in Henley Street where Shakespeare was born. In the Holy Trinity Church we can see the Shakespeare’s grave.
Very spectacular 3 place is Stonehenge, where is the very old prehistoric megalithic monuments dating about 3 000 BC. The ruins stand in the centre of a huge circle 98 m in diameter. The ruins consist of two stone circles and a horseshoes. The purpose of these is unknown but it may be ritual sanctuary 4 probably used like an astronomical ‘calendar’.
Quite similar ruins are near the Salisbury but there is also magnificent Cathedral of Saint Mary (13th century).
Interesting are Oxford and Cambridge which are well-known for one of the most prestige universities. The first of these was founded in 12th century and has 34 colleges now. The second one is from 13th century.
Canterbury is the seat of the Archbishop and there is a magnificent cathedral which oldest part is from 11th century. It is the place where the first convent on the British Isles was established by St.Augustine who convert England to Christianity. Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered there in the cathedral in 1170 by order the king.
Winchester is the ancient Roman town with a majestic cathedral which oldest parts dates beck to the 7th century. It is the longest church in Europe and has 170 m.
Bath is worth seeing for the remains of the Roman bath built 2 000 years ago.
Hastings is near the battleplace where William the Conqueror defeated the Anglo-Saxons in 1066. Hadrian’s Wall is a remain of the Roman fortifications built between 122-26 AD to protect England against the Celtic’s invasion.
Whole the English countryside is full of peaceful harbour-towns with sandy beaches, fishing boats, yachts etc.
Scotland is interesting for its traditions - playing the pipes, wearing kilts made of tartan and for Scotch whisky (in Gaelic it is ‘uisge beatha’ - the water of life).
Economy
British was the first country in the world to become highly industrialised and it belongs to the G-7 countries. The main natural resources are: high quality coal 5 (Newcastle), petroleum and natural gas (North Sea), there are reserves of tin 6, clay 7 and limestone 8 too. In GB is mainly the steel, vehicles (ships and planes) and traditional textile industry. This country has well-developed agriculture system which is concentrated on cattle and sheep breeding 9 .
Geography
The British Isles are two large islands - Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) and Ireland (the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland) and lie between North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. There are more than 5 000 smaller islands too (e.g. Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, the Shetlands or the Channel Islands).
Great Britain can be divided into two main regions. The highland Britain is the mountainous part and there are e.g. the Highlands of Scotland (Ben Nevis 1 342 m), the Pennines,the Cambrian Mountains or the Cheviots Hills. The lowland Britain are plains hardly ever reaching 1 300 m above sea level.
British rivers are not very long but they are quite deep because of frequent rainfalls. The biggest are the Thames (336 km), the Severn (354 km) and the Trent, which are navigable for ocean-going ships from the sea and for small vessels too. The lakes are to be found in the Lake District in England and in the Highlands of Scotland (called „lochs“). The biggest are Lake Windermere, Lake Derwentwater and Loch Ness. The biggest cities are London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh etc.
Climate
Great Britain has a mild, humid climate. There are mild winters, not very hot summers and no extremes of temperature, but frequent changes of the weather. Rain is fairly common 2 throughout the year. It is because of south-west wind blowing from the Atlantic and the Gulf Stream.
Places of interest
There are many interesting places in UK besides its capital London. One of the most popular tourist attraction is Stratfort-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. The top attraction is the house in Henley Street where Shakespeare was born. In the Holy Trinity Church we can see the Shakespeare’s grave.
Very spectacular 3 place is Stonehenge, where is the very old prehistoric megalithic monuments dating about 3 000 BC. The ruins stand in the centre of a huge circle 98 m in diameter. The ruins consist of two stone circles and a horseshoes. The purpose of these is unknown but it may be ritual sanctuary 4 probably used like an astronomical ‘calendar’.
Quite similar ruins are near the Salisbury but there is also magnificent Cathedral of Saint Mary (13th century).
Interesting are Oxford and Cambridge which are well-known for one of the most prestige universities. The first of these was founded in 12th century and has 34 colleges now. The second one is from 13th century.
Canterbury is the seat of the Archbishop and there is a magnificent cathedral which oldest part is from 11th century. It is the place where the first convent on the British Isles was established by St.Augustine who convert England to Christianity. Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered there in the cathedral in 1170 by order the king.
Winchester is the ancient Roman town with a majestic cathedral which oldest parts dates beck to the 7th century. It is the longest church in Europe and has 170 m.
Bath is worth seeing for the remains of the Roman bath built 2 000 years ago.
Hastings is near the battleplace where William the Conqueror defeated the Anglo-Saxons in 1066. Hadrian’s Wall is a remain of the Roman fortifications built between 122-26 AD to protect England against the Celtic’s invasion.
Whole the English countryside is full of peaceful harbour-towns with sandy beaches, fishing boats, yachts etc.
Scotland is interesting for its traditions - playing the pipes, wearing kilts made of tartan and for Scotch whisky (in Gaelic it is ‘uisge beatha’ - the water of life).
Economy
British was the first country in the world to become highly industrialised and it belongs to the G-7 countries. The main natural resources are: high quality coal 5 (Newcastle), petroleum and natural gas (North Sea), there are reserves of tin 6, clay 7 and limestone 8 too. In GB is mainly the steel, vehicles (ships and planes) and traditional textile industry. This country has well-developed agriculture system which is concentrated on cattle and sheep breeding 9 .
Great Britain-history, political system
Important events in history
• The Pre-Celtic period (about 4 000 - 1 000 BC)
We know only little about people inhabiting the British Isles in pre-historic period - it could be Iberian tribes. They worshipped 1 many gods, believed in immortal and human sacrifices 2 and their priests were called druids. There have been preserved some monuments, such as Stonehenge or Salisbury which were centre of pre-Celtic civilisation in the Britain.
• The Celtic Period (800 BC - AD 43)
The first Celtic tribes come to the British Isles in about 800 - 700 BC. Two centuries later they were followed by ancient Britons after who the country was called Britain. The most important survival of the Celtic tribes is the existence of three live languages: Welsh, and Irish and Scottish Gaelic. 3
• Roman England (AD 43 - 407)
The first Roman invasion was led by Julius Caesar in 55 BC but England was conquered by Romans in AD 43 like colony Britannica. The Roman occupation lasted nearly 400 years but only few people adopt the Latin and only the English upper tribes (nobility) became romanised. The most important monument from this period is the Hadrian’s Wall as a prevent protection against the invasion of the Celtic tribes from the north. With Romans also Christianity came to England.
• The Anglo-Saxon period (middle of 5th century - 1066)
In the middle of the 5th century three Germanic tribes - the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes - invaded from the Continent conquered the Celts and pressed up them to Wales and Scotland. England under the rule of the Anglo-Saxons was divided into several kingdoms. One of the first best-known King of England was Alfred the Great († 901), who stopped the Scandinavian invasion to England and made a peace with the Danes. But after his death England became part of the Danish Empire.
• The period of feudalism (1066 - 15th century)
William Duke of Normandy invaded England and defended the Saxon king Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He was proclaimed himself as the King of England and became known as William the Conqueror. The Norman had a big influence for the development of Britain and the English language because they brought feudalism and the Norman language into this country - the modern English nation and language became rising 4 .
Richard, the Lion-Heart (1189-99) was warlike and anxious 5 to rescue the Holy Land from the Egyptian ruler, Saladin. He returned to England in 1194 to suppress baronial opposition. His brother John I lost almost all the English possessions in France and he was forced to sign the Magna Carta Libertatum in 1215. It limited the absolute power of king, and giving guarantee of rights and the rule of law to opposite noblemen. During this period English parliamentary system was developed.
There was The Hundred Year’s War between England and France (1338-1453) in this period because of Flanders in France. At the end French led by Joan d’Arc changed the situation and England definitely lost its power in France.
The winner of the Wars of Roses (1455-85) between the House of York (white rose) and the House of Lancaster (red rose) was Henry Tudor (as king Henry VII) who joined two houses of Roses and founded a new dynasty.
• The Tudor Period (1485 - 1603)
In this period England became to be a world leader in trade and sea power. It was especially because of the great geographical discoveries and expansion. Henry VIII, who is well-known for his six wives, but also for his ambition and brutality, carried out 6 the Reformation in 1534. He broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and founded the Church of England (Anglican Church), of witch he proclaimed himself the head. His daughter Queen Elizabeth I, after who the second half of the 16th century is called ‘the Elizabethan Age’, defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588 and her pirate Sir Francis Drake helped that Britain became the leading power on the sea.
• The Stuarts and the English Revolution (1603 - 1688)
Elizabeth I died without an heir 7 and to the English throne access the new dynasty - the Stuarts - represented by James, King of Scotland (James I as the King of England). The Stuarts finished the long alliance between monarchy and the bourgeoisie, which dominated Parliament. The conflict came to the top under Charles I and in 1640 the bloody Civil war broke out. There were two groups - The Royalists (King’s party) and the Puritans, which were split into two wings: The Presbyterians (ready to compromise with the King) and the Independents (want to fight to the end) which leader was Oliver Cromwell. He reorganised the army and called it ‘the New Model Army’ (because it was all democratised). This Army forced the King to surrender 8. In 1649 Charles I was sentenced to death and executed.
After the execution the House of Lords were abolished 9 and England was declared as the republic - The Commonwealth, where O.Cromwell had title ‘Lord Protector’. In 1660, after Cromwell’s death, there was restore the monarchy by Charles II. In Parliament there was founded two new political parties - the Tories (aristocracy) and the Whigs (bourgeoisie).
In 1668 James II attempted to restore 10 Catholicism and absolute monarchy so parliament leaders decided to depose him 11 and offer the crown to William of Orange (as William III) and his wife Mary (sister of Charles II, as Mary II). The English called this events ‘The Glorious Revolution’ (revolution without any bloodshed 12 ) and its definitely confirmed 13 the sovereign of the Parliament.
• Colonial expansion and industrial revolution (1688-1850)
In the Seven Years War (1756-63) Britain defeated France and Spain and received Canada, Florida, Gibraltar, Minorca and another settlements in Mediterranean and Africa.
Colonial expansion continued very quickly but in 1776 the British colonial Empire suffered a great loss 14 : the 13 North American colonies proclaimed their independence and founded the USA.
Also the situation in Ireland - after many centuries of fighting between England and Irish - was very bad in 18th century and there were several serious rebellions against British rule.
Britain was in the Napoleonic Wars with France between 1803-15. In October 1805 the British fleet under Admiral Nelson celebrated the great victory because they defeated the Spanish and French fleets near the Cape Trafalgar.
At the start of the 19th century England definitely took the leader in European commerce and trade and prepared the way to the Industrial Revolution. There were many innovations in Britain - in 1769 steam engine by James Watt, steam locomotive by George Stephenson in 1814 etc.
• The Victorian Era (2nd half of the 19th century)
This period is called after Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901) and was full of great changes and reforms (e. g. Darwinism, Marxism). Britain became the absolutely strongest world power and between 1840-60 there were the golden period of the manufactures. There were formed successors of Tory and Whigs, The Conservative Party and The Liberal Party. India, Australia, New Zealand and many Africans and Asiatics areas were joined to the Empire.
• 20th Century
The First World War (1914-18) between the Central Powers and Alliance had caused human casualties 15 on all fronts - from 9 million died over 1 million were British - but big economic looses too.
The British 1930s were the policy of appeasement with Hitler. In 1938 British PM Neville Chamberlain with other European representatives signed a pact with Hitler in Munich allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland in CR and later the rest of Bohemia and Moravia.
The biggest British personality during the Second World War was the British PM sir
Winston Spencer Churchill († 1965) under who Britain fought for survival. The air battle - Battle of Britain in 1940 - gone down into history (many of British pilots were from Czechoslovakia and become the British national heroes). In the Second World War about 390 000 British people lost their lives.
In the Post-World-War period - Cold War - Great Britain was one of the founding members of OSN and NATO in the end of 1940s.
During the 1960s Britain had to recognise the independence of the majority of its colonies.
Between 1979-92 there was the first women Prime Minister - ‘iron lady’ - Lady Margaret Thacher who fought against Argentina in 1982 because of Falklands Islands.
In the spring 1997 The Labour Party won the elections and Tony Blair became the British PM.
At the end of August 1997 Great Britain and whole the world suffered the big disaster 16 when Lady Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, who was one of the most favourite and most famous personality in the world, died after the car crash.
There is also about 47 per cent of the British now, who are suppose that the monarchy is overlived and who are for the republic.
The Formation of the United Kingdom
Wales was united with England in 1536 under king Henry VIII. Scotland was united in 1603, but it existed with separate parliament till 1707. Ireland was conquered by Henry II in 1171 but had itself parliament until 1800. In 1801 was established the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 Ireland was partitioned into two parts - free Irish Republic and Northern Ireland - and the name of kingdom was changed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (short form is the United Kingdom, U.K.).
The big problem in Northern Ireland is a conflict between Protestants (ruling class in Ulster) and Catholics (minority in Ulster but majority in the Irish Republic). This conflict begun in 17th century, when the English and Scottish Protestants confiscated Irish lands and became the ruling class. On the other side the Irish never accepted the reformation. This conflict made big political and social unrest mainly in past but it is still going on.
Political system
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy based on unwritten traditions and common law. The official head of State is the monarch (from February 1952 Her Most Excellent Majesty Elizabeth the Second) but she is only a formal head of State, Nation and Commonwealth and her powers are limited by the constitution. The Queen is also the temporal head 17 of the Church of England (the Anglican Church). The Queen’s residence is Buckingham Palace in London.
The supreme legislative authority in the U.K. is the British Parliament, which is very old institution (developed in 13th century). It is composed of the House of Lords (the Upper House; it has over 1 000 hereditary peers 18 , but only 250 active), the House of Commons (the Lower House; it has 650 elected Members of Parliament - MPs) and the Sovereign 19 („the Queen in Parliament“ - makes formally royal assent 20 , but has no real power). The two Houses share the same building, the Palace of Westminster in London. The most important political parties are The Labour Party (reformed socialist party) and The Conservative Party (capitalist class).
The executive power is exercised 21 by the Cabinet (has usually 20 members) formed by the party which has the majority in the Parliament (from 1997 it is The Labour Party’s Cabinet) and its head is the Prime Minister (from 1997 the Labours leader Tony Blair).
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is divided into five parts: England (39 counties, 8 metropolitan counties + Great London), Wales (8 counties; Cardiff), Scotland (9 regions and 3 island districts; Edinburgh) and Northern Ireland (26 districts, Belfast).
British national flag - the ‘Union Jack’ - symbolises the union of England, Scotland, Welsh and Ireland; each part of GB has its own flag. The national anthem is „God Save The Queen!“
• The Pre-Celtic period (about 4 000 - 1 000 BC)
We know only little about people inhabiting the British Isles in pre-historic period - it could be Iberian tribes. They worshipped 1 many gods, believed in immortal and human sacrifices 2 and their priests were called druids. There have been preserved some monuments, such as Stonehenge or Salisbury which were centre of pre-Celtic civilisation in the Britain.
• The Celtic Period (800 BC - AD 43)
The first Celtic tribes come to the British Isles in about 800 - 700 BC. Two centuries later they were followed by ancient Britons after who the country was called Britain. The most important survival of the Celtic tribes is the existence of three live languages: Welsh, and Irish and Scottish Gaelic. 3
• Roman England (AD 43 - 407)
The first Roman invasion was led by Julius Caesar in 55 BC but England was conquered by Romans in AD 43 like colony Britannica. The Roman occupation lasted nearly 400 years but only few people adopt the Latin and only the English upper tribes (nobility) became romanised. The most important monument from this period is the Hadrian’s Wall as a prevent protection against the invasion of the Celtic tribes from the north. With Romans also Christianity came to England.
• The Anglo-Saxon period (middle of 5th century - 1066)
In the middle of the 5th century three Germanic tribes - the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes - invaded from the Continent conquered the Celts and pressed up them to Wales and Scotland. England under the rule of the Anglo-Saxons was divided into several kingdoms. One of the first best-known King of England was Alfred the Great († 901), who stopped the Scandinavian invasion to England and made a peace with the Danes. But after his death England became part of the Danish Empire.
• The period of feudalism (1066 - 15th century)
William Duke of Normandy invaded England and defended the Saxon king Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He was proclaimed himself as the King of England and became known as William the Conqueror. The Norman had a big influence for the development of Britain and the English language because they brought feudalism and the Norman language into this country - the modern English nation and language became rising 4 .
Richard, the Lion-Heart (1189-99) was warlike and anxious 5 to rescue the Holy Land from the Egyptian ruler, Saladin. He returned to England in 1194 to suppress baronial opposition. His brother John I lost almost all the English possessions in France and he was forced to sign the Magna Carta Libertatum in 1215. It limited the absolute power of king, and giving guarantee of rights and the rule of law to opposite noblemen. During this period English parliamentary system was developed.
There was The Hundred Year’s War between England and France (1338-1453) in this period because of Flanders in France. At the end French led by Joan d’Arc changed the situation and England definitely lost its power in France.
The winner of the Wars of Roses (1455-85) between the House of York (white rose) and the House of Lancaster (red rose) was Henry Tudor (as king Henry VII) who joined two houses of Roses and founded a new dynasty.
• The Tudor Period (1485 - 1603)
In this period England became to be a world leader in trade and sea power. It was especially because of the great geographical discoveries and expansion. Henry VIII, who is well-known for his six wives, but also for his ambition and brutality, carried out 6 the Reformation in 1534. He broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and founded the Church of England (Anglican Church), of witch he proclaimed himself the head. His daughter Queen Elizabeth I, after who the second half of the 16th century is called ‘the Elizabethan Age’, defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588 and her pirate Sir Francis Drake helped that Britain became the leading power on the sea.
• The Stuarts and the English Revolution (1603 - 1688)
Elizabeth I died without an heir 7 and to the English throne access the new dynasty - the Stuarts - represented by James, King of Scotland (James I as the King of England). The Stuarts finished the long alliance between monarchy and the bourgeoisie, which dominated Parliament. The conflict came to the top under Charles I and in 1640 the bloody Civil war broke out. There were two groups - The Royalists (King’s party) and the Puritans, which were split into two wings: The Presbyterians (ready to compromise with the King) and the Independents (want to fight to the end) which leader was Oliver Cromwell. He reorganised the army and called it ‘the New Model Army’ (because it was all democratised). This Army forced the King to surrender 8. In 1649 Charles I was sentenced to death and executed.
After the execution the House of Lords were abolished 9 and England was declared as the republic - The Commonwealth, where O.Cromwell had title ‘Lord Protector’. In 1660, after Cromwell’s death, there was restore the monarchy by Charles II. In Parliament there was founded two new political parties - the Tories (aristocracy) and the Whigs (bourgeoisie).
In 1668 James II attempted to restore 10 Catholicism and absolute monarchy so parliament leaders decided to depose him 11 and offer the crown to William of Orange (as William III) and his wife Mary (sister of Charles II, as Mary II). The English called this events ‘The Glorious Revolution’ (revolution without any bloodshed 12 ) and its definitely confirmed 13 the sovereign of the Parliament.
• Colonial expansion and industrial revolution (1688-1850)
In the Seven Years War (1756-63) Britain defeated France and Spain and received Canada, Florida, Gibraltar, Minorca and another settlements in Mediterranean and Africa.
Colonial expansion continued very quickly but in 1776 the British colonial Empire suffered a great loss 14 : the 13 North American colonies proclaimed their independence and founded the USA.
Also the situation in Ireland - after many centuries of fighting between England and Irish - was very bad in 18th century and there were several serious rebellions against British rule.
Britain was in the Napoleonic Wars with France between 1803-15. In October 1805 the British fleet under Admiral Nelson celebrated the great victory because they defeated the Spanish and French fleets near the Cape Trafalgar.
At the start of the 19th century England definitely took the leader in European commerce and trade and prepared the way to the Industrial Revolution. There were many innovations in Britain - in 1769 steam engine by James Watt, steam locomotive by George Stephenson in 1814 etc.
• The Victorian Era (2nd half of the 19th century)
This period is called after Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901) and was full of great changes and reforms (e. g. Darwinism, Marxism). Britain became the absolutely strongest world power and between 1840-60 there were the golden period of the manufactures. There were formed successors of Tory and Whigs, The Conservative Party and The Liberal Party. India, Australia, New Zealand and many Africans and Asiatics areas were joined to the Empire.
• 20th Century
The First World War (1914-18) between the Central Powers and Alliance had caused human casualties 15 on all fronts - from 9 million died over 1 million were British - but big economic looses too.
The British 1930s were the policy of appeasement with Hitler. In 1938 British PM Neville Chamberlain with other European representatives signed a pact with Hitler in Munich allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland in CR and later the rest of Bohemia and Moravia.
The biggest British personality during the Second World War was the British PM sir
Winston Spencer Churchill († 1965) under who Britain fought for survival. The air battle - Battle of Britain in 1940 - gone down into history (many of British pilots were from Czechoslovakia and become the British national heroes). In the Second World War about 390 000 British people lost their lives.
In the Post-World-War period - Cold War - Great Britain was one of the founding members of OSN and NATO in the end of 1940s.
During the 1960s Britain had to recognise the independence of the majority of its colonies.
Between 1979-92 there was the first women Prime Minister - ‘iron lady’ - Lady Margaret Thacher who fought against Argentina in 1982 because of Falklands Islands.
In the spring 1997 The Labour Party won the elections and Tony Blair became the British PM.
At the end of August 1997 Great Britain and whole the world suffered the big disaster 16 when Lady Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, who was one of the most favourite and most famous personality in the world, died after the car crash.
There is also about 47 per cent of the British now, who are suppose that the monarchy is overlived and who are for the republic.
The Formation of the United Kingdom
Wales was united with England in 1536 under king Henry VIII. Scotland was united in 1603, but it existed with separate parliament till 1707. Ireland was conquered by Henry II in 1171 but had itself parliament until 1800. In 1801 was established the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 Ireland was partitioned into two parts - free Irish Republic and Northern Ireland - and the name of kingdom was changed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (short form is the United Kingdom, U.K.).
The big problem in Northern Ireland is a conflict between Protestants (ruling class in Ulster) and Catholics (minority in Ulster but majority in the Irish Republic). This conflict begun in 17th century, when the English and Scottish Protestants confiscated Irish lands and became the ruling class. On the other side the Irish never accepted the reformation. This conflict made big political and social unrest mainly in past but it is still going on.
Political system
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy based on unwritten traditions and common law. The official head of State is the monarch (from February 1952 Her Most Excellent Majesty Elizabeth the Second) but she is only a formal head of State, Nation and Commonwealth and her powers are limited by the constitution. The Queen is also the temporal head 17 of the Church of England (the Anglican Church). The Queen’s residence is Buckingham Palace in London.
The supreme legislative authority in the U.K. is the British Parliament, which is very old institution (developed in 13th century). It is composed of the House of Lords (the Upper House; it has over 1 000 hereditary peers 18 , but only 250 active), the House of Commons (the Lower House; it has 650 elected Members of Parliament - MPs) and the Sovereign 19 („the Queen in Parliament“ - makes formally royal assent 20 , but has no real power). The two Houses share the same building, the Palace of Westminster in London. The most important political parties are The Labour Party (reformed socialist party) and The Conservative Party (capitalist class).
The executive power is exercised 21 by the Cabinet (has usually 20 members) formed by the party which has the majority in the Parliament (from 1997 it is The Labour Party’s Cabinet) and its head is the Prime Minister (from 1997 the Labours leader Tony Blair).
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is divided into five parts: England (39 counties, 8 metropolitan counties + Great London), Wales (8 counties; Cardiff), Scotland (9 regions and 3 island districts; Edinburgh) and Northern Ireland (26 districts, Belfast).
British national flag - the ‘Union Jack’ - symbolises the union of England, Scotland, Welsh and Ireland; each part of GB has its own flag. The national anthem is „God Save The Queen!“
Canada
It covers an area of 9 976 139 sq km and the population is about 30 000 000 inhabitants. The capital city is Ottawa (920 857) and the main ethnic groups are: white - 40 % of British origin, 30 % of French origin, other Europeans (20 %), Indians and Eskimos (called Innuits).
Geography
Canada occupies the whole of the northern part of North American continent - expect Alaska - and it is the 2nd largest country in the world (after Russia). It has over 5 500 km from the east to the west and over 4 600 km from the north to the south. There are many big islands which belong to Canada - e.g. Newfoundland, Vancouver, Prince Edward Island etc. Canada neighbours with the continental USA on the south on the 49th parallel and with Alaska on the north-west. The big part of the southern border is made by Great Lakes Region.
Canada has large mountain areas - the Rocky Mountains, the Mackenzie Mountains and the Melville Hills. The highest mountain is Mt.Logan (6 050 m) in the Alaska Region.
The longest river is the Mackenzie flows from the Rocky Mountains to the Arctic Ocean, other big rivers are Yukon, the Columbia (flow to the Pacific Ocean) and the River St.Lawrence (into the Atlantic).
The Great Lake Region - Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior (all of them are good navigable) is the largest area of fresh water in the world. There are famous Niagara Falls between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. We can find also other big and beautiful lakes e.g. Great Bear Lake, Great Slave Lake, Lake Winnipeg etc.
The density in Canada is only 2,6 people to 1 sq km which means that 89 per cent of the land has no permanent population. Most Canadians live in large urban centres located within 300 km of the southern border - in Toronto (about 4 million inhabitants), Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Quebec etc.
Climate
The climate varies from Arctic climate in the cold wild tundra with winter temperatures as low as minus 50 C to moderate climate in the east and west with the grate beautiful forests. The central plains form the prairie which has favourable climate to farming.
Political system
It is an independent federal parliamentary country, member of the Commonwealth, with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state. She is represented by the Governor-General of course. The country’s supreme body is two chambers Federal Parliament. The leading figure is the Prime Minister who is the head of the Cabinet. Both English and French are official languages.
Canada is divided into 10 provinces and 2 territories. The biggest province is Quebec (with its capital Quebec), others are Newfoundland (St.John), Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown), Nova Scotia (Halifax), New Brunswick (Fredericton), Manitoba (Winnipeg), Ontario (Toronto), Saskatchewan (Regina), Alberta (Edmonton) and British Columbia (Victoria). Although the two territories - Yukon (Whitehorse) and Northwest Territories (Yellowknife) - occupy nearly a half of all Canada they are very thinly inhabited by mainly native people - the density here is only 1 person in 65 sq km!
Canada has its own national flag since 1964. The red stripes on the top and bottom symbolise Canada’s position between the two oceans, a maple leaf has been used as Canada’s national symbol because it is a land of forests. Red colour symbolises the blood of the Canadians died in the WW II, white represents the snow of the Canadian North. The Canadian anthem is called Oh, Canada.
The discussions among the French-speaking Quebeckers let to a referendum about the autonomy of Quebec in 1992 but the majority (about 50,5 %) voted to maintain the status quo .
Important events in history
The name Canada comes from the original inhabitants. Indians used word ‘kanata’ which means ‘village’.
The original inhabitants came to Canada some 20 000 years ago from the Asia across the nowadays Bering Strait.
The first Europeans there were Vikings who discovered Newfoundland more than a thousand years ago. During the Age of Discoveries (15th and 16th century) some navigators landed on the Canadian coast. First it was an Italian (sailing for England) Giovanni Caboto in 1497. The first real exploration took place after 1534 when French Jacques Cartier discovered the Gulf of St.Lawrence (like a colony New France). Since the 16th century large territories were occupied by the French but France lost this country in frequent wars with England during the 17th, 18th and 19th century. When the USA was founded in 1776 Canada remained British colony. It became a British dominion in 1867.
Economy
Canada belongs to the G-7 counties and has mainly coal, petroleum and natural gas but is also rich in gold, uranium and other metals ores. Almost half the land area is covered by forests and especially the provinces of Ontario and Newfoundland have large paper mills and wood industry. There is also highly developed hydroelectric industry.
Although only about 7 per cent of the land is suitable for farming, agriculture is the world’s fifth largest producer of the wheat. Other agricultural items are live-stock production, oats, fruit and vegetable, tabacoo etc. It also exports fish, paper, uranium etc.
Geography
Canada occupies the whole of the northern part of North American continent - expect Alaska - and it is the 2nd largest country in the world (after Russia). It has over 5 500 km from the east to the west and over 4 600 km from the north to the south. There are many big islands which belong to Canada - e.g. Newfoundland, Vancouver, Prince Edward Island etc. Canada neighbours with the continental USA on the south on the 49th parallel and with Alaska on the north-west. The big part of the southern border is made by Great Lakes Region.
Canada has large mountain areas - the Rocky Mountains, the Mackenzie Mountains and the Melville Hills. The highest mountain is Mt.Logan (6 050 m) in the Alaska Region.
The longest river is the Mackenzie flows from the Rocky Mountains to the Arctic Ocean, other big rivers are Yukon, the Columbia (flow to the Pacific Ocean) and the River St.Lawrence (into the Atlantic).
The Great Lake Region - Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior (all of them are good navigable) is the largest area of fresh water in the world. There are famous Niagara Falls between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. We can find also other big and beautiful lakes e.g. Great Bear Lake, Great Slave Lake, Lake Winnipeg etc.
The density in Canada is only 2,6 people to 1 sq km which means that 89 per cent of the land has no permanent population. Most Canadians live in large urban centres located within 300 km of the southern border - in Toronto (about 4 million inhabitants), Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Quebec etc.
Climate
The climate varies from Arctic climate in the cold wild tundra with winter temperatures as low as minus 50 C to moderate climate in the east and west with the grate beautiful forests. The central plains form the prairie which has favourable climate to farming.
Political system
It is an independent federal parliamentary country, member of the Commonwealth, with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state. She is represented by the Governor-General of course. The country’s supreme body is two chambers Federal Parliament. The leading figure is the Prime Minister who is the head of the Cabinet. Both English and French are official languages.
Canada is divided into 10 provinces and 2 territories. The biggest province is Quebec (with its capital Quebec), others are Newfoundland (St.John), Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown), Nova Scotia (Halifax), New Brunswick (Fredericton), Manitoba (Winnipeg), Ontario (Toronto), Saskatchewan (Regina), Alberta (Edmonton) and British Columbia (Victoria). Although the two territories - Yukon (Whitehorse) and Northwest Territories (Yellowknife) - occupy nearly a half of all Canada they are very thinly inhabited by mainly native people - the density here is only 1 person in 65 sq km!
Canada has its own national flag since 1964. The red stripes on the top and bottom symbolise Canada’s position between the two oceans, a maple leaf has been used as Canada’s national symbol because it is a land of forests. Red colour symbolises the blood of the Canadians died in the WW II, white represents the snow of the Canadian North. The Canadian anthem is called Oh, Canada.
The discussions among the French-speaking Quebeckers let to a referendum about the autonomy of Quebec in 1992 but the majority (about 50,5 %) voted to maintain the status quo .
Important events in history
The name Canada comes from the original inhabitants. Indians used word ‘kanata’ which means ‘village’.
The original inhabitants came to Canada some 20 000 years ago from the Asia across the nowadays Bering Strait.
The first Europeans there were Vikings who discovered Newfoundland more than a thousand years ago. During the Age of Discoveries (15th and 16th century) some navigators landed on the Canadian coast. First it was an Italian (sailing for England) Giovanni Caboto in 1497. The first real exploration took place after 1534 when French Jacques Cartier discovered the Gulf of St.Lawrence (like a colony New France). Since the 16th century large territories were occupied by the French but France lost this country in frequent wars with England during the 17th, 18th and 19th century. When the USA was founded in 1776 Canada remained British colony. It became a British dominion in 1867.
Economy
Canada belongs to the G-7 counties and has mainly coal, petroleum and natural gas but is also rich in gold, uranium and other metals ores. Almost half the land area is covered by forests and especially the provinces of Ontario and Newfoundland have large paper mills and wood industry. There is also highly developed hydroelectric industry.
Although only about 7 per cent of the land is suitable for farming, agriculture is the world’s fifth largest producer of the wheat. Other agricultural items are live-stock production, oats, fruit and vegetable, tabacoo etc. It also exports fish, paper, uranium etc.
Australia
It covers an area of 7 686 848 sq km and the population is 18 322 23; Australia has one of the lowest density in the world - only 2 people per 1 sq km. The capital city is Canberra (325 400) and the main ethnic groups are: British (90 %), other Europeans (5 %) and Aborigines (about 200 000).
Geography
Australia is the smallest continent in the world and lying in the Southern Hemisphere 1 between the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. There are Coral and Tasman Seas and many large islands such as Tasmania (on the south, separated by 240 km wide Bass Strait) or Papua-New Guinea (on the east-west, separated by Torres Strait) over Australia.
Nearly half of the continent occupies the Great Western Plateau on the west, in central part there are also three big deserts - the Great Sandy Desert, the Gibson Desert and the Great Victoria Desert.
The Central Lowlands are mostly covered by tropic forests and savannah with occasional creeks 2 and rivers which become dry in the dry seasons as well as three large lakes - Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner.
The Eastern Highlands are the Great Barrier Reef 3 on the north-east coast - it is the largest coral reef in the world. East part occupies the Great Dividing Range and south-east are the Australian Alps (Mount Kosciusko, 2 228 m).
Many of Australia’s rivers are fill with water only during the rainy season. The biggest are the Murray (2 575 km) and the Darling. Also most of Australian’s lakes are dry for months.
The majority of people live in the big cities in the south-east coast - in Sydney (3,7 million), Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.
Australia is one and only continent where grow rare eucalyptus 4. It is also home of remarkable 5 animals such as kangaroo, koala bear, Tasmania devil, wombat, platypus 6, dingo, Emu and many lizards 7 (such as Hatteria with one eye on the top of head) - this animals cannot be found elsewhere in the world. It is mainly due to the fact that for long prehistoric periods this continent was isolated from the others.
Climate
The Australian climate is various. In the northern and north-west parties there is a tropically hot
and dry atmosphere but on the other side north-east has heavy rainfalls 8 because of trade-winds 9 .
Political system
The full and official name for Australia is The Commonwealth of Australia. It is the independent sovereign federation of six states - New South Wales (Sydney), Victoria (Melbourne), South Australia (Adelaide), Queensland (Brisbane), Western Australia (Perth), Tasmania (Hobart) and two territories (Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory). It is the member of Commonwealth with Elizabeth as the head represented by the Governor-General. It follows the British system so the executive power has the Australian Prime Minister and the Cabinet and legislature is the Federal Parliament.
Important events in history
The first (original) inhabitants of this country were the Australian Aborigines, who lived there for over 40,000 years. The existence of this continent was believed long ago in the Ancient (by the Greek astronomer and geographer Ptolemy) and its acquired the name from the Latin term ‘Terra Australis’ - South Land.
Australia was discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in 1642. In 1770 Captain James Cook explored eastern coast and the first white settlement was made up in 1788 of 730 British prisoners 10 and the first British colony was called English New South Wales. During 1850s and 1890s immigration and the economic growth increased because of ‘gold fever’. In 1901 the six colonies became the Commonwealth of Australia.
Places of interest
In my opinion, the most popular Australian attraction is the Ayers Rock (Uluru), a huge rock in the centre of Australia. It is the holy place of all Australian Aborigines. It is the most spectacular to observe this rock during all the day because it changes its colour in each day’s time from pink to brown to silver-grey.
One of the biggest Australia’s tourist attraction is the Great Barrier Reef with its 23 000 km of corals of all colour.
Sydney is the biggest Australian city, founded by English settlers. The business centre of this city is in Port Jackson, the biggest market with wool. We can recognised here old houses, which were built in Victorian style as well as big glass modern skyscrapers in Downtown.
The most famous attraction in Sydney are The Opera House which looks like a large white sailing- ship 11 or the Harbour Bridge, 140 meters above a sea level. There can be 6 000 cars, 28 000 people and 128 trains in the same time.
Economy
There are big reserves of minerals and metals (mainly coal, bauxite and zinc), but deposits 12 of gold have been completely exploited 13 . Australia is one of the top exporters of beef, lamb and high quality wool (the biggest producer in the world) and wheat 14 . Other agriculture items are e.g. cotton, fruits and vegetables.
New Zealand
It covers an area of 268 675 sq km and the population is 3 407 277 inhabitants. The capital city is Wellington (326 900) and the main ethnic groups are: Europeans (mostly British 87 %), Maoris (12 %), and other Polynesians.
Geography
New Zealand (Aotearoa in the Maori language) is located in south-west Pacific Ocean, south-east of Australia and consist of two large islands - North Island and South Island - and many small islands (e.g. Stewart Island). They are separated by Cook Strait which is 150 km wide. New Zealand is larger than Great Britain, but the density of population is quite low. This country is rolling, hilly and mountainous, there is very little flatland 1 and lowland areas only around the coast.
Almost 80 per cent of the population live on the North Island. All the larger cities - Auckland (910 200), Christchurch, Hamilton and Manukau lie here. There are many hot springs and geysers and also a lot of volcanic activity. The most spectacular volcanic area, thermal lakes and exploding geysers are in the Rotorua district. On North Island also lies the biggest lake - Taupo (over 606 sq km). Many of the New Zealand’s rivers are short and torrential 2 and the largest river is the Wanganui 3.
The South Island has the highest mountains, the Southern Alps (Mount Cook, 3 764 m) and there are many glaciers 4 and fjords too.
Because of its locality to the west of the international dateline 5 New Zealand is one of the first countries to see the Sun at the beginning of each new day. This country is also located in a earthquake zone even near one of the major fault line 6, which encircles the Pacific Ocean.
Climate
This country has a very pleasant and healthy climate with plenty of sunshine and good rainfall, with warm summers and mild winters.
New Zealand is world known for its diversity and extraordinary 7. In the wildlife we can find many creatures which aren’t found anywhere else in the world. Kiwi - a roundisch, flightless bird is New Zealand’s national symbol. But this bird is now in great danger to becoming extinct 8. Also the possum 9 - a small marsupial animal 10 with a long tail - is very interesting creature but it causes a lot of damage to undergrowth.
Political system
Like Australia, as well New Zealand follows the British pattern 11 . This country is the member of Commonwealth with the Queen Elizabeth II as the head represented by the Governor-General. The executive power has the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and the legislature is made of two chambers Parliament. New Zealand is divided into 93 counties, 9 districts and 3 town districts.
Important events in history
The first settlers of New Zealand were Polynesian tribes - the Maoris - who migrated from the south Asian mainland and settled this islands during the 14th (8th ?!?) century. The first European to see New Zealand was the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, who discovered its western coast in 1642. Between 1769-77 this country was explored and descriptioned by James Cook. Actual colonisation begun in 19th century by with the Maori chiefs accepted the sovereignty of the British Crown in 1840 - the Maori people were guaranteed protection of their lands. In 1852 Britain granted there self-government but there was a strong Maori resistance against it. Many conflicts between the British settlers and the Maoris led to 12 war between 1860-70 and in 1867 Maori got four seats in NZ Parliament. There are no differences in basic legal, education and politic rights between the Europeans and Maori in this time.
Economy
New Zealand is a rich agricultural country. The green farmlands 13 are suitable for grazing 14 all the year round - so this country is specialised in livestock and sheep breeding 15 (sheep outnumber humans by more than twenty to one!). There is growed 16 fruit and vegetables too. The industry is closely connected with agriculture. Grazing industry producing wool, food-stuff industry produced meat, butter and cheese. The main natural resources are natural gas, coal and sulphur 17 . The living standard is one of the highest in the world.
Geography
Australia is the smallest continent in the world and lying in the Southern Hemisphere 1 between the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. There are Coral and Tasman Seas and many large islands such as Tasmania (on the south, separated by 240 km wide Bass Strait) or Papua-New Guinea (on the east-west, separated by Torres Strait) over Australia.
Nearly half of the continent occupies the Great Western Plateau on the west, in central part there are also three big deserts - the Great Sandy Desert, the Gibson Desert and the Great Victoria Desert.
The Central Lowlands are mostly covered by tropic forests and savannah with occasional creeks 2 and rivers which become dry in the dry seasons as well as three large lakes - Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner.
The Eastern Highlands are the Great Barrier Reef 3 on the north-east coast - it is the largest coral reef in the world. East part occupies the Great Dividing Range and south-east are the Australian Alps (Mount Kosciusko, 2 228 m).
Many of Australia’s rivers are fill with water only during the rainy season. The biggest are the Murray (2 575 km) and the Darling. Also most of Australian’s lakes are dry for months.
The majority of people live in the big cities in the south-east coast - in Sydney (3,7 million), Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.
Australia is one and only continent where grow rare eucalyptus 4. It is also home of remarkable 5 animals such as kangaroo, koala bear, Tasmania devil, wombat, platypus 6, dingo, Emu and many lizards 7 (such as Hatteria with one eye on the top of head) - this animals cannot be found elsewhere in the world. It is mainly due to the fact that for long prehistoric periods this continent was isolated from the others.
Climate
The Australian climate is various. In the northern and north-west parties there is a tropically hot
and dry atmosphere but on the other side north-east has heavy rainfalls 8 because of trade-winds 9 .
Political system
The full and official name for Australia is The Commonwealth of Australia. It is the independent sovereign federation of six states - New South Wales (Sydney), Victoria (Melbourne), South Australia (Adelaide), Queensland (Brisbane), Western Australia (Perth), Tasmania (Hobart) and two territories (Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory). It is the member of Commonwealth with Elizabeth as the head represented by the Governor-General. It follows the British system so the executive power has the Australian Prime Minister and the Cabinet and legislature is the Federal Parliament.
Important events in history
The first (original) inhabitants of this country were the Australian Aborigines, who lived there for over 40,000 years. The existence of this continent was believed long ago in the Ancient (by the Greek astronomer and geographer Ptolemy) and its acquired the name from the Latin term ‘Terra Australis’ - South Land.
Australia was discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in 1642. In 1770 Captain James Cook explored eastern coast and the first white settlement was made up in 1788 of 730 British prisoners 10 and the first British colony was called English New South Wales. During 1850s and 1890s immigration and the economic growth increased because of ‘gold fever’. In 1901 the six colonies became the Commonwealth of Australia.
Places of interest
In my opinion, the most popular Australian attraction is the Ayers Rock (Uluru), a huge rock in the centre of Australia. It is the holy place of all Australian Aborigines. It is the most spectacular to observe this rock during all the day because it changes its colour in each day’s time from pink to brown to silver-grey.
One of the biggest Australia’s tourist attraction is the Great Barrier Reef with its 23 000 km of corals of all colour.
Sydney is the biggest Australian city, founded by English settlers. The business centre of this city is in Port Jackson, the biggest market with wool. We can recognised here old houses, which were built in Victorian style as well as big glass modern skyscrapers in Downtown.
The most famous attraction in Sydney are The Opera House which looks like a large white sailing- ship 11 or the Harbour Bridge, 140 meters above a sea level. There can be 6 000 cars, 28 000 people and 128 trains in the same time.
Economy
There are big reserves of minerals and metals (mainly coal, bauxite and zinc), but deposits 12 of gold have been completely exploited 13 . Australia is one of the top exporters of beef, lamb and high quality wool (the biggest producer in the world) and wheat 14 . Other agriculture items are e.g. cotton, fruits and vegetables.
New Zealand
It covers an area of 268 675 sq km and the population is 3 407 277 inhabitants. The capital city is Wellington (326 900) and the main ethnic groups are: Europeans (mostly British 87 %), Maoris (12 %), and other Polynesians.
Geography
New Zealand (Aotearoa in the Maori language) is located in south-west Pacific Ocean, south-east of Australia and consist of two large islands - North Island and South Island - and many small islands (e.g. Stewart Island). They are separated by Cook Strait which is 150 km wide. New Zealand is larger than Great Britain, but the density of population is quite low. This country is rolling, hilly and mountainous, there is very little flatland 1 and lowland areas only around the coast.
Almost 80 per cent of the population live on the North Island. All the larger cities - Auckland (910 200), Christchurch, Hamilton and Manukau lie here. There are many hot springs and geysers and also a lot of volcanic activity. The most spectacular volcanic area, thermal lakes and exploding geysers are in the Rotorua district. On North Island also lies the biggest lake - Taupo (over 606 sq km). Many of the New Zealand’s rivers are short and torrential 2 and the largest river is the Wanganui 3.
The South Island has the highest mountains, the Southern Alps (Mount Cook, 3 764 m) and there are many glaciers 4 and fjords too.
Because of its locality to the west of the international dateline 5 New Zealand is one of the first countries to see the Sun at the beginning of each new day. This country is also located in a earthquake zone even near one of the major fault line 6, which encircles the Pacific Ocean.
Climate
This country has a very pleasant and healthy climate with plenty of sunshine and good rainfall, with warm summers and mild winters.
New Zealand is world known for its diversity and extraordinary 7. In the wildlife we can find many creatures which aren’t found anywhere else in the world. Kiwi - a roundisch, flightless bird is New Zealand’s national symbol. But this bird is now in great danger to becoming extinct 8. Also the possum 9 - a small marsupial animal 10 with a long tail - is very interesting creature but it causes a lot of damage to undergrowth.
Political system
Like Australia, as well New Zealand follows the British pattern 11 . This country is the member of Commonwealth with the Queen Elizabeth II as the head represented by the Governor-General. The executive power has the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and the legislature is made of two chambers Parliament. New Zealand is divided into 93 counties, 9 districts and 3 town districts.
Important events in history
The first settlers of New Zealand were Polynesian tribes - the Maoris - who migrated from the south Asian mainland and settled this islands during the 14th (8th ?!?) century. The first European to see New Zealand was the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, who discovered its western coast in 1642. Between 1769-77 this country was explored and descriptioned by James Cook. Actual colonisation begun in 19th century by with the Maori chiefs accepted the sovereignty of the British Crown in 1840 - the Maori people were guaranteed protection of their lands. In 1852 Britain granted there self-government but there was a strong Maori resistance against it. Many conflicts between the British settlers and the Maoris led to 12 war between 1860-70 and in 1867 Maori got four seats in NZ Parliament. There are no differences in basic legal, education and politic rights between the Europeans and Maori in this time.
Economy
New Zealand is a rich agricultural country. The green farmlands 13 are suitable for grazing 14 all the year round - so this country is specialised in livestock and sheep breeding 15 (sheep outnumber humans by more than twenty to one!). There is growed 16 fruit and vegetables too. The industry is closely connected with agriculture. Grazing industry producing wool, food-stuff industry produced meat, butter and cheese. The main natural resources are natural gas, coal and sulphur 17 . The living standard is one of the highest in the world.
American history, political system
Important events in history
• The discovering of the New World
The American continent was discovered first around the year 1000 by Icelandic Vikings sailing under Lief Ericson. Till 1492 Indians (and Eskimos) were the only inhabitants (they crossed 85 km wide Bering Strait between Alaska and Chukotka).
Five hundreds year later after Vikings Christopher Columbus (an Italian mariner under Spanish monarchs) reached the Caribbean Sea and the Bahama Islands on October 12th, 1492. Some years after him the Spanish moved north from Mexico into south-west of nowadays USA.
• The Colonial Period (1607-1775)
In 1584 the English established the first colony called Virginia (in honour of the ‘virgin-queen’ Elizabeth I). The first settlement 1 in Virginia was established in 1607 under King James I, after who it is called Jamestown.
In 1620 a group of Puritan refugees from England reached the coast of North America. They landed with their ship called Mayflower on the Massachusetts coast and founded a settlement - Plymouth - there, in memory of the English port of the same name from they sail. Puritans were members of a religious sect which wanted to reform the Church of England. They called themselves the Pilgrim Fathers and wanted to build up a colony based on their own religious ideals. The winter 1620 was very cold and about half of them died. In spring 1621 they planted corn and other plants and in October they celebrated good harvest and God and held a feast with much food - they called this day their day of Thanksgiving. Their first colonies on the north were called New England.
During the 17th century many colonists - French, German, Dutch, Irish but mainly British - settled in the country. These settlements became the 13 colonies under British rule.
The main British rival in America were France. During the 18th century there were continual wars between them and after 1763 British kept all territory east of the Mississippi besides New Orleans which was French, and Florida, which was Spanish.
• The American Revolution (the War of Independence 1775-83)
The British Parliament, protecting the interests of the British manufacturers, passed a number of laws designed to paralyse the rising industry in colonies and changed the taxes on sugar, coffee etc. The Boston Tea Party in December 1773 was the first open act of violence against British rule. American begun boycotting of British trade. On July 4th, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted and proclaimed the Declaration of Independence. Its author was mainly Thomas Jefferson American Army under George Washington and with the help of allied France, which brought them men, money and supplies, kept the great victories at Saratoga and Yorktown. The finally peace was signed in 1783 (The Treaty of Paris). Britain recognised the former 13 colonies and the independence of the United States of America. Its first president was George Washington (between 1789-97).
• Expansion, the Civil War (1861-65) and the 2nd part of 19th century
The period between the War of Independence and the Civil War was the period of territorial expansion - the colonisation of the whole American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific was completed. In 1803 Jefferson made a ‘Louisiana Purchase’ 2 which meant that he bought for only 15 million dollars all central part of the present France area.
Till 1808 about half a million Africans were brought into America as slaves.
The cause of the Civil war was that there exist two antagonistic economic and social systems in the USA: the capitalist system on the north and the slave system on the south. In 1854 the Northern capitalists founded a new Republican Party. They won the elections and Abraham Lincoln became president in 1860. Than eleven Southern states left from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. In 1863 Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation declaring all slaves in the USA shall be forever free. The North was far stronger in industrial resources and in population. In 1863 the Union (Northern) General U.Grant defeated Southern General R.Lee in the battle of Gettysburg and two years later, in April 1865, Grant captured the Confederacy capital Richmond and Lee surrendered. It was the end of the Civil War, the worst episode in American history (635 000 died there). Four days after Southern capitulation president A.Lincoln was assassinated 3 in theatre by a Southern fanatic.
Second half of the 19th century was the period of reconstruction and the industrial growth 4 . In 1867 the USA purchased Alaska from Russia for a sum of 7,2 million dollars and in 1893 they annexation Hawaii. By 1890s the United States were becoming the leading world power.
• 20th century
The position of the USA was greatly strengthened by the First World War, where the USA entered in April, 1917 under president Wodroow Wilson. His ’Fourteen Points’ helped the peace treaty in 1918.
In the 1920s the American economy was prospering very good. Since 1919 there was prohibited the production, sale and transport of alcoholic drinks. The Black Thursday - October 24th, 1929 - the stock market crash in New York widespread unemployment. In 1933 US president Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the USA economy with his New Deal economic programme.
The Second World War entered the USA after the Japanese attack on naval base in Pearl Harbour on Hawaii, on December 7th, 1941. Also in this war played the USA a leading role, especially during the invasion in Europe, into France (Normandy) in June 1944 and in Pacific in battles against the Japanese.
On August 1945 they attacked the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki with an atomic bombs.
The most important moments at the end of 1940s was founding of the United Nations (UN), establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and Marshall Plan for recovering the Europe. The post-war-period was a ‘Cold War’ between the capitalist powers (USA) and the socialist countries (Soviet Union).
The United States in 1960s were full of social changes and unrest. One of the biggest personality of an American history was US president John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who created liberal and good prospect West-East policy 5 - but he was assassinated in Dallas in November 1963. Also the assassinations of his brother Robert Kennedy and the black civil rights leader Martin Luther King in 1968 shocked the world. In July 1969 American astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first man on the Moon.
The 1970s under Robert Nixon continued by the Vietnam War. Nixon was the first and only US president who had to resign from his office because of the bribing 6 Watergate scandal.
Many meetings between US president Ronald Regan and USSR president M.Gorbachev in 1980s set the course of the East-West policy and their relations ‘getting warmer’.
In 1991 the USA under George Bush played main role in another big conflict - the War in Gulf - where they protected Kuwait against Iraq invasion. In 1996 Bill Clinton was elected the US president for the second time.
Political system
The USA system of government is based on the Constitution of the United States adopted in 1787, the Bill of Rights from 1791 and other 26 amendments 7. The federal government controls matters connecting 8 the country as a whole: defence, foreign affairs, finance, commerce etc. But each of 50 states is sovereign, having its own state government and the Governor. There is also one district - District of Columbia (D.C.) - which is not a state.
The federal government has three branches. The President (since 1996 William Jefferson Clinton) is the head of State, the Chief Executive (has the power of veto) and Commander-in-chief of the Army. His official residence is the White House in Washington. He is elected every four years - he cannot be elected more than twice, must be a natural-born US citizen 9 and must be at least 35 years old. The presidential elections is the most important event in the political life of the USA, because the President is elected by people. The Cabinet (has 14 departments) is responsible 10 to the President. The Vice-President (since 1996 Albert Gore) is the chairman of the Senate and in the absence of the President the chairman of the Cabinet meeting. He is automatically succeeds to the presidency if the President dies.
The US Congress is composed of two houses - the Senate and the House of Representatives. The building in Washington, in which the Congress seats, is the Capitol. Each state has two senators in the Senate (100 members), the House of Representatives has about 435 members (Congressmen).
The third branch is the justical department at the top made up of the US Supreme Court 11 which consist of nine judges.
There are only two main political parties: The Republican Party (more conservative - for private enterprise and individual initiative) and The Democratic Party (more liberal - wants social and economics programs for those who need them). There would be a intense situation 12 where the executive and the legislature are not in harmony: there can be a Republican President and a Democratic majority Congress or vice versa 13 .
Each of 50 states apply the same model like the federal government (it means that individual states have the State Senate, the State House of Representatives, the Federal District Courts etc.).
The American flag (called ‘Stars and Strips’ or ‘Old Glory’) consist of two parts - one smaller blue oblong 14 with 50 white stars symbolising 50 American states, and 6 white and 7 red stripes symbolising the original 13 states. Each state has its own flag. The American national anthem is called ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’15.
• The discovering of the New World
The American continent was discovered first around the year 1000 by Icelandic Vikings sailing under Lief Ericson. Till 1492 Indians (and Eskimos) were the only inhabitants (they crossed 85 km wide Bering Strait between Alaska and Chukotka).
Five hundreds year later after Vikings Christopher Columbus (an Italian mariner under Spanish monarchs) reached the Caribbean Sea and the Bahama Islands on October 12th, 1492. Some years after him the Spanish moved north from Mexico into south-west of nowadays USA.
• The Colonial Period (1607-1775)
In 1584 the English established the first colony called Virginia (in honour of the ‘virgin-queen’ Elizabeth I). The first settlement 1 in Virginia was established in 1607 under King James I, after who it is called Jamestown.
In 1620 a group of Puritan refugees from England reached the coast of North America. They landed with their ship called Mayflower on the Massachusetts coast and founded a settlement - Plymouth - there, in memory of the English port of the same name from they sail. Puritans were members of a religious sect which wanted to reform the Church of England. They called themselves the Pilgrim Fathers and wanted to build up a colony based on their own religious ideals. The winter 1620 was very cold and about half of them died. In spring 1621 they planted corn and other plants and in October they celebrated good harvest and God and held a feast with much food - they called this day their day of Thanksgiving. Their first colonies on the north were called New England.
During the 17th century many colonists - French, German, Dutch, Irish but mainly British - settled in the country. These settlements became the 13 colonies under British rule.
The main British rival in America were France. During the 18th century there were continual wars between them and after 1763 British kept all territory east of the Mississippi besides New Orleans which was French, and Florida, which was Spanish.
• The American Revolution (the War of Independence 1775-83)
The British Parliament, protecting the interests of the British manufacturers, passed a number of laws designed to paralyse the rising industry in colonies and changed the taxes on sugar, coffee etc. The Boston Tea Party in December 1773 was the first open act of violence against British rule. American begun boycotting of British trade. On July 4th, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted and proclaimed the Declaration of Independence. Its author was mainly Thomas Jefferson American Army under George Washington and with the help of allied France, which brought them men, money and supplies, kept the great victories at Saratoga and Yorktown. The finally peace was signed in 1783 (The Treaty of Paris). Britain recognised the former 13 colonies and the independence of the United States of America. Its first president was George Washington (between 1789-97).
• Expansion, the Civil War (1861-65) and the 2nd part of 19th century
The period between the War of Independence and the Civil War was the period of territorial expansion - the colonisation of the whole American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific was completed. In 1803 Jefferson made a ‘Louisiana Purchase’ 2 which meant that he bought for only 15 million dollars all central part of the present France area.
Till 1808 about half a million Africans were brought into America as slaves.
The cause of the Civil war was that there exist two antagonistic economic and social systems in the USA: the capitalist system on the north and the slave system on the south. In 1854 the Northern capitalists founded a new Republican Party. They won the elections and Abraham Lincoln became president in 1860. Than eleven Southern states left from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. In 1863 Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation declaring all slaves in the USA shall be forever free. The North was far stronger in industrial resources and in population. In 1863 the Union (Northern) General U.Grant defeated Southern General R.Lee in the battle of Gettysburg and two years later, in April 1865, Grant captured the Confederacy capital Richmond and Lee surrendered. It was the end of the Civil War, the worst episode in American history (635 000 died there). Four days after Southern capitulation president A.Lincoln was assassinated 3 in theatre by a Southern fanatic.
Second half of the 19th century was the period of reconstruction and the industrial growth 4 . In 1867 the USA purchased Alaska from Russia for a sum of 7,2 million dollars and in 1893 they annexation Hawaii. By 1890s the United States were becoming the leading world power.
• 20th century
The position of the USA was greatly strengthened by the First World War, where the USA entered in April, 1917 under president Wodroow Wilson. His ’Fourteen Points’ helped the peace treaty in 1918.
In the 1920s the American economy was prospering very good. Since 1919 there was prohibited the production, sale and transport of alcoholic drinks. The Black Thursday - October 24th, 1929 - the stock market crash in New York widespread unemployment. In 1933 US president Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the USA economy with his New Deal economic programme.
The Second World War entered the USA after the Japanese attack on naval base in Pearl Harbour on Hawaii, on December 7th, 1941. Also in this war played the USA a leading role, especially during the invasion in Europe, into France (Normandy) in June 1944 and in Pacific in battles against the Japanese.
On August 1945 they attacked the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki with an atomic bombs.
The most important moments at the end of 1940s was founding of the United Nations (UN), establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and Marshall Plan for recovering the Europe. The post-war-period was a ‘Cold War’ between the capitalist powers (USA) and the socialist countries (Soviet Union).
The United States in 1960s were full of social changes and unrest. One of the biggest personality of an American history was US president John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who created liberal and good prospect West-East policy 5 - but he was assassinated in Dallas in November 1963. Also the assassinations of his brother Robert Kennedy and the black civil rights leader Martin Luther King in 1968 shocked the world. In July 1969 American astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first man on the Moon.
The 1970s under Robert Nixon continued by the Vietnam War. Nixon was the first and only US president who had to resign from his office because of the bribing 6 Watergate scandal.
Many meetings between US president Ronald Regan and USSR president M.Gorbachev in 1980s set the course of the East-West policy and their relations ‘getting warmer’.
In 1991 the USA under George Bush played main role in another big conflict - the War in Gulf - where they protected Kuwait against Iraq invasion. In 1996 Bill Clinton was elected the US president for the second time.
Political system
The USA system of government is based on the Constitution of the United States adopted in 1787, the Bill of Rights from 1791 and other 26 amendments 7. The federal government controls matters connecting 8 the country as a whole: defence, foreign affairs, finance, commerce etc. But each of 50 states is sovereign, having its own state government and the Governor. There is also one district - District of Columbia (D.C.) - which is not a state.
The federal government has three branches. The President (since 1996 William Jefferson Clinton) is the head of State, the Chief Executive (has the power of veto) and Commander-in-chief of the Army. His official residence is the White House in Washington. He is elected every four years - he cannot be elected more than twice, must be a natural-born US citizen 9 and must be at least 35 years old. The presidential elections is the most important event in the political life of the USA, because the President is elected by people. The Cabinet (has 14 departments) is responsible 10 to the President. The Vice-President (since 1996 Albert Gore) is the chairman of the Senate and in the absence of the President the chairman of the Cabinet meeting. He is automatically succeeds to the presidency if the President dies.
The US Congress is composed of two houses - the Senate and the House of Representatives. The building in Washington, in which the Congress seats, is the Capitol. Each state has two senators in the Senate (100 members), the House of Representatives has about 435 members (Congressmen).
The third branch is the justical department at the top made up of the US Supreme Court 11 which consist of nine judges.
There are only two main political parties: The Republican Party (more conservative - for private enterprise and individual initiative) and The Democratic Party (more liberal - wants social and economics programs for those who need them). There would be a intense situation 12 where the executive and the legislature are not in harmony: there can be a Republican President and a Democratic majority Congress or vice versa 13 .
Each of 50 states apply the same model like the federal government (it means that individual states have the State Senate, the State House of Representatives, the Federal District Courts etc.).
The American flag (called ‘Stars and Strips’ or ‘Old Glory’) consist of two parts - one smaller blue oblong 14 with 50 white stars symbolising 50 American states, and 6 white and 7 red stripes symbolising the original 13 states. Each state has its own flag. The American national anthem is called ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’15.
The USA - geography, places of interest
It covers an area of 9 372 614 sq km (nearly the same as the area of Europe) and the population is 263 814 032 inhabitants. The capital city is Washington D.C. (3 920 000); there are 106 ethnic groups in the USA today but the major are: white (80,3 %), black (12,1 %), American Indians, Hispanic and Eskimo.
The USA currency is One American Dollar (1 USD), which is 100 cents.
Geography
The USA is the fourth largest country in the world. The continental USA - 48 states - lie in the North American continent, and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is boarded by Canada on the north and by Mexico on the south-west.
Alaska occupies the north-western end of the North American continent and is separated from the USA by Canada.
Hawaiian Islands is situated in the Mid-Pacific (about 3 800 km south-west from San Francisco), approximately half-way between American and the Asian continent. The USA has also many dependencies, especially in the Pacific (e.g. Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands etc.).
Eastern highlands are the Appalachian Mountains (the Appalachians). Half the area of the continental USA lies in the Interior (Central) Plains. The western highland - Rocky Mountains, the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada - are the parts of the Cordilleras and covers a third of this country. The highest peak on this continent is Mt. McKinley (6 149 m, in Alaska Range).
There are many rivers in the USA. The rivers entering the Atlantic ocean between the St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico are short and of little value to navigation 1 - e.g. the Hudson, the Potomac, the Delaware. The main river entering the Gulf of Mexico is the Mississippi (with its 6 000 km it is the third longest in the world), the biggest river in the USA. Its most important tributaries 2 are the Missouri, the Ohio, the Red River and the Arkansas. Another one flowing 3 into the Gulf is the Rio Grande, which makes the boundary 4 between the USA and Mexico. There are three big rivers entering the west coast - the Snake and the Columbia on the north and the Colorado on the south. This rivers are important for making the electric power.
There are five big lakes on the north, which make the border 5 between the USA and Canada. This five Great Lakes are: Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior 6 (second largest in the world after the Caspian Sea) - all of them are good navigable.
The Atlantic coast is more indented 7 than the Pacific coast, so here are the largest cities and ports: New York (it’s the USA biggest city with over 12 million people), Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The important cities in the Grand Lakes Region are Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee. The largest ports on the Gulf of Mexico are New Orleans (it is a river city on the Mississippi 160 km from the Gulf!) and Houston. The most important centres on the west coast are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland.
Climate
The United State as a whole has favourable climatic conditions 8. But the climate is quite various - from the arctic cold in northern Alaska to subtropical warmth in Hawaii and the Gulf Coast States. On western coast are only a little differences between summers and winters, but the north states have changeable weather in summer and winter.
Places of interest
Besides the US capitol and New York there are many interesting places in the USA. Worth seeing 9 are the American national parks with beautiful and preserved nature: Yellowstone NP - established in 1872 is the oldest and largest in the USA, there are about 3 000 geysers and hot springs; Yosemite NP - includes the highest waterfall in the USA (Yosemite George, 739 m) and many giant sequoias; the Grand Canyon is 350 km long, 6 to 29 wide and up to 1,7 km deep.
The River Niagara, flowing from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is famous for the Niagara Falls - one of the major American tourist attraction. These falls is almost 60 meters high and 1 200 m wide; in the Monument Valley there are many red stone spires, columns and chimneys on a plateau which is often called ‘Desert Gothic’; Mt.Rushmore is 1 890 m high mountain with colossal portrait heads of the US presidents - Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt.
Also large urban areas are quite spectacular. In Los Angeles we can find the famous film centre - Hollywood - and luxurious quarters such as Beverly Hills. There is also the biggest ZOO in the world. San Francisco is famous for its Golden Gate Bridge, Las Vegas for the rodeo festivals and casino gambling, New Orleans is the cradle of jazz, Miami is the recreation centre. New Haven is a seat of Yale University, Cambridge is the seat of Harvard University. Cape Canaveral in Florida is famous for The Kennedy Space Centre’s Spaceport - space shuttles are lunched 10 here.
Economy
The United States is the leading capitalist power so it holds a leading position in the world’s industrial and agricultural production as well as in international trade. Because of this it is practically self-sufficient 11 country. There are many industrial areas, big industrial centres (such as Detroit, Chicago, N.Y. City etc.) and every types of industry (especially car and plane industry, electronics and computers etc.). In the USA resident the biggest world’s corporations such as General Motors, Coca Cola Company, IBM, Texaco etc.
There are also large agricultural areas - the biggest are the Corn Belt and the Wheat Belt 12 and about 2 million farms. which produced tabacco, cotton, sugar or fruits and vegetables - they are especially on the south. Important are also the fishery and forestry.
The USA is rich in petroleum and natural gas (near the Gulf of Mexico in Texas and also in California), coal (north part of Appalachians) and iron ore (near the Great Lakes), as well as copper, zinc, gold and silver (in the Rocky Mountains) etc.
The USA - an urban nation
- it means that majority of people live in bigger or smaller cities or towns. In the American countryside there are typical farms - but no ‘villages’ like in Europe or in the Czech Republic.
On the north-east cost of the USA there is a big urban area - ‘the Atlantic Metropolitan Belt ’. It is the biggest urban area in the world - we can find there the chain of big cities extending from Boston, through New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore as far as Washington (this area is often called ‘Bos-Wash’ Belt). There are so high density of population, industry, shops, cars etc. that it seems there are no borders between each cities (but in fact they are there).
The main and centre point of this belt is New York City.
Washington D.C.
Washington D.C. is situated on the north-west coast of the USA on the Potomac River about 90 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. It is the seat of the federal government of the United States, has the 10th large population in the country (metropolitan area 3 920 000 ) and covers an area of 180 sq km.
The District of Columbia was established by Act of Congress in 1790. The site for the capital was chosen by president Washington himself because he knew this area very well - he was originally a Virginia planter and his plantation Mount Vernon was 16 miles down the Potomac.
The city was designed by the French architect Pierre L’Enfant in the late 18th century and it was the first city in the world planned and built as the capital and the centre of the government. Streets and avenues were laid out on a grid scheme , were named after the states of the Union and the city was divided into four quadrants with the Capitol as the centre. Till 1910 no structures could exceed 15 floors so we cannot see any skyscrapers here.
About 360 000 people are employed by the Federal Government; all of them work in the federally owned buildings which occupy 40 per cent of the city’s land.
Along the Potomac River there are situated the most important buildings in the city as well as in the USA. The Capitol on Capitol Hill is a seat of the US Congress since 1800.
White House, the president’s residence, stands south side of the Pennsylvania Avenue. Its official rooms are on the first floor, the second and third floor is reserved for the Presidential family.
The Pentagon (the Department of Defence) is the largest single building in the world and there work about 23 000 employees.
Other interesting building is the Library of Congress which contains over 90 million items and we can find there the Declaration of Independence. In the middle of the Mall (one of the central Washington avenues) rises Washington Monument (1885), the white marble obelisk which is about 555 ft high. Jefferson Memorial (1934) is the 20th century adaptation of the ancient Roman Pantheon. The open-air interior dominate a 19 ft bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson, the third US President. Lincoln Memorial (1922), with the famous 20 ft marble statue of seated Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US President, was inspired by Greek architecture. Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982) is a simple black granite wall engraved with the names of those 58 000 killed or missing in the Vietnam War. The Arlington National Cemetery (1883) is the most revered burial ground in this country.It contains the graves of over 200 000 military persons but there are also buried two US Presidents - W.H.Taft († 1930) and John F. Kennedy († 1963) - and e.g. US Senator Robert F. Kennedy († 1968).
There is a lot of museums, galleries and theatres of course. The National Air and Space Museum (1976) commemorates human aeronautical and astronomical achievements . The National Gallery of Art includes artefacts from Middle Ages to the present, and especially the Italian Works (Rafael, Tizian or da Vinci) can be find there. The most prestige university in Washington is Georgetown University (1789).
Because the Potomac River is too shallow to allow large ships to enter the city Washington never belongs to a major ports but there are three airports. There are no industry and factories in Washington and that is why the city seems so clean and nice. The most attractive parks are the Constitution Gardens and the West and East Potomac Parks.
New York City
The Americans called New York as the ‘Big Apple’. This nickname express how big, beautiful and busy is this city. They also say that it is impossible to live in New York because it is a dangerous, chaotic and hectic place to live there. On the other hand they say, that holidays are to short to see every in this city.
New York City is also a place of big contrasts - wealthy and poverty, steel-and-glass skyscrapers, modern houses and expensive residences in contrast with a cardboard slums for the homeless. Sometimes, New York is also called as the ‘Melting Pot’ because more than 80 languages are spoken there and people living here have over 100 religious denominations.
New York is the biggest city in the USA. It is located in the northern part of the USA on the Hudson River at the Atlantic Ocean. The whole metropolitan area has about 18 million people so it belongs to the largest in the world. The density is also high - about 10 000 people per 1 sq km and it covers an area of 780 sq km. New York has five major parts: Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Brooklyn. N.Y. City is one of the most important financial, commercial and cultural centres in the world as well as port.
It is not known when the site of New York was first populated but the original inhabitants were Indians of course. First Europeans entered New York Bay in 1524 and in 1609 Henry Hudson sailed the river which bear his name. Manhattan Island was bought from Indians by the Dutch in 1625 for good worth 25 US dollars and its original name was New Amsterdam. In 1644 the British captured the city and renamed it New York. Because of its favourable position it soon became an important trading port. After the war in 1783 New York was the capitol of the USA for two years, and its population was about 25 000 in that time.
During the 18th century the city grew to such an extent that it was necessary to plan its further development. The centre of the city - Manhattan - was built on a modern plan of street and avenues which were laid out on a grid scheme. Streets run east-west and avenues north-south but only the oldest of them have their original names (e.g. Wall Street or Broadway) - the majority of them are numbered (5th Avenue, 42nd Street).
Extent the Hudson River Manhattan is also washed by East River, but in fact it isn’t a river but only long and thin sea bay).
New York is a city of immigrations and they formed self-sufficient communities there. In southern Manhattan we can find the Little Italy and Chinatown, on the north there is Harlem, the quarter known as an African American neighbourhood. East Village is a multi-cultural area with many ethnic restaurants, boutiques and clubs. Greenwich Village is the home of artists, writers and university students. Lower East Side was traditionally Jewish but there are also the Chinese, Blacks and Hispanics today. The city is notorious for its crime. There are drug battles, gang and Mafia wars and many homeless people live in the streets.
Central Park, the largest of all New York’s parks was created in 1858 but it is dangerous to go there after dark. Other parks are e.g. Battery Park, East River Park or Brooklyn Highs.
New York is famous for its Manhattan skyline - a large number of skyscrapers on quite a small area. The first of them were built in 1903. In skyscrapers are mainly offices but e.g. in Trump Tower there are also very expensive living units (700 000 USD). Two towers - ‘The Twins’ - are buildings of The World Trade Centre, the New York’s highest skyscrapers built in 1973. They are 417 m high, has 110 stories and more than 10 000 people come and go there every day. The Empire State Building (1931, 381 m) is probably the most famous building in New York. Also the Chrysler Building (1930, 306 m), and the PanAm Building are very famous. The most important institution here is a complex of The United Nations Headquarters built in 1950.
Times Square as well as Washington Square in Greenwich Village were in turn of the 20th century the main artistic and intellectual places with bohemian and avant-garde atmosphere. Popular tradition is to go to Times Square to welcome the New Year. St. Patrick’s Cathedral was inspired by the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe and built in 1888. Near Broadway there stands St. Paul’s Chapel, the oldest church in New York, built in 1766.
The Statue of Liberty (a copy of the small statue designed by F.A.Bartholdi and given by the people of France to the people of the USA for their friendship in 1884) on the Liberty Island is a symbol of hope and freedom and welcomed immigrants as they entered the N.Y. harbour. The Brooklyn Bridge (built in 1883) which joined Brooklyn and Manhattan, is another typical monument in N.Y. City.
Broadway with many theatres and cinemas is the centre of cultural life, Wall Street with the New York Stock Exchange (founded in 1792), the most important stock market in the world, is the centre of financial life. The 5th A venue is a shopping centre with many largest departments and fashion shops (e.g. Tiffany’s Jewellery).
There are four big airports in New York (the biggest is John F. Kennedy International Airport in Jamaica Bay) and it has the largest subway system in the world - it started in 1904, has about 710 km and 469 stations. Typically for N.Y. City are ‘yellow cups’ - the yellow taxis.
There are also 29 universities and collages (e.g. Columbia University or New York University), many cultural institutions, theatres and galleries (The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim Museum, The American Craft Museum, The Metropolitan Museum etc.). New York is also home for 15 TV stations (e.g. ABC, CBS or NBS), 39 radio stations and over 100 hospitals.
Radio City Music Hall, opened in 1932 is one of the largest world’s hall and there Grammy Awards take place annually. Lincoln Center was built in the 1960s and it consist of e.g. New York State Theatre, Metropolitan Opera House etc.
Madison Square Garden is the most popular sport center in N.Y. City built in 1968 for cultural and sporting events. Flashing Meadow Park on Long Island is world known for its tennis championship.
The USA currency is One American Dollar (1 USD), which is 100 cents.
Geography
The USA is the fourth largest country in the world. The continental USA - 48 states - lie in the North American continent, and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is boarded by Canada on the north and by Mexico on the south-west.
Alaska occupies the north-western end of the North American continent and is separated from the USA by Canada.
Hawaiian Islands is situated in the Mid-Pacific (about 3 800 km south-west from San Francisco), approximately half-way between American and the Asian continent. The USA has also many dependencies, especially in the Pacific (e.g. Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands etc.).
Eastern highlands are the Appalachian Mountains (the Appalachians). Half the area of the continental USA lies in the Interior (Central) Plains. The western highland - Rocky Mountains, the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada - are the parts of the Cordilleras and covers a third of this country. The highest peak on this continent is Mt. McKinley (6 149 m, in Alaska Range).
There are many rivers in the USA. The rivers entering the Atlantic ocean between the St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico are short and of little value to navigation 1 - e.g. the Hudson, the Potomac, the Delaware. The main river entering the Gulf of Mexico is the Mississippi (with its 6 000 km it is the third longest in the world), the biggest river in the USA. Its most important tributaries 2 are the Missouri, the Ohio, the Red River and the Arkansas. Another one flowing 3 into the Gulf is the Rio Grande, which makes the boundary 4 between the USA and Mexico. There are three big rivers entering the west coast - the Snake and the Columbia on the north and the Colorado on the south. This rivers are important for making the electric power.
There are five big lakes on the north, which make the border 5 between the USA and Canada. This five Great Lakes are: Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior 6 (second largest in the world after the Caspian Sea) - all of them are good navigable.
The Atlantic coast is more indented 7 than the Pacific coast, so here are the largest cities and ports: New York (it’s the USA biggest city with over 12 million people), Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The important cities in the Grand Lakes Region are Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee. The largest ports on the Gulf of Mexico are New Orleans (it is a river city on the Mississippi 160 km from the Gulf!) and Houston. The most important centres on the west coast are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland.
Climate
The United State as a whole has favourable climatic conditions 8. But the climate is quite various - from the arctic cold in northern Alaska to subtropical warmth in Hawaii and the Gulf Coast States. On western coast are only a little differences between summers and winters, but the north states have changeable weather in summer and winter.
Places of interest
Besides the US capitol and New York there are many interesting places in the USA. Worth seeing 9 are the American national parks with beautiful and preserved nature: Yellowstone NP - established in 1872 is the oldest and largest in the USA, there are about 3 000 geysers and hot springs; Yosemite NP - includes the highest waterfall in the USA (Yosemite George, 739 m) and many giant sequoias; the Grand Canyon is 350 km long, 6 to 29 wide and up to 1,7 km deep.
The River Niagara, flowing from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is famous for the Niagara Falls - one of the major American tourist attraction. These falls is almost 60 meters high and 1 200 m wide; in the Monument Valley there are many red stone spires, columns and chimneys on a plateau which is often called ‘Desert Gothic’; Mt.Rushmore is 1 890 m high mountain with colossal portrait heads of the US presidents - Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt.
Also large urban areas are quite spectacular. In Los Angeles we can find the famous film centre - Hollywood - and luxurious quarters such as Beverly Hills. There is also the biggest ZOO in the world. San Francisco is famous for its Golden Gate Bridge, Las Vegas for the rodeo festivals and casino gambling, New Orleans is the cradle of jazz, Miami is the recreation centre. New Haven is a seat of Yale University, Cambridge is the seat of Harvard University. Cape Canaveral in Florida is famous for The Kennedy Space Centre’s Spaceport - space shuttles are lunched 10 here.
Economy
The United States is the leading capitalist power so it holds a leading position in the world’s industrial and agricultural production as well as in international trade. Because of this it is practically self-sufficient 11 country. There are many industrial areas, big industrial centres (such as Detroit, Chicago, N.Y. City etc.) and every types of industry (especially car and plane industry, electronics and computers etc.). In the USA resident the biggest world’s corporations such as General Motors, Coca Cola Company, IBM, Texaco etc.
There are also large agricultural areas - the biggest are the Corn Belt and the Wheat Belt 12 and about 2 million farms. which produced tabacco, cotton, sugar or fruits and vegetables - they are especially on the south. Important are also the fishery and forestry.
The USA is rich in petroleum and natural gas (near the Gulf of Mexico in Texas and also in California), coal (north part of Appalachians) and iron ore (near the Great Lakes), as well as copper, zinc, gold and silver (in the Rocky Mountains) etc.
The USA - an urban nation
- it means that majority of people live in bigger or smaller cities or towns. In the American countryside there are typical farms - but no ‘villages’ like in Europe or in the Czech Republic.
On the north-east cost of the USA there is a big urban area - ‘the Atlantic Metropolitan Belt ’. It is the biggest urban area in the world - we can find there the chain of big cities extending from Boston, through New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore as far as Washington (this area is often called ‘Bos-Wash’ Belt). There are so high density of population, industry, shops, cars etc. that it seems there are no borders between each cities (but in fact they are there).
The main and centre point of this belt is New York City.
Washington D.C.
Washington D.C. is situated on the north-west coast of the USA on the Potomac River about 90 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. It is the seat of the federal government of the United States, has the 10th large population in the country (metropolitan area 3 920 000 ) and covers an area of 180 sq km.
The District of Columbia was established by Act of Congress in 1790. The site for the capital was chosen by president Washington himself because he knew this area very well - he was originally a Virginia planter and his plantation Mount Vernon was 16 miles down the Potomac.
The city was designed by the French architect Pierre L’Enfant in the late 18th century and it was the first city in the world planned and built as the capital and the centre of the government. Streets and avenues were laid out on a grid scheme , were named after the states of the Union and the city was divided into four quadrants with the Capitol as the centre. Till 1910 no structures could exceed 15 floors so we cannot see any skyscrapers here.
About 360 000 people are employed by the Federal Government; all of them work in the federally owned buildings which occupy 40 per cent of the city’s land.
Along the Potomac River there are situated the most important buildings in the city as well as in the USA. The Capitol on Capitol Hill is a seat of the US Congress since 1800.
White House, the president’s residence, stands south side of the Pennsylvania Avenue. Its official rooms are on the first floor, the second and third floor is reserved for the Presidential family.
The Pentagon (the Department of Defence) is the largest single building in the world and there work about 23 000 employees.
Other interesting building is the Library of Congress which contains over 90 million items and we can find there the Declaration of Independence. In the middle of the Mall (one of the central Washington avenues) rises Washington Monument (1885), the white marble obelisk which is about 555 ft high. Jefferson Memorial (1934) is the 20th century adaptation of the ancient Roman Pantheon. The open-air interior dominate a 19 ft bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson, the third US President. Lincoln Memorial (1922), with the famous 20 ft marble statue of seated Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US President, was inspired by Greek architecture. Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982) is a simple black granite wall engraved with the names of those 58 000 killed or missing in the Vietnam War. The Arlington National Cemetery (1883) is the most revered burial ground in this country.It contains the graves of over 200 000 military persons but there are also buried two US Presidents - W.H.Taft († 1930) and John F. Kennedy († 1963) - and e.g. US Senator Robert F. Kennedy († 1968).
There is a lot of museums, galleries and theatres of course. The National Air and Space Museum (1976) commemorates human aeronautical and astronomical achievements . The National Gallery of Art includes artefacts from Middle Ages to the present, and especially the Italian Works (Rafael, Tizian or da Vinci) can be find there. The most prestige university in Washington is Georgetown University (1789).
Because the Potomac River is too shallow to allow large ships to enter the city Washington never belongs to a major ports but there are three airports. There are no industry and factories in Washington and that is why the city seems so clean and nice. The most attractive parks are the Constitution Gardens and the West and East Potomac Parks.
New York City
The Americans called New York as the ‘Big Apple’. This nickname express how big, beautiful and busy is this city. They also say that it is impossible to live in New York because it is a dangerous, chaotic and hectic place to live there. On the other hand they say, that holidays are to short to see every in this city.
New York City is also a place of big contrasts - wealthy and poverty, steel-and-glass skyscrapers, modern houses and expensive residences in contrast with a cardboard slums for the homeless. Sometimes, New York is also called as the ‘Melting Pot’ because more than 80 languages are spoken there and people living here have over 100 religious denominations.
New York is the biggest city in the USA. It is located in the northern part of the USA on the Hudson River at the Atlantic Ocean. The whole metropolitan area has about 18 million people so it belongs to the largest in the world. The density is also high - about 10 000 people per 1 sq km and it covers an area of 780 sq km. New York has five major parts: Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Brooklyn. N.Y. City is one of the most important financial, commercial and cultural centres in the world as well as port.
It is not known when the site of New York was first populated but the original inhabitants were Indians of course. First Europeans entered New York Bay in 1524 and in 1609 Henry Hudson sailed the river which bear his name. Manhattan Island was bought from Indians by the Dutch in 1625 for good worth 25 US dollars and its original name was New Amsterdam. In 1644 the British captured the city and renamed it New York. Because of its favourable position it soon became an important trading port. After the war in 1783 New York was the capitol of the USA for two years, and its population was about 25 000 in that time.
During the 18th century the city grew to such an extent that it was necessary to plan its further development. The centre of the city - Manhattan - was built on a modern plan of street and avenues which were laid out on a grid scheme. Streets run east-west and avenues north-south but only the oldest of them have their original names (e.g. Wall Street or Broadway) - the majority of them are numbered (5th Avenue, 42nd Street).
Extent the Hudson River Manhattan is also washed by East River, but in fact it isn’t a river but only long and thin sea bay).
New York is a city of immigrations and they formed self-sufficient communities there. In southern Manhattan we can find the Little Italy and Chinatown, on the north there is Harlem, the quarter known as an African American neighbourhood. East Village is a multi-cultural area with many ethnic restaurants, boutiques and clubs. Greenwich Village is the home of artists, writers and university students. Lower East Side was traditionally Jewish but there are also the Chinese, Blacks and Hispanics today. The city is notorious for its crime. There are drug battles, gang and Mafia wars and many homeless people live in the streets.
Central Park, the largest of all New York’s parks was created in 1858 but it is dangerous to go there after dark. Other parks are e.g. Battery Park, East River Park or Brooklyn Highs.
New York is famous for its Manhattan skyline - a large number of skyscrapers on quite a small area. The first of them were built in 1903. In skyscrapers are mainly offices but e.g. in Trump Tower there are also very expensive living units (700 000 USD). Two towers - ‘The Twins’ - are buildings of The World Trade Centre, the New York’s highest skyscrapers built in 1973. They are 417 m high, has 110 stories and more than 10 000 people come and go there every day. The Empire State Building (1931, 381 m) is probably the most famous building in New York. Also the Chrysler Building (1930, 306 m), and the PanAm Building are very famous. The most important institution here is a complex of The United Nations Headquarters built in 1950.
Times Square as well as Washington Square in Greenwich Village were in turn of the 20th century the main artistic and intellectual places with bohemian and avant-garde atmosphere. Popular tradition is to go to Times Square to welcome the New Year. St. Patrick’s Cathedral was inspired by the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe and built in 1888. Near Broadway there stands St. Paul’s Chapel, the oldest church in New York, built in 1766.
The Statue of Liberty (a copy of the small statue designed by F.A.Bartholdi and given by the people of France to the people of the USA for their friendship in 1884) on the Liberty Island is a symbol of hope and freedom and welcomed immigrants as they entered the N.Y. harbour. The Brooklyn Bridge (built in 1883) which joined Brooklyn and Manhattan, is another typical monument in N.Y. City.
Broadway with many theatres and cinemas is the centre of cultural life, Wall Street with the New York Stock Exchange (founded in 1792), the most important stock market in the world, is the centre of financial life. The 5th A venue is a shopping centre with many largest departments and fashion shops (e.g. Tiffany’s Jewellery).
There are four big airports in New York (the biggest is John F. Kennedy International Airport in Jamaica Bay) and it has the largest subway system in the world - it started in 1904, has about 710 km and 469 stations. Typically for N.Y. City are ‘yellow cups’ - the yellow taxis.
There are also 29 universities and collages (e.g. Columbia University or New York University), many cultural institutions, theatres and galleries (The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim Museum, The American Craft Museum, The Metropolitan Museum etc.). New York is also home for 15 TV stations (e.g. ABC, CBS or NBS), 39 radio stations and over 100 hospitals.
Radio City Music Hall, opened in 1932 is one of the largest world’s hall and there Grammy Awards take place annually. Lincoln Center was built in the 1960s and it consist of e.g. New York State Theatre, Metropolitan Opera House etc.
Madison Square Garden is the most popular sport center in N.Y. City built in 1968 for cultural and sporting events. Flashing Meadow Park on Long Island is world known for its tennis championship.
Přihlásit se k odběru:
Příspěvky (Atom)