usa map and facts(美国地图和一些基本数据）

TRANSPORTATION Major Forms of Transportation (2004) Passenger Car – 136,431,000 Motorcycle – 5,781,000 Vans, Pickups, SUVs – 91,845,000 Trucks – 8,171,000 Bus – 795,000 [All are registered vehicles] Air Travel Total Airports (2004) – 19,820 Airports, Passengers Enplaned (2004) – 652,712,000 WEB SITES Government Official U.S. government Web portal [Gateway to governmental sites] http://www.usa.gov White House [Official site of the President of the United States] http://whitehouse.gov U.S. Senate http://www.senate.gov U.S. House of Representatives http://www.house.gov U.S. Supreme Court http://www.supremecourtus.gov Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov U.S. Bureau of the Census http://www.census.gov/ Statistical Abstract of the United States http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/ U.S. Central Intelligence Agency CIA World Factbook http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/ the-world-factbook/index.html U.S. Department of State http://www.state.gov Celebrations Holidays on the Net http://www.holidays.net History Historical Documents National Archives and Records Administration http://www.NARA.gov Historicalstatistics.org - Links to historical statistics of USA http://www.historicalstatistics.org/index2. html Immigration U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS.gov. http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm Maps National Atlas of the United States http://nationalatlas.gov Total Licensed Pilots – 612,000. Women Pilots – 34,000 General Aviation (Private) Aircraft – 218,000 Airliners – 7,900 Railroads Railroads (2004) – 980,781,000 (miles of track Commuter Rail Cars and Locomotives – 5,959,000 Motor Bus – 77,328,000 Light Rail Cars – 1,482,000 Heavy Rail Cars – 10,754,000 Trolley Bus – 672,000 Other Modes Passenger Transit (2004): Buses – 81,033 Heavy Railcars – 10,858 Light Railcars – 1,622 Commuter Railcars – 6,228 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE / BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION PROGRAMS http://usinfo.state.gov J STATE CAPITALS Alabama: Montgomery Alaska: Juneau Arizona: Phoenix Arkansas: Little Rock California: Sacramento Colorado: Denver Connecticut: Hartford Delaware: Dover Florida: Tallahassee Georgia: Atlanta Hawaii: Honolulu Idaho: Boise Illinois: Springfield Indiana: Indianapolis Iowa: Des Moines Kansas: Topeka Kentucky: Frankfort Louisiana: Baton Rouge Maine: Augusta Maryland: Annapolis Massachusetts: Boston Michigan: Lansing Minnesota: St. Paul Mississippi: Jackson Missouri: Jefferson City Montana: Helena Nebraska: Lincoln Nevada: Carson City New Hampshire: Concord New Jersey: Trenton New Mexico: Santa Fe New York: Albany North Carolina: Raleigh North Dakota: Bismarck Ohio: Columbus Oklahoma: Oklahoma City Oregon: Salem Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Rhode Island: Providence South Carolina: Columbia South Dakota: Pierre Tennessee: Nashville Texas: Austin Utah: Salt Lake City Vermont: Montpelier Virginia: Richmond Washington: Olympia West Virginia: Charleston Wisconsin: Madison Wyoming: Cheyenne Washington, D.C.: National Capital indicated by J on map. State Capitals are indicated by H on map. H H H H H HH H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H HHH H H H H H H H H TIMELINE 1492, OctOber 12 – Christopher Columbus arrived from Spain to the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas. He is honored as the discoverer of America. 1607 – Colonizers establish America’s first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. 1620 – Mayflower Compact established government by majority will in the settlement of Plymouth in Massachusetts. 1636 – First U.S. college, Harvard, founded at Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1754 – Seven Years’ War (also known as the French and Indian War) began between France and Britain. At the war’s end, France ceded Canada, the Great Lakes, and the upper Mississippi Valley to the British. 1776, April 19 – First shots of U.S. war for independence from Britain fired at Lexington, Massachusetts. 1776, July 4 – Delegates from America’s 13 colonies signed the Declaration of Independence with its “decent respect for the opinions of mankind.” 1781, OctOber 19 – British army surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia. 1783, September 3 – Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, recognizing U.S. independence. The new nation extended from Canada south to Florida, and west from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. 1787, mAy 25 – Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation, the compact among states then governing the newly independent nation. The new Constitution was adopted by delegates on September 17. 1789, April 30 – George Washington inaugurated as the first president of the United States. 1791 – Ten amendments (Bill of Rights) added to the U.S. Constitution to protect the rights of individuals. 1796 – Publication of President George Washington’s Farewell Address, in which he warned against “entangling political alliances.” 1803 – The Supreme Court, in Marbury v. Madison, asserted its right to declare laws unconstitutional. 1803, April – Negotiations for the purchase of the Louisiana Territory between the United States and the French Republic were completed while Thomas Jefferson was president. The sale doubled U.S. land area. 1812-14 – The United States and Britain fought the War of 1812. British burned the Capitol and the White House in August 1814, inciting a large number of American volunteers to rush into service and help stop the British offensive. Uncle Sam became the symbol of the United States, an image that stirred American feelings against the British. 1818 – United States and Britain agreed on an unfortified border between Canada and the United States. 1820 – Missouri Compromise passed Congress. Maine entered the Union as a free state. Slavery is allowed in Missouri but prohibited west of the Mississippi River and north of 36° 30’ latitude. 1823 – Monroe Doctrine asserted opposition to future colonization of American republics by European nations. 1846 – Mexican War between the United States and Mexico began. The treaty that ended the war (1848) gave the United States a vast stretch of land from Texas west to the Pacific Ocean and north to Oregon. 1857 – Dred Scott decision, released by the U.S. Supreme Court, held that Congress cannot bar slavery from territories, nor can slaves be citizens. 1860 – Abraham Lincoln elected the 16th U.S. president. 1860, December 20 – South Carolina, rapidly followed by five other southern states, seceded from the Union in reaction to the election of Lincoln, who opposed the extension of slavery into the western territories. These six southern states organized the Confederate States of America; five additional states joined their ranks, to make 11 Confederate states in all. 1861, April 12 – First shots fired in the U.S. Civil War at a Union installation, Fort Sumter, South Carolina, over the question of southern states’ right to secede from the Union. President Lincoln mandated first official U.S. government censorship and heavy propaganda campaigns were initiated by both the North and the South. 1863, JAnuAry 1 – President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, giving freedom to slaves in Confederate-held territory. 1865, April 9 – Civil War ended with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of Union forces, at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. 1867 – Territory of Alaska purchased from Russia. 1882 – President Grover Cleveland began practice of meeting with reporters to influence public opinion. 1896 – Supreme Court upheld the legality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson. 1898 – Spanish-American War declared in April and ended in August. The peace treaty signed with Spain in December guaranteed Cuban independence and assigned the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States. Introduction of newspapers as yellow journalism brought military casualties to average reader with lurid front-page headlines. 1906, nOvember – In Colon, Panama City, President Theodore Roosevelt inspected the construction of the Panama Canal, first visit by any president abroad. 1908 – Henry Ford introduced the era of mass production with the efficient, low-cost car, which “puts America on wheels.” 1914 – Panama Canal, built by the United States across Central America, opened, permitting ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans without rounding the tip of South America. 1917, April 6 – United States entered World War I, declaring war after German violations of American neutrality. 1918, nOvember 11 – World War I ended (“11th month, 11th day, 11th hour”) with armistice. 1920 – 19th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed women’s right to vote. The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) made the first coast-to-coast network radio broadcast. 1933 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched “New Deal” programs to provide work for the unemployed, raise farm prices, and stabilize banks to relieve depression in America. Federal arts programs created to offer government patronage to the arts (visual artists, theater workers, musicians, writers) established in the Works Progress Administration (WPA). 1935 – Congress passed the Social Security Act. 1941, December 7 – Japanese attack naval fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (“a day that will live in infamy”), initiating U.S. entry into World War II. 1945, mAy 7 – Germany surrendered, ending war in Europe, but military action continued in Pacific area. On September 2, Japan surrendered, ending war in the Pacific. 1947, June 5 – At Harvard commencement, Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed aid for the economic recovery of war-torn Europe; over the next four years, Congress authorized some $13 billion for the Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program). President Truman signed the Foreign Assistance Act that established the program. 1949, April 4 – United States, Canada, and 10 Western European nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to provide mutual military aid if any member is attacked. 1950, June 27 – United States and other members of the United Nations sent troops and other military aid to defend the Republic of Korea (South Korea) against attack by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). 1953, July 21 – Armistice to end fighting in Korea signed following year-long talks. 1954 – Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was uncon- stitutional (Brown v. Board of Education). 1955 – United States agreed to help train South Vietnamese army, beginning a 20 - year commitment of American troops and resources to Vietnamese conflict. 1955, December – Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, initiating a year-long bus boycott organized by Martin Luther King Jr that protested segregation of that city’s buses. On December 23, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the bus system desegregated. Similar gains made in other southern cities. 1956, nOvember – Hungarian Revolution proved effectiveness of Voice of America (VOA) and of Radio Free Europe in bringing balanced message to captured Hungarians of events going on in their country. 1959, July 25-September 4 – American National Exhibition held in Moscow’s Sokolniki Park. Famous ‘kitchen debate’ between Vice President Nixon and Soviet Premier Khrushchev took place in exhibition’s model American home when Nixon defended the United States against the Soviet premier’s disparaging remarks. 1961, mAy 5 – Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. made first manned U.S. space flight. 1962, FebruAry 20 – Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. became first American to orbit the Earth. 1962, OctOber – Soviet Union withdrew offensive missiles from Cuba after President John F. Kennedy warned that an attack from Cuba on any Western Hemisphere nation would bring full U.S. retaliation. 1964, July 2 – President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, barring discrimination in public places based upon race or color. 1965 – Social legislation extended in the fields of education, medical care for the elderly, housing and urban renewal, and federal aid to the arts. Congress also passed a voting rights bill that supplemented the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 1968, JAnuAry – USS Pueblo, an intelligence-gathering ship, seized by North Korean forces. 1969, July 20 – Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin landed on the moon (“One small step for a man…”), an event televised 400,000 kilometers to Earth. 1972, FebruAry – President Richard Nixon traveled to Beijing for meetings with leaders of the People’s Republic of China; in May, he met with Soviet leaders in Moscow. He was the first U.S. president to visit both countries while in office. 1974, AuguSt 9 – In the wake of the Watergate break-in and cover-up, President Nixon resigned from office, the first president to do so. He was succeeded by Vice President Gerald R. Ford. 1975, July 11-19 – U.S. Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft linked together in space. 1978, September 11 – U.S.-sponsored Middle East summit at Camp David concluded with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat agreeing to the framework for a peace treaty. 1979, JAnuAry 1 – Full diplomatic relations are established between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. 1979, nOvember 4 – Iranian militants took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and seized 68 hostages, demanding that the shah, then receiving medical treatment in the United States, be returned. President Carter refused, the militants released 13 women and blacks, and a series of sanctions followed. 1981, JAnuAry 20 – American hostages in Tehran were released minutes after President Ronald Reagan took the oath of office as president of the United States. 1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor became first female Supreme Court justice. 1987, December 8 – At a summit meeting in Washington, D.C., President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed a treaty eliminating an entire class of intermediate-range and shorter-range nuclear missiles. 1991, JAnuAry 17 – Persian Gulf War began when U.S.-led forces launched a series of air attacks against Iraq’s command and control facilities, in response to Iraq’s earlier invasion of Kuwait. After 43 days of air and ground combat, Kuwait was liberated and Iraq agreed to a ceasefire. 1993, December 8 – President Bill Clinton signed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which established free trade between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. 2000, nOvember 7 – One of the closest U.S. presidential elections was decided by the Supreme Court in favor of George W. Bush, who became the 43rd president. 2001, September 11 – Terrorists hijack and crash U.S. commercial airliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and in the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing more than 3,000 people. 2003, mArch – President Bush, with almost unanimous support from Congress, started military action in Iraq. On April 3, Marines crossed the Tigris River and moved closer to Baghdad. 2003, December – Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein captured by U.S. military forces in an underground hideout southeast of Tikrit. He is executed in December 2006. 2005, July – President Bush nominated John G. Roberts to replace retiring Associate Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor. When Chief Justice William Rehnquist died the following September 3, President Bush picked Judge Roberts to be Chief Justice. 2005, AuguSt – Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico, causing thousands of Gulf Coast residents to flee homes in New Orleans and along the Mississippi coast, one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history. 2007, JAnuAry – Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) became first woman Speaker of the House for the 110th Congress. 149 2 177 6 178 7 178 9 182 3 186 1 190 6 191 7 193 3 194 1 196 2 196 4 196 9 198 1 198 7 200 1 200 3 200 7 GOVERNMENT Official Name: United States of America Capital: Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia) Language: English National Holiday: Independence Day, July 4 National Anthem: “The Star-Spangled Banner” Flag: Stars and Stripes, consisting of 13 horizontal stripes (seven red and six white) and a blue field at the upper-left corner containing 50 white, five-pointed stars Motto: “In God We Trust” (Joint resolution of Congress, July 1956) Monetary Unit: U.S. dollar Weights and Measures: U.S. Customary System and the International (metric) System Legal System: Based on English common law. Dual system of courts, state and federal. Constitution adopted 1787. Judicial review of legislative acts. Branches of Government: Executive – President and vice presi- dent, elected by the people, through the electoral college, to a four-year term; limited to two terms. There are also federal departments and agencies. Fifteen departments, each headed by a secretary, except the Department of Justice, which is headed by the attorney general. Depart- ments: Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, Veterans Affairs. Legislative: Senate of 100 members, two from each state; and House of Represen- tatives of 435 members, divided among states proportionally by population. Judicial: Supreme Court of nine mem- bers appointed for life by the president, with Senate confirmation; and system of federal courts. Elections: Federal elections are held the first Tues- day after the first Monday in November in each even-numbered year. The presi- dential election is held every four years; members of the Senate are elected for six-year terms, members of the House of Representatives for two-year terms. Political Parties: Republican and Democratic are the two major national parties; other minor groups and parties. Voting: Registered citizens over age 18, not compulsory. Political Subdivisions: Fifty states [of which four are designated commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachu- setts, Pennsylvania, Virginia], the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Did you know? The first presidential election was au- thorized on September 13, 1788, by the EDUCATION Earned Degrees (2004) Associate degree holders — 665,000 Bachelor’s degree graduates — 1.4 million Master’s degree graduates — 559,000 Doctoral degree graduates — 48,000 School Expenditures (2006) Elementary and secondary — $361.1 billion Colleges and universities — $237.8 billion High School Graduates — 85% (% of persons age 25, 2004) GEOGRAPHY The United States is the fourth largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada, and China. It consists of 48 contiguous states, located in the central portion of North America, plus the states of Alaska and Hawaii. Area: 9,628,382 square kilometers Size Comparisons: The United States is... • about one-half the size of Russia • three-tenths the size of Africa • one-half the size of South America • two and one-half times the size of Western Europe, and • slightly smaller than China. Boundaries: • 48 states: Canada on the north; Atlantic Ocean on the east; Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico on the south; and Pacific Ocean on the west • Alaska: Arctic Ocean on the north; Canada on the east; Pacific Ocean on the south; and Arctic Ocean, Chukchi Sea, Bering Sea, and Bering Strait on the west • Hawaii: Pacific Ocean Rural Land Use (2006) Cropland — 27.1% Rangeland — 29.1% Forest