Конкурс "Страны мира" 2013г.

Бровкина Татьяна

8 класса

МБОУ СОШ №2 г. Кропоткин Краснодарского края

Руководитель: Ростовцева Инна Петровна (учитель английского языка)

Hello! My name is Tanya. I like study English. Especially I like read information about the USA. Here you can read one.

The Golden State California

California is located in the southwestern part of the USA. It is estimated to be the richest state of the USA that is why it is also called the Golden State.

Between 1850 and 1854, San Jose, Vallejo, and San Francisco served as the temporary capital cities. In 1854, the capital city was permanently moved to Sacramento.

The main cities are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Jose, etc. The total area is about 405 000 sq. km. It is the third biggest state of the USA after Alaska and Texas. State population is about 35, 000,000. It has the highest density of population. The largest City of California is Los Angeles, which is the 2nd largest city in the USA after New York city.

In 2003 the Governor of the state California became the well-known actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

California's history is unique. It has been shaped, in part, by its geography. California has four main regions: the temperate coastal region, the Central Valley, once an inland sea, the desert, and the mountain region. The imposing Sierra Nevada caused California to develop in relative isolation from the rest of the nation. After Americans began to settle in California in large numbers during the nineteenth century, it would usually be weeks before news would arrive to the state from the East. Four flags have flown over California: Russian, Spanish, Mexican and the United States.

The name « California» came from a knightly romance book that was published in 1510. It was about an island paradise near India where beautiful Queen Calif ia ruled over a country of beautiful black Amazons with lots of pearls and gold. Cortez's men thought they found the island in 1535, because they found pearls. Later, it was found that the island was re ally a peninsula.

The first settlers to arrive in California after the Native Americans were Spanish. Russia had some small settlements, involved in whaling and fur trapping in Northern California, but Russia didn't attempt to colonize the area except in very isolated areas. Spanish priests were sent to California to convert the Indians to Christianity. Spain hoped to make the California native population into good Spaniards, loyal to Spain.

Spain couldn't find enough Spaniards willing to leave Spain for the New World and her attempts to convert the Indians into Spaniards failed. Spain had made the same errors that the English made with the Colonies. Spain forbade New Spain from trading with any other nation besides Spain, and Spanish settlers who were born in Spain were considered to be a higher class than pure Spanish born in New Spain, Even though New Spain had adopted the culture of Spain, the Spanish restrictions would soon drive Spain from the New World just as the English had been driven out.

The English began to fight for California almost 500 years ago with Queen Elizabeth I. England had ceased to become a real threat since the American Colonists had driven England from much of the New World. England had left something dangerous in her stead. It is English culture. Though the United States was a multinational state, English culture was the overriding tie that bound these people together.

It was this discovery of gold that hastened California's statehood. By the mid nineteenth century, California became a state of the USA because of the Gold Rush which started in earnest in 1849.

On September 9, 1850, President Fillmore officially made California the thirty-first state.

Winter comes early in the Californian mountains and many settlers lost their lives, if they tried to cross the hostile Sierra Nevada and penetrate to California from the eastern part of the country in winter.

The most common method of travel to California from the East for that time was by ship. Settlers would leave the East Coast and have to travel south all the way around the tip of South America. The only other way to get to California was to get off the ship in Panama, cross the isthmus by land, and pick up a ship on the West coast of Panama that was headed north. Many travelers died of disease crossing the tropical Isthmus of Panama.

Only after the construction of the railroad which linked California to the rest of the country, California itself could offer a lot to the nation. The rich Central Valley eventually became known as the breadbasket of the world. California's mild climate allowed for year-round farming and growing of fruit and vegetables.

Prior to the Gold Rush, California had more Native Americans than all the other states combined. Now California still has the largest population of Native Americans. California has one of the largest Chinese communities outside Asia in the entire world, the majority of whom live in San Francisco. California has the largest Armenian population outside Armenia. From the economical point of view California is the largest producer of goods of all the states and the largest agricultural state in the Union. California is the fifth largest economy in the world, if it were a separate country.

Los Angeles

        Los Angeles spans a widely diverse geographic area. Primarily a desert basin, the area is surrounded by the San Gabriel Mountain range and divided by the Santa Monica Mountains. Los Angeles County has 81 miles of coastline. There are such rivers as the Los Angeles, the Rio Hondo, the San Gabriel and the Ventura rivers.

The climate of Los Angeles as the climate of Southern California has often been described as «perfect» and with good reason. Mostly it is sunny and warm with gentle ocean breezes in the summer. The humidity is low with little rain. In fact, there are no unpleasant seasons in Los Angeles.

The name Los Angeles is Spanish for the Angels. In the late 18th century, Felipe de Neve, Spanish Governor of California, saw the need to establish a settlement along the River Los Angeles, The primary purpose for the pueblo was to reaffirm Spain's claim over the territory in the face of encroachments by Russia in the north and Britain from the sea. The settlement would also help to keep Spain's California military garrisons supplied and fed. Los Angeles was officially established by Governor Felipe de Neve on September 4, 1781.

Governor de Neve's statue stands today at the Plaza of Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles. Later, when Mexico became an independent state, California with Los Angeles was governed by Mexicans.

In August of 1846, American soldiers entered Los Angeles and the Stars and Stripes flag has flown over the city since January 1847. On February, 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed and the Mexican-American War was finished, California was ceded to the United States. In 1851 the first Los Angeles City police force was organized.

Nowadays the city of Los Angeles holds many distinctions. Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world, a cultural centre which has more than 300 museums and a paradise of good weather.

It is the only city in the world to host the Summer Olympics twice. Downtown of Los Angeles is the largest government centre outside of Washington, D.C.

Los Angeles has the only remaining wooden lighthouse in the world. It is located in Fermin Park in San Pedro. Los Angeles has the largest historical theatre district, located in Downtown on Broadway.

Los Angeles is on the leading edge of the growth industries. The Los Angeles area * Digital Coast» has more multimedia jobs than Silicon Valley and New York City combined. The Los Angeles metropolitan area, with more than 122,000 jobs in the fashion industry, has surpassed New York's fashion district work force.

The population of Los Angeles is about four million people. Los Angeles ranks as the second largest city in the nation behind New York City, In Los Angeles there are people from about 140 countries speaking approximately 86 different languages and currently call Los Angeles home. It’s my dream

Hollywood

Hollywood is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California - situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonymy of American cinema, and is often interchangeably used to refer to the greater Los Angeles area in general. The nicknames StarStruck Town and Tinseltown refer to Hollywood and its movie industry. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood, but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the backlot of Paramount Pictures.Many historic Hollywood theaters are used as venues and concert stages to premiere major theatrical releases and host the Academy Awards. It is a popular destination for nightlife, tourism, and is home to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1853, one adobe hut stood in the place, that later became Hollywood.By 1870, an agricultural community flourished in the area with thriving crops of many common and exotic varieties. Hot in Hollywood etymology says that the name "Hollywood" comes from the rich reserves of native toyon or "California Holly", which covers the slopes by the clusters of berries every winter.

The first studio in Hollywood was founded by Centaur Company, located in New Jersey, who wanted to shoot westerns in California. They rented an abandoned roadside diner at 6121 Sunset Boulevard at the corner of Gower Street, and turned it into the studio in October 1911, calling it "Studio Nestor" in honor of the western branch of the company. Later the building became the film lab of Hollywood, which is now called« Hollywood Digital Laboratory ». The first feature film made in the Hollywood studio, in 1914, was the film "an Indian husband," created by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar Apfel.

Hollywood Walk of Fame was founded in 1958 in honor of the artists working in the entertainment industry and the first star on the Walk - the famed actress Joanne Woodward - has left its mark on February 9, 1960.The rewarded receive a star on the basis of their achievements in a career in film, theater, radio, television or music, as well as their contributions to charity.

 Hollywood is a fantastic place. It’s a place of my dream!