6

SOUTHWEST STYLEThe Spanish, and later

the Mexicans, onceheld the southwesternregions of what would

become the UnitedStates.Today the flavor of

Latin culture is stillpresent in open-air

markets such as this one inSan Antonio. Many of theplace names in this region

can trace their names toSpanish roots, as can manyof the people.Thirty-two

percent of Texas’spopulation, for example,

claims Latino heritage.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARKFrom waterfalls to groves of giant sequoia trees to the flower-filledfields of the Tuolumne meadows, the 761,236 acres (308,072hectares) of this national park were saved from developmentprimarily through the efforts of environmentalist John Muir, the

founder of the Sierra Club.The landscape was formedmillions of years ago when glaciers created the

path in which the Merced River flows.

North America was inhabited for as many as 15,000years before Europeans arrived.The first

permanent European settlementwas established in Florida in 1565.

211 years of colonization followed, until the UnitedStates was established in 1776. Since then, the nationhas grown from 13 states to 50 and spread across thecontinent.The United States came to symbolizepolitical, economic, and religious freedom forimmigrants who arrived from every corner ofthe world.Today, with a population exceeding288 million, the U.S. is an international power,leading the world in food production,technological innovation, and more.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

MONTANA

WYOMING

COLORADO

NEWMEXICO

ARIZONA

UTAH

IDAHO

NEVADA

WASHINGTON

OREGON

CALIFORNIA

HAWAII

ALASKA

PAC

IFICO

CEAN

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.

7

LIBERTY BELLPhiladelphia, the city of brotherly love, wasalso central to the United States’ birth in

1776.Among the important historic sites areBenjamin Franklin’s home; Independence

Hall, where the Declaration of Independencewas signed; and, of course, the Liberty Bell.

BIG APPLESNew York City is called

the “Big Apple,” but not becauseNew York state is a top apple producer—

although it is. In the 1920s and 1930s,apple was jazz musicians’ slang for city—

and the biggest apple was NYC.

THE MISSISSIPPI DELTAThe Mississippi River takes a roughly 2,300-mile (3,701-km) journey from its source in Minnesota to theMississippi Delta in Louisiana.Today, as when René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle journeyed up the riverin 1682, the mighty waterway is a “river road” thatreaches from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

NEW ENGLAND REGATTAThe Head of the Charles regatta, held in Boston,Massachusetts each year, is just one of NewEngland’s events that link the bustling present to the historic past. Boston is a city loaded with colonial history; it was central to the nation’s birth during theAmerican Revolution.

GOLDEN CORNCorn is among the UnitedStates’ top crops, generatingmillions of dollars in revenueeach year. Much of that cornis grown in the country’scenter, with Iowa leading incorn production. Corn isused as feed for livestock, butit is also processed into meal,oil, and other products thatare shipped throughout thecountry, and the world.

MAINE

MARYLAND

NEW YORKMASSACHUSETTS

NEWHAMPSHIRE

PENNSYLVANIA

NEW JERSEY

RHODEISLAND

CONNECTICUT

VERMONT

DELAWARE

GEORGIAMISSISSIPPI

ALABAMA

VIRGINIA

WESTVIRGINIA

ARKANSAS

TENNESSEE

KENTUCKY

INDIANA

NORTHCAROLINA

SOUTHCAROLINA

LOUISIANA

FLORIDA

OHIO

SOUTHDAKOTA

NEBRASKA

OKLAHOMA

KANSAS MISSOURI

IOWA

ILLINOIS

MICHIGAN

WISCONSIN

NORTHDAKOTA

MINNESOTA

TEXAS

Lake Onta

rioLake Huron

Lake Superior

LakeErie

AT

LA

NT

ICO

CEA

N

Gulf of Mexico

WASHINGTON,D.C.

Lak

eM

ichig

an

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.