In ten days Kája and I are going to the USA for three weeks. I haven't been back since 2017. I was supposed to go in 2020 but Covid prevented that one. Kája hasn't been there before and he'll get to use his ESTA. The plan is to fly to Atlanta to visit Steven and Michael for a week before flying to Arizona for another week. Then it's a 7-ish hour drive with my parents to visit my sister in California. So here's a bit about the USA.
The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, plus the capital, Washing, D.C., which is the federal capital district. In North America, there are 48 contiguous states, bordering Canada and Mexico, plus Alaska and Hawaii. After Russia and Canada, the U.S. is the 3rd largest country by size, and with more than 340 million people it is also the 3rd largest by population after China and India.
The USA is huge!! Over 9 million km² (+3.5 million sq mi) kind of huge. A direct flight from the east coast to the west coast is six hours. A flight from Los Angeles to Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean, is almost another six hours. In comparison, a six hour flight from Portugal, on one side of Europe, would put you all the way over in the Caucasus.
About 12.000 years ago Paleo-Indians migrated from North Asia to North America and became the first inhabitants. There were up to 1000 different native civilisations, in the area that would become the USA, before the Europeans arrive.
The Spanish established a colony in South Florida in 1513, and the British established a the first of the 13 Colonies in Virginia in 1607. The economy of the American Colonies was built on slave labour from Africa. The Declaration of Independence was signed on 4 July 1776, and the American Revolution lasted from 1775 to 1783 which led to international recognition. France was the first country to recognise an U.S. independence in 1778.
Following a westward expansion, and the genocide of native peoples, more states joined the union.
The North and South fought the American Civil War, from 1861 - 1865, over slavery when the Confederate States tried to secede from the Union.
The USA was a major world power by 1900. During WWII, it became the world's first nuclear power and was one of two superpowers during the Cold War. The U.S., with 42% of the world's nuclear weapons, has the 2nd largest stockpile after Russia. A very short, abbreviated summary of U.S. history.
The United States has the 3rd largest military and is made of of 5 branches of service - the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.
The military has about 800 bases and facilities overseas, in roughly 85 different countries.
The USA is a founding member of NATO, and holds a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
The USA is a presidential constitutional federal republic made up of three branches of government - legislative, executive and judicial. The legislature is made of the House of Representatives, based on population, and the Senate, with 2 members per state.
I think the big problem with the two-party system is that no one, Republicans or Democrats, is willing to compromise on anything. When there are only two parties, you're either a winner or a loser. At least with parliamentary democracies, it is easier for multiple parties to find middle ground.
The USA is a major economic power. Of the 500 largest revenue companies, 136 have their headquarters in the U.S. The U.S. dollar is the most used currency in international transactions and the world's largest reserve currency.
It is the world's largest importer and second-largest exporter. It's also the world's largest exporter of services. The largest trading partners are the European Union, Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, the UK, Vietnam, India, and Taiwan.
California is the country's economic powerhouse. If California was independent it alone would be the 4th largest economy in the world. California ends up subsidising other states because it pays more in to the U.S. federal system than it receives back. As a Californian, it was always funny to listen to other states complain about California but while at the same time taking its money.
What's amazing to me is that the USA is the only advanced economy in the world that doesn't provide for paid vacation. Also no federally mandated paid maternity or paternity leave. l
California is the most populous state but New York City, in New York, is the biggest city.
The metric system isn't used. Except for in healthcare and you can buy 1 and 2 litre bottles of soda. That's it.
©History Matters
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The USA still has five territories. In the Caribbean, there is Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In the North Pacific Ocean, there is Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa in the South Pacific Ocean. Plus several uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean.
People from Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands get U.S. citizenship at birth. People born in American Samoa have U.S. nationality but not U.S. citizenship. Each of these are self-governing territories. They only get to elect a non-voting member to House of Representatives. The can propose legislation but can't vote on it.
English is the de facto official language but some individual states have English as an official language. There are many regional accents. Here's a short video highlighting how each state's accent sounds. Plus the usual greeting in each state.
©Condé Nast Traveler
I'm looking forward to introducing Kája to my family and showing him the USA. I'm not sure who will experience more culture shock, him or me. But we'll see. There are a lot of good things about the USA but there are still many problems and most Americans are so filled with blind patriotism about being the "greatest country on earth" that they end up being pretty obnoxious. Here's a clip from The Newsroom that hits home.
On Sunday we did a Saxon Heritage in Transylvania tour. The Transylvanian Saxons were German-speaking settlers who lived in Transylvania for about 800 years. They were invited by Hungarian kings in the 12-13th centuries. The Saxons were trades and crafts people who helped strengthen Christianity and defended the eastern border of the Kingdom of Hungary.
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