35 facts about the USA

The United States of America is the largest economy in the world. American culture has managed to penetrate the cultures of all countries of the world. Let's talk about the most interesting facts about the United States:

1. The famous 50-star American flag was created by a 17-year-old boy. As part of his school project in 1958, Robert Heft drew a flag with 50 stars, although at that time there were only 48 states in the United States. But Robert guessed that Hawaii and Alaska would soon join. The teacher gave him a B- (the equivalent of our "three"), but then raised the grade to A ("five") - after Heft sent his project to the White House, which eventually led to a call from President Eisenhower, informing the young man that that his sketch was taken as the basis for the official US flag.

2. The USA has the largest freshwater lake in the world. This is Lake Superior, part of the Great Lakes system. It holds 113 quadrillion of water. This liquid is enough to completely cover North and South America with a layer of water. It is not surprising that there were so many shipwrecks on Lake Superior.

3. Americans love pizza as much as Italians. They eat so much of this dish a day that they can cover 100 acres. This adds up to about 3 billion pizzas per year.

4. According to the World Giving Index, the United States is the most generous country in the world in terms of charitable donations and hours of volunteer work.

5. There is no official state language in the USA. Most people believe that English has this status, but the federal government has never declared it an official language. And this is one of 16 history questions that nearly every American gets wrong.

6. The USA has the most active volcano on the planet - Mount Kilauea. It is located in the state of Hawaii and has been continuously erupting for over 35 years. The longest period of rest for this volcano was for 18 years - between 1934 and 1952.

7. Perhaps there is no such creature that better reflects the image of the old American West than a wild mustang. But in fact, mustangs were not born in the United States. These are the descendants of Spanish or Iberian horses, which were brought here in the 16th century.

8. The oldest bridge in the United States is the Frankford Avenue Bridge in Philadelphia. It was built of stone in 1697, making it older than America itself (US independence was proclaimed in 1776). The bridge was reconstructed in 1893 and is still in use today.

9. George Washington never lived in the White House. Although he chose a place to build it in 1791, he was never able to live there. John and Abigail Adams were the first president and first lady to move to the White House, and it was still under construction at the time. Since then, every subsequent US president has lived in the White House while in power.

10. The Darby Free Library in Pennsylvania is the oldest permanent library in the country. Originally opened by the Quakers in 1743, it has been operating for over 275 years for its readers to borrow free books here, making it the most impressive library in the United States.

11. National Park "Mammoth Cave" (Mammoth Cave), located in the Green River Valley in Kentucky - the largest known natural cave systems on the planet, in which more than 640 kilometers of underground are explored.

12. Barbie and Ken are actually brother and sister. The most famous American Barbie doll appeared in California, where Ruth Handler invented it in 1959 and named it after her daughter Barbara. You might be surprised to learn that Handler also had a son named Ken ...

13. Columbus never set foot on the North American mainland. Most people think Columbus landed in North America, but the only places in the New World that this navigator visited were the Caribbean and parts of Central and South America.

14. The oldest permanent newspaper in the United States is The Hartford Courant, originally known as The Connecticut Courant. This newspaper has been published since 1764, and its first issue is only four pages long. The publication recently digitized its archives, allowing historians to find answers to questions about what worried people in the United States 250 years ago.

15. Niagara Falls became the first state park in the United States. It happened in 1885. The park was designed by Frederick Lowe Olmsted, who also designed Central Park in New York.

16. Corn is grown in large quantities in the United States. In 2019, American farmers planted 91.7 acres with the crop, enough to fill 69 million soccer fields.

17. The USA has quite interesting national symbols: the national animal is the bison, the national tree is the oak, the national bird is the bald eagle, and the national flower is the rose.

18. USA has the third largest population in the world after China and India. This is one of the little known facts about America, as the first two countries are quite popular, but people do not know the country in third place.

19. The United States is almost the same size as the European continent, making it the third largest country in the world.

20. The United States is the only country in the world that has all five climatic zones of the Earth: tropical, dry, temperate, continental and polar.

21. USA is the first country in the world to call the head of state "president".

22. Many of the best inventions have ever been made in the United States. Airplanes, mobile phones, potato chips, computers and light bulbs are just a few examples.

23. Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri is the tallest man-made monument in the United States.

24. The United States is one of three countries in the world that have not officially switched to the metric system. The other two are Liberia and Burma.

25. The United States has the longest land border in the world, and that is the border with Canada. It stretches over 8800 km.

26. Basketball was invented in the USA. This happened in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

27. New York used to be called New Amsterdam. Why? In 1626, there was a colony of the Netherlands, and its governor Peter Mineuyt bought the island of Manhattan from the Indian tribe of Manhatta, and called the settlement on this island New Amsterdam.

28. Athletes from the United States have won more Olympic medals than athletes from any other country in the world.

29. The world's largest office building is located in the United States. This is the headquarters of the Department of Defense - the Pentagon.

30. The USA has the Everglades National Park - the only ecosystem in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist side by side.

31. Three out of four tornadoes occurring in the world are observed in the United States, and more than 1000 tornadoes enter the country every year.

32. The United States has the fourth largest forest cover in the world after Canada, Brazil and Russia.

33. Everyone knows that the capital of the United States is Washington, Columbia. But it was not always so. Washington only became the capital in 1790. And before that, in the period from 1785 to 1790. the main city of the country was New York.

34. There is a city in the USA called Boring. It is located in Oregon, about 32 kilometers from Portland, and has approximately 7,000 inhabitants. Would you like to stay there? You might be surprised to learn that the name of the city was not due to the fact that tourists are deadly sad there. It was named after its founder, William H. Boring, who cultivated the land in the 1870s.

35. Nearly a third of all land in the United States - or about 650 million acres - is government owned.

36. Dogs are very fond of in the USA. It is estimated that there are about 75.8 million of them in this country, which is almost twice as many as in Brazil, the country with the second largest number of dogs.

37. In the USA there is a palace made entirely of ... corn. It is called the Corn Palace and is located in the city of Mitchell, South Dakota. Murals and patterns made from corn and other crops are renewed annually according to the theme chosen.

38. James and Mary are the most common names in the United States. As for the surname, Smith is the most common: about 1% of the total population has the surname Smith.

39. The States seem to be so far away, but the US and Russia are only 3.8 kilometers from each other. In the middle of the Bering Strait, between Alaska and Siberia, the United States and Russia have one island, each separated by a date line, and the two islands are just 3.8 kilometers apart.

40. The most favorite holiday in the United States - Christmas - was illegal until 1836, as it was considered an ancient pagan rite.

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