Las Vegas
City of the USA (558,383 residents In 2008), in the SE corner of Nevada, 15km west of the Hoover Dam. It rises just over 600m above sea level on a plateau west of Lake Mead.
It was originally a water supply post along the road to California; then the Mormons settled there (between 1855 and 1857). Some time later a military post was created there (1864). The present town dates back only to 1905 and has developed especially since the 1960s (in 1950 it had less than 25,000 inhabitants), acquiring a wide reputation as an entertainment center. Its numerous casinos, open day and night, attract visitors from all over the United States, gambling being considered illegal in other states of the federation. AN of the city, in the Yucca Flats desert, are the large firing ranges where, starting from 1942, various atomic experiments were carried out.
Columbus
City of the USA (747,755 residents In 2007), capital of Ohio, on the left of the Scioto River (opposite, the suburb of Franklinton). Founded in 1812. Important industrial activities in the mechanical sectors (aeronautical and automotive materials), of plastics and clothing. The urban economy is driven by the service sector (which employs about 85% of the total workforce). Typical city of the Great Plains, it hosts many companies operating in the high-tech sectors, also as a consequence of a widespread presence of training institutions. Road, rail (on the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati line) and river communications hub; airport. In the surrounding area, coal and natural gas fields, also renowned seat of studies: State University (opened in 1870), Capital University (1850), Franklin University (1902), in particular, the Ohio State University is very famous.
Memphis
According to acronymmonster.com, Memphis is a city of the USA (669,651 residents In 2008), the main one of the Tennessee, at the extreme southwestern corner of the state, on the left bank of the Mississippi. M., which has a bustling port on the river, is an important communications hub and one of the world’s largest markets for cotton and timber. It has significant industries (cotton mills, milling plants, chemical plants, factories, refineries).
It was first a fortress, which the French built at the end of the 17th century, and had to surrender several times to the Spaniards until the end of the Seven Years’ War (1763), when it became part of the English colonial domain. Elevated to a city in 1849, it grew rapidly in the decade 1850-60.
Washington DC
Federal capital of the United States, Washington is the city where the federal power organs of the great country are based. It is therefore not only a large city with inhabitants and activities, but it is also and above all the image and symbol of that power: a representation, made with buildings and streets, of the history and greatness of the United States.
Madison
Capital of the state of Wisconsin (United States) and capital of Dane County, at 262 meters above sea level, on the isthmus between Lake Mendota to the northwest and Lake Monona to the SE. It has a continental climate with annual averages of 7 ° -8 ° (cold winters with −7 °; hot summers, with averages of 21 °); rainfall around 800 mm., distributed mainly in the summer months; abundant snow. The city has been growing rapidly; its population from 1525 residents in 1850 it rose to 19,164 in 1900, to 25,531 in 1910, to 38,378 in 1920, to 57,899 in 1930. In that year the whites were indigenous and born to foreign parents were 90.2%; whites born abroad 9.1% (of which Norwegians 1178, Germans 1220, Italians 590, Russians 412, etc.). Industries employ 3-4,000 workers. It is the seat of the State University of Wisconsin, opened in 1848, attended by 9-10,000 students with about 700 professors; Madison is also home to the US Forest Products Laboratory. Rich in parks and gardens, Madison is served by the Chicago and North Western, Chicago, Milwaukee and St Paul, Illinois Central Ralways lines.
History. – The territory where the city was built in 1837 was first occupied by the Winnebago Indians and the United States acquired the rights to it with a treaty of 1825. Only on December 3, 1836 did the territorial assembly, meeting in Belmont, decide to make Madison, named in honor of the fourth president of the United States, the capital of Wisconsin, and the following year the construction of the first buildings began. Madison was declared a city in 1856.
Yellowstone
River of the USA (over 1600 km). It originates from the Absaroka Mountains (Central Rocks) in the State of Wyoming, crosses the national park of the same name with numerous and suggestive waterfalls, and feeding the large lake of the same name (361 km 2) runs through Montana in the southwest-northeast direction and flows into the river Missouri. Y. National Park The first national park in the world (1872), extending over 8,987 km 2, since 1976 it has been an international biosphere reserve. It is surrounded by six national forests as well as the Grand Teton, which together form the Great Y. National Park, one of the largest protected ecosystems in the temperate zone, whose total area is four times that of the park. About 80% of the surface is covered by forests (dominated by Pinus contorta), rich in numerous species of tall trees; the undergrowth is very varied. There are numerous mammals, including the grizzly; also present American black bear, wapiti, deer, puma, bison, wolf. The pollution of the rivers, the pressure of numerous tourists (over 3 million every year), the construction of new roads and other infrastructures are, however, creating serious problems for the ecological balance of the park, which today is at risk of environmental compromise.
Charleston
A city in South Carolina. Founded in 1672 on the Atlantic coast, it became the largest trading post and the most important cultural center south of Philadelphia. In the war of independence it supported the English attacks (1776 and 1779), but in 1780 it ceded to General Clinton. The bombing and capture of Fort Sumter (April 1861) marked the beginning of the Civil War. During this conflict the city was besieged several times by the federal forces.
Columbia
City of the USA (124,818 inhab. In 2007), capital of South Carolina (1786), on the Congaree River, at 90 m asl on the lower edge of the Appalachian Piedmont. Remarkable commercial center (agricultural products), with industrial activity in the cotton, engineering and chemical sectors (fertilizers). Important railway and road communication hub, with airport. There are some university institutes (State University, founded in 1801, Allen University in 1881 and Benedict College in 1870).
