COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD

NORTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA PART-1

UNITED STATES

• Area : 9,826,630 sq km
• Country population : 305,072,714
• Capital city (pop) : Washington DC (8,281,142)
• Official Language : English
• Currency : US dollar
•                           
•                                The USA is made up of 50 states (including Alaska and Hawaii) and the District of Columbia,which contains the capital city, Washington. It includes a huge variety of landscapes,from hot deserts to snow covered mountains. The country was once a colony under British rule but has been independent since 1776. It is now the world's wealthiest country and a great economic and military super power.

MEXICO 

• Area : 1,972,550 sq km
• Country population : 107,236,677
• Capital city (pop) : Mexico City (22,968,205)
• Official Language :Spanish
• Currency : Peso
•                           Some of the world's oldest civilizations have lived in Mexico, Such as the Aztecs and Mayans.Nowadays, many tourists visit and it has plenty of natural resources. However,almost half the people are very poor and many try to cross the border into the USA every year.Some of them are arrested by border patrols.

GUATEMALA

• Area :108,890 sq km
• Country population : 13,994,079
• Capital city (pop) : Guatemala City (3,293,168)
• Official language : Spanish
• Currency : Quetzal
•                                Guatemala is one of Central America's most beautiful countries,with a dramatic landscape of forests,lakes and volcanoes. It is also one of the poorest and most violent. The country is  still suffering from the after effects of a long civil war (1960-96). Two thirds of Guatemalan children live in poverty.

CANADA

• Area :9,984,670 sq km
• Country population : 32,213,280
• Capital city (pop) :1,152,721
• Official language : French/English
• Currency : Canadian dollar
•                                    Canada is the second largest country in the world after Russia. Almost half of Canada's land area is covered by forest and it exports more timber,pulp and newsprint than any country. Canada also has a successful fishing industry and lots of natural resources,such as minerals and metals. Its varied landscape attracts millions of tourists each years. Famous Canadian landmarks include Niagara Falls and the Rocky Mountains.

HONDURAS

• Area :112,090 sq km
• Country population : 7,761,830
• Capital city (pop) : Tegucigalpa (2,063,368)
• Official language : Spanish
• Currency : Lempira
•                               Honduras lies in Central America between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.It is the one of the world's poorest countries,although it has valuable stocks of timber. In 1998 Hurricane Mitch caused four billion dollars' worth of damage.

EL SALVADOR

• Area : 21,040 sq km
• Country population : 7,218,048
• Capital city (pop) : San Salvador (1,912,758)
• Official language : Spanish
• Currency : US dollar
•                                The tiny country of El Salvador is on Central America's Pacific coast. It often suffers hurricanes and earthquakes. Coffee is a major crop, but El Salvador relies heavily on aid money from other countries.

 NICARAGUA

• Area : 129,497 sq km
• Country population : 5,353,272
• Capital city (pop) : Managua (1,752,912)
• Official language :Spanish
• Currency : Corsoba
•                                Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America. It's one of the poorest countries in the Western world and half its people are very poor indeed. In 1992, Hurricane Mitch caused great damage and left 20 percent of Nicaraguan homeless.

TIME

THE STORY OF TIME  -Part 1

The Universe in a year 

The American astronomer Carl Sagan first suggested a cosmic calender as a way of helping people understand the history of Universe.He put everything into the scale of a calender year:the galaxies are formed over nine months and the earth appears in September.

               "Human history is crowded into the last five minutes of the year.Recent time is divided into seconds and fractions of a second.So everything that happened in the last 475 years.take place in less than the last second of the last minute of the year."

•  Earth's life in a year

  • 1st January (midnight) : Big Bang - Universe Forms
  • 15 March : First stars and galaxies form
  • 1 May : Milky Way galaxy forms
  • 8 Sep   : Sun forms 
  • 9 Sep   : Solar System forms
  • 12 Sep : Earth forms
  • 13 Sep : Moon forms
  • 20 Sep : Earth's atmosphere forms
  • 1 Oct   : Earliest known life on Earth
  • 7 Oct   : Earliest Known Fossil
  • 18 Dec : First Many-celled life forms
  • 19 Dec : First Fish
  • 21 Dec : First land plant; First insects
  • 23 Dec : First reptiles
  • 24 Dec : First dinosaurs
  • 26 Dec : First mammals
  • 27 Dec : First birds
  • 28 Dec : First flowering plants
  • 28 Dec : Dinosaurs extinct
  • 31 Dec : Homo sapiens 
   

Time Zones 

World time zones and the International Date Line

The Earth is constantly turning on its axis.If people everywhere set there clock to the same time,midnight would be in the middle of the night on one side of the globe , but the middle of the day on the opposite side.To avoid this problem the Earth is divided into artificial time zones.These generally follow lines of longitude-imaginary lines running from the North to South Pole.Some large countries,such as the USA, cover several time zones.Mainland USA is divided into Atlantic,Eastern,Central,Mountain,Pacific and Alaska zones,with Hawaii and other islands falling into further zones.                                              

Since the Greenwich Prime Meridian (0 degree) was established in 1884,there have been 24 time zones,each of 15 degree longitude and an hour apart.Those to the east are ahead of Greenwich by one hour per zone.Those to the west are behind by one hour each.Some countries,such as India,have chosen zones halfway between those on either side,so that the whole country can use the same time.   

The International Date Line

The International Date Line is a imaginary line between the North and South Poles.It marks the end of one day and the start of another.Countries to the East of the Date Line are always a day ahead of those to the west.Travelers who cross the line gain or lose a day,depending on which direction they are going.

Most of the Date Line follows 180 degree Meridian (on the opposite side of the globe from 0 degree,the Greenwich Meridian). The line generally passes through sea,but where it would pass through or near certain land areas, it is adjusted it.It zigzags around islands, putting them either into the west or the east, and avoids dividing Siberia in north-east Asia into two time zones.