CALIFORNIA

CALIFORNIA

Jordi Ginesta Juárez Joan Barba Vila José González Martínez Group C6

THE WEST OF THE USA: California 1. Introduction This research project is based on the west of the United States of America. We have chosen the USA because we thought it would be very easy to find information as it is a well known country. We know many things both on the coast and the inland.

2. Geography and Population 2.1. Climate The Western climate is semiarid (rainy or snowy, and other parts are desert). It’s also a Pacific climate. It’s a cool climathology with not very much wind.

2.2. Demography According to the 2000 Census, the West population was mainly 68.5% white people, 24.3% latin or hispanic, 12.1% come from some other races. Also, there are 13 states in the Western USA . These states had a population of 71,945,553 in 2010.

2.3. Languages In the West, people mainly speak English, Spanish (mainly in California and Texas), Chinese, French and German, Korean and other languages are spoken.

2.4. Religions People are mostly Christian (divided in to Protestant, Roman Catholic and other Christian) Also, people are muslim and hindu. 16.1% hasn’t got any religion.

A graph of the main religions in the United States.

3. History The West has been shaped by a big variety of ethnic groups. Hawai is the only state

where there are more asiatian Americans than white Americans. The border states like California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas have got a lot of Spanish population.

The west also has a big number of Native American (people who started living in the USA, also named indians), mainly in the desert zones cities like Los Ángeles, Denver, San Francisco and Las Vegas where there are a lot of black Americans. The history is based on two periods:

3.1. Period I: The beginning of the West.

The American old West was based on the geography, history, folklore and cultural expression of life. The term “West” is known as boundary, because of the frontier located near the Mississipi River in the 19th century. The expansion of colonies of old West was formed in the 18th and 19th centuries. A lot of films have represented the history of the Old West and how life was there (for example, Unforgiven by Clint Eastwood). Also, they represented the battles of the cowherds against the Indians.

3.2. Period II: After the American revolution The 20th century was a change of the life in the West. It was the beginning of the union of the current 50 states. Nowadays, more and more people come to the west of the USA to live, and Los Ángeles is considered the city with the most Mexican population in the USA.

4. Economy The economy of the United States of America is the largest national economy in the world. Its nominal GDP (Gross Domestic Product), estimated at more than $15 billion in 2012.

Currently, most of the economy is based on service sector, the industry also dominates, specially in high technology. The labor market in the U.S.A. has brought many immigrants from around the world like Spain and other European countries.

5. Government

and Politics

The 37th United States president, Richard Nixon

The region's distance from historical centers of power in the East, and the celebrated "frontier spirit" of its settlers offer two cliches for explaining the region's independent,

heterogeneous politics. Historically, the West was the first region to see widespread women's suffrage. California birthed both the property rights and conservation movements, and spawned such phenomena as the Taxpayer Revolt and the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. It also produced three presidents: Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon and Ronald.

6.Education The education system of the United States is based on primary school (4-10 years), secondary school (10-17 school, divided in middle school and high school) and the university (18 to 21 years).

7.Culture 7.1. Architecture The architecture in the United States has a relatively recent history as Amerindians didn’t have buildings as spectacular as those of Mexico or Peru. That is why American architecture is marked by modernity in the twentieth century by skyscrapers as symbols of this modernity. The highest towers are the Aon tower (262 m.) and the U.S. Bank tower (310 m.).

7.2. Folklore There are a lot of parties and folklore in the United States, and we’ve chosen a little number of parties: - 4th July is the Independence day.

- 18th January the Martin Luther King’s day is celebrated.

- 31st May is the Fallen’s day.

- 15th February is the president’s day (the birthday of George Washington).

- 6th September is the work day.

7.3. Gastronomy The American gastronomy is varied and comes from other national cuisines. This is because it is a country created mainly of immigrants from different countries.

In the USA, fast-food is a very typical food (McDonalds, Burger King and KFC were created there). Also, most of the national cuisines are

A KFC in Los Angeles

based on Mexican gastonomy, like tacos or nachos.

7.4. Arts The state of California has got a lot of museums. We have selected some of the most important museums.

- Grammy Museum: The Grammy Museum explores and celebrates all forms of music; the creative process; it shows the art and technology of the recording process; and the history of the GRAMMY Awards, the premier awards of the current music.

- CAFAM: The Craft & Folk Art Museum hosts dynamic exhibitions of traditional folk art and contemporary craft with the aim of educating the public on the global connections shared across all cultures and nationalities.

- Long Beach Museum of Art: it is located on an overlooking site at Long Beach Harbor.

7.5. Literature The beginning of the United States literature is created by forms and European styles. For example: Wieland and other novels written by Carles Brockden Brown. Maybe the first American writer with a new understanding of fiction and poetry was Edgar Allan Poe. In 1835, Poe began writing short histories. The instropection that Poe did in his characters had crossed borders into mystery fiction, horror and fantasy.

7.6. Performing Arts The USA music has got a lot of music history, like the blues and jazz. Now we are going to show you some important singers like: - Frank Sinatra was one of the most important singers of the USA in the 20th Century. He has written songs like New York New York.

- Snoop Dogg was born at Long Beach. He is a famous rapper, song-writer and actor. His most famous songs are Smoke Weed Everyday and Sweat.

- Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle and he is considered one of the best electric guitarists in the history of music.

Are you experienced? is one of his most famous songs.

- Bob Dylan was born in Minnesota and has been one of the main influentian figures in popular music and culture for over five decades. Like a rolling stone has been

A singer called William

listened to a lot of times.

- Red Hot Chili Peppers: it’s a band founded in Los Angeles. This group plays mainly rock music with an emphasis on funk. Snow (Hey Oh) and The adventures of the raindance Maggie are their most famous songs.

- Green Day: this band was founded in Oakland, but the drummer TrĂŠ Cool is from Germany. His music is based on punk rock music. 21 guns, Holiday and Basket Case are their most listened songs.

- Will.I.Am is a house singer and he was the singer of Black Eyed Peas and now has done his single career with songs like This is Love.

8. Sport The most viewed sports are mainly baseball (Major League Baseball), rugby (National Football League), basketball (National Basketball Association) and hockey (National Hockey League). Golf and NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) are also followed.

There are a lot of good sportsmen in the USA, like Michael Phelps, the best swimmer in the history of the Olympic Games. Basketball players like Carmelo Anthony and explayers like Michael Jordan, who has bought the Charlotte Bobcats NBA team, are very popular in the USA and in the rest of the world. Lance Armstrong, the famous cyclist, is also from California.

9. National Symbols - The Golden Gate is a suspension bridge located in California, United States, linking the San Francisco Peninsula in the north to southern Marin.

- The bald eagle is protected by the United States as one of its symbols being in the flag. For others the bald eagle is a symbol that means freedom. But it is still endangered.

The Golden Gate

- The flag of the USA is based on red and white stripes and white stars on a blue background related to the history of the country, with its will for love of freedom. The stars

represent the number of states that are in the USA (50 states). The flag is as old as the nation itself, June 14, 1777. The California State flag has got a bear that means it is the land of bears.

Flag of the United States

- The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States and it is recognized worldwide. It was born on September 14, 1814, after a 25 hour bombing of Fort McHenry, a military post at the entrance of the port of Baltimore, on the Atlantic coast.

- Uncle Sam is a bearded man with long legs, wearing the colors and format of the national flag and wearing a hat. It can be seen in headlines of the press worldwide. Uncle Sam is the personification of the United States.

Upon receiving a supply of meat with the initials U.S. (United States), the soldiers made a pun with those initials and the meat supplier Uncle Samuel Wilson (Uncle Sam) of Troy

Uncle Sam

(New York).

-The origins of the word "Yankee" and "Yankee Doodle" as national symbols are lost in the history. Some authorities believe that the word "yankee" may have originated from the Dutch word "Yankee" meaning "Juanito", while others say that American Indians mispronounced the French word "anglais" which means "English."

-The Great Seal of the United States is the national stamp. On the front, there is the main design, a bald eagle holding an olive branch in its claw. It symbolizes peace. In the other

class it holds a bundle of 13 arrows, one for each of the original states.

10. Conclusion In our opinion, our group has done the work very good and we've known a lot of things about the west part of the USA and the people who live there.

11. Bibliography http://www.wikipedia.org/ http://www.tyhturismo.com/ http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/ http://www.usa.world-guides.com/ http://www.usatourist.com/espanol/destinations/california/losangeles/los-angelesmain.html http://www.lacity.org/RecreationTourism/index.htm http://www.pricetravel.com.mx/los-angeles/comida http://www.ehow.com/about_6544693_meaning-behind-california-flag_.html http://www.iicana.org/sistema-educ-usa.html

ANNEX 1.GLOSSARY

-Settlers:Pobladors.

-Widespread:Estès.

-Shaped:Format.

-Compulsory:Obligatori.

-Skyscraper:Gratacel.

-Jewish: Judaisme.

-Boundary:Fondària.

-Border: Frontera.

-Endangered: En perill d'extinció.

-Worldwide:Mundial.