ALTO WORLD
This blog briefly describes the history and culture of each of the countries participating in the ALTO program. Starting with the USA, we travel north to Canada, west across the Pacific Ocean to Saipan, Japan, and South Korea, followed by India, Serbia, and Norway - returning to the US across the Atlantic Ocean.
ALTO WORLD - USA
San Francisco, California
Originally North America was populated by indigenous tribes.The ancestors of living Native Americans arrived in what is now the United States at least 15,000 years ago via a land bridge (now open water) west of modern-day Alaska.
Modern-day Native Americans, California
The Spanish, the first European colonists, established a town in Florida at the end of the 16thc. English colonists settled along the east coast to the north in the early 17thc., and over the next 3 centuries European settlers spread west across what became the United States of America, taking land from Native Americans in the process. English became the primary language in much of the country, with Spanish spoken in the south and south west. More recently, languages from many other parts of the world are spoken. American cities and modern-day culture are familiar from movies and television. California, on the west coast of the US, became a State in 1849, a year after the discovery of gold.
The town of Davis, north east of San Francisco in Northern California, dates from the 1870s, and is the headquarters of ALTO. The town has a major university, and the surrounding area grows rice, almonds, tomatoes, and other crops; and vineyards produce wine.
Vineyard, Napa Valley, California.
Unique to America is the creation of Jazz by African Americans at the start of the 20th c. - music that became popular across America and later in many countries worldwide.
Jazz Band, Chicago, 1923:
In the next post we travel north to CANADA.