Adding Array To A List - String?

Im making a simple code to add an array to a List (the code im referring to is <String> )

import java.util.*;
public class L5_ArrayListProgram {
public static void main(String[] args){
String[] things = {"lasers","ghouls", "food", "dark"};
List<String>list1 = new ArrayList<String>();
for(String x: things)
list1.add(x);

My simple question is - what are the <String> ...<String> for? I understand it makes the list1 variable a string, but why is it made like this? do we usualy use <String> when we need to make a variable a String?