North America

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LocationNorthAmerica.png
World map showing location of North America
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A satellite composite image of North America

North America is the third largest continent in area and in population after Asia and Africa. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocean. It covers an area of 9,355,000 square miles (24,230,000 square kilometers). In 2001 its population was estimated at 454,225,000. It can be geographically defined by subtracting South America from the supercontinent of the Americas. Both North and South America are named after Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a previously undiscovered New World.

Although Canada, the United States, and Mexico are geographically in North America, in a European mindset, however, North America is often considered to include Canada and the United States, but not Mexico or any of the Central American countries, which in some contexts may cause confusion. In Latin America, the Americas are considered as one continent and therefore North America is only a subcontinent composed by Canada, United States and Mexico.

North America occupies the northern portion of the landmass generally referred to as the New World, the Western Hemisphere, the Americas, or simply America. North America's only land connection is to South America at the narrow Isthmus of Panama and Panama Canal. According to some authorities, North America begins not at the Isthmus of Panama but at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, with the intervening region called Central America. Most, however, tend to see Central America as a region of North America, considering it too small to be a continent of its own.

Contents

Physical features

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Sedimentary, volcanic, plutonic, metamorphic rock types of North America.

The continent can be divided into four great regions (each of which contains many sub-regions): the Great Plains stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian Arctic; the geologically young, mountainous west, including the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, California and Alaska; the raised but relatively flat plateau of the Canadian Shield in the northeast; and the varied eastern region, which includes the Appalachian Mountains, the coastal plain along the Atlantic seaboard, and the Florida peninsula. Mexico, with its long plateaus and cordilleras, falls largely in the western region, although the eastern coastal plain does extend south along the Gulf.

The western mountains are split in the middle, into the main range of the Rockies and the coast ranges in California, Oregon and Washington state, with the Great Basin – a lower area containing smaller ranges and low-lying deserts – in between. The highest peak is Denali in Alaska.

Since 1931, Rugby, North Dakota, has officially been recognized as being at the geographic center of North America. The location is marked by a 4.5 metre (15 foot) field stone obelisk.



Regional and political divisions

Political highlights of North America
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Political highlights of North America

On the main continent itself there are three large and relatively populous countries:

At the extreme southern end of the continent, in a relatively small area called Central America, are the countries of:

At the extreme southeastern end of the continent lies a chain of islands territories called the Antilles, the Caribbean or the West Indies, which include the states:

And the dependencies:

Lying in the Atlantic Ocean but considered part of the continent are the dependencies:

1 These states and dependencies have territory both in North and South America.
2 These dependencies lie in South America, but are considered North American because of cultural and historical reasons.
See here for details.

The United States, Canada, and the other English-speaking nations of the Americas (Belize, Guyana, and the Anglophone Caribbean) are sometimes grouped under the term Anglo-America, while the remaining nations of North and South America are grouped under the term Latin America.

The term "North America", when employed in a context other than geography, may mean different things to different people. To many Americans and Canadians the term, in common usage, is often taken to mean "The United States of America and Canada, only", excluding Mexico and the countries of Central America, unless the context makes it clear that they are to be included (for instance, with specific reference to Mexico, when talking about NAFTA). This is due to the fact that culturally and economically, the USA and Canada are more alike to each other than they are to the rest of North America. Mexicans, however, are acutely aware that Mexico is a part of North America and object to this usage. Central Americans, however, are generally content to be called Central Americans – largely because of their shared history, which includes several attempts at supranational integration in the region.

Political divisions – area and population data

Name Area (km²) Population (2002-07-01 est.) Population density (per km²)
Anguilla (UK) 102 12,446 122
Antigua and Barbuda 443 67,448 152
Aruba (Neth.) 193 70,441 365
Bahamas 13,940 300,529 22
Barbados 431 276,607 642
Belize 22,966 262,999 11
Bermuda (UK) 53 63,960 1,200
British Virgin Islands (UK) 153 21,272 139
Canada 9,976,140 32,078,819 3.2
Cayman Islands (UK) 262 36,273 138
Costa Rica 51,100 3,834,934 75
Cuba 110,860 11,224,321 101
Dominica 754 70,158 93
Dominican Republic 48,730 8,721,594 179
El Salvador 21,040 6,353,681 302
Greenland (Denm.) 2,166,086 56,376 0.03
Grenada 344 89,211 259
Guadeloupe (Fr.) 1,780 435,739 245
Guatemala 108,890 13,314,079 122
Haiti 27,750 7,063,722 255
Honduras 112,090 6,560,608 59
Jamaica 10,991 2,680,029 244
Martinique (Fr.) 1,100 422,277 384
Mexico 1,972,550 103,400,165 52
Montserrat (UK) 102 8,437 83
Navassa Island (U.S.) 5 0 n/a
Netherlands Antilles (Neth.) 960 214,258 223
Nicaragua 129,494 5,023,818 39
Panama 78,200 2,882,329 37
Puerto Rico (U.S.) 9,104 3,957,988 435
Saint Kitts and Nevis 261 38,736 148
Saint Lucia 616 160,145 260
Saint Pierre and Miquelon (Fr.) 242 6,954 29
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 389 116,394 299
Trinidad and Tobago 5,128 1,104,209 215
Turks and Caicos Islands (UK) 430 18,738 44
United States 9,629,091 280,562,489 29
U.S. Virgin Islands (U.S.) 352 123,498 351
Total 24,497,994 490,354,921 20.0

See also

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Continents and regions of the World
Africa | Antarctica | Australia | Eurasia | North America | South America

Africa-Eurasia | the Americas | Asia | Europe | Oceania


Regions of the world
Africa: Central Africa | Congo | East Africa | Great Lakes | Guinea | North Africa | Northwest Africa | Northeast Africa | Sahel | Southern Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa | Sudan | West Africa
Americas: Andean States | Caribbean | Central America | Great Lakes | Great Plains | Guianas | Latin America | Southern Cone
Asia: Central Asia | East Asia | East Indies | Far East | Indian subcontinent / South Asia | North Asia | Southeast Asia | Southwest Asia (Middle East, Levant, Anatolia, Arabia)
Europe: Balkans | Baltic region | Benelux | British Isles | Central Europe | Eastern Europe | Northern Europe | Scandinavia | Southern Europe | Western Europe
Other: Eurasia: Caucasus | Post-Soviet states | Oceania: Australasia | Melanesia | Micronesia | Polynesia | Aleutia | Pacific Rim | Polar: Arctic | Antarctic
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