North America

From Open Encyclopedia

Image:LocationNorthAmerica.png Image:North America satellite orthographic.jpg

North America is a continent in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost fully in the western hemisphere, bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west by the North Pacific Ocean. It covers an area of about 24,500,000 km² (9,460,000 sq mi), or about 4.8% of the planet's surface. As of July 2002, its population was estimated at more than 514,600,000. It is the third largest continent in area, after Asia and Africa, and is fourth in population after Asia, Africa, and Europe.

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 New World, previously undiscovered by Europeans.

1 Geography
2 Physical features
3 Territories and regions
- 3.1 Usage
- 3.2 Table of territories and regions
4 See also
5 External links

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Geography

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. (For geopolitical reasons, all of Panama – including the segment east of the Panama Canal in the isthmus – is often considered a part of North America alone.) 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 and resting on the Caribbean Plate. Most, however, tend to see Central America as a region of North America, considering it too small to be a continent on its own. Greenland, although a part of North America geographically and on the same tectonic plate (the North American Plate), is not considered to be part of the continent politically.

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Physical features

Image:North america rock types.jpg

Plate tectonics recognizes the vast majority of North America as being the surface of the North American Plate. Parts of California and western Mexico are known for being the edge of the Pacific Plate, with the two plates meeting along the San Andreas fault.

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, Washington, and British Columbia with the Great Basin – a lower area containing smaller ranges and low-lying deserts – in between. The highest peak is Denali in Alaska.

The United States Geographical Survey states that the geographic center of North America is “6 miles west of Balta, Pierce County, North Dakota” at approximately 48⁰ 10′ North, 100⁰ 10′ West, approximately 25km from Rugby, North Dakota. The USGS further states that “No marked or monumented point has been established by any government agency as the geographic center of either the 50 States, the conterminous United States, or the North American continent.” Nonetheless, there is a 4.5 metre (15 foot) field stone obelisk in Rugby claiming to mark the center.

North America bedrock and terrain.

North American cratons and basement rocks.

Tectonic elements of North America

North American craton.

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Territories and regions

Image:North America.png On the main continent landmass, there are three large and relatively populous countries:

Canada - many large islands off the shore of North America belong to Canada, including Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands on the west, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island on the east, and the Canadian Arctic islands (including Ellesmere Island, Baffin Island, and Victoria Island) in the north
Mexico - the Revillagigedo archipelago and numerous smaller islands off its coast belong to Mexico
The United States - the 48 contiguous states and Alaska are part of North America, while the state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean is not; the Aleutian Islands south of Alaska also belong to the U.S.

At the southern end of the continent, in a relatively small area commonly known as Central America, are the countries of:

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

And the dependencies:

Anguilla (British overseas territory)
Aruba ² (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
Cayman Islands (British overseas territory)
Guadeloupe (French région d'outre-mer)
Martinique (French région d'outre-mer)
Montserrat (British overseas territory)
Navassa Island (U.S. territory)
Netherlands Antilles ¹ (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
Puerto Rico (U.S. commonwealth)
Turks and Caicos Islands (British overseas territory)
British Virgin Islands (British overseas territory)
U.S. Virgin Islands (territory of the USA)

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

Bermuda, a British overseas territory found about 1,072 km (670 mi.) southeast of New York City
Greenland, the largest island in the world and a self-governing part of Denmark, which is located in the far north of the continent to the east of Nunavut.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a French collectivité d'outre-mer off the south coast of Newfoundland, is the last of France's once vast possessions in America north of the Caribbean.

¹ These states and dependencies have territory in one or both of North and South America, but are generally included in North America geopolitically.
² These dependencies lie close to the South American mainland, but are considered North American because of cultural and historical reasons.
See here for details.

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Usage

Geopolitically, Northern America is sometimes used to refer to Canada and the U.S. together (plus Greenland and Bermuda), while Central America (including Mexico, according to the UN) is mainland North America south of the United States. The West Indies generally include all islands in the Caribbean Sea. The term Middle America is sometimes used to refer to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean collectively.

From a linguistic and sociopolitical perspective, 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. The remaining nations of North and South America (i.e., including much of the West Indies) where Romance languages prevail are referred to as Latin America; this usage has entered into common parlance.

Usage of the term "North America" often depends on context and may mean different things to different people. The term is often taken to mean the United States and Canada only by many people of those two countries, excluding Mexico and the other countries of Central America. In this respect, the term includes other countries only if the context makes it clear that they are to be included. For example, the NAFTA trading bloc also includes Mexico. In addition, guides to wild flora and fauna published by the National Audubon Society for "North America" frequently include only species found in Canada and the U.S. Similarly, Canadians and Americans may often speak of a collective North American culture to describe only the continent's anglophone communities.

This may be attributed to the fact that, culturally and economically, the U.S. 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, particularly as a member of NAFTA, 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 and in which Mexico was not substantially involved.

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Table of territories and regions

Name of territory, with flag	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2002 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Caribbean^{[{{fullurl:}}#endnote_region]}:
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Anguilla (UK)	102	13,254	129.9	The Valley
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Antigua and Barbuda	443	68,722	155.1	St. John's
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Aruba (Netherlands)^{[{{fullurl:}}#endnote_two]}	193	71,566	370.8	Oranjestad
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Bahamas	13,940	301,790	21.6	Nassau
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Barbados	431	279,254	647.9	Bridgetown
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} British Virgin Islands (UK)	153	22,643	148.0	Road Town
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Cayman Islands (UK)	262	44,270	169.0	George Town
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Cuba	110,860	11,346,670	102.4	Havana
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Dominica	754	69,029	91.6	Roseau
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Dominican Republic	48,730	8,950,034	183.7	Santo Domingo
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Grenada	344	89,502	260.2	St. George's
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Guadeloupe (France)	1,780	448,713	252.1	Basse-Terre
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Haiti	27,750	8,121,622	292.7	Port-au-Prince
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Jamaica	10,991	2,731,832	248.6	Kingston
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Martinique (France)	1,100	432,900	393.5	Fort-de-France
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Montserrat (UK)	102	9,341	91.6	Plymouth; Brades^{[{{fullurl:}}#endnote_Montserrat]}
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Navassa Island (USA)	5	—	—	—
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Netherlands Antilles (Netherlands)^{[{{fullurl:}}#endnote_two]}	960	219,958	229.1	Willemstad
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Puerto Rico (USA)	9,104	3,916,632	430.2	San Juan
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Saint Kitts and Nevis	261	38,958	149.3	Basseterre
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Saint Lucia	616	166,312	270.0	Castries
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	389	117,534	302.1	Kingstown
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Trinidad and Tobago^{[{{fullurl:}}#endnote_two]}	5,128	1,088,644	212.3	Port of Spain
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Turks and Caicos Islands (UK)	430	20,556	47.8	Cockburn Town
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} U.S. Virgin Islands (USA)	352	108,708	308.8	Charlotte Amalie
Central America:
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Belize	22,966	279,457	12.2	Belmopan
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Costa Rica	51,100	4,016,173	78.6	San José
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} El Salvador	21,040	6,704,932	318.7	San Salvador
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Guatemala	108,890	14,655,189	134.6	Guatemala City
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Honduras	112,090	6,975,204	62.2	Tegucigalpa
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Mexico	1,972,550	106,202,903	53.8	Mexico City
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Nicaragua	129,494	5,465,100	42.2	Managua
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Panama^{[{{fullurl:}}#endnote_two]}	78,200	3,039,150	38.9	Panama City
Northern America:
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Bermuda (UK)	53	65,365	1,233.3	Hamilton
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Canada	9,984,670	32,805,041	3.3	Ottawa
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Greenland (Denmark)	2,166,086	56,375	0.026	Nuuk
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (France)	242	7,012	29.0	Saint-Pierre
name={{{name\|}}}}}}}} United States^{[{{fullurl:}}#endnote_USHawaii]}	9,629,091	295,734,134	30.7	Washington
Total	24,506,524	514,684,479	21.0

Notes:

^ Continental regions as per UN categorisations/map.
^ , 4.–6. Depending on definitions, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago have territory in one or both of North and South America.
^ Due to ongoing activity of the Soufriere Hills volcano beginning 1995, much of Plymouth, Montserrat's de jure capital, was destroyed and government offices relocated to Brades.

7. ^ Includes the US state of Hawaii, which is distant from the North American landmass in the Pacific Ocean and is, thus, commonly included with the other territories of Oceania.

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External links

http://www.america-norte.com/america-norte-mapa.htm
http://www.earth-puzzle.com clickable map with links to related Wikipedia articles

Continents and regions of the World
Image:LocationAntarctica.png Antarctica	Image:LocationAfricaEurasia.png Africa-Eurasia	Image:LocationAmericas.png Americas	Image:LocationAustralia.png Australia
Image:LocationAfrica.png Africa	Image:LocationEurasia.png Eurasia	Image:LocationNorthAmerica.png North America	Image:LocationOceania.png Oceania
Image:LocationEurope.png Europe	Image:LocationAsia.png Asia	Image:LocationSouthAmerica.png South America	Geological supercontinents: Gondwana • Laurasia • Pangea • Rodinia

Regions of the World
Africa:	Central Africa \| East Africa \| Great Lakes \| Guinea \| Horn of Africa \| North Africa \| Maghreb \| Northwest Africa \| Sahel \| Southern Africa \| Sub-Saharan Africa \| Sudan \| West Africa
Americas:	Andean states \| Caribbean \| Central America \| Great Lakes \| Great Plains \| Guianas \| Latin America \| North America \| Northern America \| Pacific Northwest \| Patagonia \| South America \| Southern Cone
Eurasia:	Anatolia \| Arabia \| Asia \| Balkans \| Baltic region \| Benelux \| British Isles \| Caucasus \| Central Asia \| Central Europe \| East Asia \| Eastern Europe \| East Indies \| Europe \| Far East \| Kurdistan \| Levant \| Mediterranean \| Mesopotamia \| Middle East \| Near East \| North Asia \| Northern Europe \| Scandinavia \| South Asia \| Southeast Asia \| Southern Europe \| Southwest Asia \| Western Europe
Oceania:	Australasia \| Melanesia \| Micronesia \| Polynesia \| Pacific Rim
Polar:	Arctic \| Antarctic