North America is the third-largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In this lesson, we will cover the various aspects of North America including its geographical location, regions, countries, climate, economy, and culture.
North America can also be described as the northern subcontinent of a single continent, America. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean.
It is located for the most part between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer; lying in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere.
It includes all the lands in the western hemisphere located north of the Isthmus of Panama. It includes the countries in Central America, the island countries of the West Indies, the many islands in the Caribbean Sea, and Greenland. The countries of the continent are:
North America covers an area of about 9,540,000 square miles, about 16.5% of the Earth's land area and about 4.8% of its total surface. At the northern end of the continent, North America is over 5,500 miles wide. It tapers to a mere 31 miles wide at its southern end at the isthmus of Panama.
The first people to live in North America probably crossed over from Asia on a now-submerged land bridge near the Bering Strait, approximately 40,000 to 17,000 years ago. The Norse colonization of North America began in the late 10th century when Norsemen explored and settled areas of the North Atlantic including the northeastern fringes of North America. Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492 and this sparked a translantic exchange which included migrations of European settlers. The Spanish were among the first Europeans to explore the New World and the first to settle in what is now the United States. By 1650, however, England had established a dominant presence on the Atlantic coast. The first colony was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.
Due to the colonization of the Americas by Europe, most North Americans speak European languages like English, Spanish or French, and their cultures commonly reflect Western traditions. However, there are indigenous populations living in certain parts of Canada and Central America who continue to speak their own languages and follow their indigenous cultural traditions.
It is usually accepted that the Americas are named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.
| Coastal Plains |
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| Appalachian Mountains |
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| Canadian Shield |
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| Interior Lowlands |
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| Great Plains |
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| Rocky Mountains |
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| Basin and Range |
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| Coastal Range |
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It has a variety of climates, from the dry, bitter cold of the Arctic to the steamy heat of the tropics. The interior of Greenland, always at subzero temperatures is permanently covered by an icecap. The North American tundra, the vast treeless plain of the far north, has temperatures rise above freezing for only a short period each summer. In the far south, there are low-lying areas which are always hot and rainy.
Most part of the rest of North America is cold in the winter and warm in the summer, with moderate precipitation. Some areas have mild winters and long, hot summers and others have harsh winters and short summers. North America extends to within 10° of latitude of both the equator and the North Pole, embraces every climatic zone, from tropical rain forest and savanna on the lowlands of Central America to areas of permanent ice cap in central Greenland. Subarctic and tundra climates prevail in North Canada and North Alaska, and desert and semiarid conditions are found in interior regions cut off by high mountains from rain-bearing westerly winds. Fortunately, a large part of the continent has temperate climates very favorable to human settlement and agriculture.
North America's economy is classified as a highly developed and mixed economy, and is one of the strongest economies in the world. In fact, the US has the world's largest economy in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and the purchasing power partiy (PPP). Given the strong US economy, the US dollar (USD) is one of the world's most widely used currencies for business transactions.
The North American economy is well defined and structured in three main economic areas. These are:
Forest is the native vegetation of almost half of mainland Canada and the United States. Grasses covered a large part of the continental interior. Desert vegetation is native in the South-west, tundra in the far north.
North America has a diverse array of wildlife species and is home to a variety of mammals (e.g. bison, raccoons, mountain lions, beavers, moose, and jaguars), birds (e.g. Bald eagles, Canada geese), reptiles (e.g. alligator), amphibians and arachnids (e.g bark scorpions).
Canada and the United States were both former British colonies. Greenland shares some cultural ties with the indigenous people of Canada but is considered Nordic and has strong Danish ties due to centuries of colonization by Denmark. Spanish-speaking North America shares a common past as former Spanish colonies. In Mexico and Central America countries where civilizations like the Maya developed, indigenous people preserved traditions across modern boundaries. Central American and Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations have historically had more in common due to geographical proximity.
Northern Mexico is strongly influenced by the culture and way of life of the United States. Immigration to the United States and Canada remains a significant attribute of many nations close to the southern border of the US. The Anglophone Caribbean states have witnessed the decline of the British Empire and its influence on the region, and its replacement by the economic influence of Northern America. This is partly due to the relatively smaller populations of the English-speaking Caribbean countries, and also because many of them now have more people living abroad than those remaining at home.
