North America

(geography) The northern of the two continents of the New World or Western Hemisphere, extending from narrow parts in the tropics to progressively broadened portions in middle latitudes and Arctic polar margins.

Continent, Western Hemisphere. The third-largest continent on earth, it lies mostly between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer. It is almost completely surrounded by bodies of water, including the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Strait, the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Area: 9,361,791 sq mi (24,247,039 sq km). Population (2001 est.): 454,225,000. Shaped like an inverted triangle, North America was apparently the first continent to achieve its current approximate size and shape. Its geologic structure is built around a stable platform of Precambrian rock called the Canadian Shield. To the southeast are the Appalachian Mountains and to the west are the younger and much taller Cordilleras. These mountains extend the length of the continent and occupy about one-third of the total land area. The Rocky Mountains constitute the eastern Cordillera. The highest point is Mount McKinley. The Mississippi River basin, including its major tributaries, the Missouri and Ohio, occupies more than one-eighth of the continent's total area. Generally temperate climatic conditions prevail. Arable land accounts for about one-eighth of the land area and forests for about one-third. English, the primary language of the U.S., predominates, followed by Spanish; French is spoken in parts of Canada. Most of the continent's population of European descent is found in the U.S. and Canada. Intermarriage between whites and Indians was common in Mexico, and mestizos constitute about three-fifths of the Mexican population. North America has a mixture of developed, partly developed, and developing economies, adequate reserves of most metallic resources, and the world's largest reserves of cadmium, copper, lead, molybdenum, silver, and zinc. It is the world's leading food producer, largely because of mechanized and scientific farming in the U.S. and Canada. Among the continent's democratically governed states are Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, and the U.S. The nations of North America have sought hemispheric unity as members of the Organization of American States, which also includes South American countries. They also sought stronger economic ties, and in 1992 Canada, the U.S., and Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which called for the elimination of most tariffs and other trade barriers between the three countries. The first inhabitants were American Indians, who migrated from Asia about 20,000 years ago. The greatest pre-Columbian civilizations were in Mesoamerica (see Mesoamerican civilization) and included the Olmec, Maya, Toltec, and Aztec, who were conquered by the Spanish. The continent long remained sparsely settled and undeveloped. Beginning in the 17th century it underwent a profound transformation with the coming of Europeans and the Africans they introduced as slaves. The style of life became Latin American south of the Rio Grande and Anglo-American to the north, with enclaves of French culture in Canada and Louisiana. Slavery, practiced in the 16th – 19th centuries, added a significant minority culture of African origin, especially in the U.S. and the Caribbean (see West Indies). The huge industrial economy of the U.S., its abundant resources, and its military strength give the continent considerable global influence.

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The third largest continent, extending from the narrow isthmus of Central America to the Arctic Archipelago. The physical environments of North America, like the rest of the world, are a reflection of specific combinations of the natural factors such as climate, vegetation, soils, and landforms. See also Continent.

Location

North America covers 9,400,000 mi² (24,440,000 km²) and extends north to south for 5000 mi (8000 km) from Central America to the Arctic. It is bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. The Gulf of Mexico is a source of moist tropical air, and the frozen Arctic Ocean is a source of polar air. With the major mountain ranges stretching north-south, North America is the only continent providing for direct contact of these polar and tropical air masses, leading to frequent climatically induced natural hazards such as violent spring tornadoes, extreme droughts, subcontinental floods, and winter blizzards, which are seldom found on other continents. See also Air mass; Arctic Ocean; Atlantic Ocean; Gulf of Mexico; Pacific Ocean.

Geologic structure

The North American continent includes (1) a continuous, broad, north-south-trending western cordilleran belt stretching along the entire Pacific coast; (2) a northeast-southwest-trending belt of low Appalachian Mountains paralleling the Atlantic coast; (3) an extensive rolling region of old eroded crystalline rocks in the north-central and northeastern part of the continent called the Canadian Shield; (4) a large, level interior lowland covered by thick sedimentary rocks and extending from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico; and (5) a narrow coastal plain along the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. These broad structural geologic regions provide the framework for the natural regions of this continent and affect the location and nature of landform, climatic, vegetation, and soil regions.

Canadian Shield

Properly referred to as the geological core of the continent, the exposed Canadian Shield extends about 2500 mi (4000 km) from north to south and almost as much from east to west. The rest of it dips under sedimentary rocks that overlap it on the south and west. The Canadian Shield consists of ancient Precambrian rocks, over 500 million years old, predominantly granite and gneiss, with very complex structures indicating several mountain-building episodes. It has been eroded into a rolling surface of low to moderate relief with elevations generally below 2000 ft (600 m). Its surface has been warped into low domes and basins, such as the Hudson Basin, in which lower Paleozoic rocks, including Ordovician limestones, have been preserved. Since the end of the Paleozoic Era, the Shield has been dominated by erosion. Parts of the higher surface remain at about 1500–2000 ft (450–600 m) above sea level, particularly in the Labrador area. The Shield remained as land throughout the Mesozoic Era, but its western margins were covered by a Cretaceous sea and by Tertiary terrestrial sediments derived from the Western Cordillera. See also Cretaceous; Ordovician; Mesozoic; Paleozoic; Precambrian.

The entire exposed Shield was glaciated during the Pleistocene Epoch, and its surface was intensely eroded by ice and its meltwaters, erasing major surface irregularities and eastward-trending rivers that were there before. The surface is now covered by glacial till, outwash, moraines, eskers, and lake sediments, as well as drumlins formed by advancing ice. A deranged drainage pattern is evolving on this surface with thousands of lakes of various sizes. See also Drumlin; Esker; Glacial epoch; Moraine; Pleistocene.

The Canadian Shield extends into the United States as Adirondack Mountains in New York State, and Superior Upland west of Lake Superior.

Southeastern Coastal Plain

The Southeastern Coastal Plain is geologically the youngest part of the continent, and it is covered by the youngest marine sedimentary rocks. This flat plain, which parallels the Atlantic and Gulf coastline, extends for over 3000 mi (4800 km) from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is very narrow in the north but increases in width southward along the Atlantic coast and includes the entire peninsula of Florida. As it continues westward along the Gulf, it widens significantly and includes the lower Mississippi River valley. It is very wide in Texas, narrows again southward in coastal Mexico, and then widens in the Yucatán Peninsula and continues as a wide submerged plain, or a continental shelf, into the sea. See also Coastal plain.

Extending from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to Mexico and Central America, the Coastal Plain is affected by a variety of climates and associated vegetation. While a humid, cool climate with four seasons affects its northernmost part, subtropical air masses affect the southeastern part, including Florida, and hot and arid climate dominates Texas and northern Mexico; Central America has hot, tropical climates.

Varied soils characterize the Coastal Plain, including the fertile alluvial soils of the Mississippi Valley. Broadleaf forests are present in the northeast, citrus fruits grow in Florida, grasslands dominate the dry southwest, and tropical vegetation is present on Central American coastal plains.

Eastern Seaboard Highlands

Between the Southeastern Coastal Plain and the extensive interior provinces lies a belt of mountains that, by their height and pattern, create a significant barrier between the eastern seaboard and the interior of North America. These mountains consist of the Adirondack Mountains and the New England Highlands.

The Adirondack Mountains are a domal extension of the Canadian Shield, about 100 mi (160 km) in diameter, composed of complex Precambrian rocks. The New England Highlands consist of a north-south belt of mountains east of the Hudson Valley, including the Taconic mountains in the south and the Green mountains in the north, and continuing as the Notre Dame Mountains along the St. Lawrence Valley and the Chic-Choc Mountains of the Gaspé Peninsula. The large area of New England east of these mountains is an eroded surface of old crystalline rocks culminating in the center as the White Mountains, with their highest peak of the Presidential Range, Mount Washington, reaching over 6200 ft (1880 m). This area has been intensely glaciated, and it meets the sea in a rugged shoreline. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland have a similar terrain.

New England is a hilly to mountainous region carved out of ancient rocks, eroded by glaciers, and covered by glacial moraines, eskers, kames, erratics, and drumlins, with hundreds of lakes scattered everywhere. It has a cool and moist climate with four seasons, thin and acid soils, and mixed coniferous and broadleaf forests.

Appalachian Highlands

The Appalachian Highlands are traditionally considered to consist of four parts: the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Ridge and Valley Section, and the Appalachian Plateau. These subregions are all characterized by different geologic structures and rock types, as well as different geomorphologies.

The northern boundary of the entire Appalachian System is an escarpment of Paleozoic rocks trending eastward along Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and the Mohawk Valley. The boundary then swings south along Hudson River Valley and continues southwestward along the Fall Line to Montgomery, Alabama. The western boundary trends northeastward through Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, and up to Cleveland, Ohio, where it joins the northern boundary. Together with New England, this region forms the largest mountainous province in eastern United States.

Interior Domes and Basins Province

The southwestern part of the Appalachian Plateau, overlain mainly by the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian sedimentary rocks, has been warped into two low structural domes called the Blue Grass and Nashville Basins, and a structural basin, drained by the Green River; its southern fringe is called the Pennyroyal Region. The Interior Dome and Basin Province is contained roughly between the Tennessee River in the south and west and the Ohio River in the north.

There is no boundary on the east, because the domes are part of the same surface as the Appalachian Plateau. However, erosional escarpments, forming a belt of hills called knobs, clearly mark the topographic domes and basins. The northern dome, called the Blue Grass Basin or Lexington Plain, has been eroded to form a basin surrounded by a series of inward-facing cuesta escarpments. The westernmost cuesta reaches about 600 ft (180 m) elevation while the central part of the basin lies about 1000 ft (300 m) above sea level, which is higher than the surrounding hills. This gently rolling surface with deep and fertile soils exhibits some solutional karst topography. See also Fluvial erosion landforms.

Ozark and Ouachita Highlands

The Paleozoic rocks of the Pennyroyal Region continue Westward across southern Illinois to form another dome of predominantly Ordovician rocks, called the Ozark Plateau. This dome, located mainly in Missouri and Arkansas, has an abrupt east side, and a gently sloping west side, called the Springfield Plateau. Its surface is stream eroded into hilly and often rugged topography that is developed mainly on limestones, although shales, sandstone, and chert are present. Much residual chert, eroded out of limestone, is present on the surface. There are some karst features, such as caverns and springs. In the northeast, Precambrian igneous rocks protrude to form the St. Francois Mountains, which reach an elevation of 1700 ft (515 m).

Central Lowlands

One of the largest subdivisions of North America is the Central Lowlands province which is located between the Appalachian Plateau on the east, the Interior Domes and Basins Province and the Ozark Plateau on the south, and the Great Plains on the west. It includes the Great Lakes section and the Manitoba Lowland in Canada. This huge lowland in the heart of the continent (whose elevations vary from about 900 ft or 270 m above sea level in the east and nearly 2000 ft or 600 m in the west) is underlain by Paleozoic rocks that continue from the Appalachian Plateau and dip south under the recent coastal plain sediments; meet the Cretaceous rocks on the west; and overlap the crystalline rocks of the Canadian Shield on the northeast.

The present surface of nearly the entire Central Lowlands, roughly north of the Ohio River and east of the Missouri River, is the creation of the Pleistocene ice sheets. When the ice formed and spread over Canada, and southward to the Ohio and Missouri rivers, it eroded much of the preexisting surface. During deglaciation, it left its deposits over the Canadian Shield and the Central Lowlands.

The Central Lowlands are drained by the third longest river system in the world, the Missouri-Mississippi, which is 3740 mi (6000 km) long. This mighty river system, together with the Ohio and the Tennessee, drains not only the Central Lowlands but also parts of the Appalachian Plateau and the Great Plains, before it crosses the Coastal Plain and ends in the huge delta of the Mississippi. The river carries an enormous amount of water and alluvium and continues to extend its delta into the Gulf. In 1993 it reached a catastrophic level of a hundred-year flood, claimed an enormous extent of land and many lives, and created an unprecedented destruction of property. This flood again alerted the population to the extreme risk of occupying a river floodplain. See also Floodplain; River.

Great Plains

The Great Plains, which lie west of the Central Lowlands, extend from the Rio Grande and the Balcones Escarpment in Texas to central Alberta in Canada. On the east, they are bounded by a series of escarpments, such as the Côteau du Missouri in the Dakotas. The dry climate with less than 20 in. (50 cm) of precipitation, and steppe grass vegetation growing on calcareous soils, help to determine the eastern boundary of the Great Plains. On the west, the Great Plains meet the abrupt front of the Rocky Mountains, except where the Colorado Piedmont and the lower Pecos River Valley separate them from the mountains.

The Great Plains region shows distinct differences between its subsections from south to north. The southernmost part, called the High Plains or Llano Estacado, and Edwards Plateaus are the flattest. While Edwards Plateau, underlain by limestones of the Cretaceous age, reveals solutional karst features, the High Plains have the typical Tertiary bare cap rock surface, devoid of relief and streams.

The central part of the Great Plains has a recent depositional surface of loess and sand. The Sand Hills of Nebraska form the most extensive sand dunes area in North America, covering about 24,000 mi² (62,400 km²). They are overgrown by grass and have numerous small lakes. The loess region to the south provides spectacular small canyon topography. See also Dune.

The northern Great Plains, stretching north of Pine Ridge and called the Missouri Plateau, have been intensly eroded by the western tributaries of the Missouri River into river breaks and interfluves. In extreme cases, badlands were formed, such as those of the White River and the Little Missouri.

The terrain of the Canadian Great Plains consists of three surfaces rising from east to west: the Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta Prairies developed on level Creteceous and Tertiary rocks. Climatic differences between the arid and warm southern part and the cold and moist northern part have resulted in regional differences. The eastern boundary of the Saskatchewan Plain is the segmented Manitoba Escarpment, which extends for 500 mi (800 km) northwestward, and in places rises 1500 ft (455 m) above the Manitoba Lowland. Côteau du Missouri marks the eastern edge of the higher Alberta Plain.

Western Cordillera

The mighty and rugged Western Cordilleras stretch along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Mexico. There are three north-south-trending belts: (1) Brooks Range, Mackenzie Mountains, and the Rocky Mountains to the north and Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico; (2) Interior Plateaus, including the Yukon Plains, Canadian Central Plateaus and Ranges, Columbia Plateau, Colorado Plateau, and Basin and Range Province stretching into central Mexico; and (3) Coastal Mountains from Alaska Range to California, Baja California, and Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico.

This subcontinental-size mountain belt has the highest mountains, greatest relief, roughest terrain, and most beautiful scenery of the entire continent. It has been formed by earth movements resulting from the westward shift of the North American lithospheric plate. The present movements, and the resulting devastating earthquakes along the San Andreas fault system paralleling the Pacific Ocean, are part of this process. See also Cordilleran belt; Plate tectonics.

This very high, deeply eroded and rugged Rocky Mountains region comprises several distinct parts: Southern, Middle, and Northern Rockies, plus the Wyoming Basin in the United States, and the Canadian Rockies. The Southern Rockies, extending from Wyoming to New Mexico, include the Laramie Range, the Front Range, and Spanish Peaks with radiating dikes on the east; Medicine Bow, Park, and Sangre de Cristo ranges in the center; and complex granite Sawatch Mountains and volcanic San Juan Mountains of Tertiary age on the west. Most of the ranges are elongated anticlines with exposed Precambrian granite core, and overlapping Paleozoic and younger sedimentary rocks which form spectacular hogbacks along the eastern front. There are about 50 peaks over 14,000 ft (4200 m) high, while the Front Range alone has about 300 peaks over 13,000 ft (3940 m) high. The southern Rocky Mountains, heavily glaciated into a beautiful and rugged scenery with permanent snow and small glaciers, form a major part of the Continental Divide.

The interior Plateaus and Ranges Province of the Western Cordillera lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Coastal Mountains. It is an extensive and complex region. It begins in the north with the wide Yukon Plains and Uplands; narrows into the Canadian Central Plateaus and Ranges; widens again into the Columbia Plateau, Basin and Range Province, and Colorado Plateau; and finally narrows into the Mexican Plateau and the Central American isthmus.

The coastal Lowlands and Ranges extend along the entire length of North America and include Alaskan Coast Ranges, Aleutian Islands, Alaska Range, Canadian Coast Ranges, and a double chain of the Cascade Mountains and Sierra Nevada on the east, and Coast Ranges on the west, separated by Puget Sound, Willamette Valley, and Great Valley of California. These ranges continue southward as Lower California Peninsula, Baja California, and Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico.

The basin-and-range type of terrain of the southwest United States continues into northern Mexico and forms its largest physiographic region, the Mexican Plateau. This huge tilted block stands more than a mile above sea level—from about 4000 ft (1200 m) in the north, it rises to about 8000 ft (2400 m) in the south. The Mexican Plateau is separated from the Southern Mexican Highlands (Sierra Madre del Sur) by a low, hot and dry Balsas Lowland drained by the Balsas River. To the east of the Southern Highlands lies a lowland, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which is considered the divide between North and Central America. Here the Pacific and Gulf coasts are only 125 mi (200 km) apart. The lowlands of Mexico are the coastal plains. The Gulf Coastal Plain trends southward for 850 mi from the Rio Grande to the Yucat'an Peninsula. It is about 100 mi (160 km) wide in the north, just a few miles wide in the center, and very wide in the Yucatan Peninsula. Barrier beaches, lagoons, and swamps occur along this coast. The Pacific Coastal Plains are much narrower and more hilly. North-south-trending ridges of granite characterize the northern part, and islands are present offshore. Toward the south, sandbars, lagoons, and deltaic deposits are common.

East of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec begins Central America with its complex physiographic and tectonic regions. This narrow, mountainous isthmus is geologically connected with the large, mountainous islands of the Greater Antilles in the Carribean. They are all characterized by east-west-trending rugged mountain ranges, with deep depressions between them. One such mountain system begins in Mexico and continues in southern Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. North of this system, called the Old Antillia, lies the Antillian Foreland, consisting of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Bahama Islands. Central American mountains are bordered on both sides by active volcanic belts. Along the Pacific, a belt of young volcanoes extends for 800 mi (1280 km) from Mexico to Costa Rica. Costa Rica and Panama are mainly a volcanic chain of mountains extending to South America. Nicaragua is dominated by a major crustal fracture trending northwest-southeast.

This entry is a subtopic of British Colonies.

English interest in North America began soon after Christopher Columbus's first discoveries when John Cabot (c. 1450–c. 1499), a Venetian sailor, was commissioned by Henry VII in 1497 to find a northwest route to the East. The voyage proved ineffectual and for the next seventy years England remained on the sidelines of westward exploration, largely because of political and religious divisions at home. Interest did not really revive until the fourth quarter of the sixteenth century, when the success of the Spanish and Portuguese empires demonstrated the economic and strategic value of having colonies. Since the North American continent remained largely free of European settlement, the new advocates of colonization, notably English geographer Richard Hakluyt (c. 1552–1616), argued that the settling of these territories would allow the production of valuable tropical products like sugar, silk, olives, spices, hardwoods, and vines. These items had to be purchased from foreign rivals, resulting in a trade deficit and loss of bullion. In addition, Hakluyt argued, the possession of colonies would increase the maritime power of England, making her a force to be reckoned with among the nation-states of Europe.

First Settlements

Since the crown lacked the resources for such ventures, it was initially left to individuals like Sir Walter Raleigh (1554–1618) to fulfill these dreams. Unfortunately, Raleigh's attempt to settle Roanoke Island along the North Carolina coast between 1585 and 1587 proved unsuccessful, mainly because he lacked the necessary resources. However, the development of joint stock companies promised to solve this problem by allowing funds to be pooled on a large scale. Not that these new entities found colonization easy, as the attempts of the Plymouth and Virginia companies proved. The former failed to establish its colony of Sagadahoc in 1607 on the coast of present-day Maine, while the latter had to struggle for twenty years to ensure the success of Jamestown, England's first permanent settlement on the mainland of North America. In reality, too little was known about the Chesapeake region when the first settlers arrived in 1607, and the project came close to collapse several times.

Despite these difficulties, other schemes duly followed, though the impulse was increasingly religious rather than commercial. England, like much of Europe, was experiencing religious turmoil, and America seemingly offered a refuge to those suffering persecution at home. Accordingly, in 1620 a group of Pilgrims led by the Separatist church leader William Brewster (1567–1644) set sail in the May-flower to establish the Plymouth colony, while from 1629 to 1640 twenty thousand Puritans left England to establish the colonies of Massachusetts Bay in 1630, Rhode Island and Connecticut in 1636, and New Haven in 1637. Nor were Protestants alone in this exodus. In 1632 George Calvert, the first baron Baltimore (c. 1580–1632), obtained a charter from Charles I for a colony allowing religious toleration for Roman Catholics, which he called Maryland in honor of the queen.

Baltimore's charter differed from those granted to the Virginia and Massachusetts Bay Companies in that authority was vested in a single proprietor. Otherwise, both types of charter gave the grantees extensive powers, including authority to make local ordinances for the better government of their territories, providing such ordinances were consistent with the laws of England. The crown also retained the right to a fifth of all precious minerals found in their settlements. However, in 1618 the Virginia Company decided to establish a local assembly as a more effective way of involving the inhabitants in the success of the venture. This pattern was soon adopted in other colonies, notably Massachusetts, not least because that colony's charter, based on the joint stock model, required its officers to be elected annually by the shareholders. Even the autocratic second baron Baltimore (Cecilius Calvert, 1605–1675) found it politic to give his settlers an assembly as a means of attracting support. The qualifications for voting varied. In Maryland and Virginia it was generally restricted to freeholders (meaning males with property), but in Massachusetts the Puritan leadership quickly substituted church membership as the criterion for participation in the affairs of the colony.

Second Wave

Although English settlement of North America was interrupted at the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1641, the restoration of Charles II in 1660 allowed a second wave of colonization, beginning in 1664 with the conquest of the Dutch colony of New Netherland in present-day New York. It was seized partly for economic reasons, to secure entry to the northern fur trade; partly to create a patrimony for the duke of York, the king's younger brother; and partly as a strategy: to close a dangerous gap between the New England and Chesapeake Bay settlements. But even before the seizure of the Dutch colony, another scheme was afoot to settle the area south of Virginia. Here, too, the founding of the Carolinas was partly commercial, to tap the possibilities of exotic cash crops in a subtropical climate; partly strategic, to provide a buffer between Virginia and the Spanish in Florida; and partly an attempt to endow the eight proprietors sponsoring the scheme with the privileges of semifeudal palatine princes. Not that religious considerations were entirely forgotten after 1660. In 1682 William Penn (1644–1718) secured a proprietary charter to provide a haven for the Society of Friends, or Quakers, as they were more commonly known. But as was the case with the Carolinas, the colonization of Pennsylvania had a strong economic rationale: to exploit the rich potential of the Delaware River area. It was also intended to enhance the dynastic aspirations of the proprietary family.

For much of the seventeenth century, England's control of its burgeoning empire was necessarily weak, given the distance of the colonies from England and the confused state of the mother country. Compounding the problems was the fact that there was no common system of government in the various settlements. Virginia, the oldest colony, had a governor appointed by the crown, a council appointed by the governor, and an elective assembly representing the propertied classes, and this was to be the model most favored by the crown after 1689 as its best means of maintaining control. However, the New England colonies at this time were largely self-governing commonwealths, while the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and New York were all under proprietary control.

Even so, the period was not without some tightening of the imperial reins. In 1651 the first Navigation Act was passed to protect England's growing trade with its empire in the West Indies and mainland North America, and this was followed by several similar such laws in the next twenty-five years. Then in 1680 New Hampshire was separated from Massachusetts and made into a royal colony on the Virginia model. More grandiosely, in the mid-1680s James II attempted to merge the northern colonies into one entity, the Dominion of New England, to allow a more effective defense and use of scarce resources. That scheme proved too unpopular and was discarded during England's 1689 Glorious Revolution, which limited sovereign power and ended the concept of the divine right of kings. Nevertheless, some changes were effected. Massachusetts now had to accept a charter on the Virginia model, albeit with the concession that the lower house still helped nominate the governor's council, as had been required under the old charter of 1629. The crown also had a further success in East and West Jersey in the early 1700s, when the proprietors decided to surrender their governmental rights over the territory. Finally, in the 1720s the crown, with Parliament's help, engineered a similar outcome in the Carolinas, after the proprietary government failed to defend those colonies successfully from Spanish and Indian attacks. However, Pennsylvania and Maryland remained proprietary colonies while Connecticut and Rhode Island anomalously retained their corporate charters, which had originally been granted by Parliament during the English Civil War.

Denominations and Diversity

During the seventeenth century the colonies' population was overwhelmingly English in origin, with only a few pockets of non-English stock, most importantly in Pennsylvania, where Penn settled a group of lower Rhineland Pietists at Germantown in 1686, and in New York, where the Dutch remained a distinct group. But already there was a growing number of African slaves, especially in the South, and this trend toward a more diverse population continued during the eighteenth century, aided by the absence of any restrictive immigration laws. In 1707 the Act of Union between England and Scotland officially opened the way to Scottish emigration, while the cessation of the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe in 1714 permitted further German emigration from the Palatinate and Rhineland areas. In addition, large numbers of Scots Irish began to arrive after 1717 following the termination of their leases in Ireland. All these European peoples came seeking a better life where land was plentiful and religious discrimination was minimal. Prior to 1715 the New England region had been uniformly Congregational, the South largely Anglican, with the Dutch Reformed and Society of Friends preeminent in the Hudson and Delaware Valleys. Now, outside New England, there were Presbyterians, Baptists, Moravians, and German Reformed and Lutheran churches, all adding to the multireligious and multicultural nature of the colonies and establishing a trend that has continued ever since.

Economy

The economy of Britain's North American colonies was similarly varied, primarily as the result of differences in the climate and soil. The relatively temperate climate of the New England and Mid-Atlantic colonies allowed their inhabitants to practice European-style farming in cereals, root crops, and animal husbandry. And as in Europe, most northern farms relied on their families to meet their labor requirements. In the South, on the other hand, the longer and warmer growing season permitted the cultivation of more exotic cash crops like tobacco in the Chesapeake Bay area and Albemarle Sound region of North Carolina and rice in the lower part of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia (after 1733). Since these crops were labor-intensive, their production presented a problem, not least because most Native Americans refused to acculturate to European-style production methods and were in any case too few in number. Initially the labor problem was solved in the Chesapeake region by the system of indentured servitude. However, indentured servants served for only a few years, after which they were free to compete with their former masters. As a result, southern planters began increasingly to use African slave labor, especially when the cost of doing so dropped toward the end of the seventeenth century. The early settlers in South Carolina, in any case, deployed African slaves, being familiar with their use from their previous experience as sugar planters in Barbados.

Another difference between the northern and southern economies was the North's greater diversification. The northern colonies had no high-value commodities to export other than those obtained through the extractive pursuits of fishing and lumbering. Consequently, they had to be more self-sufficient, which led to the development of craft industries and the beginnings of manufacturing in pottery and iron ware. Shipbuilding was also widespread, and commerce generally flourished, which in turn stimulated urban growth. By the mid-eighteenth century, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia all had populations of more than ten thousand, with Philadelphia ranking as the second-largest city in the British Empire. The South, by contrast, had only one town of any consequence: Charleston in South Carolina.

By 1750 the thirteen British mainland colonies had a population around 1.5 million (including 250,000 persons of African descent) who provided a third of all British trade.

The Causes of Revolt

Thus, although the British had been late to enter the race for overseas colonies (compared to Spain and Portugal), their settlements now constituted perhaps the most valuable possessions of any European nation. It was this realization that led Britain to attempt a strengthening of the imperial ties after the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). Among the more important initiatives were the Proclamation of 1763, which attempted to limit westward expansion; the Sugar Act of 1764, to raise revenue and strengthen the laws of trade; and the Stamp Act of 1765, to raise additional revenue for the running of the empire. But far from strengthening imperial control, these measures antagonized the colonial population and led to disputes over the sovereignty of Parliament and the rights of the colonists, especially on matters of taxation. It was failure to resolve these issues, among others, that led to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and creation of the United States, signaling an end to the first British Empire.

Bibliography

Andrews, Charles M. The Colonial Period of American History. 4 vols. New Haven, 1934–1938. Reprint, vols. 1–3, 2001.

Bailyn, Bernard. The Peopling of British North America: An Introduction. New York, 1986.

Bonwick, Colin. The American Revolution. Charlottesville, Va., 1991.

Butler, Jon. Becoming America: The Revolution before 1776. Cambridge, Mass., 2000.

Egnal, Marc. New World Economies: The Growth of the Thirteen Colonies and Early Canada. New York, 1998.

Kammen, Michael. Deputyes & Libertyes: The Origins of Representative Government in Colonial America. New York, 1969.

Meinig, Donald William. The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History. 3 vols. New Haven, 1986–1993. Volume one is Atlantic America, 1492–1800.

Middleton, Richard. Colonial America: A History, 1565– 1776. 3rd ed. Oxford, 2002.

Nash, Gary B. Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early America. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1974.

Vickers, Daniel. A Companion to Colonial America. Oxford, 2003.

Wood, Betty. The Origins of American Slavery: Freedom and Bondage in the English Colonies. New York, 1997.

—RICHARD MIDDLETON

Third-largest continent (after Asia and Africa), comprising Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central America.

"North American" redirects here. For other uses, see North American (disambiguation).

North America

Area	24,709,000 km2 (9,540,000 sq mi)
Population	528,720,588 (July 2008 est.)
Pop. density	22.9/km2 (59.3/sq mi) [1]
Demonym	North American, American[2]
Countries	23 (List of countries)
Dependencies	see List of North American countries
Languages	English, Spanish, French, and many others
Time Zones	UTC-10 to UTC
Largest cities	List of cities[3]
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North America is the northern continent of the Americas,^[4] situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is 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 west by the North Pacific Ocean; South America lies to the southeast. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 square miles), about 4.8% of the planet's surface or about 16.5% of its land area. As of July 2008, its population was estimated at nearly 529 million people. It is the third-largest continent in area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth in population after Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 Paleohistory 2.2 Prehistory 2.3 History 3 Geography and extent 3.1 Physical geography 3.2 Human geography 4 Countries and territories 4.1 Historical toponymy 5 Communications 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

Etymology

North and South America are generally accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a world map, in which he placed the word "America" on the continent of South America, in the middle of what is today Brazil. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio,

ab Americo inventore ... quasi Americi terram sive Americam (from Americus the discoverer ... as if it were the land of Americus, thus America).^[5]

For Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespucci's name (Americus Vespucius), but in its feminine form "America", following the examples of "Europa" and "Asia".

Later, when other mapmakers added North America, they extended the original name to it as well: in 1538, Gerard Mercator used the name America to all of the Western Hemisphere on his world map.^[6]

Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty and so a derivation from "Amerigo Vespucci" could be problematic.^[7] Ricardo Palma (1949) proposed a derivation from the "Amerrique" mountains of Central America—Vespucci was the first to discover South America and the Amerrique mountains of Central America, which connected his discoveries to those of Christopher Columbus.

Alfred E. Hudd proposed a theory in 1908 that the continents are named after a Welsh merchant named Richard Amerike from Bristol, who is believed to have financed John Cabot's voyage of discovery from England to Newfoundland in 1497. A minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of 'Amairick'. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language.^[6]

History

Main article: History of North America

Paleohistory

North America is the source of much of what humanity knows about geologic time periods.^[8] The geographic area that would later become the United States has been the source of more varieties of dinosaurs than any other modern country.^[8] According to paleontologist Peter Dodson, this is primarily due to stratigraphy, climate and geography, human resources, and history.^[8] Much of the Mesozoic Era is represented by exposed outcrops in the many arid regions of the continent.^[8] The most significant Late Jurassic dinosaur-bearing fossil deposit in North America is the Morrison Formation of the western United States.^[9]

Prehistory

The ruins of Chichén Itzá, Mexico.

Scientists have several theories as to the origins of the early human population of North America. The indigenous peoples of North America themselves have many creation myths, by which they assert that they have been present on the land since its creation.

Before contact with Europeans, the natives of North America were divided into many different polities, from small bands of a few families to large empires. They lived in several "culture areas", which roughly correspond to geographic and biological zones and give a good indication of the main lifeway or occupation of the people who lived there (e.g. the Bison hunters of the Great Plains, or the farmers of Mesoamerica). Native groups can also be classified by their language family (e.g. Athapascan or Uto-Aztecan). It is important to note that peoples with similar languages did not always share the same material culture, nor were they always allies.

Scientists believe that the Inuit people of the high Arctic came to North America much later than other native groups, as evidenced by the disappearance of Dorset culture artifacts from the archaeological record, and their replacement by the Thule people.

During the thousands of years of native inhabitation on the continent, cultures changed and shifted. Archaeologists often name different cultural groups they discover after the site where they are first found. One of the oldest cultures yet found is the Clovis culture of modern New Mexico. A more recent example is the group of related cultures called the Mound builders (e.g. the Fort Walton Culture), found in the Mississippi river valley. They flourished from 300 BC to the 150s AD.

The more southern cultural groups of North America were responsible for the domestication of many common crops now used around the world, such as tomatoes and squash. Perhaps most importantly they domesticated one of the world's major staples, maize (corn).

History

As a result of the development of agriculture in the south, many important cultural advances were made there. For example, the Maya civilization developed a writing system, built huge pyramids, had a complex calendar, and developed the concept of zero around 400 CE, a few hundred years after the Mesopotamians.^[10] The Mayan culture was still present when the Spanish arrived in Central America, but political dominance in the area had shifted to the Aztec Empire further north.

Upon the arrival of the Europeans in the "New World", Native American population declined substantially, primarily due to the introduction of European diseases to which the Native Americans lacked immunity.^[11] Native peoples found their culture changed drastically. As such, their affiliation with political and cultural groups changed as well, several linguistic groups went extinct, and others changed quite quickly. The names and cultures that Europeans recorded for the natives were not necessarily the same as the ones they had used a few generations before, or the ones in use today.

Geography and extent

Further information: Geography of North America

A satellite composite image of North America. Clickable map

North America occupies the northern portion of the landmass generally referred to as the New World, the Western Hemisphere, the Americas, or simply America (which is sometimes considered a single continent^[12][13][14] and North America a subcontinent).^[15] North America's only land connection to South America is at the Isthmus of Panama. The continent is generally delimited on the southeast by the Darién watershed along the Colombia-Panama border, or at the Panama Canal; according to other sources, its southern limit is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico, with Central America tapering and extending southeastward to South America. Before the Central American isthmus was raised, the region had been underwater. The islands of the West Indies delineate a submerged former land bridge, which had connected North America and South America via what are now Florida and Venezuela. Much of North America is on the North American Plate.

The continental coastline is long and irregular. The Gulf of Mexico is the largest body of water indenting the continent, followed by Hudson Bay. Others include the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Gulf of California.

There are numerous islands off the continent’s coasts: principally, the Arctic Archipelago, the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, the Aleutian Islands, the Alexander Archipelago, the many thousand islands of the British Columbia Coast, Newfoundland and Greenland, a self-governing Danish island, and the world's largest, is on the same tectonic plate (the North American Plate) and is part of North America geographically. Bermuda is not part of the Americas, but is an oceanic island which was formed on the fissure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge over 100 million years ago. The nearest landmass to it is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and it is often thought of as part of North America, especially given its historical, political and cultural ties to Virginia and other parts of the continent.

Physical geography

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

The vast majority of North America is on the North American Plate. Parts of California and western Mexico form the partial edge of the Pacific Plate, with the two plates meeting along the San Andreas fault. The southernmost portion of the continent and much of the West Indies lie on the Caribbean Plate, whereas the Juan de Fuca and Cocos plates border the North American Plate on its western frontier.

The continent can be divided into four great regions (each of which contains many subregions): 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 and 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 48°10′N 100°10′W / 48.167°N 100.167°W / 48.167; -100.167, approximately 15 miles (25 km) 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 15-foot (4.5 m) field stone obelisk in Rugby claiming to mark the center.

North America bedrock and terrain

North American cratons and basement rocks

North American craton

Human geography

Mexico City is the most populous city in North America.

New York City is the second most populous city in North America.

Toronto is the most populous city in Canada, and the fifth-most in North America.

The prevalent languages in North America are English, Spanish, and French. The term Anglo-America is used to refer to the anglophone countries of the Americas: namely Canada (where English and French are co-official) and the United States, but also sometimes Belize and parts of the Caribbean. Latin America refers to the other areas of the Americas (generally south of the United States) where the Romance languages, derived from Latin, of Spanish and Portuguese (but French speaking countries are not usually included) predominate: the other republics of Central America (but not always Belize), part of the Caribbean (not the Dutch, English or French speaking areas), Mexico, and most of South America (except Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana (FR) and The Falkland Islands (UK).

The French language has historically played a significant role in North America and retains a distinctive presence in some regions. Canada is officially bilingual; French is the official language of the province of Quebec and is co-official with English in the province of New Brunswick. Other French-speaking locales include the province of Ontario (the official language is English, but there is an estimated 500 000 Franco-Ontarians), the French West Indies and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, as well as the U.S. state of Louisiana, where French is also an official language. Haiti is included with this group based on historical association but Haitians speak Creole and French. Similarly there remains small segments in Saint Lucia and the Commonwealth of Dominica that speak unique French and creole languages alongside their English speaking majorities.

Socially and culturally, North America presents a well-defined entity. Canada and the United States have a similar culture and similar traditions as a result of both countries being former British colonies. A common cultural and economic market has developed between the two nations because of the strong economic and historical ties. Spanish-speaking North America shares a common past as former Spanish colonies. In Mexico and the Central American countries where civilizations like the Maya developed, indigenous people preserve traditions across modern boundaries. Central American and Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations have historically had more in common due to geographical proximity and the fact that, after winning independence from Spain, Mexico never took part in an effort to build a Central American Union. Northern Mexico, particularly cities such as Monterrey and Chihuahua, are strongly influenced by the culture and way of life of the United States. Emigration to Canada and the United States remains a significant attribute of many nations close to the southern border of the United States. As the British Empire and its influences declined, the Anglophone Caribbean states have witnessed the economic influence of northern North America increase on the region. In the Anglophone Caribbean this influence is in part due to the fact that the majority of English speaking Caribbean countries have populations of less than 200,000 people and many of these countries now have expatriate diasporas living abroad that are larger than those remaining at home.

Economically, Canada and the United States are the wealthiest and most developed nations in the continent, followed by Mexico, a newly industrialized country; the countries of Central America and the Caribbean are at various levels of development. The most important trade blocs are the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the recently signed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)—the last of these being an example of the economic integration sought by the nations of this sub-region as a way to improve their financial status.

Demographically, North America is a racially and ethnically diverse continent. Its three main racial groups are Whites, Mestizos and Blacks (chiefly African-Americans and Afro-Caribbeans).^{[citation needed]} There is a significant minority of Amerindians and Asians among other less numerous groups.

Countries and territories

North America is often divided into subregions but no universally accepted divisions exist. Central America comprises the southern region of the continent, but its northern terminus varies between sources. Geophysically, the region starts at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico (namely the Mexican states of Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán^[16]). The United Nations geoscheme includes Mexico in Central America; conversely, the European Union excludes both Mexico and Belize from the area.^{[clarification needed]} Geopolitically, Mexico is frequently not considered a part of Central America.^[17]

Non-Native American Nations Control over N America 1750-2008

Northern America is used to refer to the northern countries and territories of North America: Canada, the United States, Greenland, Bermuda, and St. Pierre and Miquelon. They are often considered distinct from the southern portion of the Americas, which largely comprise Latin America. The term Middle America is sometimes used to collectively refer to Mexico, the nations of Central America, and the Caribbean.

Country or territory	Area (km²)[18]	Population (July 2008 est.)[18]	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Anguilla (UK)	&0000000000000102.000000102	&0000000000014108.00000014,108	138.3	The Valley
Antigua and Barbuda	&0000000000000443.000000443	&0000000000084522.00000084,522	190.8	St. John's
Aruba (Netherlands)[19]	&0000000000000193.000000193	&0000000000101541.000000101,541	526.1	Oranjestad
Bahamas	&0000000000010070.00000010,070[20]	&0000000000307451.000000307,451	30.5	Nassau
Barbados	&0000000000000431.000000431	&0000000000281968.000000281,968	654.2	Bridgetown
Belize	&0000000000022966.00000022,966	&0000000000301270.000000301,270	13.1	Belmopan
Bermuda (UK)	&0000000000000053.00000053	&0000000000066536.00000066,536	1255.4	Hamilton
British Virgin Islands (UK)	&0000000000000153.000000153	&0000000000024041.00000024,041	157.1	Road Town
Canada	&0000000009984670.0000009,984,670[20]	&0000000033212696.00000033,212,696	3.7	Ottawa
Cayman Islands (UK)	&0000000000000262.000000262	&0000000000047862.00000047,862	182.7	George Town
Clipperton Island (France)	&0000000000000006.0000006	&-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.0000000	0.0	—
Costa Rica	&0000000000051100.00000051,100	&0000000004195914.0000004,195,914	82.1	San José
Cuba	&0000000000110860.000000110,860	&0000000011423952.00000011,423,952	103.0	Havana
Dominica	&0000000000000754.000000754	&0000000000072514.00000072,514	96.2	Roseau
Dominican Republic	&0000000000048730.00000048,730	&0000000009507133.0000009,507,133	195.1	Santo Domingo
El Salvador	&0000000000021040.00000021,040	&0000000007066403.0000007,066,403	335.9	San Salvador
Greenland (Denmark)	&0000000002166086.0000002,166,086	&0000000000057564.00000057,564	0.027	Nuuk
Grenada	&0000000000000344.000000344	&0000000000090343.00000090,343	262.6	St. George's
Guadeloupe (France)	&0000000000001780.0000001,780[21]	&0000000000452776.000000452,776[21]	254.4	Basse-Terre
Guatemala	&0000000000108890.000000108,890	&0000000013002206.00000013,002,206	119.4	Guatemala City
Haiti	&0000000000027750.00000027,750	&0000000008924553.0000008,924,553	321.6	Port-au-Prince
Honduras	&0000000000112090.000000112,090	&0000000007639327.0000007,639,327	68.2	Tegucigalpa
Jamaica	&0000000000010991.00000010,991	&0000000002804332.0000002,804,332	255.1	Kingston
Martinique (France)	&0000000000001100.0000001,100[21]	&0000000000436131.000000436,131[21]	396.5	Fort-de-France
Mexico	&0000000001923040.0000001,923,040[20]	&0000000109955400.000000109,955,400	57.2	Mexico City
Montserrat (UK)	&0000000000000102.000000102	&0000000000005079.0000005,079	49.8	Plymouth; Brades[22]
Navassa Island (USA)	&0000000000000005.0000005	&-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.0000000	0.0	—
Netherlands Antilles (Netherlands)[19]	&0000000000000960.000000960	&0000000000225369.000000225,369	234.8	Willemstad
Nicaragua	&0000000000120254.000000120,254[20]	&0000000005785846.0000005,785,846	48.1	Managua
Panama[19][23]	&0000000000078200.00000078,200	&0000000003309679.0000003,309,679	42.3	Panama City
Puerto Rico (USA)	&0000000000008870.0000008,870[20]	&0000000003958128.0000003,958,128	446.2	San Juan
Saint Barthélemy (France)	&0000000000000021.00000021	&0000000000007492.0000007,492	356.8	Gustavia
Saint Kitts and Nevis	&0000000000000261.000000261	&0000000000039817.00000039,817	152.6	Basseterre
Saint Lucia	&0000000000000616.000000616	&0000000000159585.000000159,585	259.1	Castries
Saint Martin (France)	&0000000000000054.00000054	&0000000000029376.00000029,376	544.0	Marigot
Saint Pierre and Miquelon (France)	&0000000000000242.000000242	&0000000000007044.0000007,044	29.1	Saint-Pierre
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	&0000000000000389.000000389	&0000000000118432.000000118,432	304.5	Kingstown
Trinidad and Tobago[19]	&0000000000005128.0000005,128	&0000000001047366.0000001,047,366	204.2	Port of Spain
Turks and Caicos Islands (UK)	&0000000000000430.000000430	&0000000000022352.00000022,352	52.0	Cockburn Town
United States[24]	&0000000009826630.0000009,826,630[20]	&0000000303824640.000000303,824,640	33.2	Washington, D.C.
U.S. Virgin Islands (USA)	&0000000000000346.000000346[20]	&0000000000109840.000000109,840	317.5	Charlotte Amalie
Total	&0000000024646412.00000024,646,412	&0000000528720588.000000528,720,588	22.9

The term North America may mean different things to different people in the world according to the context. Usage other than that of the entire continent includes:

• In English, North America may be used to refer to the United States and Canada together.^[25] Alternatively, usage often includes Mexico^[26] (as with North American Free Trade Agreement) and other entities.^{[27][28][29][30][31][32]}
• In Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and some other parts of Europe, North America usually designates a subcontinent (subcontinente in Spanish) of the Americas containing Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and often Greenland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Bermuda.^[33]

Historical toponymy

North America, in whole or in part, has been historically referred to by other names:

• Spanish North America (New Spain) was often referred to as Northern America, and this was the first official name given to Mexico.
• The Spanish called North America Florida^[34], which eventually became more focused on its present location.
• The English called their portion of North America Virginia The name Virginia was first applied by Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584.^[35] John Dee pushed to call it Atlantis (inspired by Plato).
• The northern part of North America was often referred to as Norumbega.
• The northeastern part of what would become the United States was named New England in 1616 in John Smith's book of that year.
• Western North America was named Nova Albion by Francis Drake as he repaired his boat (Golden Hind) a short distance north of present day San Francisco.
• Areas of past British control were called British North America.
• Regions under control of the Hudson's Bay Company was called Rupert's Land, which eventually made up a large portion of the Dominion of Canada, the modern country of Canada.

Communications

Main article: North American Numbering Plan

Many of the nations of North America cooperate together on a shared telephone system known as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) which is an integrated telephone numbering plan of 24 countries and territories: the United States and its territories, Canada, Bermuda, and 16 Caribbean nations.

See also

North America portal

Main article: Outline of North America

Americas (terminology) Discoverer of the Americas Economy of North America European colonization of the Americas History of North America List of cities in North America List of provinces and states in North America Mountain peaks of North America Nearctic North American Megafauna Transportation in North America Turtle Island (North America)

Organizations and agreements: Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement Fortress North America North American Aerospace Defense Command North American Free Trade Agreement

References

1. ^ This North American density figure is based on a total land area of 23,090,542 km² only, considerably less than the total combined land and water area of 24,709,000 km².
2. ^ American, Merriam-Webster OnLine.
3. ^ List based on 2005 figures in Table A.12, World Urbanization Prospects: The 2005 Revision, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, United Nations. Accessed on line January 1, 2008.
4. ^ "North America". Encyclopaedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/418612/North-America. 
5. ^ p. 9, The Cosmographiæ Introductio of Martin Waldseemüller in Facsimile, translated by Edward Burke and Mario E. Cosenza, introduction by Joseph Fischer and Franz von Wieser, edited by Charles George Herbermann, New York: The United States Catholic Historical Society, 1907.
6. ^ ^{a b} The Naming of America: Fragments We've Shored Against Ourselves. By Jonathan Cohen
7. ^ Lloyd, John; John Mitchinson (2006). The Book of General Ignorance. Harmony Books. pp. 95. ISBN 978-0-307-39491-0. "New countries or continents were never named after a person’s first name, but always after the second..." 
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Dodson, Peter (1997). "American Dinosaurs." Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. Edited by Phillip J. Currie and Kevin Padian. Academic Press. p. 10-13.
9. ^ Weishampel, David B; et al (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Jurassic, North America)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 543–545. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
10. ^ Robert Kaplan (January 16, 2007). "What is the origin of zero? How did we indicate nothingness before zero?". Scientific American. http://www.sciam.com/math/article/id/what-is-the-origin-of-zer. Retrieved 2008-02-19. 
11. ^ pp. 42–46, A Concise History of World Population: An Introduction to Population Processes, Massimo Livi Bacci, Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2001, 3rd ed., ISBN 0-631-22335-5.
12. ^ "The Olympic symbols". Lausanne: Olympic Museum and Studies Centre: International Olympic Committee. 2002. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080307073846/http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_672.pdf.  The five rings of the Olympic flag represent the five inhabited, participating continents (Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania).
13. ^ Océano Uno, Diccionario Enciclopédico y Atlas Mundial, "Continente", page 392, 1730. ISBN 84-494-0188-7
14. ^ Los Cinco Continentes (The Five Continents), Planeta-De Agostini Editions, 1997. ISBN 84-395-6054-0
15. ^ "Encarta, "Norteamérica".". Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. http://www.webcitation.org/query?id=1257013693874868. 
16. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Central America"
17. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary, "Central America"
18. ^ ^{a b} Land areas and population estimates are taken from The 2008 World Factbook which currently uses July 2008 data, unless otherwise noted.
19. ^ ^{a b c d} Depending on definitions, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago have territory in one or both of North and South America.
20. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Water area makes up a considerable portion of this entity's total area. Therefore, for a more accurate figure on which to calculate population density, this figure includes land area only.
21. ^ ^{a b c d} Estimates as of July 2006. Since Guadeloupe and Martinique have been upgraded from overseas departments to regions of France, they are no longer listed separately in The World Factbook. Therefore, these figures are from the last edition in which they appear -- 2006.
22. ^ Due to ongoing activity of the Soufriere Hills volcano beginning in July 1995, much of Plymouth's de jure capital was destroyed and government offices were relocated to Brades.
23. ^ Panama is generally considered a North American country, though some authorities divide it at the Panama Canal; land area and population figures are for the entire country.
24. ^ Includes the U.S. 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.
25. ^ Burchfield, R. W., ed. 2004. "America." Fowler's Modern English Usage (ISBN 0-19-861021-1) New York: Oxford University Press, p. 48 -- quotation reads: "the term 'North America' is mostly used to mean the United States and Canada together. Countries to the south of the United States are described as being in Central America (Mexico, Nicaragua, etc.) or South America (Brazil, Argentina, etc.)"; see also: McArthur, Tom. 1992. "North American." The Oxford Companion to the English Language (ISBN 0-19-214183-X) New York: Oxford University Press, p. 707.
26. ^ the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: refers to "Three nations, on the same continent"
27. ^ Martin W. Lewis and Kären E. Wigen. (1997). "The Myth of Continents." (ISBN 0520207432) University of California Press, p. 40 -- quotation reads: "In regard to North America one can detect a similar shift between official designation and popular conception. Strictly speaking, the North American continent includes Panama and all points north, but in common parlance Central America is usually excluded, while in some circumstances Mexico is deleted as well"; see also the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: refers to "Three nations, on the same continent"
28. ^ Countries of North America: includes Bermuda, Canada, Mexico, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and the United States
29. ^ What's the difference between North, Latin, Central, Middle, South, Spanish and Anglo America?, about.com
30. ^ North America, Microsoft Encarta. Archived 2009-10-31.
31. ^ North America, msuglobalaccess.net : describes "North America includes Canada, the United States, Mexico, and their related territories, lying north of Central and South America"
32. ^ Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America
33. ^ In Ibero-America, North America is considered a subcontinent containing Canada, the United States, Mexico, Greenland, Bermuda and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon."Norteamérica (Mexican version)"/(Spaniard version). Encarta Online Encyclopedia.. Archived 2009-10-31.
34. ^ Clayton, Lawrence (1993). The De Soto Chronicles: The Expedition of Hernando De Soto to North America in 1539-1543. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press. .
35. ^ In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh sent Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to lead an exploration of what is now the North Carolina coast, and they returned with word of a regional "king" named "Wingina." This was modified later that year by Raleigh and the Queen to "Virginia", perhaps in part noting her status as the "Virgin Queen;" Stewart, George (1945). Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States. New York: Random House. p. 22. 

External links

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• commons:Category:North America
  • commons:Category:Atlas of North America
• "North America"/"Central America". The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2001-6. New York, Columbia University Press.
• "North America"/"Central America". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Chicago, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
• UN Statistics Division: Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings
• GeoHive: The population of continents, regions and countries
• "North America" (Archived 2009-10-31)/ "Central America" (Archived 2009-10-31). MSN Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006.
• American Heritage Dictionaries, North America and Central America
• Houghton Mifflin Company, "North America"
• Council on Hemispheric Affairs
• Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration
• WordNet Princeton University: Central America
• Crystal Reference Encyclopedia, "North America"
• Internet World Map Study showing the geographic distribution of the Internet across North America.

v • d • e North America Outline of North America Culture · History · Demographics · Economy · Geography · Politics Culture Art (Architecture · Music · Cinema  · Painting · Sculpture) · Cuisine · Languages (Endangered) · Philosophy · Religion (Christianity · Islam · Judaism) · Sport · Symbols · Universities History Arrival of first people · Paleo-Indians · pre-Columbian · European colonization (New Spain · New France · British North America) · 19th century · 20th century Demographics Population · Life expectancy · Ethnic groups (Genetic history) · Immigration Economy GDP (nominal) (per capita) · GDP (PPP) (per capita)  · GNI (nominal) per capita  · GNI (PPP) per capita · budget revenues (per capita) · HDI · corruption · minimum wage · CARICOM · NAFTA Geography Area and population · Countries · Cities · Villages · Geology · Islands · Rivers · Lakes · Mountains · Extreme points Politics Organization of American States · Transatlantic · American Empire · Anglosphere · North American Union Other Internet users  · Financial and social rankings  · Maps Portal

v • d • e Countries and dependencies of North America Several nations listed here straddle both North and South America or can also be considered Caribbean. Sovereign states Antigua and Barbuda · Bahamas · Barbados · Belize · Canada · Costa Rica · Cuba · Dominica · Dominican Republic · El Salvador · Grenada · Guatemala · Haiti · Honduras · Jamaica · Mexico · Nicaragua · Panama · St. Kitts and Nevis · St. Lucia · St. Vincent and the Grenadines · Trinidad and Tobago · United States Dependencies Denmark Greenland France Guadeloupe · Martinique · Saint Barthélemy · Saint Martin · Saint Pierre and Miquelon · Clipperton Netherlands Aruba · Netherlands Antilles United Kingdom Anguilla · Bermuda · British Virgin Islands · Cayman Islands · Montserrat · Turks and Caicos Islands United States Navassa Island · Puerto Rico · U.S. Virgin Islands

v • d • e Continents of the world     Africa Antarctica Asia Australia Europe North America South America     Afro-Eurasia Americas Eurasia Oceania     Geological supercontinents Gondwana · Laurasia · Pangaea · Pannotia · Rodinia · Columbia · Kenorland · Nena · Ur · Vaalbara Historical continents Arctica · Asiamerica · Atlantica · Avalonia · Baltica · Cimmeria · Congo craton · Euramerica · Kalaharia · Kazakhstania · Laurentia · Siberia · South China · Ur     Submerged continents Kerguelen Plateau · Zealandia Possible future supercontinents Pangaea Ultima · Amasia Mythical and theorized continents Atlantis · Lemuria · Meropis · Mu · Terra Australis See also Regions of the world

v • d • e Regions of the world Africa Northern (Maghreb) · Sub-Sahara (Central · Southern · Western · Eastern (Horn)) Oceania Australasia · Melanesia · Micronesia · Polynesia Americas North (Northern • Middle • Central • Caribbean) · South (Southern Cone) · Anglo · Latin Polar Arctic · Antarctic Asia Central · Eastern · Northern · Southeastern · Southern · Western Oceans World · Arctic · Atlantic · Indian · Pacific · Southern Europe Central · Eastern · Northern · Southeastern · Southern · Western See also Continents of the world

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