Earth:North America

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Short description: Continent


North America
Area24.709 million km2 (9.54 million sq mi) (3rd)
PopulationNeutral increase 592,296,233 (2021; 4th)
Population densityScript error: No such module "Pop density". (2021)[lower-alpha 1]
GDP (PPP)US$36.6 trillion (2025 est.; 2nd)[1]
GDP (nominal)US$34.61 trillion (2025 est.; 2nd)[2]
GDP per capitaUS$67,000 (2025 est.; 2nd)[3]
Religions
DemonymNorth American
Countries23 sovereign states
Dependencies23 non-sovereign territories
LanguagesEnglish, Spanish, French, Dutch, Danish, indigenous languages, and many others
Time zones00 to 00
Largest citiesList of urban areas:[6]
  • Mexico City
  • New York City
  • Los Angeles
  • Chicago
  • San Francisco
  • Boston
  • Toronto
  • Washington
  • Dallas
  • Philadelphia
UN M49 code003 – North America
019 – Americas
001 – World
A map of North America's physical, political, and population characteristics as of 2018

North America is a continent[lower-alpha 2] in the Northern and Western hemispheres.[lower-alpha 3] 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 south and west by the Pacific Ocean.

North America covers an area of around 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 square miles), representing approximately 16.5% of Earth's land area and 4.8% of its total surface area. It is the third-largest continent by size after Asia and Africa, and the fourth-largest continent by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. As of 2021, North America's population is estimated at over 592 million people in 23 independent states and territories, or about 7.5% of the world's population.

The continent includes the subregions of Northern America (comprising Canada, Greenland, and the continental United States as well as the insular territories of Bermuda and Saint Pierre and Miquelon) and Middle America (comprising Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean). In human geography, the terms "North America" and "North American" often refer to just Northern America.[7][8][9][10][11]

It is unknown exactly how and when the first human populations reached North America. People are known to have lived in the Americas at least 20,000 years ago,[12] but various evidence points to possibly earlier dates.[13][14] The Paleo-Indian period in North America followed the Last Glacial Period, and lasted until about 10,000 years ago when the Archaic period began. The classic stage followed the Archaic period, and lasted from approximately the 6th to 13th centuries. Norse exploration and colonization began in the late 10th century; the Norse built several settlements in Greenland and at least one settlement in Newfoundland.

Beginning in 1492, the voyages of Christopher Columbus led to a transatlantic exchange, including migrations of European settlers during the Age of Discovery and the early modern period. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect interactions between early European colonists, indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans, later immigrants from Europe and Asia, and descendants of these respective groups. European colonization has led to most North Americans speaking European languages (such as English, Spanish, and French) and the cultures of the region commonly reflect Western traditions. However, there remain significant indigenous populations that continue to adhere to their respective pre-colonial cultural and linguistic traditions.

Name

A 1621 map of North America
A 1908 map of North America, published in The Harmsworth atlas and Gazetter

The Americas were named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann.[15] Vespucci explored South America between 1497 and 1502, and was the first European to suggest that the Americas represented a landmass then unknown to the Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller published a world map, and placed the word "America" on the continent of present-day South America.[16] The continent north of present-day Mexico was then referred to as Parias.[17] On a 1553 world map published by Petrus Apianus,[18] North America was called "Baccalearum", meaning "realm of the Cod fish", in reference to the abundance of cod on the East Coast.[19]

Waldseemüller used the Latinized version of Vespucci's name, Americus Vespucius, in its feminine form of "America", following the examples of "Europa", "Asia", and "Africa". Americus originated from Medieval Latin Emericus (see Saint Emeric of Hungary), coming from the Old High German name Emmerich. Map makers later extended the name America to North America.

In 1538, Gerardus Mercator used the term America on his world map of the entire Western Hemisphere.[20] On his subsequent 1569 map, Mercator called North America "America or New India" (America sive India Nova).[21]

The Spanish Empire called its territories in North and South America "Las Indias", and the name given to the state body that oversaw the region was called the Council of the Indies.

Definition

A 2005 NASA satellite image of North America

The United Nations and its statistics division recognize North America as comprising three subregions: Northern America, Central America (which includes Mexico), and the Caribbean.[22] In the limited context of regional trade agreements such as NAFTA, the term is used to reference three countries: Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

According to the six-continent model, which is prevalent in Latin America and across the Romance-speaking world as well as in Greece, "North America" designates a subregion comprising Canada, Mexico, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the United States; and often Bermuda, Clipperton Island, and Greenland.[23][24][25][26][27]

North America has historically been known by other names, including Spanish North America, New Spain, New France, British North America and América Septentrional, the first official name given to Mexico.[28]

Regions

North America includes several regions and subregions, each of which have their own respective cultural, economic, and geographic regions. Economic regions include several regions formalized in 20th- and 21st-century trade agreements, including NAFTA between Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and CAFTA between Central America, the Dominican Republic, and the United States.

North America is divided linguistically and culturally into two primary regions, Anglo-America and Latin America. Anglo-America includes most of North America, Belize, and Caribbean islands with English-speaking populations. There are also regions, including Louisiana and Quebec, with large Francophone populations; in Quebec and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, French is the official language.[29].

The southern portion of North America includes Central America and non-English-speaking Caribbean nations.[30][31] The north of the continent maintains recognized regions as well. In contrast to the common definition of North America, which encompasses the whole North American continent, the term "North America" is sometimes used more narrowly to refer only to four nations, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, and the U.S.[32][33][34][35][36] The U.S. Census Bureau includes Saint Pierre and Miquelon, but excludes Mexico from its definition.[37]

The term Northern America refers to the northernmost countries and territories of North America: the U.S., Bermuda, Canada, Greenland, and St. Pierre and Miquelon.[38][39] Although the term does not refer to a unified region,[40] Middle America includes Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.[41]





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  1. ↑ "GDP PPP, current prices". International Monetary Fund. 2021. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPGDP@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD. 
  2. ↑ "GDP Nominal, current prices". International Monetary Fund. 2021. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD. 
  3. ↑ "Nominal GDP per capita". International Monetary Fund. 2021. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPDPC@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD. 
  4. ↑ "The Global Religious Landscape". Pewforum.org. https://www.pewforum.org/files/2014/01/global-religion-full.pdf. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 "Religious Composition by Country, 2010–2050". https://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projection-table/2020/percent/all/. 
  6. ↑ "Demographia.com". http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf. 
  7. ↑ Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts (12th ed.). Wiley. 2005. pp. 30–31. ISBN 0-471-71786-X. 
  8. ↑ Lewis, Martin W.; Wigen, Karen E. (1997). "Chapter One, The Architecture of Continents". The Myth of Continents. University of California Press. p. 168. ISBN 0-520-20742-4. 
  9. ↑ Burchfield, R. W., ed. 2004. "America." Fowler's Modern English Usage (ISBN 0-19-861021-1) New York: Oxford University Press, p. 48
  10. ↑ McArthur, Tom. 1992."North American." The Oxford Companion to the English Language (ISBN 0-19-214183-X) New York: Oxford University Press, p. 707.
  11. ↑ "Common Errors in English Usage". Paul Brians, Washington State University. 16 May 2016. https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/16/american/. 
  12. ↑ Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Springer, Kathleen B.; Honke, Jeffrey S.; Wahl, David; Champagne, Marie R.; Zimmerman, Susan R. H.; Gray, Harrison J.; Santucci, Vincent L. et al. (6 October 2023). "Independent age estimates resolve the controversy of ancient human footprints at White Sands" (in en). Science 382 (6666): 73–75. doi:10.1126/science.adh5007. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 37797035. Bibcode: 2023Sci...382...73P. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh5007. Retrieved 6 December 2023. 
  13. ↑ Goodyear, Albert C.; Sain, Douglas A. (22 May 2018), "The Pre-Clovis Occupation of the Topper Site, Allendale County, South Carolina" (in en), Early Human Life on the Southeastern Coastal Plain (University Press of Florida): pp. 8–31, doi:10.5744/florida/9781683400349.003.0002, ISBN 978-1-68340-034-9, http://florida.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5744/florida/9781683400349.001.0001/upso-9781683400349-chapter-002, retrieved 5 December 2023 
  14. ↑ Ardelean, Ciprian F.; Becerra-Valdivia, Lorena; Pedersen, Mikkel Winther; Schwenninger, Jean-Luc; Oviatt, Charles G.; Macías-Quintero, Juan I.; Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquin; Sikora, Martin et al. (22 July 2020). "Evidence of human occupation in Mexico around the Last Glacial Maximum" (in en). Nature 584 (7819): 87–92. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2509-0. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32699412. Bibcode: 2020Natur.584...87A. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2509-0. Retrieved 6 December 2023. 
  15. ↑ "Amerigo Vespucci". Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/626894/Amerigo-Vespucci. Retrieved 7 July 2011. 
  16. ↑ Herbermann, Charles George, ed (1907). The Cosmographiæ Introductio of Martin Waldseemüller in Facsimile. Translated by Edward Burke and Mario E. Cosenza, introduction by Joseph Fischer and Franz von Wieser. New York: The United States Catholic Historical Society. p. 9. https://archive.org/details/cosmographiintr00waldgoog. "Latin: "Quarta pars per Americum Vesputium (ut in sequentibus audietur) inventa est, quam non video, cur quis jure vetet, ab Americo inventore sagacis ingenii viro Amerigen quasi Americi terram sive Americam dicendam, cum et Europa et Asia a mulieribus sua sortita sint nomina."" 
  17. ↑ Arbuckle, Alex (24 December 2016). "This 509-year-old map contains the first known use of the word 'America' — but not where you may think" (in en). https://mashable.com/feature/universalis-cosmographia. 
  18. ↑ Apianus, Petrus (1553). "English: 1553 world map – Charta Cosmographica, Cum Ventorum Propria Natura et Operatione". https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1553_world_map_-_Charta_Cosmographica,_Cum_Ventorum_Propria_Natura_et_Operatione.jpg. 
  19. ↑ "Charta Cosmographica, Cum Ventorum Propria Natura et Operatione" (in en). Stanford, California: Stanford University. https://exhibits.stanford.edu/ruderman/catalog/dp027ft1928. 
  20. ↑ Cohen, Jonathan. "The Naming of America: Fragments We've Shored Against Ourselves". Stony Brook Medicine. http://www.uhmc.sunysb.edu/surgery/america.html. 
  21. ↑ "Mercator 1587 | Envisioning the World | The First Printed Maps". https://lib-dbserver.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/wendt-world-maps/Mercator_1587.html. 
  22. ↑ Division, United Nations Statistics. "UNSD — Methodology" (in en). https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/. "The continent of North America (numerical code 003) comprises Northern America (numerical code 021), Caribbean (numerical code 029), and Central America (numerical code 013)." 
  23. ↑ "Norteamérica" (in es). http://mx.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761562468/Norteam%C3%A9rica.html. "In Ibero-America, North America is considered a subcontinent containing Canada, the United States, Mexico, Greenland, Bermuda and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon." 
  24. ↑ "Six or Seven Continents on Earth" (in en). http://geography.about.com/od/learnabouttheearth/qt/qzcontinents.htm. "In Europe and other parts of the world, many students are taught of six continents, where North and South America are combined to form a single continent of America. Thus, these six continents are Africa, America, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, and Europe." 
  25. ↑ "Continents" (in en). http://www.worldometers.info/geography/continents/. "six-continent model (used mostly in France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Greece, and Latin America) groups together North America+South America into the single continent America." 
  26. ↑ "AMÉRIQUE" (in fr). 24 February 2000. http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/amerique-structure-et-milieu-geographie/. 
  27. ↑ "America" (in it). http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/america_%28Dizionario-di-Storia%29/. 
  28. ↑ "Acta Solemne de la Declaración de Independencia de la América Septentrional" (in es). Archivos de la Independencia. Archivo General de la Nación. http://www.agn.gob.mx/independencia/documentos.html. 
  29. ↑ Office Québécois de la langue francaise. "Status of the French language". Government of Quebec. http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/english/charter/index.html. 
  30. ↑ "Central America". Encarta Encyclopedia. http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861670266/Central_America.html. Retrieved 30 May 2011. 
  31. ↑ "Caribbean". Caribbean. http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Caribbean. Retrieved 30 May 2011. 
  32. ↑ "The World Factbook – North America". Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/wfbExt/region_noa.html. 
  33. ↑ "Countries in North America – Country Reports". Country Reports. http://www.countryreports.org/maps/northamerica.aspx. 
  34. ↑ "North America: World of Earth Science". eNotes Inc.. http://www.enotes.com/earth-science/north-america. 
  35. ↑ "North American Region". The Trilateral Commission. http://www.trilateral.org/go.cfm?do=Page.View&pid=12. 
  36. ↑ Parsons, Alan; Schaffer, Jonathan (May 2004). Geopolitics of oil and natural gas. Economic Perspectives. U.S. Department of State. 
  37. ↑ "Schedule C – Country Codes and Descriptions". US Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/schedules/c/countrycode.html. 
  38. ↑ "Definition of major areas and regions". United Nations. http://esa.un.org/migration/index.asp?panel=3. 
  39. ↑ "Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings". UN Statistics Division. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm.  (French ).
  40. ↑ Berglee, Royal (17 June 2016). "Chapter 5, Middle America". University of Minnesota. http://open.lib.umn.edu/worldgeography/part/chapter-5-middle-america/. 
  41. ↑ "Middle America (region, Mesoamerica)". Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/381099/Middle-America. Retrieved 20 June 2011. 
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