America (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what America and its physical and cultural characteristics are. In addition, how is its economy, religion and the history of this continent.

The American continent is the second largest on the planet.

What is America?

America is one of the six continents of the Earth and The second largest after Asia. It occupies a great portion of the western hemisphere of the planet Earth and extends from northern Greenland to the southern end of Argentina and Chile. It has a total extension of 42.5 million square kilometers, which represents 28.3 % of the total land surface of the planet.

Why is it called that? The name “America” comes from the name of Américo Vespucio, a Florentino navigator that it would have been the first to suggest that all that dough of earth was a new continent completely and not a non -discovered portion of Asia, as the Spaniards, Portuguese and English who explored it thought.

Vespucio wrote several reports on his trips, and those writings were widely disseminated and read by other explorers and cartographers of the time. In 1507, a German cartographer named Martin Waldseemüller included a new continent on his world map and appointed him “America” in honor of Américo Vespucio.

Before being named as “America,” this continent was named as “Castilian kingdoms” or “Western Indies.”

Characteristics of America

It is the second largest continent, after Asia.
The first populations date from the pre -Columbian period with native peoples and civilizations, such as the Aztecs, Incas and Maya.
Due to its extensive latitude and its large surface, it has a wide variety of environments and climates.
There are cold climates at the north and south ends, tempered in the average and warm latitudes areas near Ecuador and the tropics.
The most spoken languages are English (Anglo -Saxon America) and Spanish (Latin America). Portuguese and French are also spoken.

Extension, population and countries of America

With more than 330 million inhabitants, the United States is the most populous country in America.

The American continent has an area of 43,316,000 km²and extends from the icy deserts of Alaska and Greenland to the south of Patagonia, which represents 8.4 % of the total planetary surface and 28.3% of the absolute continental surface. It limits in the north with the Arctic Ocean, to the east with the Atlantic Ocean, to the west with the Pacific Ocean and to the South with Antarctica.

It is divided, according to its structural and geological characteristics, into two large continental masses in a triangular way linked by a narrow and elongated portion of earth. The northern sector is called North America, the South South Sector South, and the isthmus that UNE is called Central America.

History of America

The history of the continent is vast and complex, but it can be divided into the following periods:

1. The pre -Columbian period

The pre -Columbian period is the time before the arrival of Europeans, in the fifteenth century. During this period, American indigenous cultures developed in different regions of the continent: the Aztecs and the Maya in North America and Central America, the Incas in the Andes and a large number of nomadic peoples distributed throughout the continent.

These cultures were characterized by having their own religions, languages, customs, economy, technologies and political organization.

2. The colonial period

The Coloniablic period began with the arrival of Europeans in the fifteenth and lasted until the early nineteenth century. During this time, the European powers colonized America and imposed different political systems, religions and languages throughout the continent.

Spain and Portugal were the main colonizers in Latin America, while France, England and Holland colonized North America and the Caribbean. As a consequence of European colonization, killings, working conditions and disease expansion, there was a true genocide of the native peoples of America during this period.

3. The Republican period

The Republican period began in the 19th century, when American countries began to fight for their independence and formed their own nations. During this period, American countries experienced a series of political, economic and social changes such as the abolition of slavery, the struggle for equal rights and economic modernization.

Physical-Natural Characteristics of America

The Amazon jungle is the most extensive in the world with more than 6.7 million square kilometers.

Due to its extensive latitude and its large surface, America has a wide variety of environments and climates. There are cold climates at the north and south ends, tempered in the average and warm latitudes areas near Ecuador and the tropics.

The Andes mountain range, which crosses the continent from north to south also conditions the climatic characteristicssince the height causes temperatures to descend. For that reason the cordilleran areas of the American continent also present cold climates.

Culture and religion of America

Latin America is one of the places with the greatest cultural diversity on the planet.

Culturally, the American continent is divided into two major regions:

Anglo -Saxon America. It is composed of those countries that have English as an official language and that during the European conquest were colonized by Great Britain. The United States, Canada and Jamaica are some of the countries that make up Anglo -Saxon America.
Latin America. It is composed of those countries that have Spanish, French or Portuguese as an official language, all languages derived from Latin. It includes almost all of the countries of America.

The languages that are most spoken in America are:

English. It is mainly spoken in the United States and Canada, although also in some countries in Central America and in Guyana and Surinam in South America. In total there are around 370 million people who speak this language in the American continent
French. There is talk in some regions of Canada and in some Caribbean islands in Central America. They use it as an official language around 16 million people.
Spanish. There is talk in most countries in Central and South America, and in Mexico. It is the most spoken language of the American continent, with more than 500 million speakers.
Portuguese. It is mainly spoken in Brazil, and it is the native language of more than 200 million people.

In addition to these main languages, there are hundreds of languages related to the native peoples of America, such as Nahuatl, Quechua, Aymara, Guaraní and Maya, among others.

As for religion, the majority are the Catholic Christian and the Protestant Christian, due to Spanish and English colonial heritage. Approximately 80 % of the population of America identifies as a Christian.

In addition to Christianity, in America there is also the presence of other important religions such as Islamism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and African American religions. Religions, deities and cults of the cultures of the native peoples of America also persist.

Economic Activities of America

Economic development among American countries is very unequal. While primary activities predominate in most Latin American countries, in Anglo -Saxon countries, especially in the United States and Canada, activities related to secondary and tertiary activities predominate, with great influence in world markets.

You may be interested: Countries and Capitals of North America

Due to these contrasts, it is convenient to analyze the economic activities of America separately:

Economy in Anglo -Saxon

The United States and Canada are part of the group of the most developed countries in the world. Their Human Development Indices (HDI) place them among the 15 best on the planet.
Their economies are deeply outsourcedwhich means that much of your profits come from the tertiary sector. The provision of services, trade, finance and tourism provide more than 75 % of the income of these two countries.
Although the primary sector is important worldwide (the United States is the main producer and exporter of several primary products), its contribution to the local economy barely exceeds 3%.

Economy in Latin America

Agriculture, livestock and mining were the predominant economic activities in the countries of Latin America since the European conquest and colonization. Currently, The primary sector continues to be fundamental in most Latin American countries.
These are mostly peripheral countries, with economies that are sustained by the export of raw materials, such as wheat, soybeans, coffee, minerals such as copper, gold, silver and hydrocarbons such as oil. In some Latin American countries, such as Brazil or Argentina, the industrial and tertiary sector is also very developed, but the production and export of raw materials remains the main income of the country.

Political characteristics of America

The continent is divided into 35 countries, of which the vast majority are former European colonies, and 23 units of European states such as Denmark, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands.

The 35 American countries are distributed territorially as follows:

Location	Countries
North America	Canada USA Mexico
Central America	Ancient and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenade Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Nicaragua Panama San Cristóbal y Nieves Santa Lucia San Vicente and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago
South America	Argentina Brazil Bolivia Chili Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Surinam Uruguay Venezuela

The sovereign states of the continent have full representation in the United Nations Organization (UN) and the majority diplomatically integrates Organization of American States (OAS).

In addition, there are other regional integration blocks such as MERCOSURthe Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), LA Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Treaty of Trade of the Peoples (Alba-tcp), and the Organization of Central American States (OCAS).

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References

Guerra Vilaboy, S. (1997). Stages and processes of the history of Latin America. CLACSO
Prebisch, R. (2012). The economic development of Latin America and some of its main problems. ECLAC
Sanjuan, L (2022). Who was Américo Vespucio and why Columbus did not give his name to America? Ace
Valverde, S. et al A geography of the world to think. Kapelusz.