North America (Meaning and Explanation)

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

North America has an area of 24.7 million km².

What is North America?

North America or North America is a region of the American continent that extends in the northern and West hemisphere. It has an area of 24.7 million km² and It is made up of the countries of Canada, United States, Mexico and Greenlandthe largest island in the world.

North America limits with the Arctic Glacier Ocean to the North, with the Gulf of Mexico and Central America to the South, with the Pacific Ocean to the West and with the Atlantic Ocean to the East. It has an approximate population of 500 million inhabitantsequivalent to 6.2 % of the world’s population.

The North America Division, Central America and South America was established from the structural differences that the continent has. America is divided into two large continental masses in a triangular way linked by a narrow and elongated portion of land. The northern sector is called North America, the South South Sector South, and the isthmus that UNE is called Central America.

Why is it called that? The name “America” comes from the name of Américo Vespucio, a Florentine navigator who would have been the first to suggest that all that mass of earth was a new continent 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.

Characteristics of North America

It is the northern part of America, the second largest continent on the planet, after Asia.
It presents large mountain chains, both in the east with the Apalaches mountains and the Sierra Madre Oriental, and in the west with the Alaska and Mackenzie mountains, the rocky mountains, the coastal chain and the snowy mountains.
The climate in most North America is cold and humid, and in the regions closest to the line of Ecuador the tropical climate predominates, except in the height areas that predominates the cold and dry climate.
It has large geological deposits of iron, oil and coal.
The most spoken languages are English, followed by Spanish and French.

Extension, population and countries of North America

North America has an area of 24,700,000 km_²which represents 16.6 % of the absolute continental surface of the planet. It is made up of Canada, United States, Mexico and the territory of Greenland, an island located in the north of the continent that depends politically on Denmark.

The total population of the continent is approximately 495 million inhabitants, representing 6.2 % of the world’s population. Population density is 20 inhabitants per square kilometer. This density increases in the big American cities, such as New York or Los Angeles, and decreases significantly in the great practically uninhabited areas of northern Canada and Greenland.

Physical-Natural Characteristics of North America

The American mountain range is made up of a series of mountain chains

North America Climate

The climate of North America is very variable due to the extension of its territory. Among the different climates are:

Continental temperate. It is the climate that predominates in most of the region. The temperature is moderate, with cold and dry winters and with temperate summers. It covers a good part of the United States and Canada
Humid tropical. It is the climate of the Florida Peninsula, in the United States. It is hot, with an average annual temperature of 25 ºC.
Temperate orCeanic. It is the climate of the United States Atlantic coast. The thermal amplitude is mild and rainfall is abundant.
Dry tropical. It is the climate of the southern deserts of the continent, in the United States and much of Mexico. The temperature is high and the rains scarce much of the year.
Polar cold. It is the climate of the regions of Alaska and northern Canada. The temperature is very low, with warm and brief summers and frozen and extensive winters. The rains are mild and are given in the form of snow.

North America relief

North America reliefs can be classified as follows:

Mountain relief. It is located in the west of the region. It is characterized by its high altitude and the frequency with which natural disasters occur as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The main mountain chains are the coast chain and the rocky mountains in the United States and Canada and the Sierra Madre Oriental and Western in Mexico.
Mesetas relief. They are found in the center of Canada and the United States, between the elevated mountains of the west and the east plains.
Relief of plains. They are found in the east of the region. They are characterized by their little elevation and their large number of rivers and lakes. This type of relief corresponds mainly to the area of the canagic shield, in eastern Canada, and the Mississippi river plain in the United States.

North America rivers and lakes

As for hydrography, most of the most important rivers and lakes in the region are in eastern United States and Canada. The Mississippi river is the most importantthat with a hydrographic basin of almost 3 million square kilometers is the fourth largest in the world. It occupies a good part of the center and east of the United States.

The region of the great lakes is also very important in hydrological terms. It is located on the border between the United States and Canada. It includes the upper lakes, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario and the Bay of San Lorenzo. They constitute the largest group of freshwater lakes on the planet.

North America Flora and Fauna

Due to the amplitude of the territory and the diversity of climates that it presents, the biomes of North America are very varied. Throughout North America there are tropical, grassland, tundras, deserts and forests.

You may be interested: Countries and Capitals of Oceania

In the coldest regions of the north the fauna is scarce and is characterized by the presence of polar bears and reindeer. In the regions of the center of the continent the fauna is more variedwith deer, goats, foxes, wolves, bears, pumas, owls, beavers, deer, eagles and a variety of species of aquatic animals living in rivers and lakes.

In the regions of southern North America, the zorrinos, black bears, bison, alces, otters, squirrels and beavers stand out. In the regions closest to the southeast coasts, reptiles, such as snakes and lizards abound.

Culture and religion of North America

The predominant language in North America is Englishspoken by more than 350 million people in the United States and Canada. The second is the Spanishspoken by more than 130 million people in Mexico and in some regions of the southern United States.

French is a minority language in North America, and about 9 million people speak it, only in some regions of Canada. Finally, the few inhabitants of Greenland speak Danish and Greenlandés, their two official languages.

The religion that predominates in North America is the Protestantespecially, in Canada and in the United States. It is followed by Catholicism, which is also practiced in much of Canada and, especially, in Mexico. On a smaller scale, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism are practiced.

Economic Activities of North America

The automotive industry is one of the economic activities.

North American countries have natural resources of different types in their territories. The great plains of the east allow the practice of agriculture and livestock and hydrocarbon extractionthe mountains of the west allow the exploitation of minerals, the coasts favor the practice of fishing and forest surface the forest activity.

The secondary sector is very important in the regionmainly in the United States. Industries such as Automotive, Aeronautics, Informatics and Electronics are some of the most important.

The financial sector is also highly developed, especially in the United States and Canada. Transportation, communications, services and financial sector are some of the most relevant tertiary economic activities in the region.

The United States and Canada’s economy 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.

For its part, Mexico has a more primarized economywith greater importance of activities such as agriculture, livestock and mining. However, manufacturing industrial activities and tertiary activities such as tourism are very important to the country.

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. Mexico, meanwhile, has a much lower level of human development and is in the 86th position worldwide.

Political characteristics of North America

The wall located on the border between the United States and Mexico has almost 1000 kilometers of extension.

North America is composed of the United States, Canada and Mexico, three independent countries, and Greenland, a Danish colony.

The United States, Canada and Mexico are full members of the United Nations OrganizationS, and also make up a regional political bloc called USMCA. The treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (USMCA) is composed of the three North America countries that constituted a regional bloc in 1994 under the name of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement in English in English) and is currently in force under the name of USMCA.

North America History

The first inhabitants of America

It goes back around 15,000 years ago, when groups of hunters and collectors emigrated from Asia through the Bering Strait. These groups dispersed throughout the continent and developed various cultures and languages, and in some cases, great civilizations.

The Inuits in northern Canada, the Apaches, Los Navajos, Los Sioux and Cheyennes in the United States, and the Aztec Empire in Mexico They are some of the most important and developed native peoples who lived in North America before the arrival of European conquerors.

The arrival of Europeans to North America

It began in the fifteenth century with the expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492.
The European continent conquest was mainly carried out by Spaniards, French and Britishwhich established colonies in the region and entered into conflict with the original cultures and peoples that already lived there.
The colonization process had devastating consequences for American indigenous populationsthat suffered the loss of their lands, violence and the spread of diseases introduced by Europeans.
In the 18th century, the British colonies of Eastern North of North rebelled and became independent, which resulted in the formation of the United States of America in 1776.
In the nineteenth century, Mexico managed to become independent from Spain in 1821 and Canada became independent from Great Britain in 1867.
In the nineteenth century, the expansion of the United States also happened to the west and the sum of new lands to its territory such as the purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803 and the war with Mexico in 1846-1848, which resulted in the annexation of much of the northwest of Mexico to the United States.

In the twentieth century, North America witnessed important political and social changes such as the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the great depression of the 30s as a result of the great economic crisis of 1929 initiated in New York City, in the United States.

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References

Gil, A. (2022). The map of North America climates. ELORDENMUNDIAL
Government of Mexico (2022). The American invasion. Gob.mx
Gómez Nuño, S. (2017). The Inuits: Another vision of the world. Susanalogy
López, L. and Gambuzzi, M. (2008). A geography of America to think. Kapelusz.
Semarnat (SF). GEOGRAPHICAL DIGITAL ATLAS OF MEXICO. Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. Semarnat