The recent implementation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) has left the future of the CACM unclear. This tundra radiates throughout Canada, but its border ends near the Rocky Mountains (but still contains Alaska) and at the end of the Canadian Shield, near the Great Lakes. Fertile soils from weathered volcanic lavas have made it possible to sustain dense populations in agriculturally productive highland areas. The western mountains are split in the middle 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. Notable North American fauna include the bison, black bear, jaguar, cougar, prairie dog, turkey, pronghorn, raccoon, coyote and monarch butterfly. For example, small Caribbean island-nations, such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Antigua and Barbuda, have a higher GDP (PPP) per capita than Mexico due to their smaller populations. [81], The first recorded European references to North America are in Norse sagas where it is referred to as Vinland. The continent is delimited on the southeast by most geographers at the Darién watershed along the Colombia-Panama border, placing almost all of Panama within North America. [52] The Caribbean islands, or West Indies, are considered part of North America. The predominant religion in Central America is Christianity (96%). [76][i] Genetic research and anthropology indicate additional waves of migration from Asia via the Bering Strait during the Early-Middle Holocene.[78][79][80]. [129] Canada also breaks into the top ten largest metropolitan areas with the Toronto metropolitan area having six million people. [89] Native culture changed drastically and their affiliation with political and cultural groups also changed. No definitive length of the Pan-American Highway exists because the US and Canadian governments have never officially defined any specific routes as being part of the Pan-American Highway, and Mexico officially has many branches connecting to the US border. North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. North America. The United States Geographical Survey (USGS) states that the geographic center of North America is "6 miles [10 km] west of Balta, Pierce County, North Dakota" at about .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}48°10′N 100°10′W / 48.167°N 100.167°W / 48.167; -100.167, about 24 kilometres (15 mi) from Rugby, North Dakota. Yet megaregion criterion have allowed the Great Lakes Megalopolis to maintain status as the most populated region, being home to 53,768,125 people in 2000.[134]. This has been formally defined by the UN Statistics Division.[11][12][13]. The formation of the Isthmus of Panama that connected the continent to South America arguably occurred approximately 12 to 15 million years ago,[56] and the Great Lakes (as well as many other northern freshwater lakes and rivers) were carved by receding glaciers about 10,000 years ago. Canada was formed from the unification of northern territories controlled by Britain and France. [8] In 1874, Thomas Belt proposed a derivation from the Amerrique mountains of Central America; the next year, Jules Marcou suggested that the name of the mountain range stemmed from indigenous American languages. [143] Its main sources of income are oil, industrial exports, manufactured goods, electronics, heavy industry, automobiles, construction, food, banking and financial services.[144]. North America benefits greatly from its fertile soils, plentiful freshwater, oil and mineral deposits, and forests. 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[57] The geographic area that would later become the United States has been the source of more varieties of dinosaurs than any other modern country. It extends for more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) to within 500 miles (800 km) of both the North Pole and the Equator and has an east-west extent of 5,000 miles. [139] The United States' services sector comprises 77% of the country's GDP (estimated in 2010), industry comprises 22% and agriculture comprises 1.2%. [7], Some argue that because the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries (except in the case of royalty), the derivation from "Amerigo Vespucci" could be put in question. Climate west of the Cascade Range is described as being temperate weather with average precipitation 20 inches (510 mm). [114] In 2012, U-T San Diego estimated U.S. practitioners of Buddhism at 1.2 million people, of whom 40% are living in Southern California.[115]. North-america meaning The continent that is the northern part of the Americas; that part east of the Pacific Ocean, west of the Atlantic Ocean, north of South America and south of the Arctic Ocean. MLS plans to expand to 26 teams in 2020, and to 28 teams by 2022. [150] This is in part attributed to the fact that the economy of the United States is the world's largest national economy; the country had a nominal GDP of approximately $14.7 trillion in 2010. Regions shared between both nations include the Great Lakes Region. [96] In the United States and Canada, there are approximately 150 surviving indigenous languages of the 300 spoken prior to European contact. Pop: 332 156 000 (2005 est). McKinley, 20,320 ft. (6194 m); lowest, Death Valley, 276 ft. (84 m) below sea level. North America means the current geographic area covered by the following countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States of America. North america definition, the northern continent of the Western Hemisphere, extending from Central America to the Arctic Ocean. [145] These areas are the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), and the Central American Common Market (CACM). Next in size are Los Angeles, Toronto,[126] Chicago, Havana, Santo Domingo, and Montreal. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 579 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's population. These urban agglomerations are observed at their largest and most productive in Detroit–Windsor and San Diego–Tijuana and experience large commercial, economic, and cultural activity. Northern Mexico, particularly in the cities of Monterrey, Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, and Mexicali, is strongly influenced by the culture and way of life of the United States. Princeton's WordNet (0.00 / 0 votes) Rate this definition: North America (noun) a continent (the third largest) in the western hemisphere connected to South America by the Isthmus of Panama. The term often refers more narrowly to Mexico, the continental United States, and Canada. [146] Its implementation in 1994 was designed for economic homogenization with hopes of eliminating barriers of trade and foreign investment between Canada, the United States and Mexico. Haiti is included with this group based on historical association but Haitians speak both Creole and French. The following table shows the most prominent sports leagues in North America, in order of average revenue. [128] Whilst the majority of the largest metropolitan areas are within the United States, Mexico is host to the largest metropolitan area by population in North America: Greater Mexico City. North America includes all of the mainland and related offshore islands lying N of the Isthmus of Panama (which connects it with South America). [92] Additionally, despite Greenland's vast resources in oil and minerals, much of them remain untapped, and the island is economically dependent on fishing, tourism, and subsidies from Denmark. [107] The biggest number of Jewish individuals can be found in the United States (5.4 million),[108] Canada (375,000)[109] and Mexico (67,476). In the past decade the trade bloc focused largely on Free Trade Agreements and under the CARICOM Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) free trade agreements have been signed into effect. New York: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (, List of sovereign states and dependent territories in North America, List of endangered plants in North America, Timeline of the European colonization of North America, in the 23 dependent territories in North America, List of North American countries by population, List of North American cities by population, List of North American metropolitan areas by population, List of North American countries by GDP (nominal), List of North American countries by GDP (PPP), United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, Canada – Central American Free Trade Agreement, Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership, "The Naming of America: Fragments We've Shored Against Ourselves", "Mercator 1587 | Envisioning the World | The First Printed Maps", "Acta Solemne de la Declaración de Independencia de la América Septentrional", "Countries in North America – Country Reports", "Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings", United States Environmental Protection Agency, "What's the difference between North, Latin, Central, Middle, South, Spanish and Anglo America? Owing to Europe's colonization of the Americas, most North Americans speak European languages such as English, Spanish or French, and their cultures commonly reflect Western traditions. North America is a continent that includes Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America and the islands of the Caribbean Sea. [77] Later groups include the Mississippian culture and related Mound building cultures, found in the Mississippi river valley and the Pueblo culture of what is now the Four Corners. Now, they're beginning to prove it", "N. America's Oldest Known Petroglyphs Discovered In Nevada", "America's Oldest Art – The Rock Art of Serra da Capivara", "Genetic evidence for two founding populations of the Americas", "What is the origin of zero? Currently under proposal, the Canada – Central American Free Trade Agreement (CA4) would operate much the same as CAFTA with the United States does. Change your default dictionary to American English. This has been formally defined by the UN Statistics Division. This North American density figure is based on a total land area of 23,090,542 km, Depending on definitions, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago have territory in, Panama is generally considered a North American country, though some authorities divide it at the, Includes the states of Hawaii and Alaska which are both separated from the, Descriptions of sites Erikson explored seem to correspond to, Unless otherwise noted, land area figures are taken from, These population estimates are for 2010, and are taken from. However, Bermuda 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. [97], Christianity is the largest religion in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Greenland, along with the Canadian Shield, is tundra with average temperatures ranging from 10 to 20 Â°C (50 to 68 Â°F), but central Greenland is composed of a very large ice sheet. Throughout the Shield, there are many mining towns extracting these minerals. Usually of the savanna type, with rains and high temperatures constants the whole year. Others include the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Gulf of California. [90] As the colonial period unfolded, Britain, Spain, and France took over extensive territories in North America. Also Christianity is the predominant religion in the Caribbean (85%). The 13 British Colonies on the North Atlantic coast declared independence in 1776, becoming the United States of America. North America is the fourth most populous continent after Asia, Africa, and Europe. Of the aforementioned cities, Monterrey has been regarded as the most Americanized city in Mexico. Highest point, Mt. Laurentia is an ancient craton which forms the geologic core of North America; it formed between 1.5 and 1.0 billion years ago during the Proterozoic eon. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/North+America. Large diamond concentrations have been recently developed in the Arctic,[60] making Canada one of the world's largest producers. 9,360,000 sq. [59] Canada's mineral resources are diverse and extensive. [57] According to paleontologist Peter Dodson, this is primarily due to stratigraphy, climate and geography, human resources, and history. [120][121][122][123][124] Greenland has a small population of 55,984 for its massive size (2,166,000 km2 or 836,300 mi2), and therefore, it has the world's lowest population density at 0.026 pop./km2 (0.067 pop./mi2). km). Megalopolises have formed between both nations in the case of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes Megaregion. France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Greece, and the countries of Latin America use a six-continent model, with the Americas viewed as a single continent and North America designating a subcontinent comprising Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Saint Pierre et Miquelon (politically part of France), and often Greenland, and Bermuda. 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)". The Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. [130] The proximity of cities to each other on the Canada–United States border and Mexico–United States border has led to the rise of international metropolitan areas. The United States has proposed and maintained trade agreements under the Transatlantic Free Trade Area between itself and the European Union; the US-Middle East Free Trade Area between numerous Middle Eastern nations and itself; and the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership between Southeast Asian nations, Australia, and New Zealand. The Aztecs were conquered in 1521 by Hernán Cortés.[88]. In 1513, Juan Ponce de León, who had accompanied Columbus's second voyage, visited and named La Florida. The North American economy is well defined and structured in three main economic areas. The Anglophone Caribbean states have witnessed the decline of the British Empire and its influence on the region, and its replacement by the economic influence of Northern America in the Anglophone Caribbean. All Free. These metropolitan areas all have a population of above 5.5 million and include the New York City metropolitan area, Los Angeles metropolitan area, Chicago metropolitan area, and the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Several linguistic groups died out, and others changed quite quickly. Greenland has experienced many immigration waves from Northern Canada, e.g. [66] Highland climates cut from north to south of the continent, where subtropical or temperate climates occur just below the tropics, as in central Mexico and Guatemala. During the Age of Discovery, Europeans explored and staked claims to various parts of North America. This is partly due to the relatively small populations of the English-speaking Caribbean countries, and also because many of them now have more people living abroad than those remaining at home. In a geologic sense, Bermuda is not part of the Americas, but an oceanic island that was formed on the fissure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge over 100 million years ago. The top ten largest North American metropolitan areas by population as of 2013, based on national census numbers from the United States and census estimates from Canada and Mexico. Anthropologists think 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. These are the Arizona Sun Corridor, Cascadia, Florida, Front Range, Great Lakes Megalopolis, Gulf Coast, Northeast, Northern California, Piedmont Atlantic, Southern California, and the Texas Triangle. The North American continental pole of inaccessibility is located 1,650 km (1,030 mi) from the nearest coastline, between Allen and Kyle, South Dakota at 43°22′N 101°58′W / 43.36°N 101.97°W / 43.36; -101.97 (Pole of Inaccessibility North America).[53]. Most notable is Tijuana, a city bordering San Diego that receives immigrants from all over Latin America and parts of Europe and Asia. In addition to the United States, Canada also has relations in Central American trade blocs. In the limited context of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the term covers Canada, the United States, and Mexico, which are the three signatories of that treaty. 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 (some of which are in the Eastern Hemisphere proper), the Alexander Archipelago, the many thousand islands of the British Columbia Coast, and Newfoundland. These cities are the only cities on the continent to exceed eight million, and two of three in the Americas. Therefore, Greenland shares some cultural ties with the indigenous people of Canada. Spanish-speaking North America shares a common past as former Spanish colonies. During the thousands of years of native habitation on the continent, cultures changed and shifted. All Free. [101] A 2015 study estimates about 493,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background in North America, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.

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