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About North America
North America is the third largest continent in area and in population after Eurasia and Africa. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocean. It covers an area of 9,355,000 square miles (24,230,000 square kilometres). In 2001 its population was estimated at 454,225,000. It can be geographically defined by subtracting South America from the supercontinent of the Americas.

Although Canada, the United States, and Mexico are geographically in North America, in a European mindset, however, North America is often considered to include Canada and the United States, but not Mexico or any of the Central American countries, which in some contexts may cause confusion. In Latin America, the Americas are considered as one continent and therefore North America is only a subcontinent composed by Canada, United States and Mexico.

North America occupies the northern portion of the landmass generally referred to as the New World, the Western Hemisphere, the Americas, or simply America. North America's only land connection is to South America at the narrow Isthmus of Panama and Panama Canal. According to some authorities, North America begins not at the Isthmus of Panama but at the narrows of Tehuantepec, with the intervening region called Central America. Most, however, tend to see Central America as a region of North America, considering it too small to be a continent of its own.






History of North America
Many natives of North America, as the Europeans found them, were semi-nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers; others were sedentary and agricultural civilizations. Many formed new tribes or confederations in response to European colonization. Well-known groups included the Aztec, Maya, Huron, Mohawk, Apache, Cherokee, Sioux, Mohegan, Iroquois, and Inuit.

The first Europeans known for certain to have reached North America are the Vikings, who called it Vinland. They reached it around the year 1000. While some settlement activity took place, they did not leave much of a mark on the continent.

After Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage, the Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive to stay. They gained control of most of the largest islands in the Caribbean and conquered the Aztecs, gaining control of Mexico and Central America.

While some smaller powers like the Dutch and Swedish had minor holdings on the continent, the main land and most of the islands were divided between the Spanish, the French, and the English empires.

Almost 500 years after Leif Ericson, John Cabot and Sir Charles Jahn explored the east coast of what would become Canada in 1497. Giovanni da Verrazzano explored the East Coast of America from Florida to presumably Newfoundland in 1524. Jacques Cartier made a series of voyages on behalf of the French crown in 1534 and penetrated the St. Lawrence River.

The first English settlements were at Jamestown and Plymouth Rock, in what are today Virginia and Massachusetts respectively. The first French settlements were Port Royal (1604) and Quebec City (1608) in what is now Nova Scotia and Quebec.

Travel Magazine Selections

The New Yorker [1-year subscription] Cover Price: $200.53 Price: $47.00 Issues: 47 Issues/12 Months