North America
North America is the northern part of the American double continent, surrounded north of the arctic ocean, east of the Atlantic ocean, south of and western of the Karibik of the Pacific ocean.
It is the third biggest Continent of the earth, to Asia and Africa, and covers a surface of 24.230.000 km including Greenland, the Central American land bridge and the Karibik ². North America has 454.225.000 inhabitants and is thereby No. 4 behind Asia, Africa and Europe.
South Americaand North America after Amérigo Vespucci were designated. He came as the first on the idea that the country, which had discovered and as India had regarded Christoph Kolumbus was its own continent.
The connection of north and South America is the land tightness of Panama. Frequently Central America or central America is called as own continent, however Central America is at the most one region like e.g. Western Europe and belongs to North America.
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geological peculiarities
nearly the entire surface of North America is on the North American plate. Divide California are well-known as edge of the Pacific plate, where the two plates at the San Andreas distortion meet one another.
Since 1931 are Rugby, North Dakota officially the geographical center of North America. The position was marked with 4.5 m a high Steinobelisken.
economics
the economy of North America covers more than 440 million humansin 23 states and Canada by the strong differences between the rich countries the USA and , which are ranked among the wohlhabensten states of the world, is coined/shaped, and which poor countries of Central America and the Karibik. Mexico lies in between somewhere.Although Mexico is part of the NAFTA and the OECD, it is nevertheless poorer around some than the northern neighbours.
Trade associations in North America:
- Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a trade association from world-wide 21 states. Are from North America Mexico, the USA and CanadaMembers.
- Caribbean community (CARICOM) a union 15 Caribbean states.
- Cent ral American Free trade Agreement (CAFTA) is a free trade agreement between the United States, Costa Rica, the Dominican republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
- NorthAmerican Free trade Agreement (NAFTA, North American free trade agreement) is an expanded restaurant group between Canada, the USA and Mexico and forms a foreign trade zone.
history
many North American Urvölker were with the discovery by thoseEuropeans established (also in large cities) and claimant already extensively agriculture and cattle breeding, some were collecting tanks and hunters. After their total population had dezimiert itself due to missing resistance in relation to diseases brought in from Europe around approximately 90%, were theysupport in terms of figures strongly. Thus many Urvölker created new trunks and combinations as reaction for European settlement. Well-known groups are Huronen, Mohawk, Apache, Cherokee, Sioux, Mohegan, Iroquois and Inuit.
After today's knowledge conditions were the first Europeans, who reached North America (Newfoundland), the Wikinger, which called it Vinland. They reached it around the year 1000. Although they established some settlements, they hardly left lasting traces on the continent.
After Christopher Columbus1492 America discovered, were the Spaniards the first Europeans, who remained in North America. They controlled soon the large islands of the Karibik, defeated the Aztecs and received also control of Central America and Mexico.
During some smaller countries like those The Netherlands or Sweden only smaller possessions on the continent had, the continent between the Spaniards, the Frenchmen and the Englishmen were divided.
The first English settlements were Jamestown and Plymouth skirt, which Virginia and Massachusetts were called now. FirstFrench settlements were haven Royal and Québec in the current Canadian provinces new facts Scotia and Québec.
regional ones and political partitioning
on the main land mass are three large and relativelydensely populated countries:
- Canada - many small islands on the bank of North America belong to Canada, including the Vancouver Iceland and the Queen Charlotte Iceland in the west; the prince Edward island, Newfoundland and Cape Breton in the east as well as the Ellesmere island , Baffininsel and the Victoria island in the north.
- Mexico - the Revillagigedo islands and innumerable smaller islands belongs to Mexico.
- the United States - the 48 connected states and Alaska are contrary to Hawaii in the Pacific ocean part of North America.
ToSouth end of the continent, within the relatively small range Central America, are the following countries:
at the southeast end of the continent are many island states, the Karibik:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- the Bahamas
- Barbados
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic of
- Grenada
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Saint of cement and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- pc. Vincent and the Grenadinen
- Trinidad and Tobago 1
and the dependent islands:
- Anguilla (British overseas territories of the united Kingdom of)
- Aruba 2 (part of the Kingdom of thatThe Netherlands)
- dock one islands (British overseas territories of the united Kingdom of)
- Guadeloupe (Überseedépartement and a region of France)
- Martinique (Überseedépartement and a region of France)
- Montserrat (British overseas territories of the united Kingdom of)
- Navassa (nichtinkorporiertes American external area of the USA)
- Netherlands Antilleses 1 (part of the kingdom of the Netherlands)
- Puerto Rico (nichtinkorporiertes American external area of the USA)
- Turks and Caicosinseln (British overseas territories of the united kingdom)
- British young remote islands (British overseas territories of the united kingdom)
- American young remote islands (nichtinkorporiertes American external area of the USA)
present in the Atlantic ocean, but nevertheless among North America to be ranked the following dependent islands:
- Bermuda, (British overseas territories of the united kingdom) itself approx. 1,072 km southeast from New York town center
- Greenland,the largest island of the world is an autonomous component of the Kingdom of Denmark
- pc. Pierre and Miquelon is a French regional administrative body consisting of several islands at the south coast of Newfoundland
1 these States of dependent islands are both in north andalso South America.
2 these dependent islands is in South America, however because of historical and cultural reasons nevertheless among North America is ranked.
The USA and other English-language nations Americas are designated than Angloamerika. Canada is divided into a anglokanadischen and a onefrankokanadischen range. Other north and South American nations are summarized under the terms Latin America or Iberoamerika.
The designation “North America” has repeatedly different meanings for different humans. In the everyday life use in Canada and the USA North America designates sometimes only the USA andCanada. Humans in Mexico however very probably see themselves as part of North America.
see also
Web on the left of
| Wiktionary: North America - word origin, synonyms and translations |
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