North America
Third largest of the continents (including Greenland and Central America),
and over twice the size of Europe
Area:
24,000,000 sq km/9,400,000 sq mi
Largest cities: (population over
1 million)
Mexico City, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, Montréal, Guadalajara,
Monterrey, Philadelphia, Houston, Guatemala City, Vancouver, Detroit,
San Diego, Dallas
Physical:
Occupying the northern part of the landmass of the western hemisphere
between the Arctic Ocean and the tropical southeast tip of the isthmus
that joins Central America to South America; the northernmost point
on the mainland is the tip of Boothia Peninsula in the Canadian Arctic;
the northernmost point on adjacent islands is Cape Morris Jesup on Greenland;
the most westerly point on the mainland is Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska;
the most westerly point on adjacent islands is Attu Island in the Aleutians;
the most easterly point on the mainland lies on the southeast coast
of Labrador
The highest point is Mount McKinley, Alaska, 6,194 m/ 20,320 ft; the
lowest point is Badwater in Death Valley -86 m/- 282 ft.
Perhaps the most dominating characteristic is the western cordillera
running parallel to the coast from Alaska to Panama; it is called the
Rocky Mountains in the USA and Canada and its continuation into Mexico
is called the Sierra Madre. The cordillera is a series of ranges divided
by intermontane plateaus and takes up about one-third of the continental
area. To the east of the cordillera lie the Great Plains, the agricultural
heartland of North America, which descend in a series of steps to the
depressions occupied by the Great Lakes in the east and the Gulf of
Mexico coastal lowlands in the southeast. The Plains are characterized
by treeless expanses crossed by broad, shallow river valleys. To the
north and east of the region lie the Laurentian Highlands of Canada,
an ancient plateau or shield area. Glaciation has deeply affected its
landscape.
In the east are the Appalachian Mountains, flanked by the narrow coastal
plain which widens further south. Erosion here has created a line of
planed crests, or terraces, at altitudes between 300- 1,200 m/985-3,935
ft. This has also formed a ridge-and-valley topography which was an
early barrier to continental penetration. The Fall Line is the abrupt
junction of plateau and coastal plain in the east.
Features:
Lake Superior (the largest body of fresh water in the world); Grand
Canyon on the Colorado River; Redwood National Park, California, has
some of the world's tallest trees; San Andreas Fault, California;
Deserts: Death Valley, Mojave, Sonoran; rivers (over 1,600 km/1,000
mi) include Mississippi, Missouri, Mackenzie, Rio Grande, Yukon, Arkansas,
Colorado, Saskatchewan-Bow, Columbia, Red, Peace, Snake
Low plains on the Atlantic coast are indented by the Gulf of St Lawrence,
Bay of Fundy, Delaware Bay, and Chesapeake Bay; the St Lawrence and
Great Lakes form a rough crescent (with Lake Winnipeg, Lake Athabasca,
the Great Bear, and the Great Slave lakes) around the exposed rock of
the great Canadian/ Laurentian shield, into which Hudson Bay breaks
from the north; Greenland (the largest island in the world next to Australia)
is a high, ice- covered plateau with a deeply indented coastline of
fjords. North America has one of the longest rivers in the world (the
Mississippi) and also a drainage system with one of the greatest water
capacities (the St Lawrence-Great Lakes).
The chief continental divide is the western cordillera and because
rivers rising on the east slopes have a long way to go to the sea, it
follows that the drainage basins of these large rivers (such as the
Mackenzie) are enormous. Whilst the rivers flowing east are the largest,
the rivers flowing west (the Colorado, Columbia, and the Frazer), cutting
through the western cordillera, are the most spectacular. They are also
an important source of hydroelectric power.
Lakes also abound, mainly as a result of glaciation. Arctic Canada
is covered with the remains of an immense glacial lake (Lake Agassiz)
and also the results of ice damming the drainage of water to the open
sea, such as the Great Slave and Bear lakes. The ice sheet deepened
the basins but the early lakes drained south into the Mississippi-Ohio
system, and not until the final retreat of the ice did the lakes seek
the lowest outlet east through the St Lawrence.
Climate:
With a N-S length of over 8,000 km/4,970 mi, North America has a wide
range of climates, and resultant soil and vegetation zoning. About one-third
of the continent has a dry climate, chiefly in the southwest, where
the tropical continental air mass and the rainshadow effect of the western
cordillera coincide. The Great Plains area can be classed as semi-arid.
The larger rivers act as funnels for storms. The Arctic zone includes
the Canadian Shield and Alaska and is dominated by polar air masses;
only in June-Sept do temperatures rise above freezing. The cool temperate
zone stretches south of this from Newfoundland to Alaska and is dominated
by the polar continental air mass bringing long, severe winters. Spring
and autumn frosts are hazardous to crops. The warm temperate zone covers
the Mississippi lowlands and the SE USA and is dominated by the Gulf
tropical air mass. Winters are mild and the frost-free season lasts
over 200 days. The SW USA experiences a Mediterranean-type climate,
with dry summers and mild winters.
Products:
With abundant resources and an ever-expanding home market, the USA's
fast-growing industrial and technological strength has made it less
dependent on exports and a dominant economic power throughout the continent.
Canada is the world's leading producer of nickel, zinc, uranium, potash,
and linseed, and the world's second largest producer of asbestos, silver,
titanium, gypsum, sulphur, and molybdenum; Mexico is the world's leading
producer of silver and the fourth largest oil producer; the USA is the
world's leading producer of salt and the second largest producer of
oil and cotton; nearly 30% of the world's beef and veal is produced
in North America.
Population:
(1990 est) 395 million, rising to an estimated 450 million by the year
2000; annual growth rate from 1980 to 1985: Canada 1.08%, USA 0.88%,
Mexico 2.59%, Honduras 3.39%; the Native American, Inuit, and Aleut
peoples are now a minority within a population predominantly of European
immigrant origin. Many Africans were brought in as part of the slave
trade.
Language:
English predominates in Canada, the USA, and Belize; Spanish is the
chief language of the countries of Latin America and a sizeable minority
in the USA; French is spoken by about 25% of the population of Canada,
and by people of the French département of St Pierre and Miquelon; indigenous
non- European minorities, including the Inuit of Arctic Canada, the
Aleuts of Alaska, North American Indians, and the Maya of Central America,
have their own languages and dialects.
Religion:
Christian and Jewish religions predominate; 97% of Latin Americans,
47% of Canadians, and 21% of those living in the USA are Roman Catholic.
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