North America
[[pl:Ameryka P%F3%B3nocna]]
North America is a continent in the northern hemisphere of Earth, located to the east of the Pacific Ocean, the west of the Atlantic Ocean, the south of the Arctic Ocean, and the north of South America. It is the north part of The Americas.
Satellite view of North America
On the main continent itself can be found three large and relatively populous countries: Canada (some other large islands off the shore of North America and belonging to Canada include Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands on the west, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island on the east, and Ellesmere Island, Baffin Island, and Victoria Island in the north); Mexico (including the Baja California peninsula); and the United States (includes the Aleutian Islands, Alaska)
At the extreme southern end of the continent, in a relatively small area called Central America, are the countries Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, site of the Panama Canal.
At the extreme southeastern end of the continent, lies a chain of islands territories called the Antilles, the Caribbean or the West Indies, which include:
- Anguilla (British dependency)
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Aruba (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- British Virgin Islands (British dependency)
- Cayman Islands (British dependency)
- Cuba
- Dominica (Commonwealth of)
- Dominican Republic
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe (overseas department of France)
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Martinique (overseas department of France)
- Montserrat (British dependency)
- Netherlands Antilles (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
- Puerto Rico (U.S. commonwealth)
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Turks and Caicos Islands (British dependency)
- U.S. Virgin Islands (territory of the USA)
Lying in the Atlantic Ocean but considered part of the continent are Bermuda, a (British dependency); Greenland, a self-governing dependency of Denmark, the largest island in the world, located in the far north of the continent, to the east of Canada's Nunavut Territory; Saint Pierre and Miquelon, found off the coast of Canada, it is the last of France's once vast North American possessions.
| country | pop. dens. | area | population |
|---|---|---|---|
| (/km²) | (km²) | (2002-07-01 est.) | |
| Bermuda (UK) | 1,200 | 53 | 63,960 |
| Barbados | 642 | 431 | 276,607 |
| Puerto Rico (US) | 435 | 9,104 | 3,957,988 |
| Martinique (Fr.) | 384 | 1,100 | 422,277 |
| Aruba (Neth.) | 365 | 193 | 70,441 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands (US) | 351 | 352 | 123,498 |
| El Salvador | 302 | 21,040 | 6,353,681 |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 299 | 389 | 116,394 |
| Saint Lucia | 260 | 616 | 160,145 |
| Grenada | 259 | 344 | 89,211 |
| Haiti | 255 | 27,750 | 7,063,722 |
| Guadeloupe (Fr.) | 245 | 1,780 | 435,739 |
| Jamaica | 244 | 10,991 | 2,680,029 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 227 | 5,128 | 1,163,724 |
| Netherlands Antilles (Neth.) | 223 | 960 | 214,258 |
| Dominican Republic | 179 | 48,730 | 8,721,594 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 152 | 443 | 67,448 |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | 148 | 261 | 38,736 |
| British Virgin Islands (UK) | 139 | 153 | 21,272 |
| Cayman Islands (UK) | 138 | 262 | 36,273 |
| Guatemala | 122 | 108,890 | 13,314,079 |
| Anguilla (UK) | 122 | 102 | 12,446 |
| Cuba | 101 | 110,860 | 11,224,321 |
| Dominica | 93 | 754 | 70,158 |
| Montserrat (UK) | 83 | 102 | 8,437 |
| Costa Rica | 75 | 51,100 | 3,834,934 |
| Honduras | 59 | 112,090 | 6,560,608 |
| Mexico | 52 | 1,972,550 | 103,400,165 |
| Turks and Caicos Islands (UK) | 44 | 430 | 18,738 |
| Nicaragua | 39 | 129,494 | 5,023,818 |
| Panama | 37 | 78,200 | 2,882,329 |
| United States | 29 | 9,629,091 | 280,562,489 |
| Saint Pierre and Miquelon (Fr.) | 29 | 242 | 6,954 |
| Bahamas | 22 | 13,940 | 300,529 |
| Belize | 11 | 22,966 | 262,999 |
| Canada | 3.2 | 9,976,140 | 31,902,268 |
| Greenland (Denm.) | 0.03 | 2,166,086 | 56,376 |
Political highlights of North America
See also: