North America

North America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. 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.

North America occupies the northern portion of the landmass generally referred to as the New World, the Western Hemisphere, or simply the Americas. North America's only land connection is to South America at the narrow Isthmus of Panama. 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.

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, and Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean)

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.

The United States and Canada are sometimes grouped under the term Anglo-America while the rest of North America and South America are grouped under the term Latin America.

It should be noted that the term "North America", when employed in a context other than geography, may mean different things to different people. To many Americans and Canadians the term, in common usage, is often taken to mean "The United States of America and Canada, excluding Mexico", unless the context makes it clear that Mexico is to be included (for instance, when talking about NAFTA). This is due to the fact that culturally and economically, the USA and Canada are more alike to each other than they are to Mexico. Mexicans, however, feel that Mexico is a part of North America and object to the above usage.

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)
Navassa Island (overseas department of France, part of Réunion)
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.

File:North america2.jpg

Political highlights of North America

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
Navassa Island (Fr.)	n/a	5	0

Since 1931 Rugby, North Dakota has officially been recognised as being at the geographic center of North America. The location is marked by a 4.5 metre (15 foot) field stone obelisk.

See also