North America

continent and northern subcontinent of the Americas

North America is a large continent in the Northern and Western Hemispheres of Earth. It is to the east of the Pacific Ocean, the west of the Atlantic Ocean, the south of the Arctic Ocean, and it is the northern part of the Americas. The southernmost part is Central America. It is the third largest continent in the world after Asia and Africa. North America has a population of around 371 million and is the 4th most populous continent in the world.

North America
AreaAround 24.71 million km2
Population528,720,588 (2008)
Population density21.4/km2 (55/sq mi)
GDP (nominal)$20.3 trillion (201moo3)
GDP (PPP)$20.9 trillion (2013)
DemonymNorth American
Countries25 countries[a]
Dependencies22 dependencies
LanguagesList of languages
Time zonesUTC−10 to UTC
Internet TLDNorth American TLD
Largest citiesList of urban areas

North America has three subregions which are the Caribbean, Central America, and North America. Depending on how it is used, "North America" can be used to mean as the continent as a whole to include all 23 countries or as a subregion to mean Canada, Mexico, and the United States only.[1]

Hundreds of millions of years ago, North America was part of a larger ancient supercontinent named Laurasia. A few million years ago, a new land bridge arose and connected North America to South America. Beringia connected North America to Siberia a few times during ice ages in the past 20,000 years. North America has many warm tropical islands such as the Bahamas. North America is currently north of South America.

Countries change

Flag Official name(s) Area (km2 or sq mi) Population Density (pop. km2) Capital Official language(s)
  Alaska 1,707,000 km2 (659,000 sq mi) 733,475 0.3 Juneau English
  Antigua and Barbuda 442 km2 (171 sq mi) 101,489 622 St John English
  Bahamas
Commonwealth of the Bahamas
13,880 km2 (5,360 sq mi) 358,508 24 Nassau English
  Barbados
Republic of Barbados
430 km2 (170 sq mi) 303,431 755 Bridgetown English
  Belize 22,966 km2 (8,867 sq mi) 419,137 16 Belmopan English
  Canada[b] 8,338,000 km2 (3,219,000 sq mi) 38,486,736 5 Ottawa English
French
  Costa Rica
Republic of Costa Rica
51,100 km2 (19,700 sq mi) 5,256,612 112 San Jose Spanish
  Cuba
Republic of Cuba
110,860 km2 (42,800 sq mi) 10,985,974 95 Havana Spanish
  Dominica
Commonwhealth of Dominica
751 km2 (290 sq mi) 74,656 96 Roseau English
  Dominican Republic 48,670 km2 (18,790 sq mi) 10,790,744 188 Santo Domingo Spanish
  El Salvador
Republic of El Salvador
21,041 km2 (8,124 sq mi) 6,670,304 330 San Salvador Spanish
  Greenland 2,166,086 km2 (836,330 sq mi) 57,777 0,02 Nuuk Greenlandic
  Grenada 344 km2 (133 sq mi) 114,700 477 St George English
  Guatemala
Republic of Guatemala
108,889 km2 (42,042 sq mi) 17,980,803 133 Guatemala City Spanish
  Haiti
Republic of Haiti
27,750 km2 (10,710 sq mi) 11,270,161 77 Port-au Prince French
  Honduras
Republic of Honduras
112,052 km2 (43,264 sq mi) 9,571,352 92 Tegucigalpa Spanish
  Iceland
Republic of Iceland
45,500 km2 (17,600 sq mi) 133,000 3 Reykjavik Icelandic
  Jamaica
Republic of Jamaica
10,991 km2 (4,244 sq mi) 2,830,932 232 Kingston English
  Mexico
United Mexican States
1,964,375 km2 (758,449 sq mi) 129,875,729 87 Mexico City Spanish
  Nicaragua
Republic of Nicaragua
130,370 km2 (50,340 sq mi) 6,359,689 221 Managua Spanish
  Nunavut 1,646,670 km2 (635,780 sq mi) 36,000 0.04 Iqaluit English
Inuktitut
French
  Panama
Republic of Panama
75,420 km2 (29,120 sq mi) 4,404,108 66 Panama City Spanish
  Russia
Russian Federation
1,622,000 km2 (626,000 sq mi) 654,000 0.4 No official capital of North American part Russian
  Saba 13 km2 (5.0 sq mi) 1,945 122 The Bottom Dutch
English
  Saint Kitts and Nevis
Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis
261 km2 (101 sq mi) 54,817 313 Basseterre English
  Saint Lucia 606 km2 (234 sq mi) 167,591 586 Castries English
  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 388 km2 (150 sq mi) 100,814 722 Kingstown English
  Sint Eustatius 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi) 4,404 44 Oranjestad (Sint Eustatius) Dutch
English
  Sint Maarten 34 km2 (13 sq mi) 45,677 1221 Phillipsburg Dutch
English
  United States[c]
United States of America
8,109,517 km2 (3,131,102 sq mi) 338,946,000 15 Washington D.C English
Spanish

Related pages change

Notes change

  1. Including Iceland and Russia
  2. Excluding Nunavut
  3. Excluding Alaska

References change

  1. "Central America | Map, Facts, Countries, & Capitals | Britannica". Archived from the original on 2020-11-18. Retrieved 2022-06-04.