The Amazon is home to many different types of wildlife including the green-cheeked Amazon parrot Eric and David Hosking Corbis
Views of the Americas TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 3 NORTH AMERICA North America Land of Plenty 6 Greenland Frozen Island 8 Canada The Land of Long Winters 10 Ottawa Canada A Welcoming Northern Capital 12 Quebec Canada La Belle Province 14 United States of America Melting Pot of Many Cultures 16 Honolulu U S Crossroads of the Pacific 18 New York City U S The Great Culture Mart 20 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA Mexico Ring of Fire 22 Mexico City Mexico Sinking City of Palaces 24 Central America The Isthmus Nations 26 Guatemala Land of the Quetzal 28 Nicaragua Volcanoes and Earthquakes in Central America 30 Panama City Panama Land of Many Fish 32 Panama Canal A Major World Waterway 34 Puerto Rico Jewel of the Caribbean 36 Cuba Sugarcane and Politics 38 SOUTH AMERICA South America The Unknown Continent 40 Amazon A Close Look at River Life 42 Andes World-Class Mountains 44 Colombia Columbus South American Namesake 46 Peru Land of the Inca 48 Machu Picchu Secret of the Andes 50 Brazil Half of South America 52 Paraguay The Once-Forgotten Land 54 Chile A Long and Narrow Land 56 Easter Island Land of Giants 58 Argentina Home of the Gaucho 60 GLOSSARY 62 INDEX 63 Brit a nnic a LEARNING LIBRARY Have a great trip
COUNTRIES OF NORTH AMERICA 01 Canada 02 Greenland 03 Mexico 04 United States 05 West Indies 06 Central America Countries of Central America are Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua and Panama see page 44 U S state of Hawaii off map 2 1 4 3 Totem pole in Thunderbird Park Victoria British Columbia Canada All Canada Photos Superstock 6 Morning light on Mount Rushmore South Dakota U S Paul A Souders Corbis 5
NORTH AMERICA L andofPlenty North America is the third largest continent Three countries Canada the United States and Mexico make up most of it The countries of Central America are also usually considered part of North America They occupy a narrow strip of land that connects North America to South America Several islands including Greenland in the north and the West Indies in the south are part of North America too Because it’s so large the continent has many different types of climate Most of Greenland is covered with ice all the time even in summer But the southern islands and countries are usually hot and humid In between there are both deserts and rainy areas but most places have warm summers and cold winters North America is rich in natural resources Forests cover a large part of the land The fertile soils of Canada the United States and Mexico produce large amounts of corn cotton soybeans tobacco wheat and other crops The continent is also rich in minerals such as coal iron ore copper natural gas petroleum and silver The history of the continent goes back thousands of years Scientists believe that people from Asia crossed over to Alaska more than 20,000 years ago and then moved southward Their descendants eventually established great civilizations such as that of the Maya in Central America and the Aztec in Mexico The first Europeans in the region were the Vikings who settled in Greenland in about the 900s It wasn’t until 1492 that explorers from other parts of Europe began to arrive S EA R C H LIG H T According to scientists who were the first people to settle in North America a Africans b Europeans c Asians LEARN MORE READ THESE ARTICLES CANADA MEXICO UNITED STATES OF AMERICA D I D YO U K N O W More dinosaur fossi found other continent in North America than on any ls have been Answer c Asians 7
