Mapping North America

Mapping North America book cover — Contents Where is North America 4 Countries in 6 Columbus and before 8 Independent states 10 Climates 12 Wildlife 14 Natural landmarks 16 Human made landmarks 18 Settlements 20 Industries 22 Sports Culture 26 Food and drink 28 Further information 30 Glossary 31 Index 24 32 O O O OO O

Mapping North America — page 1 — Where is North America North America is the third largest continent in the world and covers about 4 8 percent of Earth's surface It's a continent filled with a wide range of wildlife cultures and climates stretching down from the Arctic chill of Greenland to the tropical heat of Costa Rica's Cocos Island Ame North American regions Canada North America is made up of countries that are sometimes split into smaller regions United States The Caribbean United States and Canada The Caribbean refers to the I Caribbean Sea and its chain of islands Although the Caribbean is part of North America it is not attached to the mainland of the continent Some geographers consider North America to be just the United States and Canada South America Central America Latin America The countries below the United States and above South America are sometimes grouped together as one region called Central America This is because the shape of the land appears to be separate from the rest of North America and the countries there share a similar culture and language The countries of Central America the Caribbean and the continent of South America are sometimes grouped under the name Latin America They were once part of empires ruled from southern Europe see pages 8 9 As a result most people in these countries speak the Latin based languages of Spanish or Portuguese

Mapping North America — page 2 — Supercontinent North America was once part of a supercontinent called Laurasia It broke apart into separate continents about 66 million to 30 million years ago North American Plate North America Europe and Asia Caribbean Plate South Ameri South American Plate Earth's surface is made up of tectonic plates which are Afric Laurasia massive sections of rock that move slowly This movement caused the supercontinent to break up into many smaller continents North America sits Antarctica on two tectonic plates the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate Bering Land Bridge Asia Bering Land Bridg Around 20 000 years ago North America was connected to Asia by a stretch of land called the Bering Land Bridge This land is now underwater The first human inhabitants of North America are believed to have walked over the Bering Land Bridge from Asia I North America Ocean Arctic Present day landmass Landmass that existed 20 000 North America years ago Pacific Ocean Atlantic Ocean Possi ible Locating North America migration route South America We can describe the location of North America in relation to the areas of land and water that surround it as well as using the points on a compass North America is west of the Atlantic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is north of North America a North America is north of South America North America is east of the Pacific Ocean

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