A number of theories exist regarding the naming of North and South America. The most widely recognized is that they are named after Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a New World, previously undiscovered by Europeans. The second and less generally accepted is that the continents are named after an English merchant named Richard Amerike from Bristol, who is believed to have financed John Cabot's voyage of discovery from England to Newfoundland in 1497. A third theory that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of 'Amairick'.
Geography
North America occupies the northern portion of the landmass generally referred to as the New World, the Western Hemisphere, the Americas, or simply America. North America's only land connection is to South America at the narrow Isthmus of Panama. (For geopolitical reasons, all of Panama – including the segment east of the Panama Canal in the isthmus – is often considered a part of North America alone.) According to some authorities, North America begins not at the Isthmus of Panama but at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, with the intervening region called Central America (or Middle America if the Caribbean is included) and resting on the Caribbean Plate.
The continent can be divided into four great regions (each of which contains many sub-regions): the Great Plains stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian Arctic; the geologically young, mountainous west, including the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, California and Alaska; the raised but relatively flat plateau of the Canadian Shield in the northeast; and the varied eastern region, which includes the Appalachian Mountains, the coastal plain along the Atlantic seaboard, and the Florida peninsula. Mexico, with its long plateaus and cordilleras, falls largely in the western region, although the eastern coastal plain does extend south along the Gulf.
The western mountains are split in the middle, into the main range of the Rockies and the coast ranges in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia with the Great Basin – a lower area containing smaller ranges and low-lying deserts – in between. The highest peak is Denali in Alaska.
The United States Geographical Survey states that the geographic center of North America is “6 miles west of Balta, Pierce County, North Dakota” at approximately 48⁰ 10′ North, 100⁰ 10′ West, approximately 25km from Rugby, North Dakota. The USGS further states that “No marked or monumented point has been established by any government agency as the geographic center of either the 50 States, the conterminous United States, or the North American continent.” Nonetheless, there is a 4.5 metre (15 foot) field stone obelisk in Rugby claiming to mark the center.
At the southeastern end of the continent lies a chain of islands. These islands which comprise nation-states or territories are called either the Antilles, the Caribbean or the West Indies. They include the following countries:
Greenland, the largest island in the world and a self-governing part of Denmark, which is located in the far north of the continent to the east of Nunavut.
1 These states and dependencies have territory in one or both of North and South America, but are generally included in North America geopolitically. 2 These dependencies lie close to the South American mainland, but are considered North American because of cultural and historical reasons.
See here for details.
Usage
Geopolitically, Northern America is sometimes used to refer to Canada and the U.S. together (plus Greenland and Bermuda), while Central America is mainland North America south of the United States. In the United States, the term Middle America is sometimes used to refer to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean collectively.
From a linguistic and sociopolitical perspective, the United States, Canada, and the other English-speaking nations of America (Belize, Guyana, and the anglophone Caribbean) are sometimes grouped under the term Anglo-America and included in the Anglosphere. The remaining nations of North and South America (i.e., including much of the West Indies) where Romance languages prevail are referred to as Latin America; this usage has entered into common parlance.
Usage of the term "North America" often depends on context and may mean different things to different people. The term is often taken to mean the United States and Canada only by many people of those two countries, excluding Mexico and the other countries of Central America. In this respect, the term includes other countries only if the context makes it clear that they are to be included. For example, the NAFTA trading bloc also includes Mexico. In addition, guides to wild flora and fauna published by the National Audubon Society for "North America" frequently include only species found in Canada and the U.S. Similarly, Canadians and Americans may often speak of a collective North American culture to describe only the continent's anglophone communities.
This may be attributed to the fact that, culturally and economically, the U.S. and Canada are more alike to each other than they are to the rest of North America. Mexicans, however, are acutely aware that Mexico is a part of North America, particularly as a member of NAFTA and a part of the North American tectonic plate, and object to this usage. Central Americans, however, are generally content to be called Central Americans – largely because of their shared history, which includes several attempts at supranational integration in the region and in which Mexico was not substantially involved.
6. ^Panama is generally considered a transcontinental country in Central America (UN region) and South America; population and area figures are for North American portion only, west of the Panama Canal.
7. ^ Includes the US state of Hawaii, which is distant from the North American landmass in the Pacific Ocean and is, thus, commonly included with the other territories of Oceania.
