North America is the third largest continent in size and the fourth largest when we consider population. The North American continent houses 23 countries. The continent is located in the Northern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere. There are 23 countries in North America and 9 dependencies with a total of more than 590 million people living on the continent.
The largest country is Canada, covering almost half the North American continent’s land area. Canada is slightly bigger than the USA and about as big as China. The largest city is Mexico City, which is the capital city of Mexico with a population of about 9 million. With more than 20 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area, this is one of the largest cities in the world.
The smallest country is St Kitts and Nevis with only about 54,000 inhabitants. This island country is located in the Caribbean Sea. The least populated dependency is Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory, with less than 6,000 inhabitants.
The most populous city in North America is Mexico City. Over 20 million people live in the metropolitan area of the capital city of Mexico. However, more than half of the population of the North American continent lives in the United States. 330 million people live there. The biggest cities (metropolitan areas) in North America are:
- Mexico City in Mexico – 21.3 million inhabitants
- New York in the United States – 20.2 million inhabitants
- Los Angeles, the United States – 13.3 million inhabitants
- Chicago, the United States – 9.5 million inhabitants
- Dallas, Fort Worth, the United States – 7.1 million inhabitants
- Houston, the United States – 6.6 million inhabitants
- Toronto, Canada -6.1 million inhabitants
The biggest Island is Greenland. This is also the world’s largest island that is not a continent. Greenland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean. Australia is also an island but is considered a continent.
The longest river is the Missouri River, the United States, 3,767 km/ 2,341 miles. The Missouri River flows through seven states of the United States of America – South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas. Together with the Mississippi River, it forms one of the largest river systems in the world.
The highest mountain is Denali in Alaska, the United States. The mountain, 6,190 meters/ 20,310 ft, is located in the Alaska mountain range. Until 2015, this mountain was referred to as Mount McKinley. Denali is considered the third most isolated mountain peak in the world of the world’s Seven Summits after Mount Everest in Asia and Aconcagua in South America. The Seven Summits are the highest mountain peaks or summits of each continent.
The biggest lake is Lake Superior. This is the largest of the Great Lakes in the United States. This lake is as big as South Carolina, or Austria. Lake Superior is shared by Canada to the north and the United States to the east, south, and west. Lake Superior is also considered the largest freshwater lake by area in the world.
The lowest point in North America is Death Valley. In the Death Valley National Park, you will not only find the lowest point in North America with 86 m/ 282 ft. below sea level, but this is also the hottest and driest national park in the USA.
North America was first populated about 10,000 years ago when people moved across the Bering Sea between Siberia and Alaska. First records are found on the island of Greenland from about 980. Indigenous people lived in various clusters from small family groups to large empires across the whole continent.
The European explorers arrived in larger numbers only after Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. There were power struggles between the colonizers from Spain, Portugal, France, and England, as well as revolutions of the local indigenous people which later led to the creation of the different independent states.
Before the Europeans arrived in North America, the indigenous and native Americans were the people who lived on the continent. Today, the biggest groups of native Americans are the Navajo, Iroquois, and the Cherokee people. Only 2% of all US Americans consider themselves as Native Americans. In Canada, among the Indigenous people are First Nations people, the Métis, and the Inuit.
In Mexico, the largest indigenous minority groups belong to the modern Mayan people such as the Campeche or Yucatan or people. Mayan or mixed Mayan people are also among the largest ethnic groups in other countries. Many of the descendants of the Maya people live also in Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.
English is most widely spoken in North America. French and Spanish are spoken by many as second languages in the USA. While Spanish is the most common first language in the Caribbean, French is the first language of 20% of the Canadian population.
Most of the North American people are Christians (75%), others are Jews, Muslims, and some indigenous people have their own indigenous beliefs.
Frog on the border 