The United States of America

North America


Geography

North America is the World’s third-largest continent – 24,474,000 km² covering approximately 16.5% of the Earth’s land and 5% of the Earth’s surface.

It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

The eastern side of the continent is generally lower than the west which contains the Rocky mountains. The five Great Lakes lie on the United States Canadian border.


Regions and Seasons

North America can be broadly divided into the six regions

shown on the map (right).

Greenland, Canada and most of the United States lie in the

Northern hemisphere and have four distinct seasons:

Spring – March, April, May

Summer – June, July, August

Autumn – September, October, November

Winter – December, January, February

Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and southern United States have more constant temperatures throughout the year but have a wet season – May to October and a dry season – November to April.


Climate

The climate of South America can be broadly divided into seven different climate types:

Desert – Warm to high temperatures with very little rainfall.

Grassland – Hot summers and cold winters with above average rainfall.

Savanna – This region has very high temperatures all year and rain during the summer season only.


Countries

There are 38 countries and Islands in North America.

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Navassa Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, US Virgin Islands.

The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50

states of the United States of America, and

the 13 stripes represent the thirteen British

colonies that declared independence from

the Kingdom of Great Britain, and became

the first states in the U.S.