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.