Explore this region:
THE AMERICAS,
Strictly speaking, the Americas consists of two continents, North America, and South America. Central America and the Caribbean are considered part of North America. Measured from the northernmost point of Greenland to the southernmost point of South America, it is 15,600 km as the crow flies, making America the most elongated landmass in the world. An estimated 990 million people live in the Americas (13% of the world population) The 2 most populous countries in the Americas are USA with 329 million people and Brazil with 212 million. The smallest independent country in the Americas is the island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis with 261 km². America is shared by 35 countries (sovereign states) and several dependent territories. The highest mountain in the Americas is Aconcagua in Argentina at 6960 meters which also makes it the highest in the western Hemisphere. The longest river is the Rio Amazonas (Amazon River) 6400 km long. The source of this river is in Peru, the largest lake in the Americas is Lake Superior what is shared between the USA and Canada, the Atacama desert in Chile is one of the driest places in the world, The Patagonian Desert is the largest desert in the Americas and over 1000 languages are spoken in the Americas, the major one being Spanish and English. 35 countries share the Americas. North America or Northern America is the northern landmass of the Americas covering 24.7 kilometers. It includes the world’s largest island Greenland and the sovereign states of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. About 498 million people live in Northern America. The Caribbean, sometimes also referred to as the West Indies, are the islands and archipelagos in the Caribbean Sea southeast of the United States and north of South America. The largest islands in the Caribbean are Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad. The term Central America refers to the land bridge between the continents of North and South America; it borders the Pacific Ocean in the southwest and the Caribbean Sea in the northeast. There are seven countries in Central America namely Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. an estimated 182 million people live in Central Americas. South America is the southern continent of the Americas. The fourth-largest continent is mostly south of the equator. The continent is connected to North America by a narrow strip of land known as the Isthmus of Panama. South America’s mainland is shared by twelve sovereign states and one overseas department of France (French Guiana.) an estimated 432 million people live in South America.