Continents 1

This is North America. Professor Nibble lives here. Raise your hand if you live in North America. Sorry, I thought I was back in my classroom at school. Pay close attention to the shapes of the continents. You will need to pick them out of other maps and answer some question about them.

We are going to talk about directions in this section. If you need more help on directions, read the web pages on cardinal and intermediate directions and come back here.

To the north of North America is the Arctic Ocean. To the east of North America is the Atlantic Ocean. To the west and south of North America is the Pacific Ocean. The continent of South America lies southeast of North America.

North America covers about 4.8% of the earth's surface. It is the third largest continent in size. Asia and Africa are larger. It is the fourth largest in population (people). Asia, Africa and Europe have more people than North America. In 2002 North America had more than 514 million people.

North America has three parts - Northern America, Central America and the Caribbean.

The Northern America part of North America (That sounds funny doesn't it?) includes Canada, United States, Mexico and Greenland. There are also two small islands that belong to the United Kingdom and France.

Let's start from the north and work south. There is no land at the North Pole. It is all frozen ocean. The island of Greenland is the first landmass moving south from the North Pole. It is the largest island on earth, unless you think Australia is an island rather than a continent. The island is a territory of Denmark, which is in Europe. Many maps show Greenland as a white country. That's because it's so cold up there. The map below shows Greenland in green.

Canada is slightly larger than the United States in size, but the United States has a lot more people. It is shown here in green. The people of Canada speak English or French.

Canada is the second largest country in size on earth. It borders the United States in two different places because the state of Alaska is not connected to the 48 North American states. On the map above you can see Alaska northwest of Canada.


	I promised you we would learn more about the continents, and the time is NOW. I already said there are 7 continents - North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and Antarctica. If things were so simple! Just like geographers named a new ocean in the year 2000 (changing what I had been taught about the oceans), geographers around the world have different ideas about the continents. Let's start out looking at the continents the way most Americans are taught. I am going to show you several pictures of the earth with the continent in green. This will help us see where each continent is in relation to the other continents. North America

	This is North America. Professor Nibble lives here. Raise your hand if you live in North America. Sorry, I thought I was back in my classroom at school. Pay close attention to the shapes of the continents. You will need to pick them out of other maps and answer some question about them. We are going to talk about directions in this section. If you need more help on directions, read the web pages on cardinal and intermediate directions and come back here. To the north of North America is the Arctic Ocean. To the east of North America is the Atlantic Ocean. To the west and south of North America is the Pacific Ocean. The continent of South America lies southeast of North America. North America covers about 4.8% of the earth's surface. It is the third largest continent in size. Asia and Africa are larger. It is the fourth largest in population (people). Asia, Africa and Europe have more people than North America. In 2002 North America had more than 514 million people.
	Pop-Up Maps	North America 1 North America 2 North America 3 United Nations World Regions
	North America has three parts - Northern America, Central America and the Caribbean. The Northern America part of North America (That sounds funny doesn't it?) includes Canada, United States, Mexico and Greenland. There are also two small islands that belong to the United Kingdom and France. Let's start from the north and work south. There is no land at the North Pole. It is all frozen ocean. The island of Greenland is the first landmass moving south from the North Pole. It is the largest island on earth, unless you think Australia is an island rather than a continent. The island is a territory of Denmark, which is in Europe. Many maps show Greenland as a white country. That's because it's so cold up there. The map below shows Greenland in green.
	Greenland
	Canada
	Canada is slightly larger than the United States in size, but the United States has a lot more people. It is shown here in green. The people of Canada speak English or French. Canada is the second largest country in size on earth. It borders the United States in two different places because the state of Alaska is not connected to the 48 North American states. On the map above you can see Alaska northwest of Canada. Continuing south we have the United States. It is made up of 50 states. Forty-eight states are located together. Alaska is located next to Canada to the northwest, but is still on the same continent. The only state not on North America is the state of Hawaii, which is an island chain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
	United States
	The United States is shown above in green. See those little dots to the west of North America. That's not dust on your computer screen. That's Hawaii. The United States is the third largest country in size on earth. It is the third largest country in population. The language of the United States is English. Canada is located to the north and Mexico to the south. The Pacific Ocean is to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. As we head south on our journey, we come to the country of Mexico.
	Mexico
	Mexico is bordered by the United States to the north and Guatemala and Belize to the south. The people of Mexico speak Spanish. Of all the Spanish speaking countries on earth, Mexico is the largest.
	Central America
	Central America is located southeast of Mexico and is a land bridge that connects North America to South America. It is shown in red in the map above. The Pacific Ocean is to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. There are 7 countries in Central America - Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Part of Panama is in North America (or Central America) and part in South America.
	Caribbean
	All the continents include the islands that are located near them. Southeast of North America is the Caribbean Sea. There are many islands there. Some of them are countries. Some are territories that belong to larger countries. The 3 largest island countries are Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti. The Dominican Republic and Haiti are located on one large island called Hispaniola. On the map above you can also see Central America and how it connects to South America. Some of the islands shown in this map are part of South America and not North America. Click on Freda Right to continue to South America.


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