According to Countryaah, America is the name of a continent that is located in the western hemisphere of Earth. Its limits are formed by the Pacific (west), Atlantic (east) and Arctic (north) oceans and by the Diego Ramírez islands (south).
Just over 30% of the planet’s emerged surface corresponds to America, where 12% of humanity lives. The surface of the continent is 43,316,000 square kilometers. Due to its immensity, it is common for America to be divided into South America, Central America and North America.
At the geographical level, we can highlight that the three aforementioned divisions of America have different value areas such as:
-In the case of North America, we come across the Great Basin, the Great Lakes, the Sierra Madre Oriental, Mesoamerica, the Canadian Arctic, the Great Plains, the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre del Sur.
-In Central America, on the other hand, the Central Cordillera, the Caribbean Plate and the American Caribbean stand out.
-In South America, meanwhile, there are the South American Caribbean, the Llanos del Orinoco, the Andes, the Gran Chaco, the Pampa, Patagonia, the Plata Basin, the South Atlantic Islands, the Amazon Plain or the Southern Cone, among other geographical areas.
The name of America is a tribute to Américo Vespucio, a Florentine cosmographer and navigator. Vespucci was one of the first people to suggest that the American land corresponded to a new continent and not to the Asian continent, as Christopher Columbus and other explorers believed. So when Columbus arrived in America in 1492, he thought he was arriving in the Indies. In honor of Vespucci, the geographer and humanist Mathias Ringmann gave the name of America to the continent on the world map “Waldseemüller Map”, whose design was workby the cartographer Martín Waldseemüller.
It is important to note that America has been a populated territory for several millennia BC. The arrival of Columbus and other navigators began the European conquest of the lands where the so-called pre-Columbian peoples lived, such as Aztecs, Mayans and Incas.
Currently, the United States is the most populous country in America, followed by Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. Other countries with significant demographic development on the continent are Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador and Guatemala.
The most widely spoken language in America is Spanish. Millions of Americans also speak English, French, Portuguese, Quechua, Aymara, and Guarani, among other languages.
Other data of interest regarding America are the following:
-Its most important rivers, in terms of length, are the Amazon, which has 6,968 kilometers and runs through Peru, Colombia and Brazil; Mississipi-Missouri, which has 6,019 kilometers and is in the United States; and the Mackenzie. This is located in Canada and has 4,420 kilometers.
-Regarding its highest peaks are the Argentine Monte Aconcagua, with 6,961 meters; and Ojos del Salado, which is 6,893 meters high and located in the territory of Argentina and Chile.
-Among the most interesting and world-renowned areas of this continent are the Amazon jungle, the Argentine paleontological reserve of Valle de la Luna or the Patagonian Steppe, among others.
