North America

North America

Area	24.709 million km2 (9.54 million sq mi) (3rd)
Population	592,296,233 (2021; 4th)
Population density	Script error: No such module "Pop density". (2021)[lower-alpha 1]
GDP (PPP)	US$36.6 trillion (2025 est.; 2nd)[1]
GDP (nominal)	US$34.61 trillion (2025 est.; 2nd)[2]
GDP per capita	US$67,000 (2025 est.; 2nd)[3]
Religions	Christianity (74.6%)[4][5] No religion (19.2%)[5] Judaism (1.6%)[5] Islam (1.3%)[5] Hinduism (0.9%)[5] Buddhism (0.9%)[5] Other (1.3%)[5]
Demonym	North American
Countries	23 sovereign states
Dependencies	23 non-sovereign territories
Languages	English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Danish, indigenous languages, and many others
Time zones	00 to 00
Largest cities	List of urban areas:[6] Mexico City New York City Los Angeles Chicago San Francisco Boston Toronto Washington Dallas Philadelphia
UN M49 code	003 – North America 019 – Americas 001 – World

North America is a continent^{[lower-alpha 2]} in the Northern and Western hemispheres.^{[lower-alpha 3]} It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean.

North America covers an area of around 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 square miles), representing approximately 16.5% of Earth's land area and 4.8% of its total surface area. It is the third-largest continent by size after Asia and Africa, and the fourth-largest continent by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. As of 2021^[update], North America's population is estimated at over 592 million people in 23 independent states and territories, or about 7.5% of the world's population.

The continent includes the subregions of Northern America (comprising Canada, Greenland, and the continental United States as well as the insular territories of Bermuda and Saint Pierre and Miquelon) and Middle America (comprising Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean). In human geography, the terms "North America" and "North American" often refer to just Northern America.^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

It is unknown exactly how and when the first human populations reached North America. People are known to have lived in the Americas at least 20,000 years ago,^[12] but various evidence points to possibly earlier dates.^[13][14] The Paleo-Indian period in North America followed the Last Glacial Period, and lasted until about 10,000 years ago when the Archaic period began. The classic stage followed the Archaic period, and lasted from approximately the 6th to 13th centuries. Norse exploration and colonization began in the late 10th century; the Norse built several settlements in Greenland and at least one settlement in Newfoundland.

Beginning in 1492, the voyages of Christopher Columbus led to a transatlantic exchange, including migrations of European settlers during the Age of Discovery and the early modern period. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect interactions between early European colonists, indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans, later immigrants from Europe and Asia, and descendants of these respective groups. European colonization has led to most North Americans speaking European languages (such as English, Spanish, and French) and the cultures of the region commonly reflect Western traditions. However, there remain significant indigenous populations that continue to adhere to their respective pre-colonial cultural and linguistic traditions.

The Americas were named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann.^[15] Vespucci explored South America between 1497 and 1502, and was the first European to suggest that the Americas represented a landmass then unknown to the Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller published a world map, and placed the word "America" on the continent of present-day South America.^[16] The continent north of present-day Mexico was then referred to as Parias.^[17] On a 1553 world map published by Petrus Apianus,^[18] North America was called "Baccalearum", meaning "realm of the Cod fish", in reference to the abundance of cod on the East Coast.^[19]

Waldseemüller used the Latinized version of Vespucci's name, Americus Vespucius, in its feminine form of "America", following the examples of "Europa", "Asia", and "Africa". Americus originated from Medieval Latin Emericus (see Saint Emeric of Hungary), coming from the Old High German name Emmerich. Map makers later extended the name America to North America.

In 1538, Gerardus Mercator used the term America on his world map of the entire Western Hemisphere.^[20] On his subsequent 1569 map, Mercator called North America "America or New India" (America sive India Nova).^[21]

The Spanish Empire called its territories in North and South America "Las Indias", and the name given to the state body that oversaw the region was called the Council of the Indies.

The United Nations and its statistics division recognize North America as comprising three subregions: Northern America, Central America (which includes Mexico), and the Caribbean.^[22] In the limited context of regional trade agreements such as NAFTA, the term is used to reference three countries: Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

According to the six-continent model, which is prevalent in Latin America and across the Romance-speaking world as well as in Greece, "North America" designates a subregion comprising Canada, Mexico, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the United States; and often Bermuda, Clipperton Island, and Greenland.^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

North America has historically been known by other names, including Spanish North America, New Spain, New France, British North America and América Septentrional, the first official name given to Mexico.^[28]

North America includes several regions and subregions, each of which have their own respective cultural, economic, and geographic regions. Economic regions include several regions formalized in 20th- and 21st-century trade agreements, including NAFTA between Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and CAFTA between Central America, the Dominican Republic, and the United States.

North America is divided linguistically and culturally into two primary regions, Anglo-America and Latin America. Anglo-America includes most of North America, Belize, and Caribbean islands with English-speaking populations. There are also regions, including Louisiana and Quebec, with large Francophone populations; in Quebec and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, French is the official language.^[29].

The southern portion of North America includes Central America and non-English-speaking Caribbean nations.^[30][31] The north of the continent maintains recognized regions as well. In contrast to the common definition of North America, which encompasses the whole North American continent, the term "North America" is sometimes used more narrowly to refer only to four nations, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, and the U.S.^{[32][33][34][35][36]} The U.S. Census Bureau includes Saint Pierre and Miquelon, but excludes Mexico from its definition.^[37]

The term Northern America refers to the northernmost countries and territories of North America: the U.S., Bermuda, Canada, Greenland, and St. Pierre and Miquelon.^[38][39] Although the term does not refer to a unified region,^[40] Middle America includes Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.^[41]

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