Stretching from the Arctic down to the tropics, North America has a lot to offer. Stunning lakes in Canada, rum punches in the Caribbean and Aztec culture in Mexico, the North American Continent is diverse, fun and ever-changing. Then you have the famous cities of the United States. New York, Miami, San Francisco and New Orleans. We all know these cities even if we haven’t visited them. One thing is for sure, North America has a lot to see and do so make sure you check out our guides below.
Get to know North America: 20 Interesting facts about North America:
- There is no landlocked country in North America.
- The most populous city in North America is Mexico City. Over 20 million people live in the metropolitan area of the capital city of Mexico.
- Canada and the United States of America have the longest land border in the world with 8,893 km/ 5,526 miles.
- North America is the third largest continent in world, ranking just below Asia and Africa (which are the first and second largest continents, respectively).
- The word “America” comes from the name of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. He is the first person to have realized that the West Indies and Brazil are actually not connected to Asia (as what most people have conjectured from the voyages of Columbus), but are part of another separate landmass of their own.
- The most dominant languages in North America are Spanish, French, and English. There are also a large number of people who speak Danish, but they are mostly confined to Greenland.
- North America is bordered by three of the world’s largest oceans, namely the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific.
- North America encompasses 23 sovereign countries and 25 dependent territories.
- Canada is the largest country in North America.
- St Kitts and Nevis is the smallest country in North America.
- North America is the only continent that has every kind of climate.
- The modern look of the U.S. flag was designed by a school child from Ohio as a school project. His teacher gave him a B-.
- The Diomedes Islands are a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean. The western island of this group belongs to Russia, while the eastern island belongs to the USA. Both islands are only 2.5 miles apart, but as the International Date Line runs between them, they are separated by a 21-hour time difference.
- North America Facts: Religion: Most of the North American people are Christians (75%), others are Muslims, Jews and some indigenous people have their indigenous beliefs.
- North America is usually split into three main sub-regions Canada (located north), the United States (located centrally) and Mexico (located south).
- Despite being the third largest continent in the world, North America only ranks fourth when it comes to population. It is outranked by Europe which has a population of 739 million (North American only has 461 million).
- The name “America” used to refer to only South America alone. However, when the land mass of present North America were added to maps, most mapmakers opted to retain the original name.
- North and South America are usually considered as subcontinents, while America is the larger continent of which these two are part of.
- Based on mitochondrial evidence, scientists have concluded that all Native Americans come from a single population group that lived during the time of the last ice age. This population then boomed for the next thousand of years and is then conjectured to have spread quickly throughout the Americas via the Pacific Coast route.
- The first Native Americans are believed to have migrated from Asia through a land bridge that once connected the two continents more than 15,000 years ago.
