Americas

The Americas, sometimes called America together, are a landmass made up of North America and South America. As one continent, the Americas are the second largest by area after Asia. They are the third largest by population. They make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere. They are called the "New World," in contrast to the "Old World" of Afro-Eurasia.

With their associated islands, the Americas cover 8% of Earth's total surface and 28.4% of its land. The west coast is mostly the American Cordillera, a long chain of mountains. The flatter east side has large river basins, such as the Amazon, St. Lawrence River–Great Lakes, Mississippi, and La Plata basins. The Americas stretch 14,000 km (8,700 mi) from north to south, so the climate and nature vary a lot. They range from the cold tundra of Northern Canada, Greenland, and Alaska to the warm tropical rainforests in Central America and South America.

Humans first settled the Americas from Asia between 20,000 and 16,000 years ago. Later, a second group of Na-Dene speakers also came from Asia. Around 3500 BCE, the Inuit moved into the neoarctic. This move completed what is generally seen as the settlement by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. The Norse colonization of North America set up several settlements in Greenland and perhaps on the mainland, but these were later left behind. The Spanish voyages of Christopher Columbus from 1492 to 1504 led to lasting contact with European powers, and later with other Old World powers. This led to the Columbian exchange and began a time of exploration, conquest, and colonization, whose effects still last today.

The Spanish presence involved the enslavement of many Indigenous people. Diseases brought from Europe and West Africa devastated the indigenous peoples, and European powers took control of the Americas. Mass emigration from Europe, including many indentured servants, and the importation of African slaves largely changed the population of much of the Americas. Decolonization of the Americas began with the American Revolution in the 1770s and mostly ended with the Spanish–American War in the late 1890s. Today, almost everyone in the Americas lives in independent countries. Because of European colonization, the Americas still share many cultural traits, especially Christianity and West European languages: mainly Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, and, to a lesser extent, Dutch.

More than a billion people live in the Americas, and about two-thirds of them live in the United States, Brazil, and Mexico. The region has eight megacities, which are metropolitan areas with 10 million or more people. These include Greater Mexico City (21.2 million), São Paulo (21.2 million), New York City (19.7 million), Los Angeles (18.8 million), Buenos Aires (15.6 million), Rio de Janeiro (13.0 million), Bogotá (10.4 million), and Lima (10.1 million).

Etymology and naming

Main article: Naming of the Americas

The name "America" was first written down in 1507, on a world map made by Martin Waldseemüller. It also appeared in the Cosmographiae Introductio, which was probably written by Matthias Ringmann, where it referred to South America. In 1538, Gerardus Mercator used the name for both North and South America. Most people believe the name came from Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer who travelled to both continents. In 1908, Alfred Hudd, a historian from Bristol, suggested a different idea. He said the name may have come from a family name on early British maps that no longer exist. That family name was linked to Richard Amerike, a rich merchant and sheriff of Bristol. However, there is no proof that he helped John Cabot or owned the ship Matthew.

The word "America" was first used in a feminine form, like the names of the other continents: Asia, Africa, and Europa. Since the 1950s, English speakers have usually treated North America and South America as separate continents. Together, they are called "the Americas." When they are seen as one continent, it is often called "the continent of America." Without other context, "America" in English often means the United States of America.

Terminology

Main article: Naming of the Americas

Main article: American (word)

The region was first called America or New India on Mercator maps. English speakers often call North America and South America "the Americas," "the Western Hemisphere," or "the New World." In English, the word "American" mostly means things from the United States, so other words, such as "Pan-American," are sometimes used instead. The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) in Paris keeps one group for "America," shown by one of the five Olympic rings. American writer H. L. Mencken noted that Latin Americans use the word Norteamericano in formal writing.

Other languages use these words in different ways. In Spanish, América is one continent. It includes América del Sur, América del Norte, the land bridge of América Central, and the Antillas. People from the United States are usually called estadounidense ("United Statesian") instead of americano. In Portuguese, América can also mean the United States, so it is avoided in formal writing. In French, américain is mostly used for the United States, while Panaméricain clearly refers to the Americas. In Dutch, Amerika mostly means the United States, so people often say Noord- en Zuid-Amerika to mean the whole region. For people from Argentina, Dutch uses the word Argentijns.

History

Main article: History of the Americas

Main article: Pre-Columbian era

The pre-Columbian era is the time before European influence reached the Americas. It began when the first people settled there and ended when Europeans arrived and took over large areas. Many groups, such as the Maya, Aztec, and Inca, built cities, farmed the land, and had well-organized societies. Some of these peoples are known mainly through archeological studies. Many of their written records were destroyed, so historians today learn about them from a small number of surviving documents.

Further informationon theories of Paleo-Indian migration: Peopling of the Americas

The first people came to the Americas from Asia, most likely by crossing the Beringia land bridge. Places where people lived in Alaska and Yukon are at least 20,000 years old. Researchers are still learning the exact dates and paths these travelers took. Later, other groups arrived, including the ancestors of today's Inuit. Around 1000 CE, Viking explorers also reached Greenland and Vinland. They built a settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows. Main article: Norse colonization of North America

Large-scale European colonization began with the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. The first Spanish settlement was La Isabela on Hispaniola. It was soon replaced by Santo Domingo de Guzmán, founded in 1496, which became the center of Spanish rule. European explorers and settlers spread across the Americas. New diseases from Europe and Africa caused many Native Americans to die. Many people were taken to the Americas against their will as slaves, prisoners, or indentured servants.

Movements for independence began with the American Revolution and the Haitian Revolution in the late 1700s. Many Latin American countries, including Mexico, Brazil, and Peru, became independent in the early 1800s. Other lands, such as Louisiana from France and Alaska from Russia, were acquired peacefully through purchase. Canada became independent from the United Kingdom through a series of steps that ended in 1982. Many Caribbean countries became independent in the 1960s and 1970s, and some in the 1980s.

Geography

Further information: Geography of North America and Geography of South America

The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere. The northernmost point is Kaffeklubben Island, which is the most northern piece of land on Earth. The southernmost clear point is Águila Islet. Some people also count the Antarctic islands of Southern Thule. The mainland is the longest land area from north to south in the world. It stretches about 14,000 km (8,700 mi), from Murchison Promontory on the Boothia Peninsula in northern Canada to Cape Froward in Chilean Patagonia. The most western point of the mainland is the end of the Seward Peninsula in Alaska. But Attu Island is considered the most western point of all. Ponta do Seixas in northeastern Brazil is the most eastern point of the mainland. Nordostrundingen in Greenland is the most eastern point of the continental shelf.

South America broke away from the western side of the supercontinent Gondwana about 135 million years ago. About 15 million years ago, the Caribbean Plate and the Pacific Plate collided. This created volcanoes and islands along their border. By about three million years ago, the Isthmus of Panama joined North and South America into one landmass. The Great American Interchange helped many kinds of animals spread across the Americas. These included the cougar, procyonids, porcupines, opossums, armadillos, and hummingbirds.

The western Americas are covered by the American Cordillera, a large chain of mountains. It includes the Andes along South America's west coast. It also includes the Rocky Mountains and other North American Cordillera ranges in western North America. The Appalachian Mountains are about 2,300 km (1,400 mi) long. They run along North America's east coast from Alabama to Newfoundland. The Arctic Cordillera runs along the coast of eastern Canada, north of the Appalachians. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range are about as tall as the Rockies, but they are much smaller. Most fourteeners in North America are in the United States, especially in Colorado. The highest peak in the Americas is Aconcagua in Argentina, in the Andes. The tallest peak in North America is Denali (Mount McKinley) in Alaska. North America also has flat areas, such as the Interior Plains and the Canadian Shield, which covers almost 5 million km². The Amazon basin is flat. The Brazilian Highlands are smooth. The Gran Chaco and Pampas are wide lowlands.

A tropical rainforest climate is found in the Amazon, in cloud forests, in southeastern Florida, and in the Darién Gap. Dry and continental climates are found in the Rocky Mountains and Andes. Southeastern North America is known for tornadoes and hurricanes. Most tornadoes happen in the United States' Tornado Alley and the southern Dixie Alley in late winter and early spring.

The Americas have several large river basins. The Mississippi basin is the largest in North America. It covers the second-largest watershed on Earth. The Mississippi–Missouri system drains most of 31 US states, most of the Great Plains, and the land between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. It is the fourth-longest river system and has the tenth-greatest discharge in the world. East of the Appalachians, rivers such as the Hudson, Saint John, and Savannah flow into the Atlantic Ocean. Rivers in central Canada drain into Hudson Bay. The largest of these is the Churchill River. On the west coast, the main rivers are the Colorado, Columbia, Yukon, Fraser, and Sacramento. The Colorado drains much of the Southern Rockies and parts of the Basin and Range Province. It flows into the Gulf of California. Over a very long time, it carved the Grand Canyon and created the Salton Sea. The Mackenzie River is the largest river in Canada and flows into the Arctic Ocean. The largest river basin in South America is the Amazon. It carries more water than any other river on Earth. The Paraná River forms the second-largest watershed there.

About 2.5 million years ago, continental drift brought North and South America together through the Isthmus of Panama. Plants and animals began to move between them. This exchange is known as the Great American Interchange. After about a million years, it became uneven. Far more North American species spread into South America than the other way around.

Countries and territories

See also: List of sovereign states and dependent territories in the Americas

The Americas have 35 countries. Some other places in the Americas belong to countries outside the region. These include an autonomous country of Denmark, three overseas departments of France, three overseas collectivities of France, and one uninhabited territory of France. The United Kingdom has eight overseas territories here. The Netherlands has three constituent countries and three public bodies. The United States has two unincorporated territories and one uninhabited territory.

Economy

Main article: Economy of the Americas

See also: Economy of North America, Economy of South America, and Latin American economy

See also: List of North American countries by GDP (nominal) and List of North American countries by GDP (PPP)

See also: List of Latin American and Caribbean countries by GDP (PPP)

In 2020, the United States was the world's second largest exporter and the largest importer. Many other countries in the Americas, such as Mexico, Canada, and Brazil, also traded large amounts of goods. Farming is very strong across the continent. Countries like United States, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina are among the biggest farm producers in the world. In 2019, the continent grew most of the world's soy, sugarcane, coffee, and maize. It also grew many orange, pineapple, lemon, and cotton crops. The Americas also raise many animals for food, including livestock, beef, chicken meat, and cow's milk.

The World Bank ranks countries each year by the total value of what they produce. In 2019, the United States had the second most valuable industry in the world, and Mexico, Brazil, and Canada were also near the top. The continent also produces a lot of oil, natural gas, coal, vehicles, and steel. Its mining includes large amounts of gold, silver, copper, platinum, iron ore, zinc, molybdenum, lithium, lead, bauxite, tin, manganese, antimony, nickel, niobium, rhenium, and iodine. According to the International Monetary Fund, Panama and the Dominican Republic are among the fastest-growing economies in the Americas. Haiti has the lowest income per person in the Americas, although its economy was growing slightly as of 2016.

Demographics

Further information: List of countries in the Americas by population

See also: Largest cities in the Americas and List of metropolitan areas in the Americas by population

Further information: Religion in Latin America, Religion in North America, Christianity in the Americas, and Islam in the Americas

Main articles: Indigenous languages of the Americas, Languages of North America, and Languages of South America

In 2021, about 1.03 billion people lived in the Americas. About 596.6 million lived in North America, which includes Central America and the Caribbean. About 434.3 million lived in South America. The people of the Americas come from Indigenous peoples, people from Europe, Africa, and Asia, and people of mixed family backgrounds. The three largest population centers are Mexico City, which is home to the largest metropolitan area; New York City, which is home to the largest urban area; and São Paulo, the largest city itself.

Most people live in Latin America, where Spanish and Portuguese are the main languages. The region is named for its cultures, which have roots in Latin Europe. Anglo-America, where English is most common, includes Canada and the United States. Spanish is the most widely spoken first language in the Americas, followed by English and Portuguese. Christianity is the most common religion. The slave trade brought many people from Africa to the Americas, where they were forced to work on plantations, in mines, and on farms. In 1791, the Haitian Revolution, led by Jean-Jacques Dessalines, became the only successful uprising of enslaved people in history. It led to the world's first black republic.

Culture

Main articles: Culture of North America and Culture of Latin America

See also: Pan American Championship

Baseball is one of the most popular sports in the Americas. It spread across the region when the United States grew more powerful in the late 1800s. In most places outside the Commonwealth Caribbean, it became more popular than cricket. Cricket is a similar bat-and-ball game that arrived earlier with British influence. Other American sports, such as basketball, have also grown across the region.

Football is perhaps the most popular and widely watched sport in the Americas. CONCACAF oversees North America, along with the national teams of Central America and the Caribbean. CONMEBOL represents South America and its national teams.

Multinational organizations

Here is a list of groups that work together across countries in the Americas.

• Alliance for Progress
• American Capital of Culture
• Andean Community of Nations
• Association of Caribbean States
• Bank of the South
• Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas
• Caribbean Community
• CARICOM Single Market and Economy
• Central American Common Market
• Central American Parliament
• Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
• Contadora Group
• Free Trade Area of the Americas
• Latin American Free Trade Agreement
• Latin American Parliament or Parlatino
• Mercosur or Mercosul
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• Organization of American States
• Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
• Organization of Ibero-American States
• Pacific Alliance
• Pan American Sports Organization
• Regional Security System
• Rio Group
• School of the Americas
• Summit of the Americas
• Union of South American Nations
• United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement
• YOA Orchestra of the Americas