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North America - Tectonics, Evolution, Geology: North America is an ancient continent in several respects. It contains some of the oldest rocks on the Earth, its interior has been stable for the longest period of time, and it was the first continent to achieve approximately its present size and shape. Although its known geologic history spans almost 4 billion years, two ages stand out as ...
Apr 4, 2013 · The central core of present-day North America is its craton, the oldest, thickest part of the continent. While parts of the craton peek out in Greenland and Canada, in the U.S., thick layers of ...
3 days ago · Geographical treatment of North America, including maps and statistics as well as a survey of its geologic history, land, people, and economy. It occupies the northern portion of the ‘New World.’. North America, the world’s third largest continent, lies mainly between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer.
In 1499 and 1500, Italian navigator Amerigo de Vespucci (1454–1512) led a Spanish-sponsored expedition that first discovered the mainland of the American continents; the name “America” is derived from his name. In 1513, Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475–1519) became the first European to find the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean.
North America is the fourth most populous continent after Asia, Africa, and Europe. [127] Its most populous country is the U.S. with 329.7 million persons. The second-largest country is Mexico with a population of 112.3 million. [128] Canada is the third-most-populous country with 37.0 million. [129]
- 24,709,000 km² (9,540,000 sq mi) (3rd)
- 23 non-sovereign territories
- 23 sovereign states
- 592,296,233 (2021; 4th)
The history of North America encompasses the past developments of people populating the continent of North America. While it was commonly accepted that the continent first became inhabited by humans when individuals migrated across the Bering Sea 40,000 to 17,000 years ago, [1] more recent discoveries may have pushed those estimates back at ...
Nov 4, 2015 · Host Kirk Johnson explores how the continent was shaped—and how it shaped us. Mighty, elemental forces molded North America—fiery eruptions, titanic floods, the grinding of great ice sheets ...
