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Continent

North America

The third-largest continent, extending from the Arctic islands of Canada through the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains to the isthmus of Central America, bounded by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It carries the Mississippi and Colorado river systems, the Great Lakes, the largest group of connected fresh water lakes on Earth, and the Grand Canyon, one of the deepest river-cut canyons in the world. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Area (sq km)
24,709,000 1
National Geographic Atlas of the World figure, including Central America and Greenland.
Population
592,296,233 1
2021 estimate, Wikipedia infobox (4th most populous continent).
Highest Point
Denali 2
Highest Elevation (m)
6190 2
Lowest Point
Badwater Basin, Death Valley 3
Country Count
23 1
Tectonic Plate Context
North American Plate 1
North America

Countries

Territories

Regions

Connections

Associated With

Asia, Continents

During glacial periods of the late Pleistocene, falling sea levels exposed Beringia, a land bridge across the present Bering Strait joining Siberia and Alaska. It existed intermittently until around 11,000 years ago, when rising seas submerged it and separated the two continents, closing the route early humans and animals had used to cross between them.

Source United States Geological Survey
Source North America (Wikipedia)

This source names North America directly: "A continent joined to North America by the isthmus of Panama and otherwise bounded by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, dominated along its western edge by the Andes, the world's longest continental..."

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source North America (Wikipedia)
Source North America (Wikipedia)
The Caribbean, Regions
Source North America (Wikipedia)
Source North America (Wikipedia)

Open Questions

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. North America (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • infobox, Countries
    Countries: 23 sovereign states
  • Geography section, plate description
    The vast majority of North America is on the North American Plate.
  • Introduction, continent overview
    North America is a continent in the Northern and Western hemispheres.
  • Lead paragraph, opening sentences
    North America is a continent in the Northern and Western hemispheres. 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.
  • Infobox, Area
    24.709 million km2 (9.54 million sq mi)
  • Infobox, Population (2021 estimate)
    592,296,233 (2021; 4th)
  • Associated With: The Arctic Ocean, Opening section, bordering waters
    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.
  • Associated With: The Atlantic Ocean, Opening section, bordering waters
    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.
  • Associated With: The Pacific Ocean, Opening section, bordering waters
    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.
  • Associated With: Central America, Opening section, subregions
    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).
  • Associated With: The Caribbean, Opening section, subregions
    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).
View the Source
2. Denali (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • opening paragraph, summit status
    Denali...is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level.
  • Home To: Denali, Lead section
    the highest mountain peak in North America
View the Source
3. Extremes of North America (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLowest point entry
Quote, Lowest point entry
Badwater Basin, Death Valley, California, United States, lowest land surface of North America at -282 ft (-86 m)
View the Source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
  • britannica.com/place/North-America, main article body (opening definitional paragraph)
    North America, third largest of the world’s continents, lying for the most part between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer. It extends for more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) to within 500 miles (800 km) of both the North Pole and the Equator and has an east-west extent of 5,000 miles. It covers an area of 9,355,000 square miles (24,230,000 square km).
  • Home To: Central America, Central America
  • Home To: Colorado River
  • Home To: The Great Lakes
  • Home To: United States
View the Source
The World Factbook
Central Intelligence AgencyNorth America, population summaryView the Source
National Geographic Atlas of the World
National Geographic Society, 2019World continents area table
United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
  • Home To: The Grand Canyon
  • Associated With: Asia
View the Source
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • Home To: The Pacific Ocean
  • Home To: The Atlantic Ocean
View the Source
Wikipedia: Montreal
WikipediaHome To: MontrealView the Source
Saint Lawrence River (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Home To: Saint Lawrence River, Lead section, opening sentence
    is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes with the North Atlantic Ocean
  • Home To: Saint Lawrence River, Infobox, Country field
    Canada, United States
View the Source
Mauna Kea (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Mauna Kea, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Mauna Kea, Lead section
Mauna Kea is a dormant shield volcano on the island of Hawaii. Its peak is 13,803 feet (4,207 m) above sea level, making it the highest point in Hawaii and the island with the second highest high point, behind New Guinea. Measured from its base on the ocean floor, Mauna Kea rises over 10,000 metres, taller than Mount Everest measured from sea level.
View the Source
The Rocky Mountains (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: The Rocky Mountains, Lead section
Quote, Home To: The Rocky Mountains, Lead section
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch 3,000 mi (4,800 km) in a straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Canada, to New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. Being the easternmost portion of the North American Cordillera, the Rockies are distinct from the tectonically younger Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada, which both lie farther to its west. The range's highest peak is Mount Elbert in Colorado at 4,401 metres (14,440 ft) above sea level.
View the Source
Waimea Canyon (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Waimea Canyon, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Waimea Canyon, Lead section
Waimea Canyon, also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, is a large canyon, approximately ten miles (16 km) long and up to 3,000 feet (910 m) deep, located on the western side of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands of the United States. Waimea is Hawaiian for "reddish water," a reference to the erosion of the canyon's red soil. The canyon was formed by a deep incision of the Waimea River arising from the extreme rainfall on the island's central peak, Mount Waialeale, among the wettest places on earth.
View the Source
Death Valley (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Death Valley, Lead section and infobox
Quote, Home To: Death Valley, Lead section and infobox
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, United States, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is the site of the lowest, driest, and hottest location in North America, with the lowest elevation at −86 m (−282 ft) at Badwater Basin. The World Meteorological Organization lists Death Valley as the site of the hottest surface temperature recorded on Earth. It has an area of about 3,000 sq mi (7,800 km2).
View the Source
Yosemite Valley (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Yosemite Valley, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Yosemite Valley, Lead section
Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California, United States. The valley is about 7.5 mi (12.1 km) long and 3,000-3,500 ft (910-1,070 m) deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines. The valley is drained by the Merced River, and a multitude of streams and waterfalls flow into it, including Tenaya, Illilouette, Yosemite and Bridalveil Creeks. Yosemite Falls, the highest waterfall in North America, is a major attraction, especially in spring when water flow is at its peak.
View the Source
The Mojave Desert (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: The Mojave Desert, Lead section
Quote, Home To: The Mojave Desert, Lead section
The Mojave Desert is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named after the indigenous Mohave people, it is located primarily in southeastern California and southwestern Nevada, with small portions extending into Arizona and Utah. The 54,000-square-mile (140,000 km2) desert supports a number of human activities and is home to Death Valley, the lowest and hottest point in North America.
View the Source
The Colorado Plateau (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: The Colorado Plateau, Lead section
Quote, Home To: The Colorado Plateau, Lead section
The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. It covers an area of 130,000 sq mi (340,000 km2) within western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, southern and eastern Utah, northern Arizona and a small region in the extreme southeast of Nevada. About 90% of the area is drained by the Colorado River and its main tributaries: the Green, San Juan and Little Colorado.
View the Source
Appalachian Mountains (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Appalachian Mountains, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Appalachian Mountains, Lead section
The Appalachian Mountains are a vast mountain range situated in eastern North America, extending roughly 2,050 mi (3,300 km) from central Alabama to Newfoundland.
View the Source
Alaska Peninsula (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Alaska Peninsula, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Alaska Peninsula, Lead section
extends about 497 mi (800 km) to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands.
View the Source
Baja California Peninsula (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Baja California Peninsula, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Baja California Peninsula, Lead section
is a peninsula in northwestern Mexico.
View the Source
Devils Tower (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Devils Tower, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Devils Tower, Lead section
in the Bear Lodge Ranger District of the Black Hills, near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming.
View the Source
Great Plains (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Great Plains, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Great Plains, Lead section
The Great Plains lie across both the Central United States and Western Canada.
View the Source
Greenland Ice Sheet (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Greenland Ice Sheet, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Greenland Ice Sheet, Lead section
covers 1,710,000 square kilometres (660,000 sq mi), around 80% of the surface of Greenland.
View the Source
Lake Erie (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Lake Erie, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Lake Erie, Lead section
Located on the International Boundary between Canada and the United States, Lake Erie's northern shore is the Canadian province of Ontario
View the Source
Great Salt Lake (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Great Salt Lake, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Great Salt Lake, Lead section
It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate.
View the Source
Gulf of Alaska (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Gulf of Alaska, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Gulf of Alaska, Lead section
The Gulf of Alaska is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska
View the Source
Tucson, Arizona (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Tucson, Arizona, Infobox, subdivision_name
Quote, Home To: Tucson, Arizona, Infobox, subdivision_name
subdivision_name = USA
View the Source
Virginia Beach, Virginia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Virginia Beach, Virginia, Infobox, subdivision_name
Quote, Home To: Virginia Beach, Virginia, Infobox, subdivision_name
subdivision_name = United States
View the Source
Turks and Caicos Islands (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Turks and Caicos Islands, Geography and environment section
Quote, Home To: Turks and Caicos Islands, Geography and environment section
part of the Lucayan Archipelago
View the Source
Anguilla (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Anguilla, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Anguilla, Lead section
Anguilla ... is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean
View the Source
Aruba (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Aruba, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Aruba, Lead section
Aruba is an island country ... in the southern Caribbean Sea
View the Source
British Virgin Islands (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: British Virgin Islands, Geography section
Quote, Home To: British Virgin Islands, Geography section
located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles
View the Source
Cayman Islands (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Cayman Islands, Geography section
Quote, Home To: Cayman Islands, Geography section
The islands are in the western Caribbean Sea
View the Source
Curacao (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Curacao, Geography section
Quote, Home To: Curacao, Geography section
Curacao lies on the continental shelf of South America
View the Source
Greenland (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Greenland, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Greenland, Lead section
lies between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago
View the Source
Guadeloupe (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Guadeloupe, Geography section
Quote, Home To: Guadeloupe, Geography section
situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean
View the Source
Martinique (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Martinique, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Martinique, Lead section
Martinique is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies
View the Source
Montserrat (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Montserrat, Geography section
Quote, Home To: Montserrat, Geography section
part of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles chain
View the Source
Puerto Rico (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Puerto Rico, Geography section
Quote, Home To: Puerto Rico, Geography section
Caribbean archipelago located approximately 1,000 miles southeast of Miami, Florida
View the Source
Sint Maarten (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Sint Maarten, Geography section
Quote, Home To: Sint Maarten, Geography section
Sint Maarten occupies the southern part of the island of Saint Martin in the Leeward Islands
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United States Virgin Islands (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: United States Virgin Islands, Lead section
Quote, Home To: United States Virgin Islands, Lead section
The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago
View the Source
Open Questions (1 open question)
Where does North America end and South America begin: at the Darien Gap on the Panama-Colombia border, or farther north at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico?

The conventional political boundary runs through the Darien Gap on the Panama-Colombia border, which places almost all of Panama within North America. Some geologists instead draw the physiographic line farther north, at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico, treating the rest of Central America as a transitional zone rather than as part of North America proper. The two conventions, political and physiographic, answer different questions and disagree by roughly two thousand kilometers.

What would resolve this A single agreed convention for whether the continental boundary follows political borders or physiographic features would settle which line applies; no new fact discovery is expected to close this on its own, since both conventions already agree on the underlying geography.
Physical geographyNorth America (Wikipedia)
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
In Category: Continents

Many national curricula, most prominently across Latin America and much of Southern and Western Europe, teach a six-continent model that combines North and South America into a single continent, America, joined by the Isthmus of Panama; a further four-continent model (Afro-Eurasia, America, Antarctica, Australia) combines them on the same reasoning. The Olympic movement own five-ring symbol reflects a related five-inhabited-continent convention that also treats the Americas as one.

A dissenting reading, from Geography curricula of Latin America, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece and other six-continent-model traditions, aEncyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Frequently Asked Questions

What is the highest point in North America?

Denali, in Alaska, at 6,190 meters.

Denali, in Alaska, rises 6,190 meters above sea level and is the highest point in North America. The continent's lowest point is Badwater Basin, in Death Valley, California, part of the Mojave Desert, which lies below sea level.

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