North America By Imogen Hodge

2 April 2020

NORTH AMERICA 1

IntroductionI choose North America because in my picture atlas it had very interesting animals like the snowy owl, the harp seals and Arctic hare. There were also interesting plants like the maple tree, cranberries and the cotton plant.

Facts about North America

North America is the third largest continent in size and the fourth largest by the number of people who live there.

1. There are 23 countries in North America with a total of more than 579 million people living on the continent.

Vancouver in Canada 2. Largest Country: Canada. The country is covering almost half the North American continent's land area. Canada is slightly bigger than the USA and about as big as China. 3. Largest City: Mexico City, which is the capital city of Mexico with a population of about 9 million. With more than 20 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area, this is one of the largest cities in the world. 4. Smallest Country: St Kitts and Nevis with only about 54,000 inhabitants. This island country is located in the Caribbean Sea. The least populated dependency is Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory, with less than 6,000 inhabitants. 5. Biggest Island: Greenland. This is also the world's largest island that is not a continent! Greenland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean. - Australia is also an island, but considered a continent. 6. Longest River of North America: Missouri River/USA (3,767 metres/2,341 miles). The Missouri River flows through seven states of the USA: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska,

NORTH AMERICA 2

Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. Together with the Mississippi River, it forms one of the largest river systems in the world.

St Louis on the Mississippi River - which the Missouri joins just north of the city 7. North America Facts: Highest Mountain: Denali in Alasaka/USA. The mountain (6,190 metres/20,310 ft) is located in the Alaska mountain range. Until 2015, this mountain was referred to as Mount McKinley. Denali is considered the third most isolated mountain peak in the world of the world's Seven Summits after Mount Everest (in Asia) and Aconcagua (in South America). The Seven Summits are the highest mountain peaks or summits of each continent.

NORTH AMERICA 3

Mount Denali in Alaska 8. Biggest Lake: Lake Superior. This is the largest of the Great Lakes in the USA. This lake is as big as South Carolina/USA or Austria! Lake Superior is shared by Canada (to the north) and the United States (to the east, south and west). Lake Superior is also considered the largest freshwater lake by area in the world.

NORTH AMERICA 4

Lake Superior's Thunder Bay as seen from the Sleeping Giant 9. Lowest Point: Death Valley. In the Death Valley National Park you will not only find the lowest point in North America with 86 m/282 ft. below sea level, but this is also the hottest and the driest national park in the USA.

These are all of the countries and their capital cities:

Country Capital city

AAntigua and Barbuda Saint John's

BBahamas Nassau

Barbados Bridgetown

Belize Belmopan

CCanada Ottawa

NORTH AMERICA 5

Costa Rica San Jose

Cuba Havana

DDominica Roseau

Dominican Republic Santo Domingo

EEl Salvador San Salvador

GGrenada Saint George's

Guatemala Guatemala City

HHaiti Port-au-Prince

Honduras Tegucigalpa

JJamaica Kingston

MMexico Mexico City

NNicaragua Managua

PPanama Panama City

SSaint Kitts and Nevis Basseterre

Saint Lucia Castries

NORTH AMERICA 6

The country I have picked for the bonus task is called St Lucia because my mummy has been there on holiday and said it was very beautiful.

St Lucia is one of more than 7,000 individual islands, including 13 sovereign nations, that make up the Caribbean. The Eastern Caribbean island of St Lucia is part of a chain of volcanic islands known as the Lesser Antilles. St Lucia is famous for its geothermal activity! Heat from the Earth’s core creates natural hot pools and bubbling mud springs that attract tourists looking to relax in a natural bath! St Lucia’s volcano, La Soufrière, last erupted in 1766 and is now considered dormant. St Lucia may only be a small island – 43 kilometres long and a maximum of 23 kilometres wide (covering 16 square kilometres in total) – but its landscape is varied. There are volcanic beaches,

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Kingstown

TTrinidad and Tobago Port of Spain

UUnited States of America Washington, D.C.

NORTH AMERICA 7

reef-diving sites, luxury holiday resorts and fishing villages, and 76 square kilometres of lush rainforest. St Lucian people & culture

The island of St Lucia is known for its pair of pointy mountains, the Pitons, on its west coast. The west coast, where the capital city Castries is found, is met by the lapping Caribbean Sea and is known for its epic scuba diving! The east coast of the island meets the choppier Atlantic Ocean. The entire population of St Lucia is about 178,000 people. Over the centuries, this island has attracted settlers from all over the world, making it culturally rich. A wide range of religions, music, languages and cuisines can be found here (yum!). Most people are descended from native Amerindians (mainly from Portugal), native Caribs and European settlers (mainly from France). During the 19th century, waves of travellers from Europe, the Middle East, and even Japan settled in the Carribean.

NORTH AMERICA 8

St Lucia was previously called Iyonola by the native Amerindians, and later, Hewanorra, a name given to the island by the native Caribs. Although English is the official language of St Lucia, a larger percentage of people speak a French dialect known as Creole – a legacy left by early French settlers on the island. Every October, the island celebrates Creole Heritage Month, a mix of colourful street parties, art exhibitions, music, theatre, talks, and delicious food. The celebration marks the end of the St Lucia Summer Festival and is a time for St Lucian’s to celebrate their heritage. DID YOU KNOW? St Lucia’s previous names, Iyonola and Hewanorra, mean “island of the iguanas”. Here is a map showing where it is.

NORTH AMERICA 9