AMERICA

(71° N. to 54° S., 35° to 170° W.), two continents (connected by isthmus), Western hemisphere; com-| prises North, South, and Central America; total area, c. 16,000,000 sq. miles; total pop. c. 170,000,000; named after who followed up Columbus orth America (15° to 85° N., 55° N to 170° W.) is bounded N. by Arctic | Ocean, N.E. by Smith Sound, Baffin | Bay, Davis Strait; S.E. by Atlantic; S. | by Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and | Central _A.; W. and S.W. by Bering | Strait, Bering Sea, Pacific. Hxtreme of|length is c. 4500 miles; width, c. 3300 miles; area, c. 8,300,000 sq. miles. | Continent expands broadly in N. and to the 8. Coast-line is much the|!0Wiand indented. ‘region Surface in center, consists drained of great by ntains in W. are en Rock 1D a:; ies, an le parallel range known as Sierra Nevada |i California and as Cascade range farther north; chief peak of Rockies, Mt. Blanca, of Sierra Nevada, Mt.. Prat. 4 fa Whitney; and in E. Appal a chi an Moun: tains, highest peak, Mount Mitchell. Principal Rivers are St. Lawrence in E., Yukon, Fraser, Columbia, Colorado in ra ains an owing respectively to Gulf P of Mexico, Arctic,. and Hudson bi Bay. } Chief Lakes are Great Bear, Great Slave, in Canada; Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario, between Canada and con-|U.S.A. Chief Islands are Newfoundland, | Cape Breton, Anti cost i, Prince Edward’s | Island, off Quebec and New Brunswick; Mi opie eae See (eee nik eile W. coast; some of West Indies in 8. Climate varies; has great extremes. There are vast forests of pine, beech, are|oak, hickory, ash, sycamore, chestnut, the|and other trees; enormous quantities |of wheat, corn, barley, millet, rice, potatoes, peas produced; many fruits | cultivated; sugar, coffee, cotton, cocoa, vanilla grown. Minerals include coal, |jron, gold, silver, copper, lead, salt, | petroleum. Political Divisions are Green land in N.E., Dan. colony; Dominion of Canada, which includes all British North American po e ions except Newfoundland, in ener a United pierce of | ©? 80 exico in southern iat, Alaska (q.v.) in N.W. corner belongs to Central America (8° to 21° 30’ W., 77° 30’ to 92° 50’ W.), unites North and South A.; extreme length, c. 1000 miles; breadth, 70 to over 300 miles; area, c. 210,000 sq. miles; bounded N. by Mexico, E. by Caribbean Sea, 8. and W. by Pacific. Northern part is mountainous, with steep slope to Pacific, and ing more gradually to Atlantic; narrow southern part is mountain from sea to sea. Chief Mountains are the Sierra fn Costa Rica, Chiriqui range in Panama; many volcanoes, including Fuego, Nicaragua, Chiriqui in Costa Rica. Principal Rivers are Segovia, Patuca, Ulua, Grande, Motagua, San Chief Lakes are Nicaragua, Am at it lan, divisions are British Honduras in N.E.| and the independent stat of Guatemala, es Rica and Panama. Climate varies according to elevation; earthquakes frequent. In tropical belt, rubber, mahogany, cacao occur; coffee and grain are largely produced; other products are sarsaparilla, tortoise-shell, fruits, indigo, hides. The people are of Indian or mixed Span. and Ind, race. Pop. ec. 5,000,000. The West ‘Indies lie to the E. Central A., between North and South They include Cuba and Haiti, which are independent republics, the’ Bahamas, and Windward Islands, which belong to Britain. South America (12° 25’ N. to 56°S., 35° 15’ to 81° 20’ W.) is bounded N. by Caribbean Sea, N-E. by N. Pacific. Extreme length is c. 4750 miles; breadth, ¢. 3200 miles; area, 7,500,000 sq. miles. "Whole of W. side is occupied by mountains, upland valleys, and _platoaus of Andes (q.v.) from the N. which an offshoot curves round by N. side of the Orinoco. Along the side of the lower Orinoco, and eastward, is the plateau of Guiana; and in between mouth of Amazon and Rio de Plata, is Plateau of Brazil. Rest surface consists of great plains—wooded selvas and gra y pampas. N. is drained by Colombian Magdalen a and Orinoco, N. center by Amazon and its tributaries and To can tins; extreme E. projection San Francisco River; §. center Paraguay, Parana, Uruguay, and their tributaries. Coast-line little broken except at river mouths. See Norra America, Sour AMERICA. Climate is generally temperate equable. There are enormous forests, those in tropical regions having nificent trees and flowering Fruits grown include oranges, pine-| sia, cinchona, tapioca, vanilla, indigo, cacao, sugar-cane also produced. Min-| oe ey. gold, silver, diamonds, Political divisions are the republics| zil, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay; colonies of British, Dutch and French Guiana in N.E.;| | Falkland Islands in S.H. belong to Britain. Pop. c. 45,000,000. in Geology of America.—Rocky Mountains | in North A. and Andes in South A. were | formed by upheavals of Tertiary period, Juan.|and are thus comparatively recent; | Appal a chi ans in North A. are of Palzeo- | zoio or early Mesozoic formation; H, Brazilian highlands in South A. and | A dir on dacks in North A. belong to |Archeean period. From similarity be- | tween rocks on eastern coasts of A. and | those on western coasts of Europe and | Africa, and from existence of submerged | mountain range running through At- |lantic, it is believed that the Atlantic | was formed by a rift valley. Races.—Arctic regions of North A. | are inhabited by Eskimos, a yellow race, who live chiefly by fishing and seal of| hunting; they are short, fat, with black A | hair and brown skin. Their origin has | Ot been authoritatively established. | Aboriginal inhabitants of remainder of | Continent were Indians; these are | Seme rally tall and well developed, with black hair and high cheek-bones. They | 37@ called ‘red Indians’ from the copper colored skin of certain tribes. est At-|<nown tribes are the Sioux ia the west by | Plains, the Iroquois in Canada and | S0nians in South A. In Mexico and | Central A. the people are chiefly creoles | #24 half-breeds; in razil are large numof| bers of negroes and mulattoes, while the|the South American pampas are the §. | home of a mixed race called the Gauchos. | Lhere are many negroes in U.S.A. The &., | Zuropean inhabitants of North A. are la | Chiefly of Brit., Ger., and Scand in avian of pen a iste t South A. of Span. and | £Skimos and Indians, lived by hunting; | former had underground huts or tents by | ade of hides, latter inhabited skin by | Wigwams; had only stone and wooden | Weapons, metal tools being unknown before coming of white men. Tribes were Maps|Sene rally governed on clan system) ct Ree net yee: ee and lin een ee eee hed intervals between hunting expeditions mag-|some tribes executed fine carvings on plants.|/ivor y. Women did sewing with sinew for thread, with which they made skin garments. Eskimos wore trousers and | ypper garments; in warmer regions short skirts were worn by women and breech | cloths by men. They ornamented them_ |selves by tatooing and painting, and warriors often had fringe of scalps Bra- | adorning their garments. General History —Norsemen poocied Green land about X. cent., and ed the adjacent coast of America. No trace of their occupation remains, and Amerfica may be said to have been first discovered by Columbus, who reached the Bahamas in 1492. He afterwards made further discoveries, 1493-1504, in South America and the West Indies, but the further development of these regions was carried on principally by Span. and Portug. explorers. Brazil was discovered and annexed by the Portuguese in 1500; and the Spaniards conquered Peru in 1524-33, Chili in 1540-53, and eventually became masters of practically whole of South A., except Brazil. Struggles occurred intermittently with other European powers, the English, Dutch, and French all making attempts to acquire territories in the South; the only dominions they permanently acquired, however, were the colonies of British, French, and Dutch Guiana. Brazil remained under Portug. control until 1822, when it established itself as an independent empire; it became a republic in 1890. The Span. dominions were controlled by the mother country till XIX. cent., but they rose in revolt in 1810; long struggles ensued, but by 1826 they had all attained independence, and the Span. forces were finally expelled from the country in that year. Central America was discovered by Columbus in 1502, and the whole region was subdued by Spain by 1525, remaining under Span. rule as the Captaincy General of Guatemala until 1821, when independence was declared. The five Costa Rica, and Panama, united as the federal republic of Central A. in 1823, which, however, only lasted until 1839. All except Costa Rica were reunited for three years, from 1842 to 1845; and since then several unsucce ful attempts at union have been made. British Honduras became a Brit. colony in 1850. In North America Newfoundland was probably discovered by John Cabot, who in 1497 commanded an expedition to the eastern shores of North A, About 1500 Labrador was reached by Cortereal, Florida in 1513 by Leon, Mexico and Central America were subdued by Spaniards in 1521-23. French made colonies in Canada, and English along B. coast in XVII. cent. Settlement was made by English in Virginia in 1607; others were established in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ma achusetts, where the Pilgrim Fathers settled in 1620. By 1750 all the seaboard between Florida and Canada belonged to England, who further acquired Canada from France in 1759. Amer. colonies rebelled in 1775, and ‘became independent as U.S.A. in 1783.