North America

One of the two grand divisions of the continent of America. In shape it is rudely triangular, the broad part being on the n., and the narrow point projecting s., where, by the Isthmus of Panama, it is connected with S. America. The e. coast is irregular, being entered by great arms of the Atlantic, as Hudson's Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and having long peninsulas, as Labrador, Florida, and Yucatan. The w. coast is simple, especially in its s. part, where the Gulf and Peninsula of California are the only large coast features. The n.w. coast is more broken, containing numerous islands, with fiords traversing them and extending into the mainland. The w. part consists of a high plateau of great breadth, capped by numerous mountain ranges, the Cordilleras of N. A. This attains its greatest altitude in the U. S., diminishing thence n. and s. In Mexico it comprises with its slopes nearly the whole breadth of the continent, and supports many volcanic peaks. E. of this is a great depre ion or valley, drained mainly by the Mi i ippi, the great lakes, and the Mackenzie, while still further e., near the Atlantic shore, is a secondary system of elevation, appearing in the U. S. and Canada, shorter, narrower, and lower than the western system: this is the Appal a chi an system. The area of N. A. is 7,623,050 sq. m., and its mean height 1,888 ft. The principal rivers are the St. Lawrence, Mackenzie, Mi i ippi, Yukon, Columbia, and Colorado. The climate ranges with the latitude and the elevation, from the temperature of the tropics to that of the Polar circle. The rainfall of the e. part is everywhere ample without being exce ive; on the Cordilleran plateau it is scanty, and much of this area is a desert; on the n. w. coast it is exce ive. The countries are the U. S., Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Salvador, and Balize: except Canada and Balize, which belong to Great Britain, these are republics.