Lesson 16:
What Are TheMain Features of North America?
Welcome to the continent of NorthAmerica.Where exactly is this continent located? Let’s review
some of your new knowledge about the Western Hemisphere. Using a globe, or large world map,
locate the PrimeMeridian. Now, in the north, as youmoved westward to the International Date Line,
what large continent have you “bumped” into? It should beNorthAmerica.
The second continent in theWestern Hemisphere is South America. Before you put the globes
and big maps away, locate this continent. In the future, we will be studying South America in more
detail. For now, it is time to switch to the political map of North America on the next page and in our
AtlasBuddy (AB)
on page v.
ACTIVITY:
When you see a
boldfaced
word, label theNorth Americanmap on the next page in the location the
boldfaced
word or phrase describes.
1. As we begin our journey throughout theWestern Hemisphere, our first stop is in
North America
.
This landmass is the third-largest continent onearth. It stretches northwardnear theEquator to the
ArcticOcean
at the north geographic pole.The
PacificOcean
bordersNorthAmerica to thewest,
and the
AtlanticOcean
borders this continent to theeast.The
Gulf ofMexico
and
CaribbeanSea
are alsomajor waterforms borderingNorthAmerica to the southeast.
2. Thereare23 independent countries thatmakeupNorthAmerica.Most of the landareaofmore than
ninemillion squaremiles is occupied by Canada, the United States, andMexico. A squaremile is
the amount of land that lies between one mile times one mile. If you were making a sandwich,
Canada
to thenorth, and
Mexico
to the south, wouldbe thebread. In themiddle, the
UnitedStates
would be themeat, or peanut butter and jelly.
Greenland
is part of North America. It is the world’s
largest island and ismanaged by Denmark, which is located inEurope .
3.Nearly 530 million people live on North America. About 60%, or six out of 10 people, of all North
Americans live in the United States.With more than 306 million people, the United States is the
world’s thirdmost populated country. By land size, Canada is the largest country inNorthAmerica.
Just about any kindof landformandwaterform canbe found inNorthAmerica.One canexplore
mountains, deserts, plains, fiords, bays, frozen ice caps, peninsulas, forests, and jungles, to name
a few.A lengthybackboneof
mountains
runsalongmost of thewestern coastline.Most of theeast-
ern border of NorthAmerica is
coastal plain
.
Lesson 17:
Some Large Facts About NorthAmerica
The highest point inNorthAmerica is
(A) Mt.McKinley
(20,320 feet) inAlaska.The lowest point
is
(B) DeathValley
, California (-282 feet below sea level). The longest river in North America is the
combined
(C) Missouri andMississippi Rivers
, at 3,740miles.Theworld’s largest body of freshwa-
ter is
(D) LakeSuperior
, located betweenCanada and theUnitedStates.Theworld’s largest canyon
is the
(E) GrandCanyon
in Arizona. At nearly 4,000miles, theworld’s longest border is between the
UnitedStates andCanada.Theworld’s largest active volcano is
(F)MaunaLoa
inHawaii.Theworld’s
largest cave system is
(G) MammothCave
inKentucky.
ACTIVITY:
Use yourmapof NorthAmerica to label theplaces in
boldface
in theparagraphabove.When you see
a letter by a place, write that place on your map.
COPYRIGHT
25
PENNSVALLEY
NorthAmerica
