Area | 42,549,000 km (16,428,000 mi2) |
---|---|
Population | 953.7 million |
Countries | 35 |
Languages |
Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Danish, & Dutch |
America is the world's second largest continent after Asia . Occupies much of the western hemisphere of the Earth. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to Cape Horn in the south, at the confluence of the oceans Atlantic and Pacific, which in turn define the continent to the east and west, respectively.
With an area of more than 42 million km ² , is the second largest land mass in the world, covering 8.3% of the total surface of the planet and 30.2% of the landmass, and also concentrates near the 12% of the human population.
Because of its large size and geographic characteristics, in some cultures traditionally divided America is North America , Central America , the Caribbean and South America . 6 Some geographers consider Central America and the Caribbean as a subregion of North America . Given its cultural characteristics, are distinguished Anglo America and Latin America.
America began to have a massive and meaningful contact with the Old World from 1492 by Christopher Columbus , although there are traces of Viking settlements dating from the eleventh century, and are part of the World Heritage Unesco.