North America

=== <span id="Geography and extent">Geography</span> ===
{{Main|Geography of North America}}
[[File:Physical Features of North America map by Tom Patterson v. 1.01, meters.jpg|thumb|North America's landforms and land cover depicted in a 2021 map]]
[[File:Saguaro National Park - Flickr - Joe Parks.jpg|thumb|The [[Sonoran Desert]] in [[Arizona]]]]
[[File:Moraine Lake 17092005.jpg|thumb|[[Moraine Lake]] in [[Banff National Park]] in [[Alberta]]]]
[[File:Nuuk city below Sermitsiaq.JPG|thumb|[[Nuuk]], the capital of [[Greenland]]]]
North America occupies the northern portion of the landmass generally referred to as the New World, the [[Western Hemisphere]], the Americas, or simply America, which, in many countries, is considered a single continent<ref name="IOC">{{cite web
 |url         = http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_672.pdf
 |title       = The Olympic symbols
 |publisher   = [[International Olympic Committee]]
 |year        = 2002
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080307073846/http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_672.pdf
 |archive-date = 7 March 2008
|location    = Lausanne: Olympic Museum and Studies Centre
}} The five rings of the [[Olympic symbols#Olympic emblems|Olympic flag]] represent the five inhabited, participating continents ([http://www.moscow2001.olympic.org/en/pdf/members_by_continent.pdf Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020223205800/http://www.moscow2001.olympic.org/en/pdf/members_by_continent.pdf |date=23 February 2002 }}).</ref><ref name="Oceano">{{cite book|title=Océano Uno, Diccionario Enciclopédico y Atlas Mundial |chapter=Continente |pages=392, 1730 |isbn=978-84-494-0188-6|last1=Equipo |year=1997 |publisher=Océano }}{{author missing|date=February 2014}}</ref><ref name="cincocontinentes">{{cite book|title=Los Cinco Continentes (The Five Continents) |publisher=Planeta-De Agostini Editions |year=1997 |isbn=978-84-395-6054-8}}{{page needed|date=February 2014}}</ref> with North America a [[Continent#Subcontinents|subcontinent]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Encarta, "Norteamérica" |url=http://mx.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761562468/Norteam%C3%A9rica.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130015145/http://mx.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761562468/Norteam%C3%A9rica.html |archive-date=30 January 2009 |url-status=dead |language=es }}</ref><ref name="britannica-northamerica">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/418612/North-America|title=North America|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=3 February 2014|archive-date=20 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520211322/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/418612/North-America|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Map And Details Of All 7 Continents|url=http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/contnent.htm|access-date=2 September 2016|publisher=worldatlas.com|quote=In some parts of the world, students are taught that there are only six continents, as they combine North America and South America into one continent called the Americas.|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032048/http://worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/contnent.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> North America is the third-largest continent by area after [[Asia]] and [[Africa]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rosenberg|first=Matt|date=11 April 2020|title=Ranking the 7 Continents by Size and Population|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/continents-ranked-by-size-and-population-4163436|access-date=27 August 2020|website=ThoughtCo|language=en|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101002537/https://www.thoughtco.com/continents-ranked-by-size-and-population-4163436|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=North America Land Forms and Statistics|url=http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/nalandst.htm|access-date=16 June 2013|publisher=World Atlas.com|archive-date=23 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623010048/http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/nalandst.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

North America's only land connection to [[South America]] is in present-day [[Panama]] at the [[Darien Gap]] on the [[Colombia]]-Panama border, placing almost all of Panama within North America.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#americas |title=Americas |work=Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications (M49) |publisher=United Nations Statistics Division |access-date=3 February 2014 |archive-date=11 December 2009 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20091211114207/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#americas |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/reference/international/north_america/referencemap_image_view |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061021010223/http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/reference/international/north_america/referencemap_image_view |archive-date=21 October 2006 |title=North America |work=Atlas of Canada}}</ref><ref name="North America Atlas">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=nameri&Rootmap=&Mode=d&SubMode=w |title=North America Atlas |magazine=National Geographic |access-date=12 May 2011 |archive-date=25 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525180734/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/?xpop=1 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Alternatively, some geologists physiographically locate its southern limit at the [[Isthmus of Tehuantepec]], Mexico, with Central America extending southeastward to South America from this point.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Central America|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/102196/Central-America|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=28 June 2011|archive-date=8 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708183740/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/102196/Central-America|url-status=live}}</ref> The Caribbean islands, or West Indies, are considered part of North America.<ref name=britannica-northamerica/> The continental coastline is long and irregular. The [[Gulf of Mexico]] is the largest body of water indenting the continent, followed by [[Hudson Bay]]. Others include the [[Gulf of Saint Lawrence]] and the [[Gulf of California]].

Before the Central American isthmus formed, the region had been underwater. The islands of the [[West Indies]] delineate a submerged former [[land bridge]], which had connected North and South America via what are now [[Florida]] and [[Venezuela]].

There are several islands off the continent's coasts; principally, the Arctic Archipelago, the [[Bahamas]], [[Turks and Caicos]], the [[Greater Antilles|Greater]] and [[Lesser Antilles]], the [[Aleutian Islands]] (some of which are in the [[Eastern Hemisphere]] proper), the [[Alexander Archipelago]], the many thousand islands of the British Columbia Coast, and Newfoundland. Greenland, a self-governing Danish island, and the [[list of islands by area|world's largest]], is on the same [[tectonic plate]] (the [[North American Plate]]) and is part of North America geographically. In a geologic sense, Bermuda is not part of the Americas, but an oceanic island that was formed on the fissure of the [[Mid-Atlantic Ridge]] over 100 [[million years ago]] (mya). The nearest landmass to it is [[Cape Hatteras]], [[North Carolina]]. However, Bermuda is often thought of as part of North America, especially given its historical, political and cultural ties to [[Virginia]] and other parts of the continent.

The vast majority of North America is on the North American Plate. Parts of western Mexico, including Baja California, and of [[California]], including the cities of [[San Diego]], [[Los Angeles]], and [[Santa Cruz, California|Santa Cruz]], lie on the eastern edge of the [[Pacific Plate]], with the two plates meeting along the [[San Andreas fault]]. The southernmost portion of the continent and much of the West Indies lie on the [[Caribbean Plate]], whereas the [[Juan de Fuca Plate|Juan de Fuca]] and [[Cocos Plate|Cocos plates]] border the North American Plate on its western frontier.

The continent can be divided into four great regions (each of which contains many subregions): the [[Great Plains]] stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the [[Northern Canada|Canadian Arctic]]; the geologically young, mountainous west, including the [[Rocky Mountains]], the [[Great Basin]], [[Geography of California|California]] and [[Alaska]]; the raised but relatively flat plateau of the Canadian Shield in the northeast; and the varied eastern region, which includes the Appalachian Mountains, the coastal plain along the Atlantic seaboard, and the Florida peninsula. Mexico, with its long [[plateau]]s and [[American cordillera|cordilleras]], falls largely in the western region, although the eastern coastal plain does extend south along the Gulf.

The western mountains are split in the middle into the main range of the Rockies and the [[Pacific Coast Ranges|coast ranges]] in [[California]], [[Oregon]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], and [[British Columbia]], with the Great Basin—a lower area containing smaller ranges and low-lying deserts—in between. The highest peak is [[Denali]] in Alaska.

The [[U.S. Geographical Survey]] (USGS) states that the geographic center of North America is "6 miles [10 km] west of [[Balta, North Dakota|Balta, Pierce County, North Dakota]]" at about {{Coord|48|10|N|100|10|W}}, about {{convert|15|mi|km|order=flip|sp=us}} from [[Rugby, North Dakota]]. The USGS further states that "No marked or monumented point has been established by any government agency as the geographic center of either the 50 states, the conterminous United States, or the North American continent."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722022527/http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html | archive-date=22 July 2012 | title=Elevations and Distances }}</ref> Nonetheless, there is a {{Convert|15|ft|abbr=out|adj=on|order=flip|sp=us}} field stone [[obelisk]] in Rugby claiming to mark the center. The North American [[continental pole of inaccessibility]] is located {{cvt|1650|km}} from the nearest coastline, between [[Allen, South Dakota|Allen]] and [[Kyle, South Dakota]] at {{Coord|43.36|N|101.97|W|name=Pole of Inaccessibility North America}}.<ref name="PIA">{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/14702540801897809 |volume=123 |issue=3 |pages=227–233 |last1=Garcia-Castellanos |first1=D. |last2=Lombardo |first2=U. |title=Poles of Inaccessibility: A Calculation Algorithm for the Remotest Places on Earth |journal=Scottish Geographical Journal |date=2007 |bibcode=2007ScGJ..123..227G |s2cid=55876083 |url=http://cuba.ija.csic.es/~danielgc/papers/Garcia-Castellanos,%20Lombardo,%202007,%20SGJ.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629230429/http://cuba.ija.csic.es/~danielgc/papers/Garcia-Castellanos,%20Lombardo,%202007,%20SGJ.pdf |archive-date=29 June 2014 }}</ref>