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Americas (terminology)
*** Shopping-Tip: Americas (terminology)
Image:LocationWHAmericas.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[Americas]]
Image:LocationWHNorthAmerica.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[North America]]
Image:LocationWHSouthAmerica.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[South America]]
Image:LocationWHNorthernAmerica.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[Northern America]]
Image:LocationWHCentralAmericaUN.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[Central America (UN)]]
Image:LocationWHCaribbean.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[Caribbean]]
Image:LocationWHUnitedStatesofAmerica.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[United States|United States of America]]
Image:LocationWHConfederateStatesofAmerica.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[Confederate States of America (1861-1865)]]
Image:LocationWHFederalRepublicofCentralAmerica.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[United Provinces of Central America|Federal Republic of Central America (1823-1840)]]
Image:LocationWHWestIndiesFederation.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[West Indies Federation (1958-1962)]]
Image:LocationWHAngloAmerica.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[Anglo-America]]
Image:LocationWHLatinAmerica.png right|125px|right|thumb|[[Latin America]]
The
Americas, also known as
America, are the landmasses in the
western hemisphere, composed of numerous entities and regions variably defined by geography, politics, and culture:
Geophysical regions
*
North America – the
continent and associated
islands of the
northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere, lying northwest of South America and bounded by the
Atlantic Ocean Atlantic,
Arctic Ocean Arctic, and
Pacific Oceans
*
South America – the continent and associated islands of the
western hemisphere and chiefly in the southern hemisphere, lying between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and southeast of North America
*
Central America – the narrow southern portion of mainland North America connecting with South America, extending from the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the
Isthmus of Panama
*
Caribbean – also known as the West Indies, the islands lying between southeastern North America and northern South America bordering the
Caribbean Sea and comprising the
Greater Antilles,
Lesser Antilles, and
Bahamas the Bahamas
Geopolitical divisions
*
North America – Northern America, Central America (including all of
Panama), and the Caribbean
*
Northern America – the northern region of North America comprising
Canada, the
United States,
Greenland,
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and
Bermuda
*
Central America – the southernmost region of North America, comprised of
Belize,
Costa Rica,
El Salvador,
Guatemala,
Honduras,
Nicaragua, and
Panama; the
United Nations UN geographic subregion includes
Mexico
*
Caribbean –
#Geophysical regions as above
*
South America – as above, excluding Panama
* ''also''
Middle America (disambiguation) Middle America – the region including Central America and the Caribbean
Political divisions
*
United States United States of America – a
federalism federal republic in North America founded in 1776 and comprising
U.S. state 50 states and one federal district (the
Washington, D.C. District of Columbia), with
Political divisions of the United States#Territories of the United States several outlying territories of varying affiliation; commonly referred to as ''America''
**
Confederate States of America – a
confederation in North America from 1861 to 1865, comprising eleven
southern United States southern states that
secession seceded from the United States of America:
Alabama,
Arkansas,
Florida,
Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia,
Louisiana,
Mississippi,
North Carolina,
South Carolina,
Tennessee,
Texas, and
Virginia. Their secession precipitated the
American Civil War; upon its conclusion, the Confederate States were reunited with the United States.
*
United Provinces of Central America Federal Republic of Central America – formerly the ''United Provinces of Central America'', a federal republic in Central America from 1823 to 1840 comprising the newly independent
Spanish colonization of the Americas Spanish territories: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and (later)
Los Altos, Central America Los Altos. In 1838, the federation succumbed to
civil war and dissolved.
*
West Indies Federation – a
federation of several Caribbean island
colony colonies and
British overseas territory territories of the United Kingdom (''see also:
British West Indies'') from 1958 to 1962. This was followed by the
West Indies Associated States, a smaller, looser polity, from 1967 to 1981.
Linguistic/cultural regions
*
Anglo-America – the region of the Americas having significant historical, linguistic, and cultural links to
England or the
British Isles, e.g., where
English language English (a
Germanic language) is officially or primarily spoken; often just Canada and the United States
*
Ibero-America – the region of the Americas having significant historical, linguistic, and cultural links to
Spain or
Portugal (both on the
Iberian peninsula)
*
Latin America – the region of the Americas where
Romance languages derived from
Latin language Latin – namely
Spanish language Spanish and
Portuguese language Portuguese – are officially or primarily spoken
*
Mesoamerica - a region of the Americas extending from central Mexico southeast to Nicaragua, especially in
archaeology as a region where diverse
pre-Columbian civilisations and native cultures flourished
Sources
* ''[http://www.columbiagazetteer.org/ The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online]''. 2005. New York: Columbia University Press (proprietary; limited access).
* ''
Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary'', 11th ed. 2003. (ISBN 0-87779-809-5) New York: Merriam-Webster, Inc.
* ''
Oxford English Dictionary Oxford English Reference Dictionary'', 2nd ed. (rev.) 2002. (ISBN 0-19-860652-4) Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
-
Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings.
United Nations Statistics Division, Country and Region Codes.
-
What's the difference between North, Latin, Central, Middle, South, Spanish and Anglo America? Geography at about.com.
See also
*
use of the word American
*
Columbia
*
continent,
supercontinent,
subcontinent,
microcontinent, and
continental shelf
*
region,
subregion, and
trade block
*
geography
**
physical geography
**
political geography and
geopolitics
**
human geography and
regional science
{{continent}}
{{region}}
Category:Americas
Category:Geography (terminology)
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