What Is North America?

North America is a very large continent in the Northern Hemisphere and quite broadly within the Western Hemisphere as well. It is also known as the western subcontinent of the Americas as well. It covers an area of 14 states from the eastern side of the United States to the extreme southern end of Texas. The state of Texas, including all its counties, is considered a part of North America.

North America is divided into two parts by the trans-missable land mass of continental shelves. These are the United States and Canada. Unlike the Asian countries, this continent does not have any ocean surrounding it. Its location makes it difficult for air to travel around it, so ships and airplanes must travel over ice in order to travel between the poles and the oceans.

As it was separated from the South American continent by the opening up of Bering Sea, North America still has tectonic movement. This is evident in the earthquakes that hit the region. The north/south motion of the plates along the margins of dividing continents creates tension and produces plate tectonics.

Another way of looking at the definition of North America is by using terms from geology. Geologists refer to layers of strata composed of different kinds of rock or mineral substance. Each layer gives clues as to what may be located beneath it. One example of such a stratum is the continental shelf.

The United States of America is made up of six states: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. The western portion of this country, including the states of Wyoming and Montana, is considered to be in the north central region of North America. It shares its border with the Asian countries of Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan. This means that western North America is south of the Pacific Ocean and east of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). North America shares the same coastlines with Canada and Mexico.

When people hear about North America, they often have images of snowy mountains rising from the cold north, majestic forests dominated by giant trees, and wide-open spaces. The United States, indeed, has all of these things, but the geography is far more complex than that. The dividing line between north and south is not a hard and fast one, although it sometimes gets fuzzy. Geologists are still working on figuring out exactly how North America fits into this map.