Americas

The Americas (also collectively called America) is a landmass comprising the totality of

North

and

South America

. The Americas make up most of the land in

Earth

's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.

Along with their associated islands, the Americas cover 8% of Earth's total surface area and 28.4% of its land area. The topography is dominated by the American Cordillera, a long chain of mountains that runs the length of the west coast. The flatter eastern side of the Americas is dominated by large river basins, such as the

Amazon

, St. Lawrence River–

Great Lakes

basin,

Mississippi

, and La Plata. Since the Americas extend from north to south, the climate and ecology vary widely, from the arctic

tundra

of

Northern Canada

,

Greenland

, and

Alaska

, to the

tropical rain forest

s in

Central America

and South America.

Humans first settled the Americas from

Asia

between 42,000 and 17,000 years ago. A second migration of

Na-Dene speakers

followed later from Asia. The subsequent migration of the Inuit into the neoarctic around 3500 BCE completed what is generally regarded as the settlement by the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

The first known European settlement in the Americas was by the Norse explorer Leif Erikson. However, the colonization never became permanent and was later abandoned. The Spanish voyages of Christopher Columbus from 1492 to 1504 resulted in permanent contact with European (and subsequently, other Old World) powers, which eventually led to the Columbian exchange and inaugurated a period of exploration, conquest, and colonization whose effects and consequences persist to the present. The Spanish presence involved the enslavement of large numbers of the indigenous population of America.

Diseases introduced from

Europe

and

West Africa

devastated the indigenous peoples, and the European powers colonized the Americas. Mass emigration from Europe, including large numbers of indentured servants, and importation of African slaves largely replaced the indigenous peoples.

Decolonization of the Americas began with the American Revolution in the 1770s and largely ended with the Spanish–American War in the late 1890s. Currently, almost all of the population of the Americas resides in independent countries; however, the legacy of the colonization and settlement by Europeans is that the Americas share many common cultural traits, most notably

Christianity

and the use of Indo-European languages: primarily Spanish,

English

, Portuguese, French, and, to a lesser extent, Dutch.

The Americas are home to nearly a billion inhabitants, two-thirds of whom reside in the

United States

,

Brazil

, and

Mexico

. It is home to eight megacities (

metropolitan area

s with ten million inhabitants or more): New York City (23.9 million), Mexico City (21.2 million), São Paulo (21.2 million), Los Angeles (18.8 million), Buenos Aires (15.6 million), Rio de Janeiro (13.0 million), Bogotá (10.4 million), and Lima (10.1 million).

Etymology and naming

The name America was first recorded in 1507. A two-dimensional globe created by Martin Waldseemüller was the earliest recorded use of the term. The name was also used (together with the related term ''Amerigen'') in the ''Cosmographiae Introductio'', apparently written by Matthias Ringmann, in reference to South America. It was applied to both North and South America by

Gerardus Mercator

in 1538. America derives from ''Americus'', the Latin version of Italian explorer

Amerigo Vespucci

's first name. The feminine form ''America'' accorded with the feminine names of

Asia

,

Africa

, and

Europa

.Toby Lester, "Putting America on the Map", ''Smithsonian'', 40:9 (December 2009)

In modern English, North and South America are generally considered separate continents, and taken together are called ''the Americas'', or more rarely ''America''."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 33: "[16c: from the feminine of ''Americus'', the Latinized first name of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512). The name ''America'' first appeared on a map in 1507 by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, referring to the area now called Brazil]. Since the 16c, a name of the western hemisphere, often in the plural ''Americas'' and more or less synonymous with ''the New World''. Since the 18c, a name of the United States of America. The second sense is now primary in English: ... However, the term is open to uncertainties: ..." When conceived as a unitary continent, the form is generally ''the continent of America'' in the singular. However, without a clarifying context, singular ''America'' in English commonly refers to the

United States of America

.

Historically, in the English-speaking world, the term America usually referred to a single continent until the 1950s (as in Van Loon's ''Geography'' of 1937): According to historians Kären Wigen and Martin W. Lewis,

History

Pre-Columbian era

The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic to European colonization during the Early Modern period. The term ''Pre-Columbian'' is used especially often in the context of the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica (the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacano, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the

Aztec

, and the Maya) and the

Andes

(Inca, Moche, Muisca, Cañaris).

Many pre-Columbian

civilization

s established characteristics and hallmarks which included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European arrivals (c. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and are known only through archeological investigations. Others were contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya, had their own written records. However, most Europeans of the time viewed such texts as pagan, and much was destroyed in Christian pyres. Only a few hidden documents remain today, leaving modern historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.

Settlement

The first inhabitants migrated into the Americas from Asia. Habitation sites are known in

Alaska

and the

Yukon

from at least 20,000 years ago, with suggested ages of up to 40,000 years.
Beyond that, the specifics of the Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion. Widespread habitation of the Americas occurred during the

late glacial maximum

, from 16,000 to 13,000 years ago.

The traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska around 40,000–17,000 years ago, when sea levels were significantly lowered during the Quaternary glaciation.
These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ''ice-free corridors'' that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets. Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using

primitive boats

, they migrated down the Pacific coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a

sea level rise

of hundreds of meters following the last ice age. Both routes may have been taken, although the genetic evidences suggests a single founding population. The micro-satellite diversity and distributions specific to South American Indigenous people indicates that certain populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region.

A second migration occurred after the initial peopling of the Americas; Na-Dene languages, Na Dene speakers found predominantly in North American groups at varying genetic rates with the highest frequency found among the Athabaskan languages, Athabaskans at 42% derive from this second wave. Linguists and biologists have reached a similar conclusion based on analysis of Indigenous languages of the Americas, Amerindian language groups and ABO blood group system distributions. Then the people of the Arctic small tool tradition, a broad cultural entity that developed along the Alaska Peninsula, around Bristol Bay, and on the eastern shores of the Bering Strait moved into North America. The Arctic small tool tradition, a Paleo-Eskimo culture branched off into two cultural variants, including the Pre-Dorset, and the Independence II culture, Independence traditions of Greenland. The descendants of the Pre-Dorset cultural group, the Dorset culture was displaced by the final migrants from the Bering sea coast line, the ancestors of modern Inuit, the Thule people, by 1000 Common Era (CE).

Norse colonization

Around the same time as the Inuit migrated into Greenland, Viking settlers began arriving in

Greenland

in 982 and Vinland shortly thereafter, establishing a settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, near the northernmost tip of Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland. Contact between the Norse colonies and Europe was maintained, as James Watson Curran points out:

From 985 to 1410, Greenland was in touch with the world. Then silence. In 1492 the Holy See, Vatican noted that no news of that country "at the end of the world" had been received for 80 years, and the bishopric of the colony was offered to a certain ecclesiastic if he would go and "restore Christianity" there. He didn't go.

Large-scale European colonization

Although there had been previous Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact theories, trans-oceanic contact, large-scale European colonization of the Americas began with the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. The first Spanish settlement in the Americas was La Isabela in northern Hispaniola. This town was abandoned shortly after in favor of Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo de Guzmán, founded in 1496, the oldest American city of European foundation. This was the base from which the Spanish monarchy administered its new colonies and their expansion. Santo Domingo was subject to frequent raids by English and French Piracy in the Caribbean, pirates. During most of the 18th century, however, privateers from Santo Domingo were the scourge of the Antilles, with Dutch, British, French and Danish vessels as their prizes.

On the continent, Panama City on the Pacific coast of Central America, founded on August 15, 1519, played an important role, being the base for the Spanish conquest of South America. Conquistador Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón established San Miguel de Guadalupe, the first European settlement in what is now the United States, on the Pee Dee River in South Carolina. During the first half of the 16th century, Spanish colonists conducted raids throughout the Caribbean Basin, bringing captives from Central America, northern South America, and Florida back to Hispaniola and other Spanish settlements.

France, led by Jacques Cartier and Giovanni da Verrazano, focused primarily on North America. English explorations of the Americas were led by John Cabot, Giovanni Caboto and Sir Walter Raleigh. The Dutch in New Netherland confined their operations to Manhattan Island, Long Island, the Hudson River Valley, and what later became New Jersey. The spread of new diseases brought by Europeans and African slaves killed many of the inhabitants of North America and South America, with a general Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, population crash of Native Americans occurring in the mid-16th century, often well ahead of European contact. One of the most devastating diseases was smallpox.

European immigrants were often part of state-sponsored attempts to found colonies in the Americas. Migration continued as people moved to the Americas fleeing religious persecution or seeking economic opportunities. Millions of individuals were forcibly transported to the Americas as Slavery, slaves, prisoners or indentured servants.

Decolonization of the Americas began with the American Revolution and the Haitian Revolution in the late 1700s. This was followed by numerous Latin American wars of independence in the early 1800s. Between 1811 and 1825, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Gran Colombia, the United Provinces of Central America,

Mexico

,

Brazil

, Peru, and Bolivia gained independence from Spain and Portugal in armed revolutions. After the Dominican War of Independence, Dominican Republic won independence from Haiti, it was re-annexed by Spain in 1861, but reclaimed its independence in 1865 at the conclusion of the Dominican Restoration War. The last violent episode of decolonization was the Cuban War of Independence which became the Spanish–American War, which resulted in the independence of Cuba in 1898, and the transfer of sovereignty over Puerto Rico from Spain to the United States.

Peaceful decolonization began with the purchase by the

United States

of Louisiana Purchase, Louisiana from France in 1803, Adams–Onís Treaty, Florida from Spain in 1819, of Alaska purchase, Alaska from Russia in 1867, and the Treaty of the Danish West Indies, Danish West Indies from Denmark in 1916. Canada became independent of the United Kingdom, starting with the Balfour Declaration of 1926, Statute of Westminster 1931, and ending with the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982. The Dominion of Newfoundland similarly achieved partial independence under the Balfour Declaration and Statute of Westminster, but was re-absorbed into the United Kingdom in 1934. It was subsequently Newfoundland Act, confederated with Canada in 1949.

The remaining European colonies in the Caribbean began to achieve peaceful independence well after World War II. Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago became independent in 1962, and Guyana and Barbados both achieved independence in 1966. In the 1970s, the Bahamas, Grenada, Dominica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines all became independent of the United Kingdom, and Suriname became independent of the Netherlands. Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis achieved independence from the United Kingdom in the 1980s.

Geography

Extent

The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's western hemisphere. The northernmost point of the Americas is Kaffeklubben Island, which is the most northerly point of land on Earth. The southernmost point is the islands of Southern Thule, although they are sometimes considered part of Antarctica. The mainland of the Americas is the world's longest north-to-south landmass. The distance between its two polar extremities, Murchison Promontory on the Boothia Peninsula in northern Canada and Cape Froward in Chilean Patagonia, is roughly . The mainland's most westerly point is the end of the Seward Peninsula in Alaska; Attu Island, further off the Alaskan coast to the west, is considered the westernmost point of the Americas. Ponta do Seixas in northeastern Brazil forms the easternmost extremity of the mainland, while Nordostrundingen, in Greenland, is the most easterly point of the continental shelf.

Geology

South America broke off from the west of the supercontinent Gondwana around 135 million years ago, forming its own continent. Around 15 million years ago, the collision of the Caribbean Plate and the Pacific Plate resulted in the emergence of a series of volcanoes along the border that created a number of islands. The gaps in the archipelago of Central America filled in with material eroded off North America and South America, plus new land created by continued volcanism. By three million years ago, the continents of North America and South America were linked by the Isthmus of Panama, thereby forming the single landmass of the Americas. The Great American Interchange resulted in many species being spread across the Americas, such as the cougar, New World porcupine, porcupine, opossums, armadillos and hummingbirds.

Topography

The geography of the western Americas is dominated by the American cordillera, with the

Andes

running along the west coast of South America and the Rocky Mountains and other North American Cordillera ranges running along the western side of North America. The Appalachian Mountains run along the east coast of North America from Alabama to Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland. North of the Appalachians, the Arctic Cordillera runs along the eastern coast of Canada.

The largest mountain ranges are the

Andes

and Rocky Mountains. The Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Range reach similar altitudes as the Rocky Mountains, but are significantly smaller. In North America, the greatest number of fourteeners are in the United States, and more specifically in the U.S. state of Colorado. The highest peaks of the Americas are located in the List of mountains in the Andes, Andes, with Aconcagua of Argentina being the highest; in North America Denali (Mount McKinley) in the U.S. state of

Alaska

is the tallest.

Between its coastal mountain ranges, North America has vast flat areas. The Interior Plains spread over much of the continent, with low relief. The Canadian Shield covers almost 5 million km² of North America and is generally quite flat. Similarly, the north-east of South America is covered by the flat Amazon Basin. The Brazilian Highlands on the east coast are fairly smooth but show some variations in landform, while farther south the Gran Chaco and Pampas are broad lowlands.

Climate

The climate of the Americas varies significantly from region to region. Tropical rainforest climate occurs in the latitudes of the Amazon Rainforest, Amazon, American cloud forests, southeastern Florida and Darien Gap. In the Rocky Mountains and

Andes

, dry and continental climates are observed. Often the higher altitudes of these mountains are snow-capped.

Southeastern North America is well known for its occurrence of tornadoes and hurricanes, of which the vast majority of tornadoes occur in the United States' Tornado Alley, as well as in the southerly Dixie Alley in the North American late-winter and early spring seasons. Often parts of the Caribbean are exposed to the violent effects of hurricanes. These weather systems are formed by the collision of dry, cool air from Canada and wet, warm air from the Atlantic.

Hydrology

With coastal mountains and interior plains, the Americas have several large river basins that drain the continents. The largest river basin in North America is that of the Mississippi River, Mississippi, covering the second largest Drainage basin, watershed on the planet. The Mississippi-Missouri river system drains most of 31 states of the U.S., most of the Great Plains, and large areas between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. This river is the List of rivers by length, fourth longest in the world and List of rivers by discharge, tenth most powerful in the world.

In North America, to the east of the Appalachian Mountains, there are no major rivers but rather a series of rivers and streams that flow east with their terminus in the Atlantic Ocean, such as the Hudson River, Saint John River (Bay of Fundy), Saint John River, and Savannah River. A similar instance arises with central Canadian rivers that drain into Hudson Bay; the largest being the Churchill River (Hudson Bay), Churchill River. On the west coast of North America, the main rivers are the Colorado River, Columbia River, Yukon River, Fraser River, and Sacramento River.

The Colorado River drains much of the Southern Rockies and parts of the Basin and Range Province. The river flows approximately into the Gulf of California, during which over time it has carved out natural phenomena such as the Grand Canyon and created phenomena such as the Salton Sea. The Columbia is a large river, long, in central western North America and is the most powerful river on the West Coast of the Americas. In the far northwest of North America, the Yukon drains much of the Alaskan peninsula and flows from parts of Yukon and the Northwest Territory to the Pacific. Draining to the Arctic Ocean of Canada, the Mackenzie River drains waters from the Arctic Great Lakes of Arctic Canada, as opposed to the Saint-Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes of Southern Canada into the Atlantic Ocean. The Mackenzie River is the largest in Canada and drains .

The largest river basin in South America is that of the Amazon Basin, Amazon, which has the highest volume flow of any river on Earth. The second largest watershed of South America is that of the Paraná River, which covers about 2.5 million km².

Ecology

North America and South America began to develop a shared population of flora and fauna around 2.5 million years ago, when continental drift brought the two continents into contact via the Isthmus of Panama. Initially, the exchange of biota was roughly equal, with North American genera migrating into South America in about the same proportions as South American genera migrated into North America. This exchange is known as the Great American Interchange. The exchange became lopsided after roughly a million years, with the total spread of South American genera into North America far more limited in scope than the spread on North American genera into South America.

Countries and territories

There are 35 sovereign states in the Americas, as well as an Danish Realm, autonomous country of Denmark, three overseas departments of France, three Overseas collectivity, overseas collectivities of France, and one uninhabited territory of France, eight British Overseas Territories, overseas territories of the United Kingdom, three Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent countries of the Netherlands, three Public body (Netherlands), public bodies of the Netherlands, two Territories of the United States, unincorporated territories of the

United States

, and one uninhabited territory of the United States.

Demography

Population

In 2015 the total population of the Americas was about 985 million people, divided as follows:
* North America: 569 million (includes Central America and the Caribbean)
* South America: 416 million

Largest urban centers

There are three urban centers that each hold titles for being the largest population area based on the three main demographic concepts:
* City proper
:A city proper is the locality with legally fixed boundaries and an administratively recognized urban status that is usually characterized by some form of local government.
* Urban area
:An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets. Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization and do not include large swaths of rural land, as do metropolitan areas.
* Metropolitan area
:Unlike an urban area, a metropolitan area includes not only the urban area, but also satellite cities ''plus intervening rural land'' that is socio-economically connected to the urban core city, typically by employment ties through commuting, with the urban core city being the primary labor market.

In accordance with these definitions, the three largest population centers in the Americas are: Mexico City, anchor to the largest metropolitan area in the Americas; New York City, anchor to the largest urban area in the Americas; and São Paulo, the largest city proper in the Americas. All three cities maintain Global city#Alpha, Alpha classification and large scale influence.

File:Mexico City Reforma skyline (cropped).jpg, Greater Mexico City, Mexico City – Largest metropolitan area in the Americas, with a population of 22,300,000 in 2017
File:CENU, São Paulo, Brasil (cropped).jpg, São Paulo – Largest city in the Americas, with a population of 12,038,175 (city) in 2016
File:New York Skylines 10.JPG, New York metropolitan area, New York City – Largest urban area in the Americas, with a population of 18,351,295 in 2010

Ethnology

The population of the Americas is made up of the descendants of four large ethnic groups and their combinations.
* The Indigenous peoples of the Americas, being Amerindians, Inuit, and Aleut people, Aleuts.
* Those of European ancestry, mainly Spanish, British and Irish, Portuguese people, Portuguese, Germans, German, Italians, Italian, French people, French and Dutch (ethnic group), Dutch.
* Those of Afro-American peoples of the Americas, African ancestry, mainly of West African descent.
* Asian people, Asians, that is, those of Eastern Asia, Eastern, South Asia, South, and Southeast Asian ancestry.
* Mestizos (Metis people in Canada), those of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry.
* Mulattoes, people of mixed African and European ancestry.
* Zambos (Spanish) or Cafuzos (Portuguese), those of mixed African and Indigenous ancestry.

The majority of the population live in Latin America, named for its predominant cultures, rooted in Romance-speaking Europe, Latin Europe (including the two dominant languages, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese, both Romance languages), more specifically in the Iberian Peninsula, Iberian nations of Portugal and Spain (hence the use of the term Ibero-America as a synonym). Latin America is typically contrasted with Anglo-America, where English, a Germanic language, is prevalent, and which comprises Canada (with the exception of Canadian French, francophone Canada rooted in Latin Europe [France]—see Québec and Acadia) and the United States. Both countries are located in North America, with cultures deriving predominantly from Anglo-Saxon and other Germanic peoples, Germanic roots.

Religion

The most prevalent faiths in the Americas are as follows:
* Christianity (86 percent)
** Roman Catholicism: Practiced by 69 percent of the Latin American population, 81 percent in Mexico and 61 percent in Brazil whose Roman Catholic population of 134 million is the greatest of any nation's; approximately 24 percent of the United States' population and about 39 percent of Canada's.
** Protestantism: Practiced mostly in the United States, where half of the population are Protestant, Canada, with slightly more than a quarter of the population, and Greenland; there is a growing contingent of Evangelicalism, Evangelical and Pentecostal movements in predominantly Catholic Latin America.
** Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy: Found mostly in the United States (1 percent) and Canada; this Christian group is growing faster than many other Christian groups in Canada and now represents roughly 3 percent of the Canadian population.
** Non-denominational Christianity, Non-denominational Christians and other Christians (some 1,000 different Christian denominations and sects practiced in the Americas).
* Irreligion: About 12 percent, including atheists and agnostics, as well as those who profess some form of spirituality but do not identify themselves as members of any organized religion.
* Islam: Together, Muslims constitute about 1 percent of the North American population and 0.3 percent of all Latin Americans. It is practiced by 3 percent of Canadians and 0.6 percent of the U.S. population. Argentina has the largest Muslim population in Latin America with up to 600,000 persons, or 1.5 percent of the population.
* Judaism (practiced by 2 percent of North Americans—approximately 2.5 percent of the U.S. population and 1.2 percent of Canadians—and 0.23 percent of Latin Americans—Argentina has the largest Jewish population in Latin America with 200,000 members)

Other faiths include Buddhism; Hinduism; Sikhism; Baháʼí Faith; a wide variety of indigenous religions, many of which can be categorized as animistic; new age religions and many African traditional religion, African and African-derived religions. Syncretism, Syncretic faiths can also be found throughout the Americas.

Languages

Various languages are spoken in the Americas. Some are of European origin, others are spoken by indigenous peoples or are the mixture of various languages like the different creoles.

The most widely spoken language in the Americas is Spanish language, Spanish. The dominant language of Latin America is Spanish, though the most populous nation in Latin America,

Brazil

, speaks Portuguese language, Portuguese. Small enclaves of French language, French-, Dutch language, Dutch- and

English

-speaking regions also exist in Latin America, notably in French Guiana, Suriname, and Belize and Guyana respectively. Haitian Creole is dominant in the nation of Haiti, where French is also spoken. Indigenous languages of the Americas, Native languages are more prominent in Latin America than in Anglo-America, with Nahuatl language, Nahuatl, Quechua languages, Quechua, Aymara language, Aymara and Guaraní language, Guaraní as the most common. Various other native languages are spoken with less frequency across both Anglo-America and Latin America. Creole languages other than Haitian Creole are also spoken in parts of Latin America.

The dominant language of Anglo-America is English. French is also official in Canada, where it is the predominant language in Quebec and an official language in New Brunswick along with English. It is also an important language in Louisiana, and in parts of New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. Spanish has kept an ongoing presence in the Southwestern United States, which formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, especially in Californio, California and New Mexico, where New Mexican Spanish, a distinct variety of Spanish spoken since the 17th century has survived. It has more recently become widely spoken in other parts of the

United States

because of heavy immigration from Latin America. High levels of immigration in general have brought great linguistic diversity to Anglo-America, with over 300 languages known to be spoken in the United States alone, but most languages are spoken only in small enclaves and by relatively small immigrant groups.

The nations of Guyana, Suriname, and Belize are generally considered not to fall into either Anglo-America or Latin America because of their language differences from Latin America, geographic differences from Anglo-America, and cultural and historical differences from both regions; English is the primary language of Guyana and Belize, and Dutch is the primary language of Suriname.

Most of the non-native languages have, to different degrees, evolved differently from the mother country, but are usually still mutually intelligible. Some have combined, however, which has even resulted in completely new languages, such as Papiamento, which is a combination of Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch (representing the respective colonizers), native Arawak peoples, Arawak, various African languages, and, more recently English. The lingua franca Portuñol, a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish, is spoken in the border regions of Brazil and neighboring Spanish-speaking countries. More specifically, Riverense Portuñol language, Riverense Portuñol is spoken by around 100,000 people in the border regions of Brazil and Uruguay. Because of immigration, there are many communities where other languages are spoken from all parts of the world, especially in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay—very important destinations for immigrants.

Terminology

English

English language, Speakers of English generally refer to the landmasses of North America and South America as ''the Americas'', the ''Western Hemisphere'', or the ''New World''.Burchfield, R. W. 2004. ''Fowler's Modern English Usage.'' () Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; p. 48. The adjective ''American'' may be used to indicate something pertains to the Americas, but this term is primarily used in English to indicate something pertaining to the United States. Some non-ambiguous alternatives exist, such as the adjective ''Pan-American'', or ''New Worlder'' as a demonym for a resident of the closely related New World. Use of ''America'' in the hemispherical sense is sometimes retained, or can occur when translated from other languages. For example, the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) in Paris maintains a single continental association for "America", represented by one of the five Olympic rings.

American essayist H.L. Mencken said, "The Latin-Americans use Norteamericano in formal writing, but, save in Panama, prefer nicknames in colloquial speech." quote at p 243. To avoid "American" one can use constructed terms in their languages derived from "United States" or even "North America"."America." ''Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage.'' () Fee, Margery and McAlpine, J., ed., 1997. Toronto: Oxford University Press; p. 36. In Canada, its southern neighbor is often referred to as "the United States", "the U.S.A.", or (informally) "the States", while U.S. citizens are generally referred to as "Americans". Most Canadians resent being referred to as "Americans".

Spanish

In Spanish, ''América'' is a single continent composed of the subcontinents of ''América del Sur'' and ''América del Norte'', the land bridge of ''América Central'', and the islands of the ''Antilles, Antillas''. ''Americano'' or ''americana'' in Spanish refers to a person from ''América'' in a similar way that in which ''europeo'' or ''europea'' refers to a person from ''Europa''. The terms ''sudamericano/a'', ''centroamericano/a'', ''antillano/a'' and ''norteamericano/a'' can be used to more specifically refer to the location where a person may live.

Citizens of the United States of America are normally referred to by the term ''estadounidense'' (rough literal translation: "United Statesian") instead of ''americano'' or ''americana'' which is discouraged, and the country's name itself is officially translated as ''Estados Unidos de América'' (United States of America), commonly abbreviated as ''Estados Unidos'' (EEUU). "debe evitarse el empleo de americano para referirse exclusivamente a los habitantes de los Estados Unidos" ("the use of the term ''americano'' referring exclusively to the United States inhabitants must be avoided") Also, the term ''norteamericano'' (North American) may refer to a citizen of the United States. This term is primarily used to refer to citizens of the United States, and less commonly to those of other North American countries.

Portuguese

In Portuguese, '':pt:América, América'' is a single continent composed of ''América do Sul'' (South America), ''América Central'' (Central America) and ''América do Norte'' (North America). It can be ambiguous, as ''América'' can be used to refer to the United States of America, but is avoided in print and formal environments.

French

In French the word ''américain'' may be used for things relating to the Americas; however, similar to English, it is most often used for things relating to the United States, with the term ''états-unien'' sometimes used for clarity. ''Panaméricain'' may be used as an adjective to refer to the Americas without ambiguity. French speakers may use the noun ''Amérique'' to refer to the whole landmass as one continent, or two continents, ''Amérique du Nord'' and ''Amérique du Sud''. In French, ''Amérique'' is seldom used to refer to the United States, leading to some ambiguity when it is. Similar to English usage, ''les Amériques'' or ''des Amériques'' is used to refer unambiguously to the Americas.

Dutch

In Dutch, the word ''Amerika'' mostly refers to the United States. Although the United States is equally often referred to as ''de Verenigde Staten'' ("the United States") or ''de VS'' ("the US"), ''Amerika'' relatively rarely refers to the Americas, but it is the only commonly used Dutch word for the Americas. This often leads to ambiguity; and to stress that something concerns the Americas as a whole, Dutch uses a combination, namely ''Noord- en Zuid-Amerika'' (North and South America).

Latin America and Central America are generally referred to as ''Latijns Amerika'' and ''Midden-Amerika'' respectively.

The adjective ''Amerikaans'' is most often used for things or people relating to the United States. There are no alternative words to distinguish between things relating to the United States or to the Americas. Dutch uses the local alternative for things relating to elsewhere in the Americas, such as ''Argentijns'' for Argentine people, Argentine, etc.

Multinational organizations

The following is a list of multinational organizations in the Americas.

* Alliance for Progress
* American Capital of Culture
* Andean Community of Nations
* Association of Caribbean States
* Bank of the South
* Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas
* Caribbean Community
* CARICOM Single Market and Economy
* Central American Common Market
* Central American Parliament
* Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
* Contadora Group
* Free Trade Area of the Americas
* LAFTA, Latin American Free Trade Agreement
* Latin American Parliament or (Parlatino)
* Mercosur or Mercosul
* North American Free Trade Agreement
* North Atlantic Treaty Organization
* Organization of American States
* Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
* Organization of Ibero-American States
* Pacific Alliance
* Pan American Sports Organization
* Regional Security System
* Rio Group
* School of the Americas
* Summit of the Americas
* Union of South American Nations
* YOA Orchestra of the Americas

Economy

Dominica, Panama and the Dominican Republic have the fastest-growing economy in the Americas according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
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In 2016, five to seven countries in the southern part of the Americas had weakening economies in decline, compared to only three countries in the northern part of the Americas. Haiti has the lowest GDP per capita in the Americas, although its economy was growing slightly .

See also

* Amerrisque Mountains
*
* British North America
* Columbia (name)
* Ethnic groups in Central America
* French America
* Indigenous Peoples' Day
* La Merika
* List of conflicts in the Americas
* List of former sovereign states
* List of oldest buildings in the Americas
* Monarchies in the Americas
* New Sweden
* Pan-Americanism
* Pan-American Highway
* Pan American Games
* Personification of the Americas
* Southern Cone

Notes

References

Further reading

* "Americas".
The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online
'. 2006. New York: Columbia University Press.
* "Americas". ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 15th ed. 1986. () Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
* Burchfield, R. W. 2004. ''Fowler's Modern English Usage.'' Oxford University Press.
* Ward Churchill, Churchill, Ward
A Little Matter of Genocide
' 1997 City Lights Books
* Fee, Margery and McAlpine, J. 1997. ''Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage.'' () Toronto: Oxford University Press.
*
* Pearsall, Judy and Trumble, Bill., ed. 2002. ''Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford English Reference Dictionary'', 2nd ed. (rev.) () Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

What's the difference between North, Latin, Central, Middle, South, Spanish and Anglo America?
Geography at about.com.

External links

United Nations population data by latest available Census: 2008–2009

Organization of American States

Council on Hemispheric Affairs
*

{{Authority control

Americas,
Continents
Supercontinents