CREATIVE VISION CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

SOCIAL SCIENCE UNIT

GEOGRAPHY FOR GRADE 10 & 12

The Americas are the lands of the Western Hemisphere consisting of the continents of North
America and South America with their associated islands [Caribbean] regions [Central America].
There are seven 7 categories that comprise this study:
1] Caribbean

4] North America

2] Central America

5] Northern America

3] Latin America

6] South America
7] Topography/Geology of South America

Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long
separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic
Ocean, to the east and north. From the peninsula of Florida on the mainland of the United
States, the islands stretch 1,200 miles (1,900 km) south-eastward, then 500 miles (800 km)
south, then west along the north coast of Venezuela on the South American mainland.
Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets,
reefs, and cays. These islands, sometimes referred to as the West Indies, generally form island
arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea. They were called the
West Indies because when Christopher Columbus landed there in 1492 he believed that he had
reached to the west of the Indian sub-continent.
The region consists of the Antilles, divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the sea
on the north, the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), the
Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands or the Lucayan Archipelago, which are in fact in the
Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba, not in the Caribbean Sea.
Geopolitically, the West Indies are usually regarded as a sub-region of North America and are
organized into 30 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and
dependencies.
Central America

Note that not all countries in Central America are part of Latin America. Central America is a
central geographic region of the Americas and is geographically part of the continent of North
America.
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost,
isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the
southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a
subcontinent. Central America consists of the seven states of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Central America is part of the Mesoamerican
biodiversity hotspot, which extends from northern Guatemala through central Panama.[5] It is
bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, the North Pacific Ocean to the
west, and Colombia to the south-east.
Central America has an area of 524,000 square kilometres (202,000 sq mi), or almost 0.1% of
the Earth's surface. As of 2009, its population was estimated at 41,739,000. It has a density of
77 people per square kilometre or 206 people per square mile.
Latin America
Latin America refers to countries in the Americas where Romance (Latin-derived) languages are
spoken. This definition, however, is not meant to include Canada, in spite of its large Frenchspeaking population.
Latin American countries generally lie south of the United States. By extension, some writers
and commentators, particularly in the United States, apply the term to the whole region south of
the United States, including the non-Romance-speaking countries such as Suriname, Jamaica,
and Guyana, due to similar economic, political and social histories and present-day conditions.
Before the arrival of Europeans in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the region was home
to many indigenous peoples, many of which had advanced civilizations, most notably, the Aztec,
Inca and Maya. By the end of the sixteenth century large areas of what would become Latin
America were colonized by European settlers, primarily from Spain, Portugal and to a lesser
extent, France and the Netherlands (in Brazil).
In the early nineteenth century most of the region attained its independence, giving rise to new
countries, although a few, small colonies remain.
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within
the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas. It is
bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by
South America, and to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean.

North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometres (9,540,000 square miles),
about 4.8% of the planet's surface or about 16.5% of its land area. As of July 2008, its
population was estimated at nearly 529 million people. It is the third-largest continent in area,
following Asia and Africa, and the fourth in population after Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Northern America
North America is the third largest continent, or a portion of the second largest if North and South
America are combined into the Americas and Africa, Europe and Asia are considered to be part
of one supercontinent called Afro-Eurasia. With an estimated population of 460 million and an
area of 24,346,000 km (9,400,000 mi), the northernmost of the two continents of the Western
Hemisphere is bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west; the Atlantic Ocean on the east; the
Caribbean Sea, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and South America on the south; and the Arctic
Ocean on the north. The northern half of North America is sparsely populated and covered
mostly by Canada, except for the north-western portion which is occupied by Alaska, the largest
state of the U.S. The central and southern portions of the continent are represented by the
United States, Mexico, and numerous smaller states primarily in Central America and in the
Caribbean. The continent is delimited on the southeast by most geographers at the Darin
watershed along the Colombia-Panama border, placing all of Panama within North America [2] [3]
[4]
. Alternatively, a less common view would end North America at the man-made Panama Canal.
Islands generally associated with North America include Greenland, the world's largest island,
and archipelagos and islands in the Caribbean. The terminology of the Americas is complex, but
"Anglo-America" can describe Canada and the U.S., while "Latin America" comprises Mexico
and the countries of Central America and the Caribbean, as well as the entire continent of South
America.
Natural features of North America include the northern portion of the American Cordillera,
represented by the geologically new Rocky Mountains in the west; and the considerably older
Appalachian Mountains to the east. The north hosts an abundance of glacial lakes formed
during the last glacial period, including the Great Lakes. North America's major continental
divide is the Great Divide, which runs north and south down through Rocky Mountains. The
major watersheds all drain to the east: The Mississippi/Missouri and Rio Grande into the Gulf of
Mexico, and St. Lawrence into the Atlantic.
Climate is determined to a large extent by the latitude, ranging from Arctic cold in the north to
tropical heat in the south. The western half of North America tends to have milder and wetter
climate than other areas with equivalent latitude, although there are steppes (known as
"prairies") in the central and western portions, and deserts in the South-western United States of
Arizona, Colorado, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma, and Texas; along with the
Mexican states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo
Leon and Tamaulipas.
South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern
Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also
considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and
on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean; North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the
northwest. It includes twelve independent countriesArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuelaand French Guiana,
which is an overseas region of France. The South American countries that border the Caribbean
SeaColombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guianaare also known as
Caribbean South America.
South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometres (6,890,000 sq mi). Its population as
of 2005 has been estimated at more than 371,090,000. South America ranks fourth in area
(after Asia, Africa, and North America) and fifth in population (after Asia, Africa, Europe, and
North America). The word America was coined in 1507 by cartographers Martin Waldseemller
and Matthias Ringmann, after Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first European to suggest that the
lands newly discovered by Europeans were not India, but a New World unknown to Europeans.
Topography/Geology of South America
The geographical structure of South America is deceptively simple for a continent-sized
landmass. The continent's topography is often likened to a huge bowl owing to its flat interior
almost ringed by high mountains. With the exception of narrow coastal plains on the Pacific and
Atlantic Oceans, there are three main topographic features: the Andes, a central lowland, and
the extensive Brazilian and Guiana Highlands in the east.
The Andes are a Cenozoic mountain range formed (and still forming) by the continuing
convergence of the American and Pacific tectonic plates. In their northern and central reaches
the Andes are quite wide and contain extensive plateau such as the Altiplano and a number of
major valleys such as the Rio Magdalena. These contain three of the world's highest capitals:
Bogot, Quito and highest of all, La Paz, Bolivia. The southern Andes have been eroded by the
Patagonian Ice Sheet and are much lower and narrower. There are a number of large glaciers in
the northern part, but from latitude 19S to 28S the climate is so arid that no permanent ice can
form even on the highest peaks. Permafrost, however, is widespread in this section of the
Altiplano and continuous above 5,600 metres (18,373 ft).
The climate of the coastal belt west of the Andes shows violent contrasts, including two of the
world's wettest regions in the Colombian Choc and southern Chile and the world's driest
desert, the Atacama. This dry area is cooled by the Humboldt Current and upwelling, giving rise
to the largest fisheries in the world. There are two small transition zones between the perhumid
and perarid regions: around Guayaquil with summer rain, and the Mediterranean climate region
of central Chile. Both these regions have highly erratic rainfall strongly influenced by El Nio
events, which bring major floods. In contrast, the high plateaux of the Andes are drier than
normal during El Nio episodes.

The very fertile soils from the erosion of the Andes formed the basis for the continent's only preColumbian state civilizations: those of the Inca Empire and its predecessors (Chavn, Nazca,
Mochica, etc.). The area is still a major agricultural region. The Altiplano contains many rare
minerals such as copper, tin, mercury ore. The Atacama is mined for its nitrates. East of the
Andes in Peru is regarded as the most important biodiversity hotspot in the world with its unique
forests that form the western edge of the world's largest rainforest, the Amazon Rainforest.
East of the Andes is large lowland drained by a small number of rivers, including the two largest
in the world by drainage area - the Amazon River and the more southerly Paran River. The
other major river of this central lowland is the Orinoco River, which has a natural channel linking
it with the Amazon. Most of this central lowland is sparsely populated because the soils are
heavily leached, but in the south is the very fertile pampas of Argentina - one of the world's
major food-producing regions where wheat and beef cattle are pre-eminent. The natural
vegetation of the northern lowlands is either savannah in the northern llanos and southern
campos, or tropical rainforest throughout most of the Amazon basin. Efforts to develop
agriculture, outside of fertile floodplains of rivers descending from the Andes, have been largely
failures because of the soils. Cattle have long been raised in the llanos of northern Colombia
and Venezuela, but petroleum is now the dominant industry in the northern lowlands, making
Venezuela the richest country in the continent.
The eastern highlands are much older than the Andes, being pre-Cambrian in origin, but are still
rugged in places, especially in the wet tepuis of Venezuela, Guyana and Roraima. The Amazon
River has cut a large valley through a former highland, and to the east is a relatively low plateau
comprising the Nordeste and Southeast regions of Brazil. In the north of this region is the arid
serto, a poor region consistently affected by extremely erratic rainfall, and the humid zona da
mata, once home of the unique Atlantic Rainforest with many species not found in the Amazon,
and now a centre for sugarcane. Further south, the main land use is coffee, while So Paulo is
the economic heart of the continent with its industry.
South of about Santa Catarina, the highlands fade out to low plains in Uruguay.
East of the Andes in Argentina, there are a number of rugged, generally dry islands, the highest
of which is the Sierra de Cordoba near the city of that name. Argentine Patagonia is a Paleozoic
plateau now heavily dissected by rivers flowing from the Andes.