The North geographic realm is dominated mainly by Canada and the United States.

North America is the larger of the continents of the Western Hemisphere. North America extends 5,300 km (3,300 miles) from St. Johns, New found land to the Pacific coast of Washingtons Olympic Peninsula; 5,600 km (3,500 miles) between the Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico; An additional 2,300 km (1,400 miles) south across the land bridge to the Panama-Colombia border. French and English permanent settlements beginning in 1605 and 1607.

 North American political independence began with the United States in 1776 when the settlers proclaimed their independence from the Great Britain.
Middle America except Panama and Belize were independent by 1850. In the Greater Antilles, Haiti achieved independence in 1804, Cuba in 1898, and Jamaica in 1962; Puerto Rico remains a U.S. territory. Bahamas and most of the larger islands in the Lesser Antilles are independent also.

Caribbean islands remain possessions of the United States, Britain, France, or the Netherlands.
Canada became a nation in 1867.

 The entire western margin of the continent is paralleled by a series of mountain chains with basins and plateaus. The eastern side of the continent has both low mountain relief and, along the southeast coast, almost flat topography. The main landform zones extend north-south, whereas some of the major climatic difference cut across this trend with latitudinal zones.

 This region extends from the Arctic (in Alaska) through Mexico and the Central American isthmus to South America. Two linear mountain regions: the more eastern is the Rocky Mountains, and the more western section is a succession of rugged ranges; Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and the Coast Ranges. The southern extension of the continent is largely with this region, with the two ranges in Mexico. The Rocky Mountains form the continental divide between Atlantic and Pacific Ocean drainage, but the arid Great Basin of the Western United States and a smaller portion of north central Mexico have interior drainage.

 The largest landscape region in North America. It is located north of the Great Lakes and the estuary of the St. Lawrence River, and including Greenland. Canadian Shield is a vast region of Precambrian metamorphic rock. Its general drainage is northward into Hudson Bay or the Arctic Ocean. Southern margins of the shield drain toward the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.

 Its interior plains reach from the Arctic almost to the Gulf of Mexico and have flat to moderately topography. Its continental climate is characterized by a wide seasonal temperature range and periods of intermittent aridity. The northern plains are colder than the southern portion, and the eastern portion is more humid than the western. Its drainage pattern is largely into the Mississippi River System. Soils of the plains, responsive to climate and vegetation.

 It occupies an area from Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. This region is composed of a series of low, well-worn mountains or deeply dissected plateaus. The northern portion of the region is more jumbled and rounded relief pattern than the Blue Ridge Mountains and valley sections of the southern Appalachians. The region has several climatic zones which are all relatively humid, ranging from the subarctic regime of Newfoundland to the humid subtropical conditions.

 This region is primarily characterized by its low elevation and its proximity to the coast. The Atlantic plain gives way inland to the gently hilly, fertile Piedmont Plateau. Summers are hot and humid and that winters, where seasonal variation is experienced, are relatively short and mild. The vegetation and the soil patterns are extremely variable.

 It is located almost entirely within the tropics. Caribbean islands experience a humid, tropical climate. Together with the Atlantic and Gulf Lowlands that is susceptible to hurricanes.

The dominant vegetation pattern is broadleaf evergreen with some broadleaf deciduous intermixture.
The area covers a total land area of 132,288 km2 (51,077 sq mi) including the San Andres Island Archipelago of San Andrs. Providencia and Santa Catalina in the Caribbean sea and corresponding to approximately 1/10 of the total territory of Colombia.

 Mineral and fuel sources such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas are found in abundance in North America. About 13% of the worlds reserves petroleum and natural gas are found in North America. Its water resources are important for hydropower, irrigation, and transportation. The Great Lakes are also navigable, with only two natural interruptions rapids at Sault Sainte Marie and Niagara Falls. It possesses an array of high-quality metallic mineral deposits like iron, nickel, copper, uranium, gold, and most other major metals.

 Almost 60% of more than 400 million people of North America are in the United States. Another 20% live in Mexico. There are more or less 15 million indigenous groups lived in the mainland potion of Middle America

The indigenous mainland population was reduced to 3 million during the Spanish colonial rule.
Late in the 19th century, Scandinavia in the 1880s, most new immigrants came from eastern and southern Europe, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Bohemia; and other areas of Eastern Europe.

 Canada has also received millions of immigrants, although the numbers have been much smaller than the United States.
Most of the large cities have a mixture of European heritage among their populations. The original French settlement probably totaled fewer than 20,000 persons, but their numbers have increased during the last two centuries to almost 7 million. About 5.1 million of these live in Quebec Province. In New Brunswick, 40% of the population speak some French.

 Majority of those who regularly attend religious services in North America are Protestant Christians. Northeast and large eastern cities, and the Southwest where Roman Catholics are more numerous. In Canada, Quebec is largely Catholic while the other are predominantly Protestant. Almost all Middle America is predominantly Catholic.

 Prepared by: January Marie M. Sablayan