North America: Location, Area, Political and Physical Features
ICSE Class 6 · Geography · Chapter 8
What this chapter covers
- How the continents were formed
- Location of North America
- Boundaries and area
- Political divisions: countries and capitals
- Major physical features
Key definitions
Canada is the largest country in North America and the second largest in the world.
Central America is the narrow, tapering land that lies between Mexico and South America.
The Great Lakes are a group of five large freshwater lakes on the border of Canada and the USA.
Key points
- A continent is a very large, unbroken mass of land; there are seven continents.
- All land was once joined as Pangaea, which split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland.
- The continents still drift very slowly, by a few centimetres each year.
- North America lies in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Western Hemisphere.
- The Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer both cross North America.
- It is bounded by the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.
- The Bering Strait separates it from Asia; the Isthmus of Panama joins it to South America.
- With about 24 million square kilometres, it is the third largest continent.
- Canada (Ottawa), the USA (Washington, D.C.) and Mexico (Mexico City) are its three largest countries.
- Central America has seven small countries, and many island countries lie in the Caribbean Sea.
- The main physical regions are the Western Cordillera, the Great Plains, the Appalachians, the Canadian Shield and the coastal plains.
- The Mississippi–Missouri is the longest river system; the five Great Lakes lie between Canada and the USA.
Questions answered
What was the name of the single giant landmass that once held all the continents?
Pangaea.
Name the two parts into which this landmass first broke.
Laurasia in the north and Gondwanaland in the south.
Which oceans lie to the north, east and west of North America?
The Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.
Which strait separates North America from Asia?
The Bering Strait.
Which narrow strip of land joins North America to South America?
The Isthmus of Panama.
Name the capitals of Canada, the USA and Mexico.
Ottawa, Washington, D.C. and Mexico City.
Give one difference between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains.
The Rockies are young, high mountains with sharp peaks, while the Appalachians are old, low mountains with rounded tops.
Name the five Great Lakes. Which is the largest?
Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. Lake Superior is the largest.