North America
Generally when we speak of America, we're talking about the USA, but North America is more than just the United States.
A huge part of North America is made up of Canada. It's the second largest state in the world behind Russia. North America also encompasses Greenland, the island consisting of ice in the north, Mexico and the Caribbean, in the South of the continent.
The first citizens populated the continent 10.000 years ago. They came trough the Bering Strait and Alaska to North America. Around the first millennium BC, the first Europeans—in the form of the Vikings—reached the coast of America. Nearly 500 years later, in 1492, Columbus discovered the continent for a second time and colonized it.
The history of European colonization is a important part of the history of the United States. Once the Declaration of Independence was transcribed on July 4th, 1776, the USA became a shelter for a new beginning. People from all over Europe began emigrating to the USA. More people of Irish nationality live in New York than in Dublin and more Jewish people live in the United States than in Israel. The country's multicultural, European roots can be seen in the large number of foreign surnames—of its residents. Recently, emigration has come primarily from Asia and Latin America.
North America is home to a plethora of natural and cultural sights. One of the main tourist attractions being Niagara Falls, at the Canadian - American border, in the north, and the Grand Canyon, in the southwestern region of the United States.
Ancient civilizations existed mainly in the area presently known as Mexico. The archaeological sights of the Aztec civilizations are especially impressive. In Canada and the USA, you can admire modern, urban architecture. Some of the highest buildings in the world can be founnd here: the Empire State Building in New York, the CN-Tower in Toronto and the Sears Tower in Chicago. In the United States most of the major cities have impressive skylines.
In drastic contrast to the major urban developments are the wide-open areas in the middle of America and Canada. Millions of square-meters in the north of Canada are nearly uninhabited, just like Greenland − the largest island in the world. Greenland is the polar opposite of the many little islands in the Caribbean which are popular holiday destinations.
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