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North America is the third largest continent in area and covers about 24 211 000 square kilometres, about one sixth of the world's land area. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to South America in the south, with the area between Mexico and South America referred to as Central America. North America ranks fourth among the continents in population, after Asia, Africa, and Europe. About 470 million people live in North America, or about 8 percent of the world's population.
The continent is roughly triangular in shape, with the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans bordering the three sides. At its northern end, North America stretches more than 8900 kilometres from Alaska's Aleutian Islands to the Canadian province of Newfoundland. At the southern end of the continent, the narrowest parts of Panama are only about 50 kilometres wide. The greatest north-south distance is about 8900 kilometres, from northern Greenland to Panama.
North America includes Canada, Greenland, the United States, Mexico, Central America, and the islands of the Caribbean. The earliest North Americans were Indians (now referred to as Native Americans) who came to the continent from Asia, probably around 35 000 years ago. They crossed the Bering Strait, which was dry land then and eventually settled throughout the continent, but especially in Middle America. The ancestors of today's Inuit (formerly called Eskimo) migrated from Asia to the northern part of North America several thousand years ago.
Canada and the United States now make up what is sometimes called Anglo-America because many of their settlers came from England; English is the dominant language. Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean islands are sometimes called Middle America because they lie between Anglo-America and South America. Spanish is the dominant language in Middle America, though English is spoken on many Caribbean islands.
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