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Subject: India & World Geography

Topic: North America

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Latitude : 7° 12' N to 83° 38' N Longitude : 12° 08' W to 172° 30' W
Area : 24,709,000 sq. km (including Greenland and the Caribbean Islands).
Population : 533.8 million
Situation : North America is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean in the east, Gulf of Mexico in the south, the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Arctic Ocean in the north. To the north it is separated from the easternmost tip of Siberia by the Bering Strait.
Size : Third largest continent after Asia and Africa.

• 49° N latitude forms the boundary between Canada and U.S.A.
• The 100° W longitude divides North America into more or less two equal parts.

Important Seas, Bays and Gulfs

Name	Location and Related Information	Part of Ocean
Beaufort Sea	North of Canada.	Arctic Ocean
Gulf of Boothia	Between Boothia Peninsula and Baffin Island, North of Canada	Arctic Ocean
Baffin Bay	Between Greenland and Baffin Island.	Atlantic Ocean
Hudson Bay	North of Canada.	Atlantic Ocean
James Bay	North of Canada.	Atlantic Ocean
Labrador Sea	East of Labrador, Canada.	Atlantic Ocean
Gulf of St. Lawrance	Northeast of USA St. Lawrence River drains.	Atlantic Ocean
Bay of Fundy	Between New Brunswick and and Nova Scotia. Site of highest tides.	Atlantic Ocean
Chesapeake Bay	Between Virginia and Maryland (Longest offshore bar in the world)	Atlantic Ocean
Gulf of Mexico	East of Central America Mississippi River drains.	Atlantic Ocean
Gulf of Campeche	East of Mexico.	Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean
Gulf of Darien	Between Panama City and South America.	Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean
Caribbean Sea	East of Central America, known for hurricane generation.	Atlantic Ocean
Gulf of Panama	Between Central America and South America	Pacific Ocean
Coronado Bay	West of Costa Rica.	Pacific Ocean
Gulf of California	Between Lower California and Western Mexico. Colorado river drains.	Pacific Ocean
Gulf of Alaska	South of Alaska.	Pacific Ocean
Bering Sea	West of Alaska. Between North America and Asia.	Pacific Ocean
Ellesmere Island, Queen Elizabeth Islands, Parry Islands, Banks Island, Victoria Island (Third largest island of the Arctic Ocean), Prince of Wales Island	North of Canada	Arctic Ocean
Baffin Island (Second largest island of the Arctic Ocean)	Representative example of ice cap, a type of continental glacier, many serrated granitic ridges.	Arctic Ocean
Southampton Island, Coats Island, Mancel Island, Ottawa Island, Belcher Island	North to South in Hudson Bay
Anticostal Island	Gulf of St. Lawrence.	Atlantic Ocean
Cape Breton Island	Novascotia Region known for coal fields.	Atlantic Ocean
Florida Keys	Many small islands of coral origin, situated to the south of Miami between Cuba and Miami Region of sponges harvesting which support a thriving sponge industry.	Atlantic Ocean
Bahama Island	Coral Island, SE of Florida	Atlantic Ocean
Caicos Island (U.K.)	SE of Bahama Island	Atlantic Ocean
Vancouver Island	West of Canada.	Pacific Ocean
Queen Charlotte Island	North of Vancouver Island	Pacific Ocean
Alexander Archipelago (A group of island that lie in close proximity)	West of Canada	Pacific Ocean
Kodiak Island	Gulf of Alaska	Pacific Ocean
St. Lawrence Island (Near Bering Strait) Nunivak Island	Bering Sea.	Pacific Ocean
Aleutian Island	Extend south-southwest for 1800 km from Alaska Peninsula	Pacific Ocean
Hawaiian Island (Part of the USA)	Lie in the northern limits of the tropics in the North Pacific Ocean • Consisit of 8 main, 15 small-uninhabited islands • Island’s Capital Honolulu is known as “The cross roads of the Pacific.	Pacific Ocean.

Important Straits

Strait : A narrow sea passage that links two larger area of seas.

Name	Separates	Connects
Nares Straits	Greenland and Ellesmere Island	Arctic Ocean and Baffin Bay
Davis Strait	Greenland and Baffin Island	Baffin Bay and Labrador Sea.
Hudson Strait	Baffin Island and Ungava Peninsula (Qubec)	Hudson Bay and Labrador Sea.
Belle Isle Strait	Labrador and New Foundland	Gulf of St. Lawrence and Atlantic Ocean
Florida Strait	Florida and Cuba.	Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean
Yucatan Strait	Yucatan Peninsula (NE Mexico) and Cuba	Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean
Juan de Fucca Strait	Washington and Vancouver Island
Bering Strait	Chukchi Peninsula, Russia (Asia) and Alaska (North America)