North America

North America is one of the largest continents, with an area of around 24.7 km². It covers about 4.8% of the earth’s surface. Moreover, it is the world’s third-largest continent and is present in the Northern Hemisphere which has the Arctic Ocean in the North, the Atlantic Ocean to its east, and South America and the Caribbean to its southeastern side. It has the Pacific Ocean to its west and south.

North America is one populous continent. The statistics rank it as the fourth most populous continent after Asia, Africa, and Europe. As per the recent survey and statistics, it has more than 578 million population.

The UN has defined the northern continent as comprising three regions, which are Northern America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Countries in North America

North America has 23 countries on its premises.

These are

1. The Bahamas

2. Belize

3. Canada

4. Barbados

5. Antigua and Barbuda

6. Cuba

7. Costa Rica

8. Dominica

9. The Dominican Republic

10. El Salvador

11. Grenada

12. Guatemala

13. Panama

14. Mexico

15. Nicaragua

16. Haiti

17. Honduras

18. Jamaica

19. Nevis and Saint Kitts

20. Saint Lucia

21. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

22. Trinidad and Tobago

23. The United States

The largest country among these is the United States. It is the most populous country. Canada, however, is the largest country by area which is 9.9 km². The smallest country in terms of population and land is Nevis and Saint Kitts.

Greenland also falls in the premises of North America due to its geographical standing. However, being a part of Denmark, it is not a sovereign country.

Many experts have reservations regarding the Caribbean being a part of North America. The Caribbean is very much part of North America. Moreover, it is also called as West Indies and includes several islands and archipelagos which are stretched across the Caribbean Sea.

Languages

There are many languages spoken in Northern America. North America has diversity in its population. Hence, there are a plethora of languages that are spoken in the continent. The different migrants from different places have brought their language and culture with them. They rather prefer to practice their ancient cultural values.

However, the top ten have been shortlisted for the readers.

English

English is the most commonly spoken language in the countries of northern America. Around 334 million people speak English. The countries where English is spoken mostly are the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America (with a little less ratio of speakers), and some islands of the Caribbean.

Spanish

Spanish is the second popular language of the continent. Around 125 million people speak it. The countries which speak this language are Mexico, the United States, Cuba, Dominican Republic, The Caribbean, and Central America.

French

There is a number of French speakers in Canada and Haiti. The speakers of French are more than 18 million in the continent. It is the official language of Quebec. Around 95% of the population either speak French as their first language or the second language. Additionally, French is also co-official language in the province of New Brunswick along with English. A huge population in Ontario speaks French.

Chinese

There are people in different countries who speak Chinese. Chinese is one of the popular languages of the continent. People in the United States, Canada, Mexico speak Chinese. The number of speakers is around 2-3 million.

Nahuatl

This language is mainly common among the few classes of Mexico. Around 2 million people speak this language in Northern America.

This was the language of the inhabitants of central Mexico during the time of the Spanish conquest. The people who speak this language are Nahua people. The language belonged to the influencing and powerful Aztecs, their culture remained controlling the people in the region for centuries.

Tagalog

Tagalog is an Austronesian language. The vocabulary of this language has several loanwords from the English and Spanish languages. There are people in the United States and Canada who speak Tagalog as their language. Total number of people is around 1.4 million.

Vietnamese

Vietnamese is a popular language. It is widely spoken in the different countries of the continent. However, there is a large number of speakers in the United States and Canada. There are 1.4 million speakers of this language in Northern America. Learn more!

German

German is another popular language of the world as well as the continent. It has 1.3 million speakers. The speakers are mainly found in the United States and Canada. German is also a popular and official language of many countries in Europe.

Korean

Korean is the main and official language of South and North Korea. However, it is also spoken by its migrants in the United States and Canada. There are around 1.2 million speakers in the continent who speak Korean as their first language.

Italian

Italian is though a popular language around the world. It is not as popular in Northern America. It is merely spoken by around 1 million people in the United States and Canada.

Dutch

Dutch is particularly common in Greenland and with Greenlandic. It is also spoken among other languages in the Dutch Caribbean.

Most visited countries

The continent though has 23 countries on the list. But there are quite a few which are among the tourist lists. The most visited places among these are

  • United States
  • Canada
  • Mexico
  • Dominican Republic
  • Cuba

There are several main tourist destinations in North America. These depend on the country as well. Few of the most populous destinations are

  • New York City
  • Niagara Falls in Ontario
  • Antelope Canyon in Arizona
  • Guadalajara in Mexico
  • The Mayan city of Copan, Honduras
  • Tikal, Guatemala
  • Haiku Stairs of Oahu, Hawaii

Visa requirements

It is important to note that Northern America does not allow to visit all countries on one visa. There are different rules and requirements for entry in every country. Hence, the visitor will have to get a visa separately for each country. Few of the countries offer visa-free countries, depending upon the citizenship of the tourist.