What images spring your mind if you are asked to talk about America?
What is America famous for? Why do a lot of people think of The USA when they have to talk about the Americas?
What are the differences between the North and the South?
When did Europeans arrive in the Americas for the first time?
What happened to the native people in the Americas?
What have you learnt about the Americas by watching movies?
Have you ever gone across the pond? Where did you go? If you haven't, would you like to do it one day?
Now, read the following text and with your partner discuss the meaning of all the new vocabulary you find. Is there any interesting information that you didn't know?
What do you think are the differences between North America and Canada? Here you can find someinteresting factsabout these two countries.
Americas
Americas, also called America, the two continents, North and South America, of the Western Hemisphere. The climatic zones of the two continents are quite different. In North America, subarctic climate prevails in the north, gradually warming southward and finally becoming tropical near the southern isthmus. In South America, the climate in the north is tropical, becoming cooler southward, and finally becoming a cold, marine climate at Cape Horn.
The Americas can be roughly divided into two major cultural regions: Latin America, which includes North America south of the Rio Grande, the islands of the West Indies, and all of South America; and Anglo-America, which includes Canada and the United States. The term Middle America is sometimes used to designate Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies collectively.
The name America is derived from that of the Italian explorer and friend of Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, who made several voyages to the Western Hemisphere and, perhaps more important, described his travels there in letters to friends in Italy. One of these letters, published in 1504, used the term "Mundus Novus" ("New World") in referring to South America. The letter circulated from hand to hand, and a copy reached the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, who was apparently unaware of Columbus' voyage of 1498, during which he had discovered the continent of South America. Waldseemüller included some of Vespucci's writings in his Cosmographiae introductio (1507; Introduction to Cosmography) and observed that "another fourth part [of the inhabited earth] had been discovered by Americus Vespucius," and he suggested that the new land be called America, in recognition of that explorer's voyages. Waldseemüller's book was widely read, and the new appellation was eventually universally accepted.
Can you determine if North or South America is the correct answer to these questions? Choose N (North America) or S (South America) next to each question.
Which continent has more countries? N
Which continent lies on the Equator? S
Which continent contains the Andes Mountains? S
Which continent has the world's second largest country? N
Which continent contains Cape Horn? S
Which continent is larger by area? N
Which continent is larger by population? N
Which continent has native penguins? S
Which continent contains the Greater and Lesser Antilles? N
Which continent contains the Amazon Rainforest? S
Which continent is closer to Antarctica? S
Which continent was home to the 2016 Summer Olympics? S
Which continent borders the Arctic Ocean? N
Which continent is home to the Great Lakes? N
Which continent contains the land farthest from the center of the Earth? S
Which continent contains the San Andreas Fault? N
Which continent is home to the world's highest capital city? S
Which continent lies on the Tropic of Cancer? N
Which continent was the site of Aztec civilization? N
