50 Fun Facts About North America

North America is the third-largest continent by area. Which two are bigger?

It covers about 24.7 million square kilometres, roughly 16.5 percent of Earth's land.

The Americas were named after which explorer?

German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller put 'America' on a 1507 map, initially only on what is now South America.

On a 1553 map, North America was labelled 'Baccalearum', meaning realm of which fish?

The name nodded to the huge cod stocks off the East Coast that drew European fishing fleets to Newfoundland.

What is the highest peak in North America?

Its 20,310-foot summit rises about 18,000 feet above the surrounding plateau, one of the greatest vertical reliefs on Earth.

In 1896 a gold prospector renamed North America's highest peak after which presidential candidate?

The Koyukon people had used the mountain's traditional name for centuries; the federal government used the McKinley name from 1917 until 2015, when the Interior Department restored the original.

Which body of water is the largest indentation into the North American coastline?

Hudson Bay comes second, and it is politically entirely part of a single Canadian territory despite touching four provinces.

Which is the world's largest freshwater lake by surface area?

The Ojibwe name gichi-gami, 'great sea', became Longfellow's 'Gitche Gumee' and later a line in Gordon Lightfoot's shipwreck ballad.

Which two Great Lakes are hydrologically one body of water, joined at the Straits of Mackinac?

Measured together, the pair rivals the northernmost Great Lake as the largest freshwater lake on the planet by surface area.

Roughly what share of the world's surface fresh water do the Great Lakes hold?

Their combined volume is only slightly less than that of Siberia's Lake Baikal.

The Mississippi River rises in which Minnesota lake?

From there it flows about 2,340 miles to the Gulf, draining all or part of 32 states and two Canadian provinces.

Which river is longer than the Mississippi, making it the longest in the United States?

The Mississippi is still North America's largest river by discharge, ranking tenth in the world.

The Rio Grande, which forms much of the US-Mexico border, is known by what name in Mexico?

It rises in south-central Colorado and runs 1,896 miles to the Gulf.

What is the highest air temperature ever reliably recorded on Earth, set at Furnace Creek?

The July 1913 reading of 134 °F is disputed by some meteorologists; the highest undisputed figure there is 130 °F, set in 2020 and 2021.

Greenland is the world's largest island. Which kingdom is it an autonomous territory of?

Greenlanders are EU citizens even though Greenland itself is not part of the EU.

Greenland shares a 1.2-kilometre land border with Canada on which tiny island, disputed until 2022?

The two countries settled the 'Whisky War' by splitting the island down the middle.

What is the capital of Greenland?

Kaffeklubben Island off the northern coast is the world's northernmost undisputed point of land.

What is Canada's newest territory, carved out of the Northwest Territories in 1999 for Inuit self-government?

It was the first major change to Canada's map since Newfoundland joined in 1949, and its capital Iqaluit is Canada's smallest.

Which is North America's most populous metropolis?

Mexico City and New York are the only cities on the continent above eight million people.

The Mexican capital sits at roughly what altitude?

It was built on the site of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan in the Valley of Mexico.

The Aztec Empire, whose capital was Tenochtitlan, was conquered in 1521 by which Spaniard?

He had sailed west from Cuba in 1519 and relied heavily on local indigenous allies.

Which Spanish explorer named La Florida in 1513?

He had sailed with Columbus on the second voyage.

The Norse sagas refer to a part of North America by what name?

The Newfoundland site at L'Anse aux Meadows provides clear evidence of Norse settlement around 1000 CE.

Which Norse explorer is thought to be the first European to land on mainland North America?

The verified settlement site is at the northern tip of Newfoundland.

What was the first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in 1607?

The first permanent French settlement followed a year later, upriver on the St. Lawrence.

The first permanent French settlement in North America was founded in 1608 where?

French remains the official language of Quebec, where about 95 percent of people speak it as a first or second language.

Which leader sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States in 1803?

Thomas Jefferson was president; the deal covered lands west of the Mississippi.

From which country did the United States buy Alaska in 1867?

The same year, the colonies north of the US unified as the Dominion of Canada.

Panama separated from which country in 1903, with US backing, clearing the way for the canal?

The canal opened in 1914 and the US kept the Canal Zone until the handover process began under the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.

Which country began building the Panama Canal in 1881 before abandoning the effort in 1889?

Engineering problems and a horrific worker death rate destroyed investor confidence; the US took over in 1904.

The Panama Canal's locks lift ships 26 metres up to which artificial body of water?

It was created by damming the Chagres River and was for decades the largest man-made lake in the world.

The only land connection between North and South America is at which notoriously roadless region?

It sits on Panama's border with its southern neighbour, which is why the Pan-American Highway has a break there.

Which Central American country is the only one where English is the official language?

A former British colony, it gained independence in 1981 and remains a Commonwealth realm; its namesake city is still the largest, though not the capital.

The capital of the former British Honduras is which city?

Belize City remains the largest city; the country is the least populated in Central America.

Which Central American country permanently abolished its army in its 1949 constitution?

About a quarter of its national budget goes to education, which has been free and compulsory since 1886.

Which freshwater body, the largest in Central America, is famous for containing bull sharks?

Scientists once thought the sharks were a unique trapped species until 1961 comparisons showed they were bull sharks swimming up the San Juan River.

The Chicxulub crater, left by the asteroid that ended the dinosaurs, lies off which peninsula?

The buried crater is centred just off the north coast; a semicircular 'Ring of Cenotes' traces its rim.

The Bering Strait separating Alaska from Siberia is about how wide at its narrowest point?

Its deepest point is only about 90 metres, which is why a land bridge existed during the ice ages.

According to the USGS, the continent's geographic centre lies in which US state?

A 15-foot fieldstone obelisk in Rugby claims the spot, though the USGS says no official marker exists.

What is North America's oldest widely recognised culture, c. 9550-9050 BCE, named after a New Mexico town?

Its people are known for their distinctive fluted spear points found across the continent.

Which Mesoamerican civilisation developed writing, a complex calendar and the concept of zero around 400 CE?

They were still present in southern Mexico and Guatemala when the Spanish arrived, though political power had shifted to the Aztecs.

Which of these crops was domesticated in North America?

Maize, squash, tomato, chile pepper, avocado, sunflower and blueberry were also first domesticated on the continent.

The Appalachian Mountains formed about 480 million years ago during the assembly of which supercontinent?

That makes them among the oldest mountain ranges in the world; the Rockies are far younger, from 80 to 55 million years ago.

Which was the first national park in the United States, established in 1872?

President Ulysses S. Grant signed the act, and it is widely regarded as the first national park in the world.

Crater Lake in Oregon fills the caldera of which collapsed volcano?

No rivers flow in or out; rain and snow replace all its water about every 150 years, and at 1,949 feet it is the deepest lake in the US.

Which ship wrecked on Bermuda's reef in 1609 en route to Virginia, leading to the island's settlement?

Bermuda's House of Assembly dates from 1620, making it one of the world's oldest legislatures.

The Sudbury Basin in Ontario, a great mining district, is believed to be what kind of feature?

The Canadian Shield around it holds huge nickel, copper, gold and uranium reserves.

Which agreement replaced NAFTA in 2018?

NAFTA had come into force in 1994 to remove tariffs between its three signatories.

Which three countries jointly hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

Lacrosse is Canada's national summer sport, and boxing is a major sport in Mexico, Panama and Puerto Rico.

Which Central American volcano erupted in 1968, killing 87 people?

Weathered volcanic soils are also why Central America's highlands can support such dense farming populations.

What is the name of the ancient craton that forms the geological core of North America?

It formed 1.5 to 1.0 billion years ago, and the Canadian Shield is its largest exposure at the surface.