History of discovery, research and geographical location of North America

In the school curriculum, several hours arestudy of the mainland North America. Geographical location, history of discovery, climate, flora and fauna are studied in detail. In order to facilitate the preparation of students, we decided to select the material that we will present in this article.

Briefly about the main

So, let's begin. What is North America? This is part of the land that is washed by 3 oceans at once. All of its territory is in the northern hemisphere. This is the geographical position of North America directly influenced the name of the continent.

The oceans washing the continent

As is known, the influence of water bodies washingthe mainland, is large enough. Therefore, it is very important to know which oceans affect North America. So, at the east coast it's Atlantic. It separates the described continent from Eurasia. On the east coast are two large bays.

From the north the continent borders on the Arcticthe ocean. The description of the latter also runs through a subject such as geography (grade 7). North America, the geographical position of which we will consider in detail in the article, in the far north has a large number of islands and bays. Greenland belongs to this continent. The climate of the island is quite severe. It is located in the north-east of the continent, is influenced by currents and air masses of the Arctic Ocean. On the island there are only two climatic zones: the Arctic and the subarctic. From the west, North America is washed by the Pacific Ocean. In the north-west the continent shares the Bering Strait with Eurasia.

Description of the geographical location of North America

The mainland described is located in the North andWestern hemisphere. The continent occupies the territory from the equator on the Panama Isthmus to the Arctic Ocean at Cape Murchison. The latter is the extreme north point. The distance over which the continent stretched from south to north is more than 7,000 km. The southern extreme point is the Cape of Mariyato.

Geographic location of North Americais characterized by a length not only from the equator to the northernmost point, but also from west to east. This distance is more than four thousand kilometers. Extreme points: Cape St. Charles (east) and Prince of Wales (west).

In terms of land area, taking into account the islands, the continent occupies the third place. North America is second only to two continents - Eurasia and Africa.

Features of climate

Due to the great distance from north to south,almost all climatic zones are present on the mainland. There is only an equatorial one. The climate of the continent is mild even in the northern part, since along the entire eastern coast of North America it is washed by the warm ocean current of the Gulf Stream. The flow of warm air from the Atlantic is spreading throughout the continent. Also a large flow of warm air masses is formed from the side of the Gulf of Mexico. That is why the geographical position of North America directly affects the local climate.

Winters of the central and southern parts are soft. In the north, the temperature can drop to -36 ° C. Summer is also cold, up to +6 ° C. Most often, such temperatures are observed in Greenland and on the islands of the Canadian archipelago. In the south of the continent, the winter is warm. The temperature in this season does not drop below 0 ° C. Summers are hot and humid. From east to west, the climate is also changing a lot. On the east coast there are many forests, while the west is more deserted. The amount of precipitation in the east is several times greater than in the west.

Flora and fauna

The geographical position of North America and itsThe climate is determined to a greater extent by the local flora and fauna. It is worth noting that the main part of the continent is located in the temperate zone. In this regard, the flora is represented by a large number of deciduous and coniferous species. In the north, there is a sharp transition of deciduous forest to the arctic desert. The territories of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic archipelago are subject to glaciation.

The identity of the continent is determined by its richfauna. Here you can find such species of animals that live not only on the local territory, but also in Eurasia. Also there are representatives who live exclusively in North America. The first type indicates that previously the territories of Eurasia and North America were unified, that is, they were part of a single continent. The second shows that the separation of continents has occurred long ago, and evolution has evolved in a free direction.

Neighborhood with South America

The most close to North America is locatedcontinent South America. Section passes through the Isthmus of Panama. Before the construction of the canal, the ships had to circumambulate South America along the perimeter to get from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. With the commissioning of the channel, this problem was successfully solved.

It is worth noting that in the school course they do not studyonly the geographical location of North America (Grade 7), but also South. In short, these two continents separate the equator. Naturally, this location of South America affects the climate, flora and fauna.

History of the continent study

The history of the study of this continent is sufficientinteresting. It can be divided into several stages. The first record dates from the twentieth to the eleventh centuries. In the years 981-983. Normans assembled an expedition during which studies were conducted on Greenland, the Labrador Peninsula and the Newfoundland Islands. However, this information did not become known to the Old World.

The following entries on the study of North Americaappeared four centuries later. In the XV-XVIII centuries. The mainland interested in the French, Spanish and English. The discovery of the delta of the Mississippi occurred in 1528 thanks to the Spanish expedition. A little later, in the 1940s, a study was carried out into the interior of the continent. Researchers were able to cross the Colorado Plateau, the Great Plains and a small part of the Rocky Mountains. After a while, another expedition explored the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It was she who discovered the rivers Alabama and Tennessee.

The next stage in the study of North America isname the era of the XVIII-XIX centuries. In the 30-ies of the XVIII century, the Russians organized many expeditions in order to survey the mainland from Alaska. The French and the British also participated in the study of this area.

In the XIX-XX centuries, the British continuedexplore the continent. Their main task was to find the north-west passage. But the expedition, which was engaged in the study of the Arctic coast, in 1845 was missing. We searched for it for ten years. Remains were found on the island of King William. Those expeditions that were outfitted in search of Franklin and his team made a great contribution to the study of such a continent as North America.

The geographical position and history of research of this continent still attract scientists from all over the world.