America. This name designates the western continent and its adjacent islands, forming the main body of land found in the western hemisphere. America has an area of about 16,500,000 sq. m., and is larger than Europe and Africa together. It is about four times as large as Europe, five times as large as Australia, and half as large again as Africa; but is considerably smaller in area than Asia. It is customary to regard Greenland as a part of America; while the adjacent island of Iceland, partly in the western hemisphere, is usually associated with Europe. The other principal American islands in the Atlantic are Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Anticosti, Prince Edward Island, Long Island, the Bermudas, the Antilles or West Indies, Joannes, the Falkland Islands, Staten Land, and South Georgia. At the southern extremity of America lies the archipelago of Fuegia (Tierra del Fuego). In the Pacific are the Aleutian Islands, Kadiak, the Alexander and Queen Charlotte groups, Vancouver and other British-Columbian Islands; the Santa Barbara group, Revilla-Gigedo, the Pearl Islands, and others in the Gulf of Panama, the Galápagos, Juan Fernandez and the associated islets, Chiloe and the Chonos Archipelago. In the Arctic Ocean there are many large but unimportant islands.
The American continent consists of two principal parts, NORTH AMERICA and SOUTH AMERICA, which are connected by the narrow Isthmus of Panama. These two bodies of land, though differing very much in climate and productions, are much alike in several respects. Each is of triangular outline, with the shortest side to the north, and with a narrow southern prolongation. In outline, North and South America have each a certain resemblance to Africa. The two Americas have each a high range of volcanic mountains, extending from north to south along the west coast, a broad central plain, and a relatively low eastern mountain-range. Their great rivers have also some features in common, especially in regard to their direction. Thus the La Plata recalls the Mississippi, the Amazon the St Lawrence; and the position and course of the Magdalena suggest comparison with the river Mackenzie. But there are some manifest points of contrast. North America has several large peninsulas, such as Labrador, Nova Scotia, Florida, Yucatan, Old California, Aliaska, and others; while South America has no true peninsulas worth naming. North America sends to the Pacific four great rivers, the Yukon, the Fraser, the Columbia, and the Colorado; while South America pours but little water into the Pacific. Besides the three great South American rivers already named, there are the Orinoco, the São Francisco, the Rio Negro, and a few other considerable streams that flow directly to the ocean; while in North America we find the Saskatchewan, Nelson, Penobscot, Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, James, Cape Fear, Savannah, Mobile, Brazos, and several other important non-tributary rivers. There are also two great North American inland seas—Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico; but nothing of the kind is seen in South America.
America is called the New World; and from the historical point of view, this name is obviously appropriate; but geologically it may be called the Old World, since the oldest known strata have their widest development on its surface; and there have been here found relics of prehistoric man, which must be regarded as among the oldest yet discovered.
NORTH AMERICA has an area of more than 9,000,000 sq. m. It is considerably larger than South America, which is in turn larger than Europe and Australia combined. Of the two great meridional lines of uplift, the western (that of the Rocky Mountains and their subsidiary chains) is vastly the greater, not only in height, but in breadth and length. From Alaska, in the NW., it extends throughout the Pacific coast-region. Near the two extremities volcanic activity is still great; but it is at present much more noteworthy in Central America than in Alaska. North of Mexico there is very little evidence of much very recent volcanic activity till we reach the Aliaska peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. Through those islands the volcanic chain makes a direct connection with the volcano-systems of Kamchatka, the Kuriles, Japan, Formosa, the Philippines, and the Malay Archipelago. Except those of the West Indies, all the active American volcanoes are found near the Pacific. In 1886 a series of destructive earthquakes occurred, which had their centre near Charleston.
The western mountain-system of North America comprises a very great number of minor ranges, mostly having a north and south direction. The main chain (Sierra Madre) cannot be said to preserve an unmistakable identity throughout. The Coast Range, the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascade Mountains are the most noted of the western parallel ranges; they all lie on the Pacific slope, and they contain some of the highest of North American peaks. The elevated plateau called the Great Basin (chiefly in Utah and Nevada, U.S.), contains the Great Salt Lake and several smaller bodies of strongly saline water, evidently the remains of a much larger lake which once sent its waters to the sea; although at present the waters of the basin are all evaporated, its streams and lakes having no connection with the ocean.
The eastern or great Appalachian mountain-system has a general NNE. direction, nearly parallel with the Atlantic coast-line. Like the Brazilian mountains of South America, it is geologically much older than the corresponding western range; it is also far less elevated. The Appalachian Mountains begin at the south in the broken tablelands of Alabama. Through the Alleghanies, the Cumberland, the Blue Ridge, and other parallel and variously named local ranges, they connect directly with the Catskills, the Shawangunk Mountains, the Helderberg Hills, and the Highlands of New York. Thence they continue NE. through the Green Mountains of Vermont to the Notre Dame Mountains and the Shickshock range of Eastern Canada. The mountains of Newfoundland, and the Watchish ridge of Labrador belong to the Appalachian system.
North of the St Lawrence River, the vast and complicated mountain-system of the Laurentides extends from the Atlantic to near Lake Superior, with a continuation into the Labrador peninsula. The Adirondacks are an outlying portion of the Laurentide system.
Since 1894 it is believed that the highest mountain in North America is neither Orizaba, any of the Mexican peaks, nor Mount St Elias (18,010 ft.), but Mount Logan, 10 miles east of the latter, in Canadian territory, 19,500 feet high. In the Cascades are Mount St Helena, 15,750 feet; Mount Hood, 11,934 feet; Mount Takoma, 14,444 feet. In California, and chiefly in the Sierra Nevada, are Mount Whitney, 14,886 feet high; Mount Shasta, 14,440 feet; Mount King, 14,000 feet; Mount Tyndall, 14,386 feet.
From near Mount Brown and Mount Hooker, both reduced in 1898 from 15,500 to 9000 feet, flow the Saskatchewan, Mackenzie, Fraser, and Columbia Rivers. A group of lofty mountains in Central Colorado sends out the rivers Arkansas, Platte, Rio Grande, and Colorado. Among the highest mountains of Colorado are Mount Wilson, 14,280 feet high; Lincoln, 14,297 feet; Evans, 14,330 feet; and Howard, 14,208 feet. A very large number are over 13,000 feet high. The highest point of the Alleghany system (Mount Mitchell) is only 6688 feet high. Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, reaches 6293 feet. Among the Adirondacks, Mount Marcy (5344 feet) is the highest. In Mexico, Popocatepetl reaches a height of 17,884 feet, while Orizaba is 17,373 feet high.
A very remarkable feature of North America is the great central plain which reaches from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Its northern section is drained by the Mackenzie River; the central districts belong in part to the Saskatchewan-Nelson basin (whose outflow is to Hudson Bay), and in part to the St Lawrence system; while the southern half is mainly drained by the Mississippi. The only important break in the continuity of this great plain occurs in the Ozark Mountain region of Missouri and Arkansas. These mountains are low and irregularly disposed; they are connected by a low ridge with the Rocky Mountain system. A prominent feature of the central plain is the Hauteur des Terres, a high ridge, whence flow the Mississippi, the Red River, the St Lawrence, and the Winnipeg. This ridge is nowhere over 2000 feet high, and its ascent is extremely gradual. To the NE., however, there is a marked, though not very apparent slope towards the tidal waters of Hudson Bay. The general elevation of the central plain of North America is not very great. It is remarkable that to the eastward for a great part of its extent it is not bounded by any mountain wall, the western ridges of the Appalachian system sloping very gently to the westward, although their eastern faces are often steep and abrupt. The western half of the great valley is much higher than the eastern; and most of the foot-hill region east of the Rocky Mountains, like the valleys which intervene between the many mountain-ridges, has an elevation of from 5000 to 6000 feet. The Anahuac plateau ranges from 6000 up to 8000 feet.
The most general name for the great plains of North America is prairie; but in its present American use, the term has lost something of its original meaning in the French language, and acquired some new modifications. For the most part, the word designates a treeless plain; but there are local distinctions between timbered and bald or treeless prairies; and many plains at one time bare of trees have become well timbered through the operations of natural or other causes. There is little doubt that the former prevalence of great annual prairie fires was a principal cause of the absence of trees on the great plains. The settlement and cultivation of the country has greatly checked the spread of prairie fires; and, as a consequence, the timbered belts, which were formerly limited to the banks of streams, have in many places so spread as to cover a large proportion of the surface. The planting of forest trees, stimulated by bounties and by other favouring legislation, has been extensively undertaken, and in many places has succeeded beyond expectation. There is still a difference of opinion as to whether tree-planting will ever increase the now insufficient rainfall of the high plains which border the Rocky Mountain region on the east. The prairies of North America vary much in respect of geological age, though very little of their area rests upon azoic strata. Few prairies are of a dead-level surface, and many are 'rolling'—that is, their surface is a succession of low wave-like swells and depressions. Often there are shallow ravines or coulées, which, like the wady-valleys of Arabia, may represent the courses of ancient streams. The plains often rise over the level of their rivers by a succession of 'benches,' or terraces, which in North-western Canada are mis-called steppes. Geographers have extended the North Asiatic term tundra to the marshy and sphagnum plains of sub-arctic America. In the extreme south, many of the grassy plains are locally termed savannahs; and along the Lower Mississippi and its delta are found the singular prairies tremblantes, or quaking plains, which shake beneath the tread. Many of these prairies tremblantes afford pasturage for herds, and some are crossed by lines of railway. It is believed that in such cases the lower strata are highly charged with water, while the surface is rendered firm by a network of roots, which in some cases is buoyed up by collections of marsh gas. In general, the true prairies have a very strong and tough sod; but after thorough ploughing, the surface becomes friable, and the soil generally proves highly productive. There are, however, prairies with a light and sandy soil, and with small agricultural capabilities. In other places, sand-hills and hard flinty ridges occur. Towards the Rocky Mountains, irrigation is generally necessary, and the grazing (ranching) of cattle and sheep replaces, to a great extent, the operations of agriculture.
The coast-line of North America on the west is almost everywhere high and rocky. To the south of Puget Sound, good harbours are rare; but British Columbia and Alaska have great numbers of good seaports, the coast-line being, in many places, deeply cut with high-walled fjords, or 'canals,' and elsewhere sheltered by ranges of high and well-wooded islands. The Atlantic coast, to the north of New York Bay, is generally rocky and well sheltered with islands, and has abundance of good natural harbours; but south of the parallel of New York, the coast of the mainland is almost everywhere low and sandy. Many of the best ports are formed by river-mouths, and have sand-bars across their entrances. Nowhere else in the world is there any such extent of low and sandy coast as on the Atlantic and Gulf seaboard of the United States.
Hydrography.—The fluviatile hydrography of North America is very remarkable. In general, Canada and the Atlantic slope are well-watered and have abundant rains. Along a narrow strip on the Pacific slope, from San Francisco southward to Acapulco, the water-supply is deficient, and the interior regions near the coast have locally a desert character; while from Acapulco southward the rainfall is ample for all needs. As will be seen further on, there is a marked analogy in this regard between the Pacific coast-region of North America and that of South America. The central valley is generally well supplied with water; but to the west of the Mississippi there are but scanty summer rains. As the Rocky Mountains are approached, the water-supply becomes more deficient; and, except where irrigation is practicable, agriculture proper generally gives place to the grazing of cattle. But in the Canadian part of the central valley there is ordinarily no deficiency of rainfall. In the Rocky Mountain region, the summers are generally very dry; and in some sections, irriga- tion is required in order to produce crops. Still the great volume and length of the North American rivers, and the immense number of lakes, are sufficient proof of the amplitude of the general rainfall. In Canada, the lakes and rivers are especially numerous. It is stated that the St Lawrence, with its tributary lakes and rivers, contains one-half the fresh water of the globe. In the Rocky Mountain region of Canada, the great rivers, Yukon, Fraser, Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Mackenzie take their rise. Between these mountains and Hudson Bay, a girdle of vast lakes, or inland seas (Great Bear, Great Slave, Athabasca, Deer Lake, Winnipeg, and others), are seen to form a regular succession running from the Arctic Circle in a SSE. course to Lake Superior (350 by 100 miles), which is itself the largest fresh-water lake in the world, and the first of a wonderful chain of great sea-like expansions of the Upper St Lawrence. The line of these great lakes (from Great Bear Lake to the Lake of the Woods inclusive) marks the eastern limit of a fertile prairie region resting on fossiliferous rocks. East of this line we find a vast wilderness of 'Barren Grounds' and swamps, mostly unfertile, and geologically composed of azoic rocks. North of the St Lawrence system, almost the whole country is thickly studded with lakes, which, with their connecting streams, form a network of important water-ways traversable by canoes and boats. They nearly all swarm with valuable food-fishes, and many of the streams are capable of affording immense water-power. The river Saguenay is noted for the awful grandeur of its scenery. The Ottawa is the largest tributary of the St Lawrence, which is itself the largest in volume of North American rivers. Among the other large tributaries are the St Maurice, the Richelieu, the St Francis, and the Chaudière.
The Atlantic slope of the United States is well supplied with water, and many of its streams afford extensive navigation. The river Hudson, noted for its fine scenery, is remarkable as a deep tidal channel, affording the only naturally navigable water-way through the Appalachians. The Potomac is one of the noblest of American rivers; and important streams flowing to the Atlantic are the St John, the Penobscot, the Kennebec, the Merrimac (noted as affording more utilised water-power than any other river in the world), the Connecticut, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the James, the Chowan, the Tar, the Neuse, the Cape Fear, the Great Pedee, the Santee, the Savannah, the Altamaha, and the St John's, nearly all navigable in their lower courses. The chief rivers flowing to the Gulf of Mexico are the Apalachicola, the Mobile, the Pearl, the great Mississippi, the Sabine, the Trinity, the Brazos, the Colorado of Texas, and the Rio Grande. The last-named river forms a part of the boundary between Mexico and the United States, and is the only very considerable stream of which any part is in Mexico, excepting the Colorado of the West (of which the mouth and lowest section are in Mexico), and the Santiago on the western slope. The United States portion of the great central plain is principally drained by the Gulf Coast rivers, and chiefly by the Mississippi (q.v.) and its great affluents. But a considerable part of this region has its outflow into the St Lawrence, through the great lakes; and in the north another area sends its waters to Hudson Bay, through the Nelson River. Along the crest or divide between these river-systems in Dakota and Minnesota, many lakes are found, some of them with no outlet. Of these last lakes, some are saline or brackish. Devil's Lake is the largest of these salt lakes.
Of the many large Alaskan rivers, the principal is the Yukon, which pours a vast flood into Behring (properly Bering) Sea. This is a channel of some steam-communication in summer. The Kuskokim is another large stream of Alaska. The Fraser is a swift and strong river, flowing in a region of high mountains. The great river Columbia is noted alike for its navigation, its salmon-fisheries, and its enormous cataracts. The Rio Colorado, whose waters flow to the Gulf of California, traverses a desert plateau. Here, nearly every water-course runs in a deep-walled cañon—a narrow valley with precipitous sides, often of prodigious height. Many of the cañons are dry the greater part of the year. When rains occur, they wash the detritus of the rocky surface into the streams; and the swift waters, heavily laden with sharp sedimentary matter, act like a chisel in cutting away the bottoms of their own beds. In this way the cañons have been formed. The very aridity of the country has thus helped the process of cañon-formation, and of the consequent over-drainage of surface-strata. In a part of the Grand Cañon, the Colorado flows at a depth of 7000 feet below the general level of the country.
Climate.—The winter cold and the summer heat of North America seem, as a rule, to be extreme, when we consider the latitudes. Variations of temperature are more sudden and more extreme than in South America or Western Europe.
The arctic portion of North America has a climate of extreme severity; and much of the northern sub-arctic region has a decidedly arctic climate. Thus the Labrador peninsula is in the main a most forbidding and desolate expanse, covered with rocks and precipices, and having a winter far more rigorous and inhospitable than that of Lapland, or even Siberia. In the west, however, the corresponding region is nearly as mild as that of sub-arctic Europe; and Southern Alaska, at the coast-line, has very warm though rainy winters. Crossing the Rocky Mountains of Canada, we find the western half of the great central plain has not only a fertile soil, but a climate such that wheat can be grown even in the region of the Peace River; and it is asserted that the Mackenzie River valley is in part well adapted to cultivation, almost as far north as the Arctic Ocean. Yet the Barren Grounds west of Hudson Bay are altogether unfit for agriculture, and the same thing is true of much of the swampy and wooded region north of the Athabasca. But with every allowance, it remains certain that a very large part of the unsettled portion of North-western Canada is extremely well adapted to the growth of barley, oats, and spring wheat of the very first quality. The winters of this region are severe, but quite endurable; and it is their length rather than their severity that makes them dreaded by settlers. In that part of this region lying north of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the present scanty population is made up almost entirely of Indians. There are no roads; summer travel is effected by canoes; while in winter the traveller finds a swift conveyance in sledges drawn by dogs.
Passing south of the Canadian line, we are still in the spring-wheat belt; and not till we go south 4 or 5 degrees of latitude do we enter the winter-wheat belt. Maize is planted in the warmer parts of Canada, and in nearly all the more southern parts of North America. The other cereals grown in the United States are much the same as those ordinarily produced in Europe. Sorghum is a large annual grass or cane extensively grown in various parts of the United States as a sugar-producing plant. True sugar-cane is raised only in the most southern parts of the United States, and in lati-