AMERICA, a part of the world formed by two continents - North. America and the South. America. A. is located in the Western hemisphere, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The island includes the world's largest island of Greenland and a number of other nearby islands. In the North of the island, the Center of the Island is often distinguished (between the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Isthmus of Panama) and the island of the West Indies. The isolation of the North and South A. from each other, their remoteness from other parts of the world, means the size of the area and sharply different natural conditions (with the similarity of geologic. structures and relief) give reason to consider the North and South as independent continents. The border between them is usually drawn through the Isthmus of Panama. The total area is 42.5 million km2. Us. 479 million people (1967).
Greenland and the north-east. The coast of N. A. was first seen by the Normans in the 10th - 11th centuries. (the first opening is about 900). Antillean Islands, part of the North. the coasts of the Southern A. and the southern part of the Caribbean coast of the Northern A. were discovered by X. Columbus in 1492-1503 (there are suggestions that these territories were discovered long before the appearance of the Columbus expedition off the coast of A.). The name A. was given by the Lorraine cartographer M. Wald-Zemuller in 1507 in his "Introduction to Cosmography" after the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci, who first suggested that the open lands in the Western Hemisphere are a new part of the world.
The indigenous population of pre-Columbian A. consisted of many Indian tribes and peoples (see Indians), as well as Eskimos (in the Far North of A.). The establishment of the dominance of Europeans in A. was accompanied by the destruction of a part of the Indian population, as well as its extinction as a result of the spread of diseases imported by colonizers, cruel exploitation, etc. The modern population of A. consists of descendants of Europe. immigrants and Africans imported as slaves, mixed in most countries with each other and the remnants of the aboriginal Indian population. In anthropologich. regarding the population of A. extremely diverse, it mixed representatives of all three major races of humanity: Caucasoid, Mongoloid and equatorial (Negro-Australoid). The nature of the mixing of these components varies in different parts of A. The most numerous group is Caucasoid, whose representatives make up about 90% of the population of Northern A. and approx. 1/3 - Latin A. The second largest group is mestizos, descendants from mixed Indian-European marriages. They make up the main population of a number of countries (Mexico, most of the Central American Republics, Venezuela, Paraguay, etc.). The third group is mulattoes, who appeared as a result of the displacement of Europe. population with African. They include part of the population of Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela, the USA, and a number of West Indian countries. There are also groups of mixed Indian-Negro origin (in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia). The trace, a Negroid group, includes unmixed (or rather, little mixed) descendants of African Negro slaves. A large number of them live in Brazil, they make up the main population of Haiti, Jamaica and most other West Indian countries; the Negro population of the USA also belongs to them. The aboriginal population - Indians belonging to a special branch of the Mongoloid race (see American race), has been preserved in a number of areas of the Center and South. America (in the territories of modern Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, Paraguay, Brazil, Mexico, etc.); in the USA, Canada and some other countries, Indians are settled in specially created reservations.
The overwhelming majority of the population of A. speaks the languages of the Indo-European family. English dominates in the Northern A., Spanish - in Mexico and most countries of the South and Central A., Portuguese - in Brazil. Frantz. the language is one of two state languages . languages of Canada, and is also common in Haiti and a number of small islands of the West Indies. The large Indian peoples (Quechua, Aymara, Aztecs, etc.) have preserved their languages to a certain extent, while the languages of the peoples of Africa have not been preserved by any of the ethnic groups.
Throughout Latin America, the Catholic religion prevails. Only a little-number. Indian tribes living in inaccessible areas retain their tribal beliefs. Among the peoples, where Negroes and mulattoes make up a share, beliefs and rituals of African origin are intertwined with Catholicism. In the north. A., along with Catholicism, k-ry professes to be widespread.about a quarter of the population, numerous. Protestant churches and sects.
The most significant nations are: Americans, Anglo-Canadians (see Canadians), Mexicans, Brazilians, Argentines, Colombians, Chileans, Venezuelans, Cubans.
There are 50 countries located in A., i.e. individual politicians. units; among them 26 independent states and 24 colonial possessions (see Table.- The political division of America).
In politich. Map A. after the 2nd World War, there were changes. As a result of the victory of the People's Revolution, the first in A. Socialist appeared. The State is Cuba. In A., new politically sovereign states were formed - Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados.
For the nature, history, and economy of A., see the articles North America and South America, as well as articles about individual states.
