Geographical or geopolitical regions •
North America—when used to denote less than the entire North American continent, contains
Canada,
Mexico, and the
United States, and the
dependencies of
Bermuda (
U.K.),
Greenland (
Denmark), and
Saint Pierre and Miquelon (
France). Occasionally, this refers to just
Canada and the United States together. •
Middle America—
Mexico and the nations of
Central America; often also includes the
West Indies. Occasionally,
Colombia and
Venezuela are also included in Middle America. Sometimes, Central America may be defined to only include the five countries which gained independence as the
United Provinces of Central America. This definition excludes Belize and Panama. •
West Indies—the island territories of the Caribbean. •
South America—contains the nations of
Argentina,
Bolivia,
Brazil,
Chile,
Colombia,
Ecuador,
Guyana,
Paraguay,
Peru,
Suriname,
Uruguay, and
Venezuela, and the
French overseas department of
French Guiana. Also includes the insular territories of the
Falkland Islands (
U.K.), the
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (
U.K.),
Fernando de Noronha (Brazil),
Trindade and Martim Vaz (Brazil), the
Galápagos Islands (Ecuador), and the
Juan Fernández Islands (Chile). •
Middle America (United States)—
Middle America may also refer to the
midwestern United States or the
middle-class segment of the U.S. population.
Political divisions •
United States of America—a
federal republic in North America founded in 1776 and comprising
50 states (one of which,
Hawaii, is not considered to be located in North America) and one federal district (the
District of Columbia), with
several outlying territories of varying affiliation; commonly referred to as
the U.S. or simply
America. •
Confederate States of America—a former
confederation in North America from 1861 to 1865, comprising eleven
southern states that attempted to
secede from the United States of America:
Alabama,
Arkansas,
Florida,
Georgia,
Louisiana,
Mississippi,
North Carolina,
South Carolina,
Tennessee,
Texas, and
Virginia. Their rebellion precipitated the
American Civil War; upon its conclusion, the Confederate States were readmitted to representation in the United States Congress. •
British America—former designation for
British possessions in the Americas. •
British North America—former designation for territories in North America colonised by
Great Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly after 1783 and in reference to
Canada. At the start of the
American Revolution in 1775, the
British Empire in North America included twenty colonies north of
Mexico. In 1783, the
Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution and established boundaries between the
United States and British North America;
East Florida and
West Florida were also ceded to
Spain in the treaty, and then ceded by Spain to the US in 1819. From 1867 to 1873, all but one of the remaining colonies of British North America
confederated (through a
series of eponymous acts) into the
Dominion of Canada.
Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. •
British West Indies—the islands and territories of the Caribbean under British colonial influence. •
Federal Republic of Central America—formerly the
United Provinces of Central America, a federal republic in Central America from 1823 to 1840 comprising the newly independent
Spanish territories: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and (later)
Los Altos. In 1838, the federation succumbed to
civil war and dissolved. •
Northern America (América Septentrional)-the first official name of
Mexico. •
Mexican America (América Mexicana)-a name chosen and drafted in the first Mexican constitution. •
United Provinces of South America, denomination of
Argentina during the early developments of the
Argentine War of Independence, and official denomination of the country as per the
1819 Constitution (rejected 1820). •
West Indies Federation—a
federation of several Caribbean island
colonies and
territories of the United Kingdom (
see also: British West Indies) from 1958 to 1962. This was followed by the
West Indies Associated States, a smaller, looser polity, from 1967 to 1981.
Linguistic/cultural regions •
Anglo-America—the region of the Americas having significant historical, linguistic, and cultural links to
England or the
British Isles, i.e.,
Anglophone; often just Canada and the United States. •
Latin America—the region of the Americas where
Romance languages derived from
Latin–namely
Spanish,
Portuguese, and variably
French–are officially or primarily spoken. Though French is spoken in
Quebec, it is typically not included due to Canada's links to Britain. •
Ibero-America—the region of the Americas having significant historical, linguistic, and cultural links to
Spain or
Portugal (both on the
Iberian Peninsula), i.e.,
Hispanophone and
Lusophone. •
Hispanic America (also
Spanish America)—those countries inhabited by Spanish-speaking populations. •
French America—the
Francophone region. •
Mesoamerica—a region of the Americas extending from central Mexico southeast to Nicaragua and Costa Rica; a term used especially in
archaeology and
ethnohistory for the region where an array of civilizations had flourished during the
pre-Columbian era, and which shared a number of historical and cultural traditions. •
Mesoamerican Linguistic Area—a
sprachbund, or linguistic region, defined as the area inhabited by speakers of a set of indigenous languages which have developed certain similarities as a result of their historic and geographical connections; roughly co-terminate with the archaeological/ethnohistorical Mesoamerica. •
Aridoamerica—an archaeological/ethnohistorical regional division, essentially comprising the arid/semi-arid northern portion of present-day Mexico, whose historical peoples are generally characterized by a nomadic existence and minimal reliance on agriculture. •
Oasisamerica—an occasionally used archaeological/ethnohistorical term for a (pre-Columbian) cultural region of North America. ==See also==