It gives a broad idea about North America

1. North America Intro

2. • North America
Includes:
• Greenland
• Canada
• USA
• Mexico
• Greater and
Lesser Antilles,
Caribbean

3. Why Study North America?
• It is very large!
• Canada covers 6.7%
of Earth’s land surface
• USA covers 6.4%
• Only two governments
control all this land, all
of its inhabitants, and
all of its resources.

4. Shared Past
• All North Americans share
an aboriginal past and a
colonial past.
• Native people
• Native people inhabited all of
North America before
Europeans colonized
• Aboriginal or Indigenous
• Colonialism
• European powers controlled
North America

5. Colonial Past
• It is important to
understand the colonial
past of a place.
• Understanding the
colonial past helps us
to understand current
politics, socioeconomic
structures, and
cultures.
Santo Domingo church in San Cristobal, Chiapas

6. Distinct Differences
• USA
• Had a bloody revolution to become independent from England
• Canada
• Went through a peaceful separation in 1867 and still has close ties to
England
• Greenland
• Was granted home rule, but the queen of Denmark is still the head of
state
• Mexico
• Another bloody revolution to become independent from Spain, then
another to become independent from France (Cinco de Mayo)

7. Native People

8. Canada and the First Nations
• Canada has an
interesting native history
• In 1999, gave Nunavut
back to the natives
• Called “First Nations” in
Canada
• Only political region
populated and governed
by indigenous people on
the North American
continent.

9. Canada and the US
• Most multicultural places on Earth
• Both share aboriginal past
• Early settlers mainly from England and France,
followed other Western Europeans
• Since WWII many more people from all over the world
• “Terra incognita” to lots of Americans
• Yet, Canada is our most important trading
partner and we share common histories and
geographies

10. Canada
• Most Americans know nothing about
Canada
• Stretches 3730 miles from Newfoundland to
British Columbia
• Has prairies, mountains, lakes, rivers (3 of the
world’s 20 longest)
• 35 million people, most living within 200 miles
of the border

11. Greenland
• World’s largest
island
• Twice as large as the
next largest island
• New Guinea 2nd
largest
• 52 times bigger than
Denmark
• Most northern
country on Earth

12. Greenland
• Today inhabited by people
from all over the world
• Majority are either Danish or
Inuit
• Impact all over in shops,
language, music, native
costumes, and more.
• Connected to the rest of
North America by location
and politically with Canada
because they are fighting
over Hans Island.

14. Mexico
• Vestiges of its Spanish Colonial past
• Majority of the population is mixed Spanish
and indigenous people

15. USA
• Second largest
country in North
America
• Has 48 conterminous
or connected states
and 2 disconnected
states
• A result of
expansionist policies
• Dictated by manifest
destiny and quirks of
history

16. Government
• Canada and the USA based
loosely on the British system
of government
• Canada is more closely
modeled on it
• Both place have legal systems
that separate power between
federal, and state or province
(Canada)
• Canada still a commonwealth
of England and the Queen is
still the head of state
• Elected in-residence head of
state is the Prime Minister
Stephen Harper, Canadian PM

17. Political Complexity
• Canada
– Federation of 10
provinces, 3 territories
– Chief of State: Queen
Elizabeth II,
represented by
Governor-General
– Parliamentary
government with a
Prime Minister (head
of party with most seats
in House of
Commons); also
Senate
• United States
– Federation of 50 states
– Chief of state: elected
President
– Congress consisting of
House of Representatives
and Senate

18. Canada
• Canada is a counter-revolutionary nation (adopted
Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982).
• Gov. is a British-style parliamentary democracy
not U.S.-style democracy.
• Canadians are law-abiding; crime rates much
lower than in US.
• No strong national myth; but have a distinctive
identity..
• Often feel like victims of two colonial powers:
both Britain and the U.S.

19. Canada
• Highest rate of immigration in the world
• Helps new immigrants with relocating and invites
them in.
• The world multiculturalism comes from
Canada in the 1970’s
• From government diversity programs

20. High Income, High Consumption
• USA and Canada
• Annual per capita incomes among the world’s
highest
• Disposable incomes generate demand, ensure
massive consumption
• Retail establishments ubiquitous
• U.S. and Canada (5% of the world’s
population) consume 28% of the world’s oil
• Implications of high consumption in a finite
environment?
• Presence of poverty

21. Some definitions…
• Human Geography
• The study of human decision making processes
and activities on the surface of the Earth.
• Physical Geography
• The science that studies that spatial aspects of
natural environmental components and
processes

22. Some definitions…
• Political Economy
• The study of the relationship between a place's
organization of economic systems and issues as they
relate to political developments and policies.
• Historical Geography
• Geographic study and analysis of the processes shaping
place and space at selected historical time periods.

23. Regional Geography
• Integrates skills from both human and
physical geography with a focus on
particular places.
• The study of selected parts of Earth that are
defined and identified by a certain unifying
characteristic.