This document provides an overview of North America, including its constituent countries and territories. It discusses the shared aboriginal and colonial pasts of North America and how this history continues to influence modern politics, economies, and cultures. Key differences between the USA, Canada, Greenland, and Mexico are also outlined, such as their varying paths to independence and relationships with European powers. Native populations, governments, economies, and environments of North America are described at both regional and national levels.

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.