| Subdivisions of the Americas | |
|---|---|
| Map | Legend |
&sq=Albert Einstein&lang=en&file=File:LocationNSAm.png)
|
North America (NA)
South America (SA)
May be included in
either NA or SA |
&sq=Albert Einstein&lang=en&file=File:LocationNSAm2.png)
|
North America (NA)
May be included in NA
Central America
Caribbean
South America
|
&sq=Albert Einstein&lang=en&file=File:LocationNSAm3.png)
|
North America (NA)
May be included in NA
Northern America Middle America (MA)
Caribbean (may be
included in MA) South America (SA)
May be included
in MA or SA |
&sq=Albert Einstein&lang=en&file=File:LocationNSAngloLatin.png)
|
Anglo-America (A-A)
May be included in A-A
Latin America (LA)
May be included in LA
|
The Americas, also known as America,[1] are lands of the Western Hemisphere, composed of numerous entities and regions variably defined by geography, politics, and culture.
The Americas are recognized in the English-speaking world to include two separate continents: North America and South America. In parts of Europe and Latin America, America is considered to be a single continent, within which North and South America are regions.[2]
- ^ "America." The Oxford Companion to the English Language (ISBN 0-19-214183-X). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 33: "[16c: from the feminine of Americus, the Latinized first name of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512). A claim is also made for the name of Richard Ameryk, sheriff of Bristol and patron of John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto), the 16c Anglo-Italian explorer of North America. The name America first appeared on a map in 1507 by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, referring to the area now called Brazil]. Since the 16c, a name of the western hemisphere, often in the plural Americas and more or less synonymous with the New World. Since the 18c, a name of the United States of America. The second sense is now primary in English: ... However, the term is open to uncertainties: ..."
- ^ Martin W. Lewis; Karen E. Wigen (1997). "Chapter One, The Architecture of Continents". The Myth of Continents. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20742-4.