North America

The third-largest of the world’s continents, North America spans 5,000 miles (8,000km) wide, and extends more than 5,000 miles (8,000km) to within 500 miles of both the North Pole and the Equator. North America occupies the northern part of the landmass known as the New World, the Western Hemisphere, or the Americas. Bound to the north by the Arctic Ocean, the north Atlantic Ocean on the east, and the north Pacific Ocean on the west, to the northeast Greenland is separated from Iceland by the Denmark Strait, and to the northwest Alaska is separated from the Asian mainland by the Bering Strait.