A brief description of North America: population, population, density and history

North America is the third largest continent on our planet. Its area is about 24.3 million square kilometers. Near it are many archipelagos and islands, the largest of which is Greenland. As of today, the population of North America is about 530 million inhabitants. About it in more detail and will be discussed in this article.

First people

According to recent historical studies, the first people on the territory of the continent appeared several thousand years ago. Scientists believe that they came here from Asia on a land bridge, which at that time existed at the current location of the Bering Strait. This can also explain the fact that the indigenous population of North America (Eskimos and Indians) refers to the Mongoloid race. Bright evidence of the Asian origin of local tribes is the numerous external signs - a reddish skin tone, a broad face, a dark color of the eyes, straight, hard hair and others. The majority of Aboriginal people lived in the territory of modern Mexico. It was here that the first major civilizations and states with developed culture and economy appeared.

Colonization

In the fifteenth century, Christopher Columbus discovered America, after which the period of colonization of the continent began. Spaniards, Frenchmen, Englishmen and other Europeans began to come here. This process was accompanied by the destruction of local residents or their displacement into a poorly suitable for normal life. A little later, slaves from Africa were brought here to work on the plantations. As a result, over time, the Negroid, Mongoloid and Europoid races mixed in the territory of the continent . The active colonization of the continent continued until the nineteenth century. Thus, now we can say with confidence that the modern population and the countries of North America were formed mainly under the influence of precisely these factors.

Modern residents of North America

As of today, the mainland is home to approximately 530 million people. In other words, this is about 13% of the world's inhabitants. As already mentioned above, representatives of all three races are here, as well as groups of people who eventually formed as a result of their mixing (mulatto, mestizo and others). In the United States, English is mainly used, in Canada - English and French, and in Mexico - Spanish. It should be noted that for the first two mentioned countries, a constant influx of immigrants from different parts of the world has been characteristic for a long time, which leads to the formation of new ethnic groups. They gradually assimilated with the American and Canadian nations.

The US, Mexico and Canada are the largest countries in North America. The population of these states is about 472 million people. According to statistics, in search of a better fate, an average of 500,000 people migrate to the mainland every year from all over the world.

Native people

On the North American continent, only one hundredth person is indigenous. Most of the Indians now live on the territory of Mexico, and the Eskimos live mainly in the southern part of Greenland and the coast of the Arctic Ocean. In addition, relatively large numbers of Aboriginal people are found on Canadian and US reservations, as well as in some areas of Alaska. Altogether in North America, according to approximate calculations, no more than 10 million Indians and about 70 thousand Eskimos live. Representatives of the Aleuts tribe (5 thousand people) were preserved in the Aleutian Islands .

The indigenous population of North America mainly speaks the dialects of their ancestors. Along with this, in recent years many of its representatives have been gradually moving to English, French and Spanish. As for religion, most of the inhabitants of the continent are Catholics. Other numerical local religious groups are Protestants, Orthodox, Buddhists, Jews and others.

Resettlement

The average population density of North America is almost 22 inhabitants per square kilometer. At the same time, the inhabitants of the continent are extremely unevenly distributed over the area. It is connected both with its history, and with natural conditions. The most densely populated areas are the islands of the Caribbean, as well as the central part. Here for every square kilometer there are almost 200 people. These territories were well developed by indigenous peoples a few thousand years ago. The second region in density is the lands surrounding the Great Lakes. In third place in this indicator are some regions of the Pacific coast. Especially it concerns the areas located in territory of the USA. As for the least populated region, then, of course, is Greenland. In addition, there are few people in the desert western and northern areas of the mainland. Some of the archipelagos are generally uninhabited.

Results

To summarize, it is necessary to emphasize that the population of North America is more the descendants of European immigrants who arrived here during colonization and assimilated with local aborigines, as well as African slaves brought from Africa. Only 1% of people living on the mainland are indigenous people. Do not forget that North America is one of the most urbanized continents. It is here that the world's largest agglomerations and cities are located by population. On the other hand, there are regions where practically no one lives.