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North America is a continent in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost fully in the western hemisphere, bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west by the North Pacific Ocean; South America lies to the southeast. It covers an area of about 24,480,000 km² (9,450,000 sq mi), or about 4.8% of the planet's surface. As of July 2002, its population was estimated at more than 514,000,000. It is the third largest continent in area, after Asia and Africa, and is fourth in population after Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Etymology

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A number of theories exist regarding the naming of North and South America. The most widely recognized is that they are named after Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a New World, previously undiscovered by Europeans. The second and less generally accepted is that the continents are named after an English merchant named Richard Amerike from Bristol, who is believed to have financed John Cabot's voyage of discovery from England to Newfoundland in 1497. A third and minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of 'Amairick'.

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North America - Twitter Search

RT @bc_obnw: Intermittent errors or slowness for some sites hosted in North America - systems engineers are working on it. / Typical!
atomicworks (Carl Olson) Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:47:37 -0000
RT @bc_obnw: Intermittent errors or slowness for some sites hosted in North America - systems engineers are working on it. / Typical!
RT @Sno_man: sun sets across the Alps www.sno.mobi/Chamonix/webcam rises in North America www.sno.mobi/Fernie/webcam
scazzacazzo (scazzacazzo) Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:45:46 -0000
RT @Sno_man: sun sets across the Alps www.sno.mobi/Chamonix/webcam rises in North America www.sno.mobi/Fernie/webcam
Yea she does(perv?) RT @christichiello: I have the softest arms. Easily the softest arms in north america. Those who have felt, would agree.
Rlima27 (Bobby Lima) Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:44:27 -0000
Yea she does(perv?) RT @christichiello: I have the softest arms. Easily the softest arms in north america. Those who have felt, would agree.
Are you a skier? You can find ski conditions to area mountains and across North America here: http://bit.ly/ski-conditions.
poststar (The Post-Star) Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:42:13 -0000
Are you a skier? You can find ski conditions to area mountains and across North America here: http://bit.ly/ski-conditions.
Great conference call - so pumped to be working with Kingsway North America and Brenton Brown album launch! http://bit.ly/jo1ZW
GrafMartin (Graf-Martin Agency) Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:41:26 -0000
Great conference call - so pumped to be working with Kingsway North America and Brenton Brown album launch! http://bit.ly/jo1ZW
Great conference call - so pumped to be working with Kingsway North America and Brenton Brown album launch! http://bit.ly/jo1ZW
ellengm (Ellen Graf-Martin) Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:41:26 -0000
Great conference call - so pumped to be working with Kingsway North America and Brenton Brown album launch! http://bit.ly/jo1ZW

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