m
Arc
tic(^) Ci
rcl
e
Tropic of Cancer
Mt McKinley
6,194 m
(20,321 ft)
Ber
ing^
Str
ait
PACIFIC
OCEAN
ARCTIC
OCEAN
Gulf of
Alaska
Beaufort
Sea
Bering
Sea
Yuk
on^
Ma
ck
en
zie
Snake
Colora
do^
Fr
as
er
(^) Ri
o (^) G
ran
de
Sl
av
e
Saskat
chewan
Great
Bear Lake
Great
Slave Lake
Lake
Athabasca
Reindeer
Lake
R o c k y M o u n t a i n s S
ie
rr
a
M
ad
re
(^) O
cc
id
en
ta
l
Lo
w
er
Ca
lif
or
ni
a
C
en
tr
al
(^) V
al
le
y
A
le
u
ti
an
(^) Is
land
s G r e a t P l a i n s
Queen Elizabeth
Islands
Victoria
Island
Br
oo
ks
(^) R
ang
e
Ma
cke
nz
ie
(^) M
ou
nt
ai
ns
Co
as
t
M
ou
nt
ai
ns
Alaska^ Range
Kodiak
Island
Queen Charlotte
Islands
Vancouver
Island
Denver
Albuquerque
Salt Lake
City
Anchorage
Calgary
Regina
Vancouver
Ciudad Juárez
Phoenix
Hermosillo
Tijuana Mexicali
Guadalajara
Chihuahua
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco
Sacramento
El Paso
San Jose
Seattle
Boise
Portland
Saskatoon
Edmonton
Salem
Reno
Las
Vegas
ALBERTA
NORTHWEST
TERRITORIES
SASKATCHEWAN
WASHINGTON
OREGON
CALIFORNIA
NEVADA
IDAHO
MONTANA
WYOMING
ARIZONA
NEW
MEXICO
COLORADO
UTAH
YUKON
TERRITORY
ALASKA
(U.S.)
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
UNITED
OF AM
CAN
ME
222 People and Places
North America
is a continent
of enormous
contrasts, with
vast mountain ranges, huge,
flat, grassy plains, hot deserts,
and frozen ice caps. In the
south lie the tropical islands of
the Caribbean and the rainforests
of Central America. To the far
north a polar ice cap 3 km (2 miles)
thick covers most of Greenland. Most North
Americans live in large cities in the East, and on the
West Coast. The Great Plains and deserts west of the
Mississippi River are sparsely populated, as are the forests
and frozen wastes of northern Canada and Alaska.
1 ICE HOCKEY
Ice hockey is Canada’s favourite game, with millions
of people watching every major game live or on
television. Teams of skaters use long, curved sticks to
try and get a hard rubber disc, called a puck, into the
opposing team’s goal. The Canadian men’s and women’s
teams both won gold medals in the 2002 Winter Olympics.NORTH AMERICA
4 PRAIRIES
The Great Plains, or prairies, of central Canada and the USA lie between
the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River valley. Vast herds of
buffalo once roamed these grassy plains, but today they are largely
agricultural, producing wheat in the north and corn in the south.1 ROCKY MOUNTAINS
Running down the western side of North
America from the Arctic in the north, to
Mexico in the south, the Rocky Mountains
formed about 80–55 million years ago. As they
are relatively young, the Rockies have not yet
worn down, giving them a craggy appearance.N