The New Childrens Encyclopedia

SPORTS

The most

popular

spectator

sports in the

United States are

basketball, baseball,

football, and ice hockey. Fans

often show intense dedication

to their local teams, even

wearing costumes and face

paint. In Mexico and Central

America, soccer is the most

important sport.

151,000 miles

(243,000 km)

LIFE IN NORTH AMERICA

3

America is

named after the

Italian Amerigo

Vespucci, who was

one of the first

European explorers

to travel to the

New World.

5

Chocolate first appeared in

Mexico and Central America at

least 1,600 years ago, as a bitter-

tasting drink called xocolatl.

DID YOU KNOW?

FASCINATING FACTS

2

Alaska used to

belong to Russia.

The United States

bought it from the

Russians in 1867 for a

bargain price of just two

cents per acre (.0040 km²).

1

Canada’s 151,000-mile

(243,000-km) coastline is the

longest of any country in the world.

4

The five Great

Lakes on the

US-Canadian border

are the largest group

of freshwater lakes

in the world. They

cover an area about

the same size as

the United Kingdom.

CAR CULTURE

People in the United States and

Canada own a lot of cars—19

million new ones were sold in 2007,

and in the US there is more than one

car on the road for every licensed

driver. Many of these vehicles are

built in Detroit, Michigan, although

the US car industry has lost ground to

foreign competitors in recent years.

American towns are designed around the

car, with streets laid out in a grid pattern.

When Europeans first arrived in North America in

the 1500s, they thought they were in Asia and

called the Native people Indians. The term

“American Indian” was born.

NATIVE AMERICANS

Native Americans are the descendants

of the original inhabitants of North

America. There are about two million

Native people living in the US today

and one million in Canada.

MUSIC

The United States is the birthplace

of some of the world’s most

popular styles of music, including

jazz, rock and roll, blues, hip-hop,

and country music. Jazz, blues,

and rock all evolved from the

blending of African and European

musical styles that started in

communities in the South.

Basketball

is a sport using a

ball and hoops and

two teams of five

players. The game was

first played in the

1890s.

CONTINENTS OF

THE WOLRD

Football is a contact sport in which tackling is

essential, so players wear helmets and pads to

protect themselves from injury.