Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/711

Rh 669 A M E K I C A OUR object in this article is to take a comprehensive survey of the American continent in its physical, moral, and political relations. In attempting this, we shall dwell at some length upon those great features and peculiar ities which belong to it as a whole, or facts which can be most advantageously considered in connection with one another. The new continent may be styled emphatically &quot; a land of promise.&quot; The present there derives its greatest impor tance from the germs it contains of a mighty future. It is this prospective greatness which lends an interest to the Western continent similar to that which the Eastern derives from its historical associations. But the Western continent also has its past, which abounds in points of interest relating to both the historic and prehistoric periods. Facts show that although America may be called the New World in consequence of its having been the last to come under the general knowledge of geographers, it is from most other points of view an old world. It abounds in the oldest known strata; it has yielded some of the oldest known remains of man, indicating that he has long been a denizen there ; and it has afforded evidences of a civilised era, which may even have preceded that of Western Europe. The new continent, Avhen compared with the old, enjoys three important advantages. First, it is free from such vast deserts as cover a large part of the surface of Asia and Africa, and which not only withdraw a great proportion of the soil from the use of man, but are obstacles to communi cation between the settled districts, and generate that ex cessive heat which is often injurious to health, and always destructive to industry. Secondly, no part of its soil is so far from the ocean as the central regions of Asia and Africa. Thirdly, the interior of America is penetrated by majestic rivers, the Mississippi, Amazon, and Plata, greatly surpass ing those of the old continent in magnitude, and still more in the facilities they present for enabling the remotest inland districts to communicate with the sea. In the physical formation of North and South America there is a remarkable resemblance. Both are very broad in the north, and gradually contract towards the south till they end, the one in a narrow isthmus, and the other in a narrow promontory. Each has a lofty chain of moun tains near its western coast, abounding in volcanoes, with a lower ridge on the opposite side, destitute of any recent trace of internal fire ; and each has one great central plain declining to the south and the north, and watered by two gigantic streams, the Mississippi, corresponding to the Plata, and the St Lawrence to the Amazon. In their climate, vegetable productions, and animal tribes, the two regions are very dissimilar. The extent of the American continent and the islands connected with it is as follows : Square Eng. miles. North America 7,400,000 South America 6,500,000 Islands 150,000 Greenland, and the islands connected with it lying ) Q ft0 000 north of Hudson s Straits, may be estimated at } 14,950,000 The American continent, therefore, with its dependent islands, is four times as large as Europe, and about one- third larger than Africa, but somewhat less than Asia, while it is nearly five times the size of the Australian continent. It constitutes about three-tenths of the dry land on the sur face of the globe. It is characterised by having a greater length from N. to S. than any other continent ; and by the northern and southern portions being connected by a comparatively narrow strip of land. South America has a more regular form, and as a mass is situated much farther east than North America. In South America the most central point lies in about 58 W. ; but in North America the most central point would be in about 100 W. Sketch Map of America. As regards continuity of land, America comprises some islands at the southern end ; a main continental portion, including South America, Central America, and North America; some islands off the north shore, and many other islands along the east and west coasts, those on the east being the most important. The most northern point of the mainland is that of Boothia Felix, in Bellot Strait, 71 55 N., 92 25 W. The islands to the north extend beyond 82 16 N.,65 W., which point was reached by the &quot;Polaris&quot; in August 1871. The southernmost point of the mainland is Cape Froward, which lies close to 54 S., 71 W. ; while Cape Horn, the most southern point of the islands, is in 5 6 S. , 67 20 W. The extreme points traced are consequently 138 apart; and the continental part stretches over about 126 degrees of latitude. This corresponds to lengths of 8280 and 7560 geographical miles respectively. The extreme east- points of the continent are Cape St Eoque,in 528 S., 35 40 W., in South America, and Cape St Charles, in 52 17 N., 55 35 W., in North America. The most western point of South America is Point Parina, in 4 40 S., 81 10 W.; and of North America, Prince of Wales Cape, in 65 30 N., 167 W. The greatest breadth of North America is