America: the continent's population, its origin and characteristics

The American continent consists of two largecontinents - North and South America. On the territory of the first there are 23 independent large and tiny states, and the second includes 15 countries. The indigenous inhabitants here are the Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts and some others. After the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492, active colonization began. As a result of this, America has a European roots on the whole continent. It should be noted that, according to historical data, the Vikings first visited here about one thousand years ago. However, their expeditions were rare, so they did not make a significant impact on the population size.

Ethnic composition of North American residents

As of today, on the mainlandNorth America, the population is mostly represented by the descendants of the British, French, and Spanish, who moved here during the colonization period. In this regard, most of the inhabitants of local countries use the appropriate languages. An exception can be considered some Indian peoples, mainly residing in Mexico. They managed to preserve their native language to this day. About twenty million Americans are blacks. Their ancestors were brought here by the colonialists from Africa to provide slave labor on local plantations. Now they are officially considered part of the American nation and predominantly live in the United States, as well as in the Caribbean, where there are also a large number of mulattoes and mestizos.

Population size and density

The population of North America exceeds528 million inhabitants. Most of them are concentrated in the US, Canada and Mexico. The first two countries are dominated by descendants of immigrants from France and England, and in the third - from Spain. The first civilized states here were created by the Maya and Aztec tribes. An interesting feature that characterizes the continent of North America - the population here is not very evenly distributed. The highest density is observed in the Caribbean islands and in the southern part. Here it is more than two hundred people per one square kilometer. In addition, this indicator is quite high in the eastern part of the continent and in the United States.

Ethnic composition of South Americans

Mainly on the mainland South America populationis represented by three large races - Caucasoid, equatorial and Mongoloid. Its ethnic composition is largely related to certain features in the historical development of the region. Currently, representatives of almost 250 nationalities live here, most of them, unlike the North American ones, were formed relatively recently. Participation in their formation was made by indigenous Indians, European emigrants, as well as African slaves.

Now the population of South America is moreconsists of Creoles - descendants of conquerors from Spain and Portugal, who were born on this continent. If you start from such a parameter as the number, then there are mestizos and mulattoes. Most of the states located here have a fairly complex population, based on ethnicity. For example, in Brazil there are about eighty tribes (without taking into account the smallest), in Argentina - about fifty, in Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Bolivia - more than twenty in each country.

The size of the South American population and its density

According to the latest official data,The population of South America exceeds the mark of 382 million people. Its average density in the territory of the continent is in the range of ten to thirty inhabitants per square kilometer. This indicator is lower only in Bolivia, Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana. In South America, many researchers identify two main types of settlement - internal and pre-Oceanic. The first is typical of the Andean states (for example, Bolivia, which is the highest mountain country of our planet), and the second is to countries whose development is influenced by colonization by Europeans (Argentina, Brazil).

Languages ​​in South America

The population of South America in most countriesspeaks Spanish. It is official in many local states. It should be noted that there are a lot of borrowings from English, French, Italian and German. The second place on the mainland belongs to the Portuguese language. The largest country in which it is recognized as official, is Brazil. Among the English-speaking territories can be noted Guyana, which was once a British colony. In Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru, the second state language is the Indian language - Aztec, Guarani and Quechua.