Chapter V: Countries of North America

1

North America contains several different countries. Each is under a separate government. These countries are United States, British America, Danish America, Mexico and Central America. Each country has its own ruler and its own laws. Each has a special flag and its own kind of money and postage stamps.

2

THE UNITED STATES

We live in the best one of these countries, for we have the best ways of obtaining our food, our clothing and our shelter. Our climate is good, for we are in the North Temperate Zone. Our soil is very fertile. The Great Central Plain of North America passes through the central part of the United States. We raise fruits, vegetables, corn, wheat, rice and sugar for food. We have immense ranches for raising cows and sheep too. Our clothing is supplied by the thousands of sheep we raise and from the cotton we grow here. The Western and Eastern Highlands pass through our country.

We have a great quantity of lumber, stone, coal and iron for making our comfortable homes. In what part of the country is each of these products obtained? Why? Right in our own United States is found nearly everything that is necessary to make us comfortable and happy.

We have hundreds of towns with homes, factories, schools, hospitals and churches. Over every public building floats our beautiful flag, the Stars and Stripes.

Our laws are made in the capital, which is named Washington, after George Washington, our first president. Find Washington on the map. How long would it take to go to Washington from our home? It is a beautiful city. The Capitol building is one of the finest in the world. The President of the United States lives in the White House.

Alaska, in the north-west, and the island of Porto Rico, in the south-east, belong to the United States. We own other islands in other parts of the world.

3

_British America_ is our next neighbor on the north. It includes all of the Dominion of Canada and the Island of Newfoundland. It belongs to England or Great Britain in Europe.

The Great Central Plain and the Western Highlands pass through it, and yet it is not a rich country with many people like the United States. Can you tell why?

There are large crops of fruit and grain in the southern part only of British America. In this part only are there any large cities. The few people in the northern part go there to hunt the animals for furs and to find gold. Many whales live in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Hudson Bay. Are they of use to man?

4

_Danish America_ is the name given to the two islands Greenland and Iceland, because they belong to Denmark, a country of Europe.

Greenland lies in which zones? What kind of climate has it? A few white people and some Eskimos live in the southern part. The northern part has no life at all.

What do you know of the people, the plants and the animals of this region?

In what zone is Iceland? Why is the climate very cold? Many fish are caught in the ocean around Iceland. The people on the island are able to raise little but grass to feed their sheep and cattle.

There are many mountains in Iceland. Some of them send out steam and melted rock and are called _volcanoes_.

5

_Mexico_ is our southern neighbor. This country has a president and a government somewhat like ours.

Both Indians and white people live in Mexico. The climate is so warm in the valleys that the people living there cannot work so hard as they do in the United States. So they do not have large factories and many fine schools, hospitals and libraries as we have. Why do they not build these on the mountains where the climate is pleasant?

They have large plantations where they raise rubber, sugar, cotton, coffee, tobacco and fruit and many cattle.

The great Western Highlands extend down through Mexico, and silver, copper and coal are mined in them. Some of these mountains are volcanoes. What does this mean?

6

Central America is still warmer than Mexico. It is entirely in what zone? The plants and animals are much like those of Mexico.

7

The West Indies consist of many islands. The largest are Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Porto Rico. Which belongs to the United States? These islands have a warm climate. What do you think is raised on the plantations by the white people and negroes?

The West Indies separate a part of the ocean from the main Atlantic Ocean. This smaller part is called the _Caribbean Sea_. Notice what countries it touches.