IDIOMS!!!

The total number of languages of America surpasses by far the fifth hundred, between languages, dialects and patois. The main languages are related to those introduced by European settlers followed by the main languages of Amerindian cultures. Spanish is spoken by over 360 million people, concentrated mainly in Mexico, Central and South America. There are also significant Spanish-speaking communities in America and some Caribbean islands. See geographical distribution of the Spanish language. English is spoken by some 325 million people. It is the most spoken language in the United States and is officially in Canada, Belize, Guyana, the Falkland Islands and Puerto Rico antillanos.En some territories has been regarded as a second official language. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, with a total of over 185 million speakers. French is spoken in some Caribbean islands (such as Haiti, Guadeloupe and Martinique, among others), in the region of Quebec in Canada and French Guiana. Quechua is the language most widely spoken native with more than 12 million people. It's official in Bolivia and Peru, and a significant minority in Ecuador, southern Colombia and northern Chile and Argentina. Next to the Quechua, Aymara is also an official in Bolivia and Peru. Creole is a Creole language based mainly in French, which is spoken in Haiti. Guarani is spoken by more than 6 million people, mostly in Paraguay, where he is an official language. Various native languages spoken in the area of Mesoamerica, as Nahuatl (spoken by 1.5 million people in Mexico), Quiche (spoken by 1.4 million people in Guatemala and Mexico), languages mayenses (collectively spoken by 5 million people in Mexico and Central America), the Zapotec (spoken in Oaxaca by about 800 thousand people, especially the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, including many from Europe and Arab), the Mixtec (spoken in Oaxaca and Guerrero by more than 500 thousand persons), among others. Dutch is spoken in the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba and Surinam. In the territory of Greenland are the official Danish and Greenlandic. Some other languages have an important demographic weight without being official, including: The mapudungun is the native language spoken by about 440 thousand Mapuche in Chile and Argentina. The Wayuu or guajiro is an indigenous language spoken by just over 400,000 in Colombia and Venezuela. Papiamento is a creole language spoken on the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. Various languages, including German and Italian are still spoken by immigrants who came to America during the late nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century. The auxiliary language Esperanto is spoken by about 300 thousand people in countries throughout the continent, with notable concentrations in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, United States, Canada and Cuba.

PEOPLE!!

The population in America varies according to the conditions of life. In Latin America, most of their inhabitants are young of age between the 15 and 24 years, and the life expectancy varies between the 60 and 80 years of age. In addition, more than half of the population in the majority of the countries he is rural. A special case is the one of Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Uruguay, since these countries have a demographic structure similar to the European, because most of their inhabitants are adult and surpass the youthful population. In countries like Bolivia, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, exist a greater youthful population, predominating the young people between the 15 and 25 years of age. Finally, in countries like Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela, also most of their inhabitants are young, although in the last decades it has also undergone a great adult growth and a progressive aging similar to Asian Europe and some countries although to a lesser extent. The same happens in the ultramarine departments of Guadalupe, Guayana Francesa and Martinique (pertaining to France) and in nonLatin countries like Bahamas, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Surinam, the Small Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago, including the European dependencies like the Dutch Antilles, Aruba, etc. In North America, on the contrary, most of their inhabitants are adult, surpassing the youthful population, as it happens with the European population, because in this region also a progressive aging of the population has taken place. Thus it happens in countries like Canada, the United States and the European dependencies like Greenland (pertaining to Denmark) and San Pedro and Miquelón (pertaining to France), although in the United States this tendency has been reduced due to Latin immigration, mainly young. The unique exceptions are Mexico and the Bermuda islands (pertaining to the United Kingdom), of mainly youthful population.

CLIMATE!!

Generally the climate is wet and tropical. Summer is the principal rainy season although there is no specific dry season. The eastern Caribbean and Pacific coastal lowlands experience an equatorial climate with high temperatures and high humidity all year round, with rainfall averaging 40 inches (1,000mm) a year. In the mountainous parts conditions are cooler and can be changeable depending on prevailing winds, altitude and topography.

The Climate of Colombia is characterized for being tropical and isothermal as a result of its geographical location near the Equator presenting variations within five natural regions and depending on the altitude, temperature, humidity, winds and rainfall. Each region maintains an average temperature through out the year only presenting variables determined by precipitations during a rainy season caused by the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

The geographical factors are determined by latitude or altitude. Colombia is crossed by the equator in its southern part, but the majority of the territory is part of the northern hemisphere and within the torrid zone which is characterized for receiving direct sunlight throughout the year. A considerable area of Colombia is mountainous, mainly crossed by the Andes mountain range from south to north. Altitude in this mountains counter rest the effects of the latitude characteristics producing gradual variable climates from tropical foothills and coastlines to perpetual snow peaks.

The atmospheric factors are determined by temperature, humidity and winds. The temperature is relatively average throughout the year in a same place. The tropical location of Colombia and the uniform solar radiation for being in the equator gives this country an almost constant temperature. The atmosphere varies due to the altitude in the mountains and its proximity to sea level.

GEOGRAPHY!

America is the second largest land mass of the planet, after Asia.Tiene an area of approximately 42,262,209 square kilometers. It stretches from north to south from Cape Columbia (58 ° N, Canada) in the Arctic Ocean to the Islands Diego Ramirez (56 º S, Chile), located in the Drake Passage that separates the American continent of Antarctica. Its easternmost point corresponds to Cabo Branco in Brazil (34 ° 47'W), while the westernmost corresponds to the island Attu in the Aleutian Islands (173 ° 11'E), near the Bering Strait that separates Alaska from the mainland Asia. Is composed of three subcontinents: North America and South America, Central America. According to the theories of continental drift and plate tectonics, both land masses have remained apart over millions of years. After the division of Gondwana and Laurasia subcontinents both allegedly traveled to their current positions by being united Central America, a land bridge emerged between them by the action of plate tectonics, which was first an island arc and later became continuous land . The thinnest point of this union is the Isthmus of Panama formed 3 million years ago. Another island arc, the West Indies, is a second connection between the subcontinents.

HISTORY!

Until the last decades of the twentieth century dominated the theory of the late settlement that maintains that human beings came to America from Siberia about 12-14 thousand years ago by entering through the bridge of Beringia during the ice ages wurmienses. More recently, however, scientists from different areas have challenged each time with older evidences theory previous shaping a new theory of the early settlers who not only holds a settlement much earlier (probably between 20,000 and 50,000 years ADP), but the use of Other alternative routes for entry to Beringia from Siberia, Mongolia [13] and even other places of origin. Machu Picchu, an example of the high-Inca civilization America were two separate Neolithic Revolutions in Mesoamerica, about 10,000 years ago [14] and the Andean region of South America some 5,500 years ago. [15] years ago, 5,000 and 6,000, formed the indoamericanos major linguistic groups. [16] American civilizations developed Caral important (the oldest city in America), the Anasazi, Pueblo Indians, Quimbaya, Nazca, Chimu, Chavin, Paracas, Moche, Wari, Lima, Zapotec, Mixtec, Totonaca, Toltec, Olmec and Chibcha and advanced civilizations from the empires of Teotihuacan, Tiahuanaco, Mayan, Aztec and Inca, among many others. Some historians argue that the Viking settlement in America was the first from the current European territory, although there are theories that contend presence before. [17] Erik the Red would have established the first colony in Greenland in the year 985. His son, Leif Eriksson would have established colonies in the current Newfoundland around the year 1000, which eventually disappear with the passing of the years. Christopher Columbus takes possession of the island Guanahani from the arrival of Christopher Columbus to America on October 12 1492, the introduction of new diseases such as smallpox produced a demographic catastrophe that some researchers believe in the death of up to 93% of the population. [18] In that context, some European empires conquered and colonized part of the continent occupied by well-established cultures and civilizations. Spain defeated the great Aztec and Inca civilizations and established his empire throughout the Pacific coast and the basin of River Plate, while Portugal colonizaría the coastal fringe of what is now Brazil. France set a few colonies in the coastal strip since the current Atlantic Canada to northern Brazil. The United Kingdom was established on the east coast of North America and in some sectors of the Caribbean coast. Holland and Denmark established colonies on small islands in the Caribbean and Russia finally conquered the area of Alaska. It is also noted that the European conquest was rejected in various parts of the continent. Several peoples successfully resisted the encroachment on vast territories in Europe, and held dominion over them until the late nineteenth century. Patagonia, the Pampas plains, the Mato Grosso, the Amazon region and the great prairies of the American west, remained under the domination of nations as the Mapuche, Het, Ranquel, Wichi, Qom, Amazon, Algonquin, Aopi, Comanche, Inuit, and so on. The diseases introduced by Europeans, like smallpox, caused the deaths of massive populations and a demographic collapse that according to some researchers more than 90% of the total population. [19] Declaration of Independence of the United States. It opened the way to the end of colonialismoTambién were installed in some South American republics of blacks who managed to escape from slavery to which had been reduced by the Portuguese, like the Palmares Quilombo or the Quilombo of Macaco. After three centuries of colonial rule, the American peoples began to declare their independence claiming their right to organize themselves as national states, to militarily confront the European powers, thus opening up the global process of decolonization. The first to do so were the Thirteen Colonies by British American Revolution which gave birth to the United States in 1776, organizing a new kind of society from political novel concepts such as independence, constitution, federalism and rights of man. Simón Bolívar, one of the leaders of the emancipation latinoamericana.En 1804 black slaves in Haiti revolted against France, declaring independence and creating the first modern state with black leaders. Since 1809 [20] people under domination of Spain brought forward a Latin American War of Independence, continent-wide, which led, after complex processes, the emergence of several nations: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile , Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. In 1844 and 1898 the process would be completed with the independence of the Dominican Republic and Cuba, respectively. At 1816 conform a huge South American independent state, called Gran Colombia, which covered the territories of present Panama, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. The Republic was dissolved in 1830. In 1822 Brazil was organized as an independent monarchy, the Empire of Brazil, upon dissolution of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve, until 1889 when the monarchy was abolished to establish a republic. For his part, the United States and Britain negotiated in 1867 a process of independence with restrictions for Canada, which was consolidated during the twentieth century. In the second half of the twentieth century, due to the pressure of the decolonization process driven by the United Nations, various peoples of the Caribbean gained their independence from Britain: Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago. Simultaneously, Surinam became independent from the Netherlands and Guyana from the United Kingdom. At present, there are still several towns and territories under colonial British, French and Dutch. After their emancipation American countries have followed an uneven development between them. During the nineteenth century United States was entrenched as a global power and replaced Europe as a dominant power in the region. The twentieth century saw increased the difference in the development of North America with the rest of the continent. Thus, while the United States became a world superpower since the mid-century, Latin America and the Caribbean was set as the region with the greatest social inequality in the world, including countries such as Haiti or Bolivia, which record development indices which are among the lowest on the planet. Among the most important political events in contemporary history of America is the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917), the Cold War (1945-1991) who objected strongly to the United States and the Soviet Union and led to a succession of dictatorships in Latin Latin, and the Cuban Revolution (1959). In the decades 1960 and 1970 the emergence of rock and roll, as a result of the merger of African American culture and its global spread, and radical youth movement, led to a profound cultural change. Beginning in the 1980s, the concentration of companies and universities and technological innovations produced in the Silicon Valley in California, became a hub of the region in the Information Society. Since the late nineteenth century American countries sought to form a pan-American unity resulting in the creation of the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1948. Moreover, since the late twentieth century American countries have stepped up efforts to integrate various sub-bodies like the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement of North America), Mercosur (Southern Common Market), the Andean Community Nations (CAN), the Central American Integration System (SICA) and the Caricom (Caribbean Community).

AMERICA!!

America is a continent that occupies much of the Western Hemisphere of the Earth. It stretches from the Arctic Ocean to the north to Cape Horn in the south, at the confluence of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that surround the continent to the east and west, respectively. With an area of 42,262,142 square kilometers, is the second largest land mass of the planet, covering 8.3% of the total surface of the planet and 28.4% of the earth emerged, and it concentrates almost 14% of the human population. Due to its large size and its geographical features, America is traditionally divided into North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America. Some geographers consider Central America and the Caribbean as a subregion within North America. Based on its cultural characteristics distinguish Ré America, the Caribbean, Latin and Latin America. The continent had previously been named as the Abya Yala for the cultures of Central America and Cem Anahuac by the Aztecs.