Talk:Northern America

Move protected

This page has been protected against moves for 1 month. Admins, please do not remove this protection until a cleanup of all the moves and cut and pasting has been completed. — xaosflux ^Talk 04:07, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

América Septentrional

Enough. User Depoyster.dick is stubbornly pushing a POV and seems to want to start an edit war by pushing/forcing the wrong idea that in Spanish the term América Septentrional refers to the English term Northern America. There's simply no equivalent region in Spanish and besides the literal translation would be América Norteña. I, as a native speaker of Spanish, know that the term "septentrional" means "north" not "northern". América Septentrional is synonymous with América del Norte or Norteamérica, in the same way that América Meridional is synonymous with América del Sur or Sudamérica.

This POV fork has gone as far that he created the same account in Wikipedia in Spanish, and created the article América Septentrional, and when people told him Septentrional means América del Norte, he went on and created América Septentrional (región), which is now being deleted.

His reverts should stop because now they are in the line of purely disruptive. AlexCovarrubias ^{( Talk? )} 20:06, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

The etymology of septentrional more closely corresponds to 'northern' as opposed to 'north', since it is related to the number of stars in the Big Dipper, in the northern celestial sphere and a signal to early explorers. [1] [2] While the term is obsolete, it is nonetheless used, particularly in French and occasionally in Spanish [] There is little in the above commentary that is persuasive otherwise. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.158.151.135 (talk) 12:34, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

Block evasion by posting anonymously? I'll report. AlexCovarrubias ^{( Talk? )} 22:08, 7 August 2008 (UTC

PRo Tip; Mexico City is larger than New York.Toronto is Larger than Miami.)

Some people include Mexico in it - who decided that Mexico isn't in it?

For example: http://www.cas.sc.edu/socy/faculty/deflem/zAMINPO.htm includes mexico93.96.148.42 (talk) 03:47, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Indeed. In all my years in public and private schools in several jurisdictions in the United States and run by the federal government overseas, in the 1980s and 1990s, we were taught Mexico was in (1) North America (with everything below Mexico being South America) and (2) Latin America. This article needs to reflect a bigger variety of meanings of the term North America. — President Lethe (talk) 19:27, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

This is Northern America. I think the idea of it as a region seperate from 'North' America was cooked specifically to exclude Mexico. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.252.69.193 (talk) 02:00, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Can we add a descriptive distinction between NORTH America and NORTHERN America in the first paragraph of the Article page? We have had entirely too many students using this page as evidence Mexico is not part of North America. It surely would not hurt the Article itself and would clear up all confusion in one short sentence.--75.17.193.238 (talk) 13:55, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Lol! Northern America is NOT only 2 countries. Mexico IS apart of Northern America as well. Northern America is 1 of 3 Regions that IS apart of North America. The map of Northern America has to include Mexico *(in this case Mexico has to be highlighted in dark green along with Greenland, Canada and United States). Greenland to Panama (including the Caribbean countries) is the whole continent of North America.

If I was allowed to give out the details of what each group of countries are apart of in all 8 Americas (aka. North America, South America, Anglo America, Latin America, Northern America, Central America, Middle America and Caribbean America), then I would do so in this talk page. But at this point I don’t believe I can. - Craig Lungren (talk) 05:55, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

@Craig Lungren: you write above as if there were some unarguable definition of the term "Northern America" that we should be telling the world, but the task of Wikipedia is to convey sourced information in a neutral fashion. There are different definitions of "Northern America", some including Mexico, some not. The UN definition here puts Mexico in its "Central America". The WGSRPD definition puts Mexico in Northern America, as well as all of the Aleutian Islands, including those politically in Russia. The lead should probably stress a bit more that there are competing definitions, with more sources. Peter coxhead (talk) 07:55, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

@Peter coxhead: Thanks Peter for explaining everything! I just want to say, in my personal opinion … it is ridiculous to have 'multiple definitions' for "Names of Places" in the world. I just think to myself … there should only be 1 True Definition for every name of place. That is all! - Craig Lungren (talk) 20:33, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

@Craig Lungren: well, I certainly agree that it makes things difficult to have different definitions, as indeed there are, for all sorts of geographical regions. The parts of Asia are even worse. Peter coxhead (talk) 09:09, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

Personal opinion is irrelevant in Wikipedia. It is based on reporting what reliable sources state. Wikipedia is also not about truth but again what reliable verifiable sources say. See WP:V, WP:RS, WP:TRUTH Robynthehode (talk) 08:17, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

That's pretty much the same as saying that there should only be one language. --Khajidha (talk) 11:24, 20 July 2021 (UTC)

• Mexico is not a part of Northern America.

In the seven-continent model (mainly used by English-speaking countries), North America (continent) is subdivided into 3 subregions: Northern America (land north of Mexico), Middle America (Mexico + Central America), and the Caribbean (all island nations east of Middle America).

In the six-continent model (mainly used by Latin American countries), the Americas (continent) is subdivided into 4 subregions: North America (Northern America + Mexico), Central America (land between Mexico and Colombia), South America (land south of Panama), and the Caribbean (same as the seven-continent model).

Usually, Central America doesn't include Mexico, but the United Nations geoscheme includes Mexico in Central America.

In conclusion, Mexico is considered a part of North America (continent), North America (subregion), the Americas, Middle America, and Central America, but it is never considered a part of Northern America.

Northern America includes Bermuda, Canada, Greenland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the United States only. James Ker-Lindsay (talk) 14:47, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

• Lol, I know that I am returning to this 1 year and a half later, but I am not at all agreeing to your non-sense and false information. Again, Mexico IS (and Always Has Been) a part of Northern America as well, being as Central America is officially known to have 7 countries at its maximum. Mexico itself was never 1 of the 7. Therefore, Northern America is never the countries of Canada and USA only.

North America cannot be both “a continent” and “a region” or “subregion” at once. Therefore, Northern America is the real Subregion Name for Mexico, NOT North America.

- Really, North America is only “a continent in the 7-Continents model” and “a subcontinent in Latin America’s 6-Continents model”.

In fact, No matter what continent-model every country follows:

- “America” will always be the same 35 countries of the New World …

- “North America” will always be the same 23 countries …

- “NorthERN America” will always be the 3 countries of Canada, United States and MEXICO (as well as the 3 territories of Greenland, Bermuda and Saint Pierre & Miquelon) or “The land North of Guatemala and Belize” (Not Mexico) …

- “Central America” will always be the same 7 countries (located between Mexico and Colombia) …

- “The Caribbean” as to what I call “Caribbean America” will always be the same 13 Island Countries of the Caribbean Sea (located south of USA, east of Mexico & Central America and north of Colombia & Venezuela) …

- “South America” will always be the same 12 countries (located south of Panama) …

… in front of my eye-sight. Also, I will never leave out (or exclude) …

- the country of Mexico whenever I say “Northern America”!

- the countries of Latin America and Canada whenever I say “America”!

Therefore, no one, including you, can tell me how many countries are part of “Northern America” only, and as well can convince me to follow the DUMB “UN Geoscheme” (according to Wikipedia) whenever I’m saying “North America”, “Middle America”, etc.

Finally, In conclusion: Mexico is factually a part of America (supercontinent), North America (continent), Northern America (subcontinent), Middle America (region), and Latin America (super-region), but it is not usually known towards being a part of Central America officially. 🙂 Craig Lungren (talk) 07:11, 4 May 2023 (UTC)

@Craig Lungren: you are free to define and use the term however you like. But Wikipedia is an encyclopedia with the policy of reporting what reliable sources say. Reliable sources use the term differently, so we have to, as has been explained a number of times. Peter coxhead (talk) 16:33, 4 May 2023 (UTC)

Question

Wouldn't the COMMONNAME be "the US and Canada"? Lojbanist ^{remove cattle from stage} 23:23, 31 March 2018 (UTC)

No. "Northern America" is defined geographically, not politically. So it includes only part of the political US – Alaska and the contiguous US, excluding Hawaii and US territories. It also includes Greenland. In some definitions (biological regions), it includes all or part of Mexico. Look at the map in the article and the one at World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions#Level 1: botanical continents. Peter coxhead (talk) 09:46, 1 April 2018 (UTC)

Where is Iceland

While its on the Mid Atlantic Ridge and could be considered Europe, there is a good enough chance that it should be counted as North America (For Example: the proposed Canadian provinces and territories features Iceland as a possible province). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 27.123.224.212 (talk) 22:37, 11 July 2019 (UTC)

It's a little closer to Greenland than to the Faroes, but in other respects much more part of Europe... AnonMoos (talk) 17:55, 17 July 2019 (UTC)

• Iceland has geological connection with North America. In geology, you can say that Iceland is a transcontinental country between Europe and North America. In geopolitics and cultural geography, Iceland is considered a European country. In our daily lives, we generally follow the definitions used in human geography, so Iceland is almost always considered a European country. James Ker-Lindsay (talk) 15:06, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

"United States of Canada" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect United States of Canada. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 March 27#United States of Canada until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 12:51, 27 March 2021 (UTC)

Is this article going by the U.N.'s definition?

In Central America, the map shows Mexico highlighted in light green but the problem is the CIA (another government entity) disagrees with the U.N. and would consider Mexico in Northern America so my question is are we following the U.N.'s definition of Northern and Central America? If so, is it at least worth mentioning the CIA disagrees with them and considers Mexico to be part of Northern America? LostKlaus (talk) 02:16, 24 December 2022 (UTC)

The Wikipedia articles are set up so that North America and Northern America have different meanings. The two terms are not always clearly distinguished... AnonMoos (talk) 05:18, 25 December 2022 (UTC)

Also, something called UN M49 is invoked (which I never heard of until this moment). AnonMoos (talk) 05:22, 25 December 2022 (UTC)

See the many discussions above. There are different definitions of all these terms, and we have to report them. (The WGSRPD definition of "Northern America" is of some importance because of its use in describing and categorizing plant distributions. It's definitely different from the continent called "North America".) Peter coxhead (talk) 14:12, 25 December 2022 (UTC)