Historical Overview and Demographic Patterns

Folklore and Religion

Arts, Crafts and Music

{ Food and Cuisine

Clothing and Lifestyle
Language
Settlements Patterns
Historical Overview
and
Demographic Patterns
 The word “America” comes from the female Latinate
version of the name of the Italian explorer Amerigo
Vespucci. He is the first person to have realized that
the West Indies and Brazil are actually not
connected to Asia but are part of another separate
landmass of their own.

 The name “America” used to refer to only South

America alone. However, when the land mass of
present North America were added to maps, most
mapmakers opted to retain the original name.
 North America is the third largest continent in world.
 North America covers an area of 24.71 million square

kilometers or 9.54 million square miles or 16.5% of the

Earth’s total land area.
 North America only ranks fourth when it comes to
population which has a population of 461 million.
 Canada is the largest country in North America,

followed by the United States, Greenland and

Mexico.
 North America is bordered by three of the world’s largest

oceans, namely the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific.

 North America is divided into four main
geographic regions:
 the West (includes most of Mexico, the Rocky

Mountains, Alaska, California,),

 East (Florida, the Appalachian Mountains)

 Great Plains (prairies in Canada and the central

United States),
 and the Canadian Shield.

 North America encompasses 23 sovereign countries

and 25 dependent territories.
 List of Countries
in North America
 Antigua and  Dominican  Saint Kitts and
Barbuda Republic Nevis
 Bahamas  Grenada  Saint Lucia

 Barbados  Guatemala  Saint Vincent

 Belize  Haiti and the

 Canada  Honduras
Grenadines
 Trinidad and
 Costa Rica  Jamaica
Tobago
 Cuba  Mexico
 United States of
 Dominica  Nicaragua
America (USA)
 El Salvador  Panama
 List of Dependent Territories in
North America
 Anguilla (UK) (Netherlands)  Saint Martin
 Aruba  Greenland (France)
(Netherlands) (Denmark)  Saint Pierre and
 Bermuda (UK)  Guadeloupe Miquelon (France)
 Bonaire (France)  Sint Eustatius
(Netherlands)  Martinique (France) (Netherlands)
 British Virgin  Montserrat (UK)  Sint Maarten
Islands (UK)  Navassa Island (Netherlands)
 Cayman Islands (USA)  Turks and Caicos
(UK)  Puerto Rico (USA) Islands (UK)
 Clipperton Island  Saba (Netherlands)  US Virgin Islands
(France) (USA)
 Saint Barthelemy
 Curacao (France)
 Why did the Europeans
colonize in America?
 Spain colonized America because they were
searching for gold and silver. They did find a lot
of gold and silver when they conquered the
Aztec and Inca Empires.

 France colonized North America because of the

great amount of furs they found there.
 North America Colonized by
Europeans
 The Spanish
colonized
Florida, Texas,
and California
 The English
colonized the
East Coast
 The French

colonized
Canada down
to New
Orleans
 North America is ethnically diverse. Its three main
groups are Caucasians, Mestizos, and Blacks.
There is a significant minority of Indigenous
Americans and Asians among other less
numerous groups.

 Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect

different kind of interactions between European
colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their
descendants.
 Common Health Issues
 Overweight and Obesity
 Tobacco

 Substance Abuse

 HIV/AIDS

 Mental Health

 Immunization for Influenza and pneumonia

Four Largest Current Type of
Country Population Government

United States 326,065,713 U.S. Federal

Government

Mexico 130,217,336 Government of

the Republic

Canada 36,853,417 Federal

Constitutional
Monarchy
Greenland 56,539 Parliamentary
Democracy
Folklore and
Religion
 Religion
 About 71% of Americans identify themselves as
Christians.

 About 23% had no religious affiliation at all

 Around 6% of the population is made up non-

Christian religions like Judaism, Buddhism and
Islam.

 The United States has the largest Christian population

in the world. Mexico has the world's second largest
number of Catholics.
 Canadian Folklore

Loup Garou Glooscap Bigfoot

 American Folklore

 Fictional characters  Legendary and folkloric

 Paul Bunyan creatures
 Babe the Blue Ox
 Bigfoot
 Lone Ranger
 Champ
 John the Conqueror
 The Jersey Devil
 Pecos Bill
 The White Lady
 Molly Pitcher
 Mothman
 Captain Stormalong
 Hodag
Paul Bunyan and the Blue Ox Jersey Devil

Mothman Molly Pitcher Hodag

 Mexican Folklore

El Sombreron Tlahuelpuchi

Alicante La Llorona Alux

Arts, Crafts, and
Music
 Arts and Crafts Movement
 The Arts and Crafts movement was an international movement in
the decorative and fine arts that began in Britain and flourished in
Europe and North America between about 1880 and 1920.
 It stood for traditional craftsmanship using simple forms, and often
used medieval, romantic, or folk styles of decoration. It advocated
economic and social reform and was essentially anti-industrial.
 In the United States, the Arts and Crafts style initiated a variety of
attempts to reinterpret European Arts and Crafts ideals for
Americans.
 The terms American Craftsman or Craftsman style are often used to
denote the style of architecture, interior design, and decorative arts
that prevailed between the dominant eras of Art Nouveau and Art
Deco in the USA, or approximately the period from 1910 to 1925.
The movement was particularly notable for the professional
opportunities it opened up for women as artisans, designers and
entrepreneurs who founded and ran, or were employed by, such
successful enterprises
 American Craftsman Style of
Architecture

Prairie Architecture California Bungalow

 American Arts and Crafts
 As theoreticians, educators, and prolific artists in mediums from
printmaking to pottery and pastel, two of the most influential figures
were Arthur Wesley Dow and Pedro Joseph de Lemos.

The Clam House, Crater Lake, The Cliff Dweller,

Arthur Wesley Dow Arthur Wesley Dow Pedro Jose de Lemos
 { Music of indigenous
tribes and peoples { Types of music

 Arapaho  Navajo  Chicken scratch

 Blackfoot  Pueblo  Ghost Dance

 Dene  Kwakwaka'  Hip hop

 Innu wakw  Opera

 Inuit  Seminole  Peyote song

 Iroquois  Sioux  Pow wow

 Kiowa  Yaqui  Throat singing

 Métis  Yuman

 The United States' arts culture extends beyond movies and

television shows, though. New York is home to Broadway,
and Americans have a rich theatrical history.
Food and Cuisine
 American Cuisine
 Cuisine in the United States is as diverse as the country itself,
and while it may be difficult to pinpoint one particular
national dish, it is fair to say that barbecue and all things grilled
or smoked are definitely at the top of the list, along of course,
with the ubiquitous hamburger.
 Fast food and street food are also making their mark on the
country and taking their place as a new kind of regional dish.
Fast food restaurants are endemic in the United States, but
street food, especially that from food trucks, is becoming more
and more popular among the average foodie, and some cities
even have festivals celebrating this new kind of cuisine.
 American Cuisine

Cajun / Creole Grilled Meat Steak

Buffalo Wings Hamburger Pizza

 Canadian Cuisine

Peameal Bacon Sandwich Poutine

Cipaille Tourtiere
 Mexican Cuisine

Seafood a la veracruzana Soup Menudo Barbacoa

Taco Chalupa Mole poblano Churros

de guajalote
Clothing and
Lifestyle
Canada
Mexico
Language
 Language
 There is no official language of the United States,
according to the U.S. government.

 The most dominant languages in North America are

Spanish, French, and English. There are also a large
number of people who speak Danish, but they are
mostly confined to Greenland.

 Ninety percent of the U.S. population speaks and

understands at least some English, and most official
business is conducted in English. Some states have
official or preferred languages. For example, English
and Hawaiian are the official languages in Hawaii.
 The Census Bureau estimates that more than 300
languages are spoken in the United States.
The bureau divides those languages into four categories:
(1) Spanish;
(2)Other Indo-European languages, which
includes German, Yiddish, Swedish, French, Italian,
Russian, Polish, Hindi, Punjabi, Greek and several
others;
(3) Asian and Pacific Island languages, including
Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Tamil and more; and
(4)“All other languages," which is a category for
languages that didn't fit into the first three categories,
such as Hungarian, Arabic, Hebrew, languages of Africa
and languages of native people of North, Central and
South America.
Settlement Patterns
 Before contact with Europeans, the indigenous peoples of North
America were divided into many different polities, from small
bands of a few families to large empires. They lived in several
"culture areas", which roughly correspond to geographic and
biological zones and give a good indication of the main lifeway or
occupation of the people who lived there . Native groups can also
be classified by their language family (e.g. Athapascan or Uto-
Aztecan).
 Initially, European activity consisted mostly of trade and
exploration. Eventually Europeans began to establish settlements.
Settlement by the Spanish started the European colonization of
the Americas.
 The first successful English settlements were at Jamestown (1607)
(along with its satellite, Bermuda in 1609) and Plymouth (1620), in
what are today Virginia and Massachusetts respectively. The first
French settlements were Port Royal (1604) and Quebec City (1608)
in what is now Nova Scotia and Quebec.