Western Hemisphere

Western Hemisphere
Sean Baker ( Marvin01 \| talk ) · CC BY 2.0 · source
Name	Western Hemisphere

Contents

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere describes the half of Earth lying west of the Prime Meridian and east of the International Date Line, encompassing large portions of the Americas, adjacent Atlantic Ocean, and portions of the Pacific Ocean. It includes major landmasses such as North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean Sea archipelagos and island states, and contains a range of political entities from the United States and Canada to Brazil, Mexico, and numerous Caribbean Community members. The region is central to transoceanic navigation routes like the Panama Canal and to hemispheric organizations including the Organization of American States.

Geography

The Hemisphere comprises continental features such as the Rocky Mountains, Andes, Appalachian Mountains, the Great Plains, the Amazon Basin, and the Canadian Shield, as well as major river systems like the Mississippi River, Amazon River, and Orinoco River. Island systems include the Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, and the Galápagos Islands, while coastal and marine zones feature the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Bering Strait. Geographical extremes include Denali, Aconcagua, the Atacama Desert, and the Amazon Rainforest, and notable plate boundaries involve the Nazca Plate and North American Plate.

Sovereign states in the Hemisphere range from federations such as the United States, Brazil, and Mexico to unitary states like Chile, Peru, and Argentina, with territories including the Greenland, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and the French Guiana overseas department. Regional organizations active in the area include the Mercosur, the Caribbean Community, and the Pacific Alliance, while disputed or special-status areas encompass Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and the Svalbard Treaty-related Arctic considerations affecting Canada and Denmark. Capital cities like Washington, D.C., Ottawa, Brasília, Mexico City, Bogotá, and Lima serve as political and administrative centers.

Climatic regimes span from Arctic conditions near Greenland and northern Canada through temperate zones across United States and Argentina midlatitudes to tropical climates in the Amazon Basin and Central America, and semi-arid to arid zones such as the Patagonian Desert and the Sonoran Desert. Biomes include tropical rainforests exemplified by the Amazon Rainforest, Mangrove systems along the Caribbean coasts, Mediterranean climates in parts of California and Central Chile, and montane ecosystems like the Páramo and Andean puna. Phenomena such as El Niño–Southern Oscillation influence precipitation and marine productivity, while glaciers in the Patagonian Ice Fields and Greenland Ice Sheet are key cryospheric components.

Pre-contact historical developments involved complex civilizations including the Inca Empire, the Aztec Empire, the Maya civilization, and the indigenous societies of the Mississippian culture and Ancestral Puebloans. European exploration and colonialism were initiated by expeditions such as those of Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and Juan Ponce de León, leading to rivalries formalized by treaties like the Treaty of Tordesillas and conflicts including the Seven Years' War and Spanish–American War. Independence movements produced states through leaders and events such as Simón Bolívar, José de San Martín, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the American Revolution, and the Haitian Revolution. Twentieth-century dynamics involved interventions and doctrines including the Monroe Doctrine, the Good Neighbor Policy, and hemispheric diplomacy at conferences like the Pan-American Conference.

Populations reflect diverse ancestries integrating indigenous peoples, descendants of enslaved Africans, and migrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa, producing languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, and numerous indigenous languages including Quechua, Guarani, and Nahuatl. Cultural expressions manifest in music and dance traditions like salsa, reggae, tango, and blues, and in literary and artistic movements tied to figures such as Gabriel García Márquez, Pablo Neruda, Frida Kahlo, and Diego Rivera. Religious landscapes include majority traditions like Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, alongside Afro-Caribbean practices such as Santería and syncretic faiths in the Caribbean and Brazil.

Economic profiles vary from highly industrialized economies like the United States and Canada to resource-dependent economies such as Venezuela, Chile, and Peru, with major commodities including crude oil, copper, soybeans, and coffee. Key infrastructure projects and networks include the Panama Canal, transcontinental railways such as the Canadian Pacific Railway and Trans-Siberian Railway connections affecting Eurasia-Americas trade, major ports like Port of New York and New Jersey and Port of Santos, and aviation hubs like Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport and São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport. Financial centers such as New York City, Toronto, and São Paulo host exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and B3.

Hemispheric governance and law involve instruments and institutions like the Organization of American States, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and trade agreements including North American Free Trade Agreement (and its successor United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement), Mercosur, and CAFTA-DR. Security doctrines and interventions have been framed by policies such as the Monroe Doctrine and operations like Operation Just Cause, while boundary disputes and maritime claims reference conventions such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and adjudication at bodies like the International Court of Justice.

Category:Geography of the Americas