World Heritage Sites in America

The region known as the Americas lies in the western hemisphere. It consists of two different continents – North America and South America. The land is surrounded by the Arctic Ocean in the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Atlantic on the east side. The climate runs the gamut from cold to hot and wet to dry, and there are deserts, rainforests, plains, mountains and tropical beaches.Described as the New World by explorers in the early sixteenth century, this land has long been associated with boundless opportunities for migrants looking to start afresh in a land of promise.The Americas are often split into separate linguistic and cultural regions. Anglo-America (the United States and Canada) is historically linked to Britain and is mostly English-speaking. Latin America, from the southern continent up to the Rio Grande River in North America, is home to the romance languages of Europe – mainly Spanish and Portuguese. Mesoamerica extends from Central Mexico to Costa Rica and is associated with local indigenous languages. Aridoamerica covers the northern, dry land of Mexico, where nomadic people traditionally roamed.