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Right or wrong, when people talk about North America, they are generally talking about one of the big three countries: Canada, The United States, and Mexico. While those are certainly the three largest and most politically powerful countries in the continent, they are far from the only ones.
In reality, there are 23 total countries that make up North America, and on top of that, there are 23 more non-self-governing territories.
Of course, that is all assuming you are looking at North America following the standard maps used by people in North America. Dividing up continents is more of an art than a science, so things are very debatable when it comes to drawing lines on a map.
That being said, the generally accepted list of countries that make up North America are as follows:
Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States of America.
Yes, many people forget that the countries in the Caribbean are part of North America. So, how many have you been to?
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If you love warm weather and traveling, you might think that some countries are missing from that list. What about Aruba, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, and several others? Or, if you look north, you might wonder why Greenland isn’t on the list.
Well, these and many others (23 in total) are non-self-governing territories. This means that while they are here in North America, they are a territory of another country, often (though not always) in Europe. The list of non-self-governing territories is:
Anguilla, Aruba, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Clipperton Island, Curaçao, Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, Greenland, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, Saba, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, San Andrés and Providencia, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, and the Virgin Islands.
North America is made up of many beautiful lands with incredible cultures, so start shopping for plane tickets and see if you can check them all off your bucket list.
If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.