Los Angeles to San Francisco in One Day
Distance: 430 miles
Driving Time: 8 hours to a week
This trip planner describes the route shown in black on the map. US Highway 101 is about 30 miles longer than I-5, but takes about 1.5 hours longer (7.5 hours). It’s more interesting than I-5 and faster than CA 1, following the coast part of the way.
Los Angeles to San Francisco on US 101
If you have a choice, start in Los Angeles and end in San Francisco to avoid Los Angeles’ afternoon traffic jams. If you drive north to south instead, leave San Francisco as early as you can. You’ll avoid the morning rush as city residents head to jobs in Silicon Valley and also have the best chance of getting to Los Angeles before backups begin.
This road trip begins at the intersection of I-10 and I-405 in the Los Angeles Basin, follows US 101 and ends at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
Other Ways to Drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco
* Fastest Route (green route): If you just want to make the trip fast, take I-405 and I-5 toward Sacramento, then I-580 and I-80 toward San Francisco. This is the fastest route, but also the least interesting. This 382-mile trip (city center to city center) will take about six hours.
* Coastal Route (blue route): It’s possible, albeit difficult to take the coastal route between the two cities in a day, leaving US 101 north of San Luis Obispo to follow CA 1 along the Pacific Coast. It’s only a few miles longer than 101, but requires 9 to 10 hours of driving, some of it on two-lane, winding roads. If this is your once-in-a-lifetime trip to California and you’ll never see the scenic Big Sur coast if you don’t do it on this drive, get a good night’s sleep, get up early and go for it. You will have little time for stops other than for the essentials, but the landscape is beautiful. However, if you can find just one more day to make the trip, you’ll be glad you did.
* The Back Way: It’s too far to drive in a single day, but it’s the most beautiful and interesting way to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Take I-405 north out of the Los Angeles basin to CA 14, then connect to US 395 north and follow it up the eastern side of the mountains to Lee Vining and Mono Lake. When Tioga Pass is open, cross Yosemite National Park and head west to San Francisco. For optimum enjoyment, allow at least two full days.
Your hours of available daylight will vary by season, with about 10 hours in December-January and close to 15 hours in June-July.
Why America Has to Be Fat
I am fat. Sixty pounds too hefty, in my doctor’s opinion. Probably 80 pounds, in my fiancee’s view.
Being fat makes me a lot of things — a top contender for type II diabetes, for instance, or a heart attack, or stroke, maybe even a replacement knee or hip. My girth also puts me in familiar company, with about two-thirds of the U.S. population now considered overweight.
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But in many ways, my being fat also makes me pretty good for the economy.
You’ve read the headlines: America’s problem with bulging waistlines has reached pandemic proportions, according to federal health officials, who warn that obesity is becoming society’s No. 1 killer. But as doctors wrestle with the problem, economists have been pondering which corporations and industries benefit, and the role that changes in the overall economy have played in making us fat to begin with.
It turns out, economists say, that changes in food technology (producing tasty, easy-to-cook food, such as french fries) and changes in labor (we use to be paid to exercise at work, now we pay to exercise after work) combined with women’s importance in the workforce, not the kitchen, have combined to produce industries able to cheaply and efficiently meet the demands of our busy lives. The cookie industry. The fast-food industry. Potato chips. Soda. The chain-restaurant industry, with its heaping portions of low-priced, high-calorie foods.
In some ways, we are better off in this Fat Economy. Many people work in easier, better-paying jobs, which help pay for their big homes in the suburbs. Women don’t have to spend two hours preparing dinner every night; many have risen to unprecedented levels of corporate and political power. Flat-panel plasma TVs hang over fireplaces, which can be lit using the same remote control for flipping channels. But the unintended consequence of these economic changes is that many of us have become fat. An efficient economy produces sluggish, inefficient bodies.
“The obesity problem is really a side effect of things that are good for the economy,” said Tomas J. Philipson, an economics professor who studies obesity at the University of Chicago, a city recently named the fattest in America. “But we would rather take improvements in technology and agriculture than go back to the way we lived in the 1950s when everyone was thin. Nobody wants to sweat at work for 10 hours a day and be poor. Yes, you’re obese, but you have a life that is much more comfortable.”
For many corporations, and even for physicians, Americans’ obesity has also fattened the bottom line. William L. Weis, a management professor at Seattle University, says revenue from the “obesity industries” will likely top $315 billion this year, and perhaps far more. That includes $133.7 billion for fast-food restaurants, $124.7 billion for medical treatments related to obesity, and $1.8 billion just for diet books — all told, nearly 3 percent of the overall U.S. economy.
Did you know, according to consumer-research firm Mintel Group, that we guzzled $37 billion in carbonated beverages in 2004? The same year, we spent $3.9 billion on cookies — $244 million of which were Oreo cookies sold by Kraft Foods for about $3.69 a package. In 2003, we splurged $57.2 billion on meals at restaurants such as Denny’s, Chili’s and Outback Steakhouse (a personal favorite). Potato chip sales hit $6.2 billion in 2004.
“Put simply, there is a lot of money being made, and to be made, in feeding both oversized stomachs and feeding those enterprises selling fixes for oversized stomachs,” Weis wrote in 2005 in the Academy of Health Care Management Journal. “And both industries — those selling junk food and those selling fat cures — depend for their future on a prevalence of obesity.”
And the prevalence of obesity won’t fade anytime soon. According to David M. Cutler, an economist at Harvard University, Americans’ waistlines are caught in a simple accounting quagmire. In a 2003 paper titled “Why Have Americans Become More Obese?” Cutler wrote: “As an accounting statement, people gain weight if there is an increase in calories taken in or a decrease in calories expended.”
On the calories-expended side of the Fat Economy, economists have noted that changes in the workplace have caused us to burn fewer calories. Prior to the 1950s, jobs often meant hard labor. We lifted heavy things. We worked outside. Our desks — if we had them — did not come equipped with computers. We lived in urban environments, walking most places.
Now many Americans work in offices in buildings with elevators. If we walk anywhere, it’s to lunch — to TGI Friday’s or the corner burrito shop. We live in the suburbs, we drive to and from work and — in my case — to and from the mailbox. We pay $60 a month for the privilege of lifting something heavy in a gym we have to drive to. (I belong to two gyms, in the hope that guilt will cause me to visit at least one.) And we also must pay to exercise by giving up our free time. Do we work out, or do we drive the kids to their soccer game, where we can sit and watch? Do we work out, or do we download new songs from iTunes?
“People are just not willing to give up their leisure time,” Philipson said. “People don’t want to pay to exercise with their leisure time.”
Which brings us to the calories-consumed side of the ledger. If we don’t expend calories, they add up and turn into pounds. Thirty-five hundred calories generally equals one pound. So behold, for argument’s sake, the french fry. An order of large fries at McDonald’s puts 520 calories into one’s body. It is well known, at least by this consumer, that an order of large fries can generally be placed, filled and consumed in a matter of minutes.
But this was not always so, Cutler said.
Before World War II, if you wanted a french fry, you went to the store, bought potatoes, took them home, washed them, peeled them, sliced them and fried them. “Without expensive machinery, these activities take a lot of time,” Cutler said. “In the postwar period, a number of innovations allowed the centralization of french fry production.” Now fries are prepped in factories using sophisticated technologies, then frozen at sub-40-degree temperatures and shipped to a restaurant, where they are deep-fried, or to someone’s home, where they are microwaved. Either way, they are served up in a matter of minutes.
French fries helped drive up U.S. potato consumption by 30 percent between 1977 and 1995, but they mean more than that — they symbolize the convergence of the economic and technological changes that have made us fat. Cutler and Philipson have noted that when women joined the workplace, they left behind some of the labor that traditionally went into cooking meals. This happened as technology increasingly allowed for mass production and preparation of food. Much of this type of food — be it french fries, potato chips, frozen dinners or quick meals at restaurants — contains more calories.
We expend fewer calories and take more in. The pounds add up. Hence, the Fat Economy.
“The structure of the economy has made us more obese,” Cutler said. “That is clearly true. What businesses do is they cater to what we want, whether what we want is really in our long-term interests or not. So people are obese and they want to diet, but they also want things to be immediately there. Manufacturers and storeowners make that possible. The upside is nobody spends two hours a day cooking anymore.”
So do Americans have to be fat for the economy to thrive? The economy would not exactly crash if people stopped spending money on french fries and meals at TGI Friday’s. Economists think the money would just be spent differently or in different places. Specific industries would adapt — as many have already, offering more healthful choices — to meet changing demands. No business can survive by selling things people don’t want.
In fact the overall long-term economic costs of obesity are many. The $10,000 of extra medical care that the overweight require over their lifetimes certainly makes a doctor’s wallet fatter, but it could bankrupt the health insurance industry. Also, research shows that while more women have entered the workforce, their wages, particularly for white women, sink if they are overweight.
Much of the long-term financial burden for obesity will fall on the shoulders of U.S. corporations, which already fork out billions of dollars a year in sick time and insurance costs related to obesity illnesses, and on American taxpayers, through their contributions for programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. What’s more, shorter lifespans will more quickly take millions of educated people out of the workforce.
For that last problem, the Fat Economy has already found ways to innovate and profit. In Lynn, Ind., there is a company called Goliath Casket that makes caskets up to 52 inches wide. The company’s Web site, which can be found at http://www.oversizecasket.com/ , notes that Goliath’s founder quit his job as a welder in 1985, saying: “Boys, I’m gonna go home and build oversize caskets that you would be proud to put your mother in.”
Americas Info
The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the continents of North America[1] and South America with their associated islands and regions. The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth’s total surface area (28.4% of its land area) and contain about 14% of the human population (about 900 million people). The Americas may alternatively be referred to as America; however, America may be ambiguous, as it can refer to either this entire landmass or just the United States of America.
South America broke off from Western Gondwanaland around 135 million BCE, forming its own continent.[2] Starting around 15 million BCE, the collision of the Caribbean Plate and the Pacific Plate resulted in a series of volcanoes along the border that created a number of islands. The gaps in the archipelago of Central America filled in with material eroded off North America and South America, plus new land created by continued volcanism. By 3 million BCE, the continents of North America and South America were linked by the Isthmus of Panama, thereby forming the single landmass of the Americas.[3]
[edit] Settlement
See also: Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
Archaeological finds establish the widespread presence of the Clovis culture in North America and South America around 10000 BCE.[4] Whether this is the first migration of humans into North America and South America is disputed, with alternative theories holding that humans arrived in North America and South America as early as 40000 BCE.
The Inuit migrated into the Arctic section of North America in another wave of migration, arriving around 1000 CE.[5] Around the same time as the Inuit migrated into North America, Viking settlers began arriving in Greenland in 982 and Vinland shortly thereafter.[6] The Viking settlers quickly abandoned Vinland, and disappeared from Greenland by 1500.[7]
Large scale European colonization of the Americas began shortly after the voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1492. The spread of new diseases brought by Europeans and Africans killed most of the inhabitants of North America and South America,[8][9] with a general population crash of Native Americans occurring in the mid sixteenth century, often well ahead of European contact.[10] Native peoples and European colonizers came into widespread conflict, resulting in what David Stannard has called a genocide of the indigenous populations.[11] Early European immigrants were often part of state-sponsored attempts to found colonies in the Americas. Migration continued as people moved to the Americas fleeing religious persecution or seeking economic opportunities. Many individuals were forcibly transported to the Americas as slaves, prisoners or indentured servants.
[edit] Naming
World Map of Waldseemüller which first named America (in the map over Paraguay). Germany, 1507
World Map of Waldseemüller which first named America (in the map over Paraguay). Germany, 1507
The earliest known use of the name America for this particular landmass dates from April 25, 1507. It appears on a globe and a large map created by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. An accompanying book, Cosmographiae Introductio, explains that the name was derived from the Latinized version of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci’s name, Americus Vespucius, in its feminine form, America, as the other continents all have Latin feminine names.[12]
Vespucci’s role in the naming issue, like his exploratory activity, is unclear. Some sources say that he was unaware of the widespread use of his name to refer to the new landmass. Christopher Columbus, who had first brought the region’s existence to the attention of Renaissance era voyagers, had died in 1506 (believing, to the end, that he’d discovered and colonized part of India) and could not protest Waldseemüller’s decision.
Map of America by Jonghe, c. 1770.
Map of America by Jonghe, c. 1770.
A few alternative theories regarding the landmass’ naming have been proposed, but none of them has achieved any widespread acceptance.
One alternative, first advanced by Jules Marcou in 1875 and later recounted by novelist Jan Carew, is that the name America derives from the district of Amerrique in Nicaragua.[13] The gold-rich district of Amerrique was purportedly visited by both Vespucci and Columbus, for whom the name became synonymous with gold. According to Marcou, Vespucci later applied the name to the New World, and even changed the spelling of his own name from Alberigo to Amerigo to reflect the importance of the discovery.
Another theory, first proposed by a Bristol antiquary and naturalist, Alfred Hudd, in 1908 was that America is derived from Richard Amerike, a merchant from Bristol, who is believed to have financed John Cabot’s voyage of discovery from England to Newfoundland in 1497 as found in some documents from Westminster Abbey a few decades ago. Supposedly, Bristol fishermen had been visiting the coast of North America for at least a century before Columbus’ voyage and Waldseemüller’s maps are alleged to incorporate information from the early English journeys to North America. The theory holds that a variant of Amerike’s name appeared on an early English map (of which however no copies survive) and that this was the true inspiration for Waldseemüller.
[edit] Geography
Further information: Geography of North America
Further information: Geography of South America
[edit] Extent
The northernmost point of the Americas is Kaffeklubben Island, which is the northernmost point of land on Earth.[14] The southernmost point is the islands of Southern Thule, although they are sometimes considered part of Antarctica.[15] The easternmost point is Nordostrundingen. The westernmost point is Attu Island.
[edit] Topography
Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas
Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas
The western geography of the Americas is dominated by the American cordillera, with the Andes running along the west coast of South America[16] and the Rocky Mountains and other Pacific Coast Ranges running the western side of North America.[17] The 2300 km long Appalachian Mountains run along the east coast of North America from Alabama to Newfoundland.[18] North of the Appalachians, the Arctic Cordillera runs along the eastern coast of Canada.[19]
Between its coastal mountain ranges North America has vast flat areas. The Interior Plains spread over much of the continent with low relief.[20] The Canadian Shield covers almost 5 million km² of North America and is generally quite flat.[21] Similarly, the north-east of South America is covered by the flat Amazon Basin.[22] The Brazilian Highlands on the east coast are fairly smooth but show some variations in landform, while further south the Gran Chaco and Pampas are broad lowlands.[23]
[edit] Hydrology
With coastal mountains and interior plains, the Americas have several large river basins that drain the continents. The largest river basin in South America is that of the Amazon, which has the highest volume flow of any river on Earth.[24] The largest river basin in North America is that of the Mississippi, covering the second largest watershed on earth.[25] The second largest watershed of South America is that of the Paraná River, which covers about 2.5 million km².[26]
[edit] Demography
[edit] Ethnology
The population of the Americas is made up of the descendants of eight large ethnic groups and their combinations.
* 1. The Indigenous peoples of the Americas, being Amerindians, Inuits, and Aleuts;
* 2. Europeans, mainly Spanish, English, Irish, Italian, Portuguese, French, German and Dutch
* 3. Mestizos, those of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry.
* 4. Those of Black African ancestry.
* 5. Mulattoes, people of mixed Black African and European ancestry.
* 6. Zambos (Spanish) or Cafusos (Portuguese), those of mixed Black African and Amerindian ancestry.
* 7. Asians, i.e., those of Central, Eastern, South, and Southeast Asian ancestry.
* 8. Those from the Middle East (Middle Easterners).
* 9. Amerasian- those of mixed, usually European, and Asian ancestry.
The majority of the people live in Latin America, named for its dominant languages, Spanish and Portuguese, both of which are descended from Latin. Latin America is typically contrasted with Anglo-America where English, a Germanic language, prevails: namely, Canada and the United States (in Northern America) have predominantly British roots and are quite different in terms of linguistic, cultural, and economic situation from other countries in the Americas.
[edit] Religion
Much of the population of the Americas practices Christianity with 85% of North Americans and 93% of South Americans describing it as their faith.[1]
The most popular Christian faith in the Americas is Roman Catholicism.[2] Protestantism is the second most popular faith, and is especially popular in Canada, the United States, and some Caribbean nations. Many other religions are present in the Americas, Judaism is practiced by 2% of the population in North America, and 0.23% in South America, while Islam is practiced by 1.8% of the population of North America and 0.28% in South America. Atheists represent 9% and 4% respectively. Indigenous religions are also practiced. Populations of Hindu and Sikh adherents are extremely low.[3]
[edit] Languages
Various languages are spoken in the Americas. Some are of European origin, others are spoken by indigenous peoples or are the mixture of various idioms like the different creoles.
The dominant language of Latin America is Spanish, though the largest nation in Latin America, Brazil, speaks Portuguese. Small enclaves of French- and English-speaking regions also exist in Latin America, notably in French Guiana and Nicaragua’s Mosquito Coast, respectively, and Haitian Creole, of French origin, is dominant in the nation of Haiti. Native languages are more prominent in Latin America than in Anglo-America, with Nahuatl, Quechua, Aymara and Guaraní as the most common. Various other native languages are spoken with lesser frequency across both Anglo-America and Latin America. Creole languages other than Haitian Creole are also spoken in parts of Latin America.
The dominant language of Anglo-America, as the name suggests, is English. French is also official in Canada where it is the predominant language in Québec and an official language in New Brunswick along with English. It is also an important language in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Spanish has become widely spoken in parts of the United States due to heavy immigration from Latin America. High levels of immigration in general have brought great linguistic diversity to Anglo-America, with over 300 languages known to be spoken in the United States alone, but most languages are spoken only in small enclaves and by relatively small immigrant groups.
The nations of Guyana, Suriname and Belize are generally considered not to fall into either Anglo-America or Latin America due to lingual differences with Latin America and geographic and cultural differences with Anglo-America; English is the primary language of Guyana and Belize, and Dutch is the primary language of Suriname.
* Spanish - spoken by approximately 320 million in many nations, regions, islands, and communities throughout both continents.
* English - spoken by approximately 300 million people in the United States, Canada, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Belize, Guyana and many islands of the Caribbean.
* Portuguese - spoken by approximately 185 million in South America, mostly Brazil[27]
* French - spoken by approximately 12 million in Canada (majority 7 million in Quebec, and Acadian communities in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia); the Caribbean (Haiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique); French Guiana; the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon; and Acadiana (a Francophone area in southern Louisiana, United States).
* Quechua - native language spoken by 10 - 13 million speakers in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile, and northwest Argentina.[28]
* Haitian Creole - creole language, based in French and various African languages, spoken by 6 million in Haiti and the Haitian Diaspora in Canada and the United States.[29]
* Guaraní (avañe’?) - native language spoken by approximately 6 million people in Paraguay, and regions of Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil.
* Italian - spoken by approximately 4 million people, mostly New England/New York, in the United States, southern Ontario, and Quebec in Canada, Argentina, and Brazil, and also includes pidgin dialects of Italian such as Talian (Brazil), and Chipilo (Mexico).
* German: Some 2.2 million. Spoken by 1.1 million people in the United States plus another million in parts of Latin America, such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile and El Salvador. It is the second most studied second language in the United States.
* Aymará - native language spoken by about 2.2 million speakers in the Andes, in Bolivia and Peru.
* Quiché and other Maya languages - native languages spoken by about 1.9 million speakers in Guatemala and southern Mexico.
* Nahuatl - native language of central Mexico with 1.5 million speakers. Also was the language of the Aztec People of Mexico.
* Antillean Creole - spoken by approximately 1.2 million in the Eastern Caribbean (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, Saint Lucia) and French Guiana.
* American Sign Language - An estimated 100,000 - 500,000 people within the Deaf Community use ASL as their primary language in the United States and Canada.[30]
* Mapudungun (or Mapuche) - native language spoken by approximately 440,000 people in Chile and Argentina.
* Navajo- native language spoken by about 178,000 speakers in the Southwest U.S. on the Navajo Nation (Indian reservation).[31] The tribe’s isolation until the early 1900s provided a language used in a military code in World War II.
* Dutch - spoken in the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, and Suriname by about 210,000 speakers.
* Pennsylvania Dutch - Some descendants of the Pennsylvania Dutch in the Northeast U.S. speak a local form of the German language which dates back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They number about 85,000.
* Inuit - native language spoken by about 75,000 across the North American Arctic and to some extent in the subarctic in Labrador.
* Danish- and Greenlandic (Inuit) are the official languages of Greenland, most of the population speak both of the languages (approximately 50,000 people). A minority of Danish migrants with no Inuit ancestry speak Danish as their first, or only, language.
* Cree - Cree is the name for a group of closely-related Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 50,000 speakers across Canada
* Welsh - In Argentina, two towns of Trelew and Rawson were settled by Welsh immigrants in the late nineteenth century and the Welsh language remains spoken by about 25,000, including the towns’ older residents.
* Cherokee- native language spoken in a small corner of Oklahoma, U.S by about 19,000 speakers. The use of this language has rebounded in the late twentieth century. It is known to possess its own alphabet, the Cherokee syllabary.
* Gullah- a creole language based on English with strong influences from West and Central African languages spoken by the Gullah people, an African American population living on the coastal region of the U.S. states of South Carolina and Georgia.
Most of the non-native languages have, to different degrees, evolved differently from the mother country, but are usually still mutually intelligible. Some have combined though, which has even resulted in completely new languages, such as Papiamentu, which is a combination of Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch (representing the respective colonizers), native Arawak, various African languages and, more recently, English. Because of immigration, there are many communities where other languages are spoken from all parts of the world, especially in the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Canada, four very important destinations for immigrants.
[edit] Terminology
Further information: Americas (terminology)
The Spanish American colonies.
The Spanish American colonies.
[edit] America/Americas
In many parts of the world, America in the singular is commonly used as a name for the United States of America; however, (the) Americas (plural with s and generally with the definite article) is not and is invariably used to refer to the lands and regions of the Western hemisphere. Usage of America to also refer to this collectivity remains fairly common.
While many in the United States of America generally refer to the country as America and themselves as Americans,[32] many people elsewhere in the Americas resent what they perceive as appropriation of the term in this context and, thus, this usage is frequently avoided.[33][34][35] In Canada, their southern neighbour is seldom referred to as “America” with “the United States”, “the U.S.”, or (informally) “the States” used instead.[34] English dictionaries and compendiums differ regarding usage and rendition.[4][5]
[edit] American
Main article: Use of the word American
[edit] English usage
Whether usage of America or the Americas is preferred, American is a self-referential term for many people living in the Americas. However, much of the English-speaking world uses the word to refer solely to a citizen, resident, or national of the United States of America. Instead, the word pan-American is used as an unambiguous adjective to refer to the Americas.
In addition, some Canadians resent being referred to as Americans because of mistaken assumptions that they are U.S. citizens or an inability—particularly of people overseas—to distinguish Canadian English and American English accents.[34]
[edit] Spanish usage
In Spanish, América is the name of a region considered a single continent composed of the subcontinents of Sudamérica and Norteamérica, the land bridge of Centroamérica, and the islands of the Antillas. Americano/a in Spanish refers to a person from América in a similar way that europeo or europea refers to a person from Europe. The terms sudamericano/a, centroamericano/a, antillano/a and norteamericano/a can be used to more specifically refer to the location where a person may live.
Citizens of the United States of America are normally referred to by the term estadounidense instead of americano or americana. Also, the term norteamericano may refer to a citizen of the United States. This term is primarily used to refer to citizens of the United States, rarely those of other North American countries.[36]
[edit] Portuguese usage
In Portuguese, the word americano refers to the whole of the Americas. But, in Brazil and Portugal, it is widely used to refer to the citizens of the United States. Sometimes “norte-americano” is also used, but “americano” is the most common term employed by people and media at large, while “norte-americano” (North American) is more common in books. The least ambiguous term, “estadunidense” (used more frequently in Brazil) or “estado-unidense” (used more frequently in Portugal), something like “United Statian” or “estadounidense” in Spanish language), and “ianque” - the Portuguese version of “Yankee” - are rarely used.
“América”, however, is not that frequently used as synonym to the country, and almost exclusively in current speech, while in print and in more formal environments the US is usually called either “Estados Unidos da América” (i.e. United States of America) or only “Estados Unidos” (i.e. United States). There is some difference between the usage of these words in Portugal and in Brazil, being the Brazilians less prone than the Portuguese to apply the term América to the country. A well-known example of such use is the translation of the title of Alain Resnais’ movie “Mon Oncle d’Amérique”: “O Meu Tio da América”.
[edit] French usage
In French, as in English, the word Américain can be confusing as it can be both used to refer to the United States, and to the American continents. The noun Amérique sometimes refers to the whole as one continent, and sometimes two continents, southern and northern; the United States is generally referred to as les États-Unis d’Amérique, les États-Unis, or les USA. However, the usage of Amérique to refer to the United States, while technically not correct, does still have some currency in France. The adjective américain is most often used for things relating to the United States; however, it may also be used for things relating to the American continents. Things relating to the United States can be referred to without ambiguity by the words états-unien, étasunien or étatsunien, although their usage is rare.
[edit] Countries
Map showing date of independence of country in the Americas. Black shows areas not yet independent.
Map showing date of independence of country in the Americas. Black shows areas not yet independent.
* Flag of Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda
* Flag of Argentina Argentina
* Flag of the Bahamas Bahamas
* Flag of Barbados Barbados
* Flag of Belize Belize
* Flag of Bolivia Bolivia
* Flag of Brazil Brazil
* Flag of Canada Canada
* Flag of Chile Chile
* Flag of Colombia Colombia
* Flag of Costa Rica Costa Rica
* Flag of Cuba Cuba
* Flag of Dominica Dominica
* Flag of the Dominican Republic Dominican Republic
* Flag of Ecuador Ecuador
* Flag of El Salvador El Salvador
* Flag of Grenada Grenada
* Flag of Guatemala Guatemala
* Flag of Guyana Guyana
* Flag of Haiti Haiti
* Flag of Honduras Honduras
* Flag of Jamaica Jamaica
* Flag of Mexico Mexico
* Flag of Nicaragua Nicaragua
* Flag of Panama Panama
* Flag of Paraguay Paraguay
* Flag of Peru Peru
* Flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis
* Flag of Saint Lucia Saint Lucia
* Flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
* Flag of Suriname Suriname
* Flag of Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago
* Flag of the United States United States
* Flag of Uruguay Uruguay
* Flag of Venezuela Venezuela
[edit] Dependencies
* Flag of Denmark Denmark
o Flag of Greenland Greenland
* Flag of France France
o Flag of Guadeloupe Guadeloupe
o Flag of French Guiana French Guiana
o Flag of Martinique Martinique
o Flag of Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre and Miquelon
* Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands
o Flag of Aruba Aruba
o Flag of the Netherlands Antilles Netherlands Antilles
* Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
o Flag of Anguilla Anguilla
o Flag of Bermuda Bermuda
o Flag of the British Virgin Islands British Virgin Islands
o Flag of Cayman Islands Cayman Islands
o Flag of the Falkland Islands Falkland Islands
o Flag of Montserrat Montserrat
o Flag of the Turks and Caicos Islands Turks and Caicos Islands
* Flag of the United States United States
o Flag of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico
o Flag of the United States Virgin Islands U.S. Virgin Islands
[edit] Multinational organizations in the Americas
* Organization of American States
* American Capital of Culture
* Organization of Ibero-American States
* Union of South American Nations
* Rio Group
* North Atlantic Treaty Organization
* North American Free Trade Agreement
* Free Trade Area of the Americas
* Mercosur or Mercosul
* Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas
* Alliance for Progress
* Association of Caribbean States
* Caribbean Community
* Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
* Contadora Group
* Central American Parliament
* CARICOM Single Market and Economy
* School of the Americas
* Summit of the Americas
* Central American Common Market
* Andean Community of Nations
[edit] See also
* List of American countries
* Former American countries
* History of the Americas
* Americas (terminology)
* Use of the word American
* New World
* La Merika
* North America
* Northern America
* Middle America (Americas)
* Central America
* Ethnic groups in Central America
* South America
* Southern Cone
* British North America
* Anglo-America
* New Sweden
* European colonization of the Americas
* Decolonization of the Americas
* Latin America
* French America
* New Spain
* Mesoamerica
* Columbia
[edit] Footnotes
1. ^ United Nations Statistics Division- Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications (M49). United Nations Statistics Division.
2. ^ Brian C. Story (28 September 1995). “The role of mantle plumes in continental breakup: case histories from Gondwanaland”. Nature 377: 301 - 309.
3. ^ Land bridge: How did the formation of a sliver of land result in major changes in biodiversity. Public Broadcasting Corporation.
4. ^ David S. Whitley and Ronald I. Dorn (1993). “New Perspectives on the Clovis versus Pre-Clovis Controversy”. American Antiquity: 626-647.
5. ^ Canadian Inuit History. Canadian Museum of Civilization.
6. ^ Vinland. Canadian Museum of Civilization.
7. ^ The Norse settlers in Greenland - A short history. Greenland Guide - The Official Travel Index.
8. ^ Russell Thornton. “Aboriginal North American Population and Rates of Decline, c.a. A.D. 1500 - 1900″. Current Anthropology 38: 310 - 315.
9. ^ Alfred W. Crosby (April 1976). “Virgin Soil Epidemics as a Factor in the Aboriginal Depopulation in America”. David and Mary Quarterly 33: 289-299.
10. ^ Henry F. Dobyns (1993). “Disease Transfer at Contact”. Annual Review of Anthropology 22: 273 - 291.
11. ^ Staff. A review of American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World (by David Stannard), on the website of the Oxford University Press (the publishers)
12. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-24-america-turns-500_N.htm?csp=34
13. ^ George C. Hurlbut (1888). “The Origin of the Name “America”". Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York 20: 183-196.
14. ^ Charles Burress. “Romancing the north Berkeley explorer may have stepped on ancient Thule”, San Francisco Chronicle, June 17, 2004.
15. ^ South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Antarctica - Travel.
16. ^ Andes Mountain Range.
17. ^ Rocky Mountains.
18. ^ Appalachian Mountains. Ohio History Central.
19. ^ Arctic Cordillera.
20. ^ Interior Plains Region.
21. ^ Natural History of Quebec.
22. ^ Strategy. Amazon COnservation Association.
23. ^ SRTM SOUTH AMERICA IMAGES.
24. ^ Greastest Places: Notes: Amazonia.
25. ^ Mississippi River.
26. ^ Great Rivers Partnership - Paraguay-Parana.
27. ^ Portuguese Facts.
28. ^ Now Bolivia Can Do Windows.
29. ^ Bambi B. Schieffelin; Rachelle Charlier Doucet (February 1994). “The “Real” Haitian Creole: Ideology, Metalinguistics, and Orthographic Choice”. American Ethnologist 21: 176-200.
30. ^ Mike Gasser. A3 Languages cited in this book.
31. ^ American Indian & Alaska Native Heritage Month: November 2003. United States’ Census Bureau.
32. ^ Burchfield, R. W. 2004. Fowler’s Modern English Usage. (ISBN 0-19-861021-1) Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; p. 48.
33. ^ “American.” The Oxford Companion to the English Language (ISBN 0-19-214183-X); McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 35.
34. ^ a b c “America.” Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage. (ISBN 0-19-541619-8) Fee, Margery and McAlpine, J., ed., 1997. Toronto: Oxford University Press; p. 36.
35. ^ “America.” Microsoft Encarta Dictionary. 2007. Microsoft.
36. ^ Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas:Norteamérica
[edit] References
* “Americas”. The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online. 2006. New York: Columbia University Press.
* “Americas”. Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed. 1986. (ISBN 0-85229-434-4) Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
* Burchfield, R. W. 2004. Fowler’s Modern English Usage. (ISBN 0-19-861021-1) Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
* Fee, Margery and McAlpine, J. 1997. Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage. (ISBN 0-19-541619-8) Toronto: Oxford University Press.
* Kane , Katie Nits Make Lice: Drogheda, Sand Creek, and the Poetics of Colonial Extermination Cultural Critique, No. 42 (Spring, 1999), pp. 81-103 doi:10.2307/1354592
* Pearsall, Judy and Trumble, Bill., ed. 2002. Oxford English Reference Dictionary, 2nd ed. (rev.) (ISBN 0-19-860652-4) Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
* Churchill, Ward A Little Matter of Genocide 1997 City Lights Books ISBN 0872863239
* What’s the difference between North, Latin, Central, Middle, South, Spanish and Anglo America? Geography at about.com.
[edit] External links
* The naming of America: fragments we’ve shored against ourselves by Jonathan Cohen
* Organization of American States
* America noviter delineata, a 1633 map of North and South America made by Matthaeus Merian
* [6], the story of the name “America” on the C. Columbus French reference site (in English)
