North America

North America is the northern portion of the continental system named after one of its European "discoverers", Amerigo Vespucci.

It is here taken to include the whole mainland from Panama northwards, nearby islands belonging to mainland countries or other countries, the Danish territory Greenland, the Caribbean, and the Bahamas. The largest countries or territories at present are Canada, Greenland, Mexico, and the United States (excluding Hawaii and various territories but considered to be within North America for categorization purposes). This wiki treats events such as births and deaths as happening in the modern countries, states, parishes, etc, even though they were often not even contemplated at the times of the events. Occasionally an old name is used in addition or alternatively if boundaries changed, because readers of the records might not know the modern name.