The Western Hemisphere is the name for the Earth’s half which is on the eastern parts of antemeridian and western parts of the prime meridian. It includes the western parts of Africa and Eurasia, the Americas, eastern parts of Siberia, various Oceania territories, and a part of Antarctica. The Aconcagua (22,837ft) of the Andes in Argentina is the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere.
The center of this half of earth is in the Pacific Ocean right at the intersection of the Equator and the ninetieth meridian west of the Greenwich near the Galapagos Islands. There are only two continents which are entirely in the Western Hemisphere: North American and South America.
Continents Located Entirely In The Western Hemisphere
The North American continent is in the Western and Northern Hemispheres. North America is surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, South America, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is the third biggest continent on earth and occupies an area of about 9,540,000 sq miles which is approximately 16.5% of the world’s land area. It is the fourth biggest by population right behind Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is the northernmost subcontinent of the Americas.
The continent has a population of over 579 million residents in 23 independent countries which is approximately 7.5% of the earth’s population. The northern part of the continent which is mostly occupied by Canada is sparsely populated except for Alaska and Greenland. Mexico and the United States occupy the southern and central parts of North America among other smaller countries.
The first human population of Native Americans arrived in the continent in the last glacial era about 40,000 to 17,000 years ago. Due to the history of colonization most people who reside on the continent converse in French, Spanish or English.
The South American continent is on the Southern and Western Hemispheres with a small part of it in the Northern Hemisphere. The Portuguese and Spanish-speaking areas of the Americas consider South America to be a subcontinent of the Americas. The continent is surrounded by the North America, the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. The continent has 12 independent nations (Venezuela, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Ecuador, Paraguay, Guyana, Brazil, Colombia, Chile Argentina, and Bolivia), a non-sovereign region (the Falkland Islands) and French Guyana. The ABC Islands, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago are also considered to be part of the continent.
The continent occupies an area of about 6,890,000 square miles and is ranked as the fourth biggest right behind North America, Asia, and Africa. It is the fifth most populous continent on earth with a population of about 420 million people. The most densely populated state in the continent which has over half of the South American population is Brazil followed by Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, and Colombia. The far south and the interior part of the continent are sparsely populated while most of the people live near the eastern and western coasts.