Geography is that science which describes the earth on which we live; its lands and waters; its mountains and valleys; its hills and plains; its towns, cities, countries, nations, and inhabitants.
The above picture is a representation of one half of the earth, or what is called the Western Hemisphere. On this you see the continent of America, the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific ocean, the Northern ocean, and the Southern ocean. About three fourths of the surface of the Western hemisphere is covered with water.
The continent of America consists of North America and South America. These are united by a narrow strip of land, called the isthmus of Darien. In the narrowest part, this isthmus is but about thirty-seven miles wide.
North America is separated from Asia at the north-west, by Behring’s Straits, which are about thirty-nine miles wide. North America is separated from Greenland, which is a great island, almost always covered with snow and ice, near the north pole.
The continent of North America is about 9000 miles long, from Cape Horn, to the Northern ocean. It has a vast range of mountains, extending, in a bending line, nearly the whole length of it. This range is the longest in the world. In South America, some of the mountains are about five miles high, and are the loftiest in the world, except the peaks of the Himmaleh mountains, in Asia. It is supposed that there are two hundred volcanoes in America.
The largest river in the world is the Mississippi, which, including the Missouri, properly one of its branches, is about 4000 miles long. The river Amazon, in South America, though not quite as long, spreads its branches wider than any other river in the world, and carries more water to the sea than any other river.
The largest fresh water lake in the world, is that of Lake Superior, in North America.
The Eastern Hemisphere.