North America and Surrounding Islands
- Northernmost point — Kaffeklubben Island, Greenland 83°40′N 29°50′W / 83.66667°N 29.83333°W / 83.66667; -29.83333 (Kaffeklubben Island). Although politically part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is geologically part of the North American plate. If Greenland is excluded from North America, the northernmost point is Cape Columbia, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada 83°8′N 74°13′W / 83.13333°N 74.21667°W / 83.13333; -74.21667 (Cape Columbia).
- Southernmost point — Cocos Island, Costa Rica 5°31′8″N 87°4′18″W / 5.51889°N 87.07167°W / 5.51889; -87.07167 (Cocos Island)
- Westernmost point — The westernmost point depends on the definition of "westernmost". If following the International Date Line, it would be Cape Wrangell on Attu Island, Alaska, United States 52°55′28″N 172°28′22″E / 52.92444°N 172.47278°E / 52.92444; 172.47278 (Cape Wrangell). However, if the border between east and west is defined by the 180th meridian, the westernmost point is the West Point of Amatignak Island 51°17′N 179°9′W / 51.28333°N 179.15°W / 51.28333; -179.15 (West Point of Amatignak Island), as Attu Island is in the Eastern Hemisphere.
- Easternmost point — Nordostrundingen, Greenland 81°26′25″N 11°29′22″W / 81.44028°N 11.48944°W / 81.44028; -11.48944 (Nordostrundingen). If Greenland is excluded then the easternmost point is Cape Spear, Newfoundland, Canada 47°31′25″N 52°37′10″W / 47.52361°N 52.61944°W / 47.52361; -52.61944 (Cape Spear). Again, if one uses the technical definition of longitude it is Pochnoi Point on Semisopochnoi Island, Alaska, 51°57′N 179°52′E / 51.95°N 179.86667°E / 51.95; 179.86667 (Pochnoi Point) since the state stretches into the Eastern Hemisphere.
Read more about this topic: Extreme Points Of North America
Famous quotes containing the words north america, north, america, surrounding and/or islands:
“So-called Western Civilization, as practised in half of Europe, some of Asia and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else available. Western civilization not only provides a bit of life, a pinch of liberty and the occasional pursuance of happiness, it’s also the only thing that’s ever tried to. Our civilization is the first in history to show even the slightest concern for average, undistinguished, none-too-commendable people like us.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“Let north and south—let all Americans—let all lovers of liberty everywhere—join in the great and good work. If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union; but we shall have so saved it, as to make, and to keep it, forever worthy of the saving. We shall have so saved it, that the succeeding millions of free happy people, the world over, shall rise up, and call us blessed, to the latest generations.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“In America few people will trust you unless you are irreverent.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“The opening of large tracts by the ice-cutters commonly causes a pond to break up earlier; for the water, agitated by the wind, even in cold weather, wears away the surrounding ice.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line—the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea. It was a phase of this problem that caused the Civil War.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)