Welcome to Virtual Americas.

View over 1000 stunning images of cities, landscape, nature and people from the Americas. We also have maps, facts, stats, travel tips, cultural information, news, and weather. Start exploring the Americas by clicking a on a country to the left. You could also try an area in the map above, or try a sampling off our images to the right.

The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North 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. The term the Americas is a relatively recent alternative to the term America, which is ambiguous as it may refer to either this entire landmass or just the United States of America.

The climatic zones in the Americas are varied. In North America an arctic climate prevails in the extreme north, gradually becoming warmer as you head southward to the temperate zone which merges into the semi arid and arid (desert) zones, then finally into the tropics of Central America and the Carribean. South America is tropical in the north and merges into some deserts and temperate areas although the climate is heavily influenced by altitude as many places are situated in the Andes. The southern end of this southern continent almost touches the Antarctica.

From the north to the south there exists every type of climate and landscape. Scenic highlights of the America's include spectacular mountain ranges, huge rainforests, deep canyons, scorching deserts, steep fiords, tropical beaches, reefs, and spectacular waterfalls and rivers. There are also many unique and varied animals that live in the wide range of habitats found here.

The Americas are also home to many aboriginal groups, rich and facinating cultures, historical and archaeological sites, and old world styled cities to modern metropolises. The Americas is truly a remarkable place and still deserves the title, "The New World".

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.