", and use the confusing, redundent, yet common phrase ""North America*""... *not refering to the continent. 

Either of two reasons:
A desire to place the United States last on the list, by manipulating the names of regions to exploit the ""fair"" use of alphabetization to make the US hard to find.
Simply an oversight.  

Well, nobody replied so I renamed the section on Territories and regions to U.N. subregions. It's amazing that this list puts the United States last, even though it has most of the people and 1/3 of the area. Is someone trying to ""de-emphasize"" America's importance?  

No it's just in alphabetical order.  

 Talk about... 

Any info in this article about the use of the term as if it meant exclusively Canada and the United States??  

Yes: in the 'Human geography' section, namely the 3rd paragraph.  Other related terms are also treated in that sxn.   | talk | 

 Central Americans are not North Americans! 

We are own people and we are not Northerners.  We are seperate from them and are nothing like them! You can try to correct me, but the people who say that we are North Americans are White folk who try to keep us down (and sometimes other ignorant groups of people).  I will never surrender to being North American and nor should any other Central American should ever buy into this.  I don't care what the White man tells us.  They're not us.  We should be able to decide for ourselves who we are and no else should tell us who to be.  This is just another way of bringing us down.  I am proud of being Central American and being someone who inhabited this land long before the White people made contact with us.  If we have been living here for the longest time, should it not be us who decides who we want to be? 

-Tito A. Martĩnez
This is a lovely essay, but unfortunately you cannot undeclare yourself a north american any more easily than you can underclare yourself an earthling.  Central America happens to be located in North America, so Central Americans are North Americans - it's a geographical thing, not a cultural thing. Perhaps you're thinking of Latin America and Anglo America?  

Actually, Tito can ""undeclare himself"". If you'll check the Spanish Wikipedia articles on Central America and North America, you will see that Spanish language defines North America's southern-most country as Mexico. 
:es:Norteamérica redirects to es:América del Norte, which lists the lists the following political units in north to south order:
Greenland
Canada
United States
Mexico
Note that Central America is not on this list!

WilyD is also right, as far as English language goes. ""North America"" includes Mexico and Central America. 

I think America (terminology) should provide a better explanation than it currently does. A section on English vs. Spanish terminology would help. (I don't speak Spanish, but I studied French in high school and can sometimes puzzle out the meaning. Maybe I'll recruit some bilingual Wikipedians to help me write this. -)  

Okay, but I'll claim the fatal flaw here is this:  América del Norte is a spanish term that is different from the english term North America.  Tito may not be a norteamericano - (although I don't think he declares himself here either - doesn't spanish have an equivilent to L'academie?) - but he's still north american.  

Actually, I don't think ""North American"" is an identity that applies to Latin Americans. His country (if it's in Central America) is a part of the North American continent, but the cultural division is what he's concerned about. Want to help me update America (terminology)?  

I think America (terminology) reflects correct english usage.  Maybe Use of the word American is a better place to move these kind of complaints (although I'm actively involved in that article, and know it'll get shot down as original research).  Roughly speaking, there aren't political continents - Wikipedia has articles on Anglo America (not that I'm convinced the term exists) in contrast