vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
North America
Britain , Spain , and France took over extensive territories in North America -- and fought over them . In the late 18th century and beginning of the 19th , independence movements that sprung up across the continent , led to the creation of the modern countries in the area . The 13 British colonies on the North Atlantic coast declared independence in 1776 , becoming the United States of America . Canada was formed from the unification of northern territories controlled by Britain and France . New Spain , a territory that stretched from modern - day southern US to Central America , declared independence in 1810 , becoming the First Mexican Empire . In 1823 the former Captaincy General of Guatemala , then part of the Mexican Empire , became the first independent state in Central America , officially changing its name to the United Provinces of Central America .
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean sea floor is divided into five basins separated from each other by underwater ridges and mountain ranges . Atlantic Ocean water enters the Caribbean through the Anegada Passage lying between the Lesser Antilles and Virgin Islands and the Windward Passage located between Cuba and Haiti . The Yucatán Channel between Mexico and Cuba links the Gulf of Mexico with the Caribbean . The deepest points of the sea lie in Cayman Trough with depths reaching approximately 7,686 m ( 25,220 ft ) . Despite this , the Caribbean Sea is considered a relatively shallow sea in comparison to other bodies of water . Caribbean
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean is home to about 9 % of the world 's coral reefs covering about 50,000 km ( 19,000 sq mi ) , most of which are located off the Caribbean Islands and the Central American coast . Among them stands out the Belize Barrier Reef with an area of 963 km ( 372 sq mi ) which was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996 . It forms part of the Great Mayan Reef also known as the MBRS and being over 1,000 km ( 600 mi ) in length is the world 's second longest . It runs along the Caribbean coasts of Mexico , Belize , Guatemala and Honduras .
Taiga
The taiga is the world 's largest biome apart from the oceans . In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States ( northern Minnesota through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Upstate New York and northern New England ) , where it is known as the Northwoods or `` North woods '' . In Eurasia , it covers most of Sweden , Finland , much of Norway , some of the Scottish Highlands , some lowland / coastal areas of Iceland , much of Russia from Karelia in the west to the Pacific Ocean ( including much of Siberia ) , and areas of northern Kazakhstan , northern Mongolia , and northern Japan ( on the island of Hokkaidō ) . However , the main tree species , the length of the growing season and summer temperatures vary . For example , the taiga of North America mostly consists of spruces ; Scandinavian and Finnish taiga consists of a mix of spruce , pines and birch ; Russian taiga has spruces , pines and larches depending on the region , while the Eastern Siberian taiga is a vast larch forest .
Amazon River
The quantity of water released by the Amazon to the Atlantic Ocean is enormous : up to 300,000 cubic metres per second ( 11,000,000 cu ft / s ) in the rainy season , with an average of 209,000 cubic metres per second ( 7,400,000 cu ft / s ) from 1973 to 1990 . The Amazon is responsible for about 20 % of the Earth 's fresh water entering the ocean . The river pushes a vast plume of fresh water into the ocean . The plume is about 400 kilometres ( 250 mi ) long and between 100 and 200 kilometres ( 62 and 124 mi ) wide . The fresh water , being lighter , flows on top of the seawater , diluting the salinity and altering the colour of the ocean surface over an area up to 2,500,000 km ( 970,000 sq mi ) in extent . For centuries ships have reported fresh water near the Amazon 's mouth yet well out of sight of land in what otherwise seemed to be the open ocean .
European colonization of the Americas
Early explorations and conquests were made by the Spanish and the Portuguese immediately following their own final reconquest of Iberia in 1492 . In the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas , ratified by the Pope , these two kingdoms divided the entire non-European world into two areas of exploration and colonization , with a north to south boundary that cut through the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern part of present - day Brazil . Based on this treaty and on early claims by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa , discoverer of the Pacific Ocean in 1513 , the Spanish conquered large territories in North , Central and South America . Amerigo
First Transcontinental Railroad
Once the central route was chosen , it was immediately obvious that the western terminus should be Sacramento . But there was considerable difference of opinion about the eastern terminus . Three locations along 250 miles ( 400 km ) of Missouri River were considered :
Waikato River
The river leaves the Volcanic Plateau at Karapiro , where it emerges from the Maungatautari Gorge , and flows northwest into the Waikato Basin , flowing through the towns of Cambridge , Hamilton , and Ngaruawahia . It is joined by its largest tributary , the Waipa River , at Ngaruawahia . It then flows north through the Taupiri Gorge to enter the lower Waikato region . Further north is Huntly and then Meremere , where the Whangamarino and Maramarua Rivers join it . From Mercer , where the Mangatawhiri River joins it , the Waikato flows west and southwest . Just before its mouth at Port Waikato , the Araroa River joins from the north . Numerous small islands lie in the long , thin delta of the river as it passes through low - lying swampy land between Meremere and the coast , the largest of which is Motutieke Island .
Atlantic Ocean
The formation of the Central American Isthmus closed the Central American Seaway at the end of the Pliocene 2.8 Ma ago . The formation of the isthmus resulted in the migration and extinction of many land - living animals , known as the Great American Interchange , but the closure of the seaway resulted in a `` Great American Schism '' as it affected ocean currents , salinity , and temperatures in both the Atlantic and Pacific . Marine organisms on both sides of the isthmus became isolated and either diverged or went extinct .
History of New Mexico
Human occupation of New Mexico stretches back at least 11,000 years to the hunter - gatherer Clovis culture . They left evidence of their campsites and stone tools . After the invention of agriculture , the land was inhabited by the Ancient Pueblo Peoples , who built houses out of stone or adobe bricks . They experienced a Golden Age around AD 1000 , but climate change led to migration and cultural evolution . From those people arose the historic Pueblo peoples who lived primarily along the few major rivers . The most important rivers are the Rio Grande , the Pecos , the Canadian , the San Juan , and the Gila .
North America
The dominant languages in North America are English , Spanish , and French . Danish is prevalent in Greenland alongside Greenlandic , and Dutch is spoken side by side local languages in the Dutch Caribbean . The term Anglo - America is used to refer to the anglophone countries of the Americas : namely Canada ( where English and French are co-official ) and the United States , but also sometimes Belize and parts of the tropics , especially the Commonwealth Caribbean . Latin America refers to the other areas of the Americas ( generally south of the United States ) where the Romance languages , derived from Latin , of Spanish and Portuguese ( but French speaking countries are not usually included ) predominate : the other republics of Central America ( but not always Belize ) , part of the Caribbean ( not the Dutch - , English - , or French - speaking areas ) , Mexico , and most of South America ( except Guyana , Suriname , French Guiana ( France ) , and the Falkland Islands ( UK ) ) .
Conquistador
Later they were enslaved for a few years by various Native American tribes of the upper Gulf Coast . They continued through Coahuila and Nueva Vizcaya ; then down the Gulf of California coast to what is now Sinaloa , Mexico , over a period of roughly eight years . They spent years enslaved by the Ananarivo of the Louisiana Gulf Islands . Later they were enslaved by the Hans , the Capoques and others . In 1534 they escaped into the American interior , contacting other Native American tribes along the way . Only four men , Cabeza de Vaca , Andrés Dorantes de Carranza , Alonso del Castillo Maldonado , and an enslaved Moroccan Berber named Estevanico , survived and escaped to reach Mexico City . In 1539 , Estevanico was one of four men who accompanied Marcos de Niza as a guide in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola , preceding Coronado . When the others were struck ill , Estevanico continued alone , opening up what is now New Mexico and Arizona . He was killed at the Zuni village of Hawikuh in present - day New Mexico .
History of Mexico
Spanish conquerors did not bring all areas of Aztec Empire under its control . After the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521 , it took decades of sporadic warfare to subdue the rest of Mesoamerica , particularly the Maya regions of southern New Spain and into what is now Central America .
North America
Northern Mexico , particularly in the cities of Monterrey , Tijuana , Ciudad Juárez , and Mexicali , is strongly influenced by the culture and way of life of the United States . Of the aforementioned cities , Monterrey has been regarded as the most Americanized city in Mexico . Immigration to the United States and Canada remains a significant attribute of many nations close to the southern border of the US . The Anglophone Caribbean states have witnessed the decline of the British Empire and its influence on the region , and its replacement by the economic influence of Northern America . In the Anglophone Caribbean . This is partly due to the relatively small populations of the English - speaking Caribbean countries , and also because many of them now have more people living abroad than those remaining at home . Northern Mexico , the Western United States and Alberta , Canada share a cowboy culture .
Amazon River
Portuguese explorer Pedro Teixeira was the first European to travel up the entire river . He arrived in Quito in 1637 , and returned via the same route .
Maya civilization
The Maya civilization occupied a wide territory that included southeastern Mexico and northern Central America . This area included the entire Yucatán Peninsula and all of the territory now incorporated into the modern countries of Guatemala and Belize , as well as the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador . Most of the peninsula is formed by a vast plain with few hills or mountains and a generally low coastline .
North America
Economically , Canada and the United States are the wealthiest and most developed nations in the continent , followed by Mexico , a newly industrialized country . The countries of Central America and the Caribbean are at various levels of economic and human development . For example , small Caribbean island - nations , such as Barbados , Trinidad and Tobago , and Antigua and Barbuda , have a higher GDP ( PPP ) per capita than Mexico due to their smaller populations . Panama and Costa Rica have a significantly higher Human Development Index and GDP than the rest of the Central American nations . Additionally , despite Greenland 's vast resources in oil and minerals , much of them remain untapped , and the island is economically dependent on fishing , tourism , and subsidies from Denmark . Nevertheless , the island is highly developed .
Conquistador
During the 1500s , the Spanish began to travel through and colonize North America . They were looking for gold in foreign kingdoms . By 1511 there were rumours of undiscovered lands to the northwest of Hispaniola . Juan Ponce de León equipped three ships with at least 200 men at his own expense and set out from Puerto Rico on 4 March 1513 to Florida and surrounding coastal area . Another early motive was the search for the Seven Cities of Gold , or `` Cibola '' , rumoured to have been built by Native Americans somewhere in the desert Southwest . In 1536 Francisco de Ulloa , the first documented European to reach the Colorado River , sailed up the Gulf of California and a short distance into the river 's delta . Route
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States , also referred to as the American Midwest , Middle West , or simply the Midwest , is one of four geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau . It occupies the northern central part of the United States of America . It was officially named the North Central region by the Census Bureau until 1984 . It is located between the Northeastern U.S. and the Western U.S. , with Canada to its north and the Southern U.S. to its south .
Circumnavigation
In 1577 , Elizabeth I sent Francis Drake to start an expedition against the Spanish along the Pacific coast of the Americas . Drake set out from Plymouth , England in November 1577 , aboard Pelican , which Drake renamed Golden Hind mid-voyage . In September 1578 , he passed through the southern tip of South America , named Drake Passage , which connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean . In June 1579 , Drake landed somewhere north of Spain 's northern-most claim in Alta California , which is known as Drakes Bay , California . Drake completed the second circumnavigation of the world in September 1580 , becoming the first commander to lead an entire circumnavigation .
Mexico City
Mexico City , or the City of Mexico ( Spanish : Ciudad de México , American Spanish : ( sjuˈða ( ð ) ðe ˈmexiko ) ( listen ) ; abbreviated as CDMX , Nahuatl languages : Āltepētl Mēxihco ) , is the capital of Mexico and the most populous city in North America . Mexico City is one of the most important cultural and financial centres in the Americas . It is located in the Valley of Mexico ( Valle de México ) , a large valley in the high plateaus in the center of Mexico , at an altitude of 2,240 meters ( 7,350 ft ) . The city has 16 boroughs .
North America
The First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States was built in the 1860s , linking the railroad network of the eastern US with California on the Pacific coast . Finished on 10 May 1869 at the famous golden spike event at Promontory Summit , Utah , it created a nationwide mechanized transportation network that revolutionized the population and economy of the American West , catalyzing the transition from the wagon trains of previous decades to a modern transportation system . Although an accomplishment , it achieved the status of first transcontinental railroad by connecting myriad eastern US railroads to the Pacific and was not the largest single railroad system in the world . The Canadian Grand Trunk Railway ( GTR ) had , by 1867 , already accumulated more than 2,055 km ( 1,277 mi ) of track by connecting Ontario with the Canadian Atlantic provinces west as far as Port Huron , Michigan , through Sarnia , Ontario .
North America
♠ 6 5000000000000000000 ♠ 0 0.0 -- Costa Rica 7004511000000000000 ♠ 51,100 4,857,274 89.6 San José Cuba 7005109886000000000 ♠ 109,886 11,475,982 102.0 Havana Curaçao ( NLD ) 7002444000000000000 ♠ 444 159,371 317.1 Willemstad Dominica 7002751000000000000 ♠ 751 73,543 89.2 Roseau Dominican Republic 7004486710000000000 ♠ 48,671 10,648,791 207.3 Santo Domingo El Salvador 7004210410000000000 ♠ 21,041 6,344,722 293.0 San Salvador Greenland ( Denmark ) 7006216608600000000 ♠ 2,166,086 56,412 0.026 Nuuk Grenada 7002344000000000000 ♠ 344 107,317 302.3 St. George 's Guadeloupe ( FRA ) 7003162800000000000 ♠ 1,628 449,975 246.7 Basse - Terre Guatemala 7005108889000000000 ♠ 108,889 16,582,469 128.8 Guatemala City Haiti 7004277500000000000 ♠ 27,750 10,847,334 361.5 Port - au - Prince Honduras 7005112492000000000 ♠ 112,492 9,112,867 66.4 Tegucigalpa Jamaica 7004109910000000000 ♠ 10,991 2,881,355 247.4
Maya civilization
The Maya had no pack animals , so all trade goods were carried on the backs of porters when going overland ; if the trade route followed a river or the coast , then goods were transported in canoes . A substantial Maya trading canoe was encountered off Honduras on Christopher Columbus 's fourth voyage . It was made from a large hollowed - out tree trunk and had a palm - covered canopy . The canoe was 2.5 metres ( 8.2 ft ) broad and was powered by 25 rowers . Trade goods carried included cacao , obsidian , ceramics , textiles , food and drink for the crew , and copper bells and axes . Cacao was used as currency ( although not exclusively ) , and its value was such that counterfeiting occurred by removing the flesh from the pod , and stuffing it with dirt or avocado rind .
North America
Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty and so a derivation from `` Amerigo Vespucci '' could be problematic . Ricardo Palma ( 1949 ) proposed a derivation from the `` Amerrique '' mountains of Central America -- Vespucci was the first to discover South America and the Amerrique mountains of Central America , which connected his discoveries to those of Christopher Columbus .
Hurricane Irma
Upon reaching peak intensity , Irma also became the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean outside the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico , as well as the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Wilma in terms of maximum sustained winds , and the most intense in terms of pressure since Dean in 2007 . In addition , Irma achieved one of the longest durations of Category 5 strength winds , and the third - highest accumulated cyclone energy ( ACE ) index for a tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin , with a value of 64.9 units . Only the 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane and Hurricane Ivan in 2004 achieved higher values .
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( Spanish : Golfo de México ) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean , largely surrounded by the North American continent . It is bounded on the northeast , north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States , on the southwest and south by Mexico , and on the southeast by Cuba . The U.S. states of Texas , Louisiana , Mississippi , Alabama and Florida border the Gulf on the north , which are often referred to as the `` Third Coast '' in comparison with the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coasts , or sometimes the `` south coast '' , in juxtaposition to the Great Lakes region being the `` north coast . '' One of the gulf 's seven main areas is the Gulf of Mexico basin .
North America
Geographically the North American continent has many regions and subregions . These include cultural , economic , and geographic regions . Economic regions included those formed by trade blocs , such as the North American Trade Agreement bloc and Central American Trade Agreement . Linguistically and culturally , the continent could be divided into Anglo - America and Latin America . Anglo - America includes most of Northern America , Belize , and Caribbean islands with English - speaking populations ( though sub-national entities , such as Louisiana and Quebec , are Francophone in composition ) .
Olmec
What is today called Olmec first appeared fully within the city of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán , where distinctive Olmec features occurred around 1400 BCE . The rise of civilization was assisted by the local ecology of well - watered alluvial soil , as well as by the transportation network provided by the Coatzacoalcos River basin . This environment may be compared to that of other ancient centers of civilization : the Nile , Indus , and Yellow River valleys , and Mesopotamia . This highly productive environment encouraged a densely concentrated population , which in turn triggered the rise of an elite class . The elite class created the demand for the production of the symbolic and sophisticated luxury artifacts that define Olmec culture . Many of these luxury artifacts were made from materials such as jade , obsidian , and magnetite , which came from distant locations and suggest that early Olmec elites had access to an extensive trading network in Mesoamerica . The source of the most valued jade Motagua River valley in eastern Guatemala , and Olmec obsidian has been traced to sources in the Guatemala highlands , such as El Chayal and San Martín Jilotepeque , or in Puebla , distances ranging from 200 to 400 km ( 120 -- 250 miles ) away , respectively .
Caribbean Sea
In connection with the foregoing , the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico , conducted a regional study , funded by the Department of Technical Cooperation of the International Atomic Energy Agency , in which specialists from 11 Latin American countries ( Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Guatemala , Haiti , Honduras , Mexico , Nicaragua , Panama , Dominican Republic , Venezuela plus Jamaica ) participated . The findings indicate that heavy metals such as mercury , arsenic , and lead , have been identified in the coastal zone of the Caribbean Sea . Analysis of toxic metals and hydrocarbons is based on the investigation of coastal sediments that have accumulated less than 50 meters deep during the last hundred and fifty years . The project results were presented in Vienna in the forum `` Water Matters '' , and the 2011 General Conference of said multilateral organization .
First Transcontinental Railroad
The Central Pacific broke ground on January 8 , 1863 . Due to the lack of transportation alternatives from the manufacturing centers on the east coast , virtually all of their tools and machinery including rails , railroad switches , railroad turntables , freight and passenger cars , and steam locomotives were transported first by train to east coast ports . They were then loaded on ships which either sailed around South America 's Cape Horn , or offloaded the cargo at the Isthmus of Panama , where it was sent across via paddle steamer and the Panama Railroad . The Panama Railroad gauge was 5 ft ( 1524 mm ) , which was incompatible with the 4 ft 8 1 ⁄ 2 inch ( 1435mm ) gauge used by the CPRR equipment . The latter route was about twice as expensive per pound . Once the machinery and tools reached the San Francisco Bay area , they were put aboard river paddle steamers which transported them up the final 130 miles ( 210 km ) of the Sacramento River to the new state capital in Sacramento . Many of these steam engines , railroad cars , and other machinery were shipped dismantled and had to be reassembled . Wooden timbers for railroad ties , trestles , bridges , firewood , and telegraph poles were harvested in California and transported to the project site .
Amazon River
Amazon River ( Amazonia ) Apurímac , Ene , Tambo , Ucayali , Amazonas , Solimões River Sunset over the Amazon near Leticia , Colombia Countries Brazil , Colombia , Peru Tributaries - left Marañón , Japurá / Caquetá , Rio Negro / Guainía , Putumayo - right Ucayali , Purús , Madeira , Tapajós , Xingu City Iquitos ( Peru ) ; Leticia ( Colombia ) ; Tabatinga ( Brazil ) ; Tefé ( Brazil ) ; Itacoatiara ( Brazil ) Parintins ( Brazil ) ; Óbidos ( Brazil ) ; Santarém ( Brazil ) ; Almeirim ( Brazil ) ; Macapá ( Brazil ) ; Manaus ( Brazil ) Source Rio Mantaro - location Huancayo , Huancayo Province , Peru - elevation 5,220 m ( 17,126 ft ) - coordinates 10 ° 43 ′ 55 '' S 76 ° 38 ′ 52 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 10.73194 ° S 76.64778 ° W ﻿ / - 10.73194 ; - 76.64778 Mouth Atlantic Ocean - elevation 0 m ( 0 ft ) - coordinates 0 ° 42 ′ 28 '' N 50 ° 5 ′ 22 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 0.70778 ° N 50.08944 ° W ﻿ / 0.70778 ; - 50.08944 Coordinates : 0 ° 42 ′ 28 '' N 50 ° 5 ′ 22 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 0.70778 ° N 50.08944 ° W ﻿ / 0.70778 ; - 50.08944 Length 6,400 km ( 3,977 mi ) Basin 7,050,000 km ( 2,722,000 sq mi ) Discharge - average 209,000 m / s ( 7,381,000 cu ft / s ) - max 340,000 m / s ( 12,007,000 cu ft / s ) - min 180,000 m / s ( 6,357,000 cu ft / s ) Amazon River and drainage basin Topography