VALUE of trade between the U.S. and Mexico in 2019, the year Mexico became America’s top trading partner, surpassing China.
Source: Forbes
In the News, 2021: NORTH AMERICA
TOTAL COUNTRIES: 23
TOTAL POPULATION: 581 million
Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A car factory in Toluca, Mexico
$614.5 BILLION
VALUE of trade between the U.S. and Mexico in 2019, the year Mexico became America’s top trading partner, surpassing China.
Source: Forbes
M. Timothy O’Keefe/Alamy Stock Photo
A KEY WATERWAY
Panama Canal
Construction of the Panama Canal (above), which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the narrow land in Panama, took 32 years. France began the project in 1882 and later abandoned it because tropical diseases were killing so many workers, most of whom came from the Caribbean. The U.S. took control of the project in 1904 and finished the canal in 1914.
OLD HILLS
The Appalachian Mountains are some of the oldest mountains on the planet, older even than the North American continent.
Source: New World Encyclopedia
STARS & STRIPES
The current 50-star version of the U.S. flag was designed in 1958 by a high school student, a 17-year-old sophomore from Ohio.
Source: Ohio History Central