one of the four parts of the world, and by much the largest, extending near 9000 miles in length, and about 3000 in breadth. It is situated between 35° and 145° of W. long. and between 58° S. and 80° N. lat.; bounded by the lands and seas about the arctic pole on the north; by the Atlantic Ocean, which divides it from Europe and Africa on the west; by the vast Southern Ocean on the south; and by the vast Pacific Ocean, which divides it from Asia on the east. Although it is said to have taken its name from Americus Vespuccius, a Florentine, it seems indisputable that it was first discovered by Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, anno 1491; unless some conjectures, much more ancient, be admitted, that it was first visited by a Carthaginian fleet, who afterwards settled in Mexico. It is certain, that its productions, whether animal or vegetable, differ greatly from those of any other country; and its original inhabitants, the Eskimaux only excepted, seem to have all the same original, for they agree in every particular, from Hudson's Bay, to the Straits of Magellan, excepting only where difference difference of circumstances may make some dissimilarity. They have all originally a red copper colour, and every part of their bodies without hair, except the head, where it is black, straight, and coarse. In the Spanish and Portuguese settlements, gold is found in great plenty. Its remarkable rivers are, St Lawrence and the Mississippi, in N. America; and the Amazons and Rio de la Plata in S. America. The Andes, which bound Chili on the east, are the highest mountains in the world.