ErebusFact library / Countries
4 countries in North America, each with a picture to fix its place, shape or name in your memory.
Mexico's capital, Mexico City, was built on the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.
Picture it
A giant horn of land curves down from the United States. In the middle, a modern city sits on a drained lake, where Aztecs once rowed between temples to their island capital: TENOCHTITLAN ("ten-och-TEET-lan").
Memory hooks
Say it: Tenochtitlan (ten·och·TEET·lan)
The United States is a federal republic of 50 states between Canada and Mexico, and its capital is Washington, D.C.
Picture it
Between Canada and Mexico, 50 stars are pegged on a washing line that runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific. George WASHING-ton hangs them out to dry on the east coast, in a district all of its own: Washington, D.C.
Memory hooks
Canada is the world's second-largest country and has the longest coastline of any country; its capital is Ottawa.
Picture it
Across the top of North America, the world's longest coastline wiggles around thousands of Arctic islands. Down in the south, an OTTER wearing a Mountie hat waves from the capital: Ottawa.
Memory hooks
Greenland is the world's largest island, an autonomous territory of Denmark, with its capital at Nuuk.
Picture it
In the far North Atlantic, a Viking called Erik the Red names an icy island "Greenland" to trick settlers into coming. It's the biggest island on Earth, and it's still Danish. A new arrival shivers and asks "NOOK?" for somewhere warm: Nuuk.
Memory hooks