What is a mainland. How is a mainland different from a continent? Continental models

Our home planet Earth consists of continents that are washed by oceans. Scientists believe that our planet was formed 4.5 billion years ago, and life, 600 million years after the formation of the planet. Since then, it has been constantly changing.

The entire surface of our planet is made up of water and land. Water takes up more 2/3 surface of the Earth, and the solid part accounts for only 29% . The landmass consists of continents and islands. The water part of the surface is divided into oceans, seas, lakes and rivers.

How many continents are on Earth and what are they called?

The mainland is part of the solid surface of our planet, which is washed by water from all sides. Sometimes these parts of the Earth are called continents. The continents are distributed fairly evenly. There are six in total. They are called Eurasia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Antarctica.

IMPORTANT: Not so long ago, scientists doubted that there were only six continents. Recent studies show that their number today can be replenished with another continent.

EURASIA. The largest continent on Earth is Eurasia. Its area occupies 36% the entire solid surface and is about 55 million square kilometers. Ural mountains divide the continent into two parts of the world: Europe and Asia. The largest part of Eurasia is occupied by Russia.

The mainland was originally called Asia. This term was coined by the German encyclopedist Alexander Humboldt at the end of the 18th century. The term appeared in the scientific literature in the 1880s at the suggestion of an Austrian geologist Edward Suess.

The mainland was formed after the split of the protocontinent Laurasia into two parts: North America and Eurasia.

Eurasia a few facts:

Tibet is the highest point in the world
The Dead Sea Depression is the lowest point in the world
Oymyakon is the coldest point in the world
Bosphorus is the narrowest strait in the world
Eurasia is the birthplace of large civilizations
All climatic zones are located in Eurasia
The population of Eurasia 4.5 billion Human ( 75% population of our planet)

AFRICA. Africa is the second largest continent on Earth. The area of this continent is 30 million square kilometers ( 6% sushi). Most scientists agree that Africa is the cradle of our civilization.

Term "afri" introduced by the inhabitants of ancient Carthage. They called them people who lived near their city. Most likely the term comes from the Phoenician word afar — dust. The Romans, who defeated Carthage, named their new province Africa. After that, Africa began to be called the nearby lands, and later the entire continent.

INTERESTING: Some scientists believe that the name Africa could come from the Latin word aprica (solar). Historian Lion African believed that the term could be formed from the Greek word «φρίκη» (cold). Letter «α-» added at the beginning of this term translates as "without" — « without cold". Russian science fiction writer and paleontologist Ivan Efremov believed that the word came from an ancient language Ta-Kem(other Egyptian. "Afros" - foam country).

The future mainland Africa occupied a supercontinent gondwana central location. When the plates of this continent parted, Africa took on its modern shape.

The most unique place in Africa is undoubtedly the desert. Sahara. In terms of area, it occupies 9 million square kilometers (larger than the US) and covers ten countries. At the same time, every year the territory of the desert grows. Most of the desert is not occupied by sand, but by stones and pebbles.

The Sahara is the hottest desert in the world (its surface can warm up to 80 degrees), but underneath there is a huge underground lake ( 375 square kilometers). Thanks to which you can find oases in the Sahara.

Africa a few facts:

There are places in Africa where no man has set foot before.
On this continent there are tribes with the highest and lowest inhabitants of the Earth
Health care in African countries is at the lowest level. Because of this, the average life expectancy on this continent 48-50 years
In Africa they speak 2000 languages. The most popular of them is Arabic
This continent has large reserves of gold and diamonds. Half of all gold is mined in Africa
Before 80% Africa's GDP comes from agriculture. The most popular crops grown are cocoa, coffee, dates, peanuts and rubber trees.

NORTH AMERICA . North America is located in the northern part of the Western Hemisphere. The area of this continent is 20 million kilometers2. Moreover, almost the entire territory of the mainland is divided between Canada and the United States. Although the mainland consists of territories 24 countries. The continent was discovered in 1502 year.

America is believed to have been discovered by an Italian traveler. Amerigo Vespucci. The mainland was named after him. This was proposed by German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringman. The first map of the world, in which this continent was designated as America, appeared in 1507 year.

North America

INTERESTING: There is evidence that Vespucci was not the discoverer of this continent. Long before him, the Scandinavian Vikings, led by their legendary leader, did it. Eric the Red. AT 986 year they reached the shores of America. But it is believed that the Vikings knew in advance where to sail. So, they learned about the new lands from someone else.

Like all other continents, North America was formed after the breakup of supercontinent plates. Initially, parts of the plates that form modern North America were part of a supercontinent. Pengea. Then she broke away from him Laurasia and from this proto-continent North America and Eurasia were formed.

North America a few facts:

This continent includes the largest island on our planet - Greenland
Hawaiian mountain Mauna Ke and is considered the highest in the world. Its height is 2000 meters higher than Chomolungma
The largest administrative building in the world is considered Pentagon
The largest popcorn plant in the world is located in the US state of Iowa.
The average inhabitant of the continent spends 90% your free time indoors

SOUTH AMERICA . A continent that is predominantly located in the Western and Southern hemispheres of our planet. The mainland takes about 18 million square kilometers. Above lives on it 400 million Human.

During the Cretaceous period, the supercontinent split Pangea. broke away from him gondwana. This proto-continent then broke up into Africa, Australia, Antarctica and South America.

Part of South America discovered Columbus. It was he who was the first European to suggest the presence of a large mainland.

South America

South America a few facts:

The largest country in South America is Brazil
The largest river in the world flows through this continent - Amazon
The largest waterfall in the world is located in South America Angel
Bolivian capital city La Paz considered the highest mountain capital in the world
AT Chile the Atacama desert is located, in which there is never rainfall
AT Paraguay duels are still allowed
South America is home to the largest beetles in the world - lumberjack beetles, the largest butterflies - agrippins, the smallest monkeys - marmosets and the most poisonous frogs - the red-backed poison frog.

AUSTRALIA. A continent located in the Eastern and Southern hemispheres of our planet. Its entire territory is occupied by one country. Which has the same name - Australia.

The mainland was discovered by Dutch navigators in the 17th century. V. Janszon in 1606 discovered the presence of new land in coral sea. It was a peninsula, which was later named Cape York. The sailors determined that this piece of land is only a small part of it. And they named her Unknown South Land (Terra Australis Incognita). When legendary James Cook fully explored these lands, their name was reduced to "Australia".

The area of this continent is 8 million kilometers. Or 5% of the total land area. A third of the territory of the mainland is desert.

Australia some facts:

The continent has a very low population density. Because of this, it is indicated not by the number of people per square kilometer, as in other continents, but by the number of square kilometers per person.
Australia has the longest road in the world. It is 145 km long and runs through the Nullarbor Desert.
The Dingo Fence is the longest fence in the world. Its length (5400 km) is twice as long as the Great Wall of China

ANTARCTICA. Name "Antarctica" derived from the word «ἀνταρκτική» (gr. opposite the arctic). The term first appeared in a book Aristotle "Meteorology". The mainland was discovered by Russian sailors F. F. Bellingshausen and M. P. Lazarev in 1820 year. In 1890, the continent was given the official name "Antarctica". It was made by a Scottish cartographer John Bartholomew.

Antarctica a few facts:

The mainland, according to the 1959 Antarctic Convention, does not belong to any of the countries. Only scientific activities are allowed here.
Scientists have found traces of tropical life in the glaciers of the continent. Remains of palm trees, araucaria, macadamia, baobab and other heat-loving plants
More than 35,000 tourists visit Antarctica every year. They observe seal, whale and penguin colonies, go snorkeling and visit science centers
Two major marathons are held on this continent: the Antarctic Ice and McMurdo

SEVENTH CONTAINER . Periodically, the media inform that scientists have "discovered" a new, seventh continent. Most often, this education includes New Zealand, Caledonia and nearby islands. They are located on the same plate, which was once part of the supercontinent. gondwana. The plate area is 4.9 million square kilometers, and it fully meets the requirements of the continent.

How many parts of the world are on Earth and what are they called?

Parts of the world are established historical and cultural formations, which, along with continents, include islands and other parts of the land. At the same time, two continents - America - can enter one part of the world. But, also, one continent can enter two parts of the world. On the continent of Eurasia are such parts of the world as Europe and Asia.

Today it is customary to distinguish six parts of the world:

Europe
America
Antarctica
Australia and Oceania

But, in addition to such a conditional division, our planet is divided into "New World" and "Old light". The "Old World" includes Europe, Asia and Africa. That is, those parts of the world that were known to the ancient Greeks. During the period of great geographical discoveries, America, Australia and other parts of the land appeared on the world map. Which were opened after 1500. They are referred to as the "New World".

How many continents are there on Earth and what are they called?

Very often, people get confused at the mention of the word mainland and continent. Is there a difference between these concepts? Today, these terms are considered synonymous. And the continents and continents are huge land masses that are washed by water from all sides. Therefore, it is customary to distinguish six continents. The ones we talked about in the first section of this article. Namely:

North America
South America
Antarctica

INTERESTING: The above model is used by Russian geographers. In India, China, Western Europe and some English-speaking countries, seven continents. They refer Europe and Asia to different continents. In Spanish-speaking countries, Greece and Eastern European countries, North and South America are combined into a single continent. In addition, some scientists use a model of the earth consisting of four continents: Afro-Eurasia, America, Antarctica and Australia.

How many oceans are on planet Earth and what are they called?

Oceans are the largest bodies of water on our planet. They wash the continents and make up about 2/3 the surface of the planet ( 360 million square kilometers). As in the case of continents, there are several options for dividing the oceans.

The ancient Romans called the word "oceanus" all the "big" waters that washed the territory known to them. In doing so, they highlighted:
oceanus germanicus or Oceanus Septentrionalis- North Sea
oceanus britannicus- strait of the English Channel

Today, scientists divide the oceans into four parts:

QUIET. The largest and deepest ocean. Occupy about 50% the entire surface of our planet. Name "Quiet" gave the ocean Ferdinand Magellan. He crossed it in four months and did not encounter any obstacles.

Pacific Ocean a few facts:

The deepest point on the earth's surface Challenger Abyss
The Pacific Ocean is home to the world's largest landform. Great Barrier Reef
Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific Ocean on a primitive raft, proving that ancient people could travel long distances
More than half of all aquatic biomass is located in the Pacific Ocean
In the northern part of the ocean there is a "big garbage patch". This accumulation of human waste products ranges from 700 thousand to 115 million km²

ATLANTIC . The second largest is the Atlantic Ocean. From 92 million square kilometers of its surface 16% found in seas, bays and straits. For the first time this ocean was called the Atlantic Herodotus. The Greeks believed that mediterranean sea, which belongs to this ocean, stood Atlas and held the sky on his shoulders.

Atlantic Ocean a few facts:

In the center Belize Atoll there is a huge underwater hole. This picturesque place seems bottomless. But, in fact, its depth 120 meters
The ocean passes through all the climatic zones of our planet
The Atlantic Ocean is the area with the most difficult navigation. They call her "Bermuda Triangle". Thanks to adventure literature and cinema, she was endowed with mythical power.
Through this ocean Gulfstream- a warm current that warms European countries

INDIAN. It occupies one fifth of the oceans. The western part of the Indian Ocean was called by the ancient Greeks by the Eritrean Sea. But, later this part of the World Ocean was called the Indian Sea. Final name for the Indian Ocean "Oceanus Indicus" gave Pliny the Elder in the 1st century AD.

Indian Ocean interesting facts:

This ocean is considered the first of the officially discovered
It is believed that this ocean has the lowest fish catch
Washed by the waters of this ocean, the island states of the Maldives, Seychelles and Sri Lanka are called by many an ideal place to relax.
Considered the warmest ocean on our planet

ARCTIC . The smallest and less deep ocean on Earth. Its area does not reach 14 million square kilometers. Was separated into a separate ocean in 1650 geographer Varenius and named Hyperborean(other Greek. Βορέας - the mythical god of the north wind). In most countries it is called Arctic.

Arctic Ocean interesting facts:

All ocean resources are divided between Russia, USA, Canada, Denmark and Norway
More than 25% of oil reserves are in the waters of this ocean
Icebergs are the main hallmark of this ocean.

INTERESTING: In some literature, you can find the name of another one - the fifth ocean. He's called Southern and placed around Antarctica. But, neither experts nor navigators consider part of the waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans to be a real ocean. The last attempt to introduce the Southern Ocean on the geographical maps of the world failed in 20 00 year. The International Hydrographic Organization has not ratified the resolution on the allocation of this part of the World Ocean to an independent entity.

Map of continents and oceans on planet Earth

Video. Travel around the planet, continents and oceans

The entire surface of the Earth is made up of water and land. Moreover, the solid part accounts for only 29% of the total area of the planet. Yes, and that is indented by rivers, streams, streams, canals. And how many swamps, ponds and lakes there are on land - one cannot count, since some of them periodically disappear, then reappear. Probably, it would be more correct to call our planet Water.

All land is divided into separate continents. They are also called what is the history of its origin and development - for a long time remained a mystery. Today, geological science can explain a lot, in particular,

What are they made of

A huge granite-sedimentary block lying on a basalt layer, about 40 kilometers thick - that's what a mainland is. Today there are six continents, and they are located on the earth's surface very unevenly, grouped in the opposite part of the planet. Continents are heterogeneous in their structure. They consist of:

geosynclines (areas of folding);
platforms (stable areas).

Answering the question of what a continent is, we can say that it is a large landmass washed by the ocean and consisting of mobile and stable sections.

The moving parts of the continents are folded zones, stretched in length for thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers. An example of such a geosynclinal region is the Alpine-Himalayan belt, which stretches in a latitudinal direction across the whole of Eurasia. In the relief, folding is expressed by mountains and depressions.

Platforms are sedentary areas. These are stable, long-formed parts of the earth's crust. They are covered from above with a cover of sedimentary rocks, which hide all the irregularities of the foundation. Large plains are located on such areas of the earth's crust. An example is the East European Plain, which is located on the Russian platform.

Nowadays there are 6 continents. The largest of them is Eurasia, and then they are located in this order: Africa, North Antarctica and the smallest - Australia.

But there was a period in the history of the Earth when there was only one supercontinent, Pangea, and it was washed by the waters of one ocean, Panthalassa. What is a Mesozoic continent? This is a huge landmass, equal in size to all of today's continents combined. Pangea was covered with lush vegetation, among which dinosaurs roamed freely. This was their kingdom and their heyday.

About 200 million years ago, the ancient continent split into Laurasia and Gondwana. The Tethys Ocean formed between them. Laurasia went to and Gondwana remained in the south.

In turn, these two, under the influence of the movement of the substance of the mantle, also split into separate parts, which began to drift in different directions, gradually moving away from each other. This is how modern continents were formed, the outlines of which we know from the school bench.

Thus, any modern continent is just a fragment of ancient Pangea that existed in the distant past.

When asked how many continents there are on Earth, some modern researchers will answer “seven” and even indicate where the mainland is located, which so far only a few know about. This hypothesis is very interesting, and yet, it is better to start talking about the continents with well-established and generally accepted concepts about our planet.

All the most about the continents ...

So, what are the continents of the Earth, how many are there and what are they called? From a geological point of view, continents are colossal parts of the solid surface of the globe, surrounded on all sides by seas and oceans (in Russian, the word “continent” has a similar meaning with this term). The continents are called Eurasia, North America, South America, Africa, Australia and Antarctica - thus, there are six of them.

There is another system for dividing the world's land: by parts of the world. This concept implies the continents (or parts of them) together with the islands close to them. The parts of the world include Europe, Asia, America (North and South), Africa, Australia with Oceania, Antarctica - that is, there are also six of them. This approach is based on physical-geographical and historical-cultural principles.
All the continents of our planet have unique characteristics and natural objects, which will be discussed in more detail below.

The first largest continent is Eurasia. It covers an area of over 54 million square meters. km, which is 36% of the earth's land, contains two parts of the world and more than 70% of the world's population - 5.133 billion people. At the same time, the vast majority of them live in large cities. Based on how many continents and oceans there are on earth, it is interesting that only Eurasia, the geologically youngest continent, as a result of global movements of the earth's crust, was surrounded by all four oceans - the Atlantic, the Arctic, the Pacific and the Indian.

No matter how amazing the continents of the Earth are with their diversity, Eurasia takes the first place among them, because here:

The most ancient and almost all ancient civilizations of the planet were born.
Formed the most common world religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Islam.
The main races of humanity are represented - Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid.
There are 99 states - almost half of their total number in the world.
There are all climatic zones, all climatic and natural zones are pronounced.
Mountain systems (Himalayas, Pamir, Tibet, Tien Shan, etc.) form the largest mountainous region on the planet.
There are: the highest point above sea level (Everest, 8848 m), the deepest lake (Baikal, 1642 m) and the north pole of cold (Oymyakon, -67.7 ° C).
Large rivers of the continent carry their waters to all oceans, and the average height of the territory (about 830 m) allows us to consider it the highest on Earth.

All other continents of the Earth, no matter how you look at the map of the world, do not have such an extended coastline as North America (60 thousand km) and so many bays, straits, bays, large and small islands. In addition, it comes closest to the Earth's pole. The continent owes its name to the Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci, who, during his expeditions at the beginning of the 16th century, was the first to suggest that the islands discovered by Christopher Columbus do not belong to Asia, but to a continent unknown to Europeans. Now here, on the territory of 20.36 million square meters. km, there are 23 states (10 on the mainland, 13 on the islands) with a population of more than 565 million people, which is 7% of the world's population.

How many continents there are on planet Earth, there are so many stunning options for the uniqueness of gigantic landmasses. Thus, North America is characterized by the following:

All countries of the continent have access to the sea.
From north to south, its territory stretches for more than 7 thousand km.
Most of the land belongs to only two states.
The longest river system (the Mississippi River and its tributary, the Missouri River) is located here.
The island of Greenland belonging to this mainland is the largest on the planet.
On one of the islands is the highest mountain in the world - Mauna Kea. Its main part is hidden in the Pacific depths, the height from the foot is more than 14 thousand meters.
All climatic zones of the Earth are represented on the continent, except for the equatorial one. This led to the presence here of almost all natural zones and a great variety of flora and fauna.
The largest country in terms of population on the mainland (USA) holds the world championship in terms of GDP.
In the same country, the largest administrative building on the planet is located - this is the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense (Pentagon).
The average North American uses 90% of his free time without leaving the premises.

In the "America" part of the world, this continent is the second component. Its area is 17.8 million square meters. km, with its northern neighbor, it borders on the Isthmus of Panama and the Caribbean Sea. There are 12 states with a population of more than 387 million people (4.8% of the world's population). In terms of territory and population, South America is in 4th place among other continents; the diversity of its flora and fauna is due to the presence of six climatic zones.

Among the many factors that attract attention to this continent, the following can be distinguished:

Along the entire western edge of South America stretches one of the highest mountain systems of the planet (Andes).
In these mountains is the highest navigable lake in the world - Titicaca.
The largest lake on the continent (Maracaibo) is one of the oldest lakes on Earth.
The South American Angel Falls has a height of 979 m, which brings it to the 1st place in the world. Water continuously falls from a height of more than 800 m, which is why the droplets are sprayed into fog, which envelops the approaches to the waterfall for several kilometers.
Iguazu Falls, according to the results of the world competition, were among the seven natural wonders of the planet.
In terms of climate, this continent is the wettest among others, at the same time, on its territory there is the Atamaca Desert, where precipitation never falls.
South America is famous for the largest river in terms of volume of water - the Amazon, here is also the highest mountain capital in the world (La Paz, Bolivia).
The curiosities of the animal world of the planet here are the largest beetles (woodcutter beetle) and butterflies (agrippins), as well as the smallest monkeys (marmosets).

As noted above, there are as many parts of the world as there are continents on Earth, and their names coincide only in two cases. Africa is one of those continents. Stretching from north to south for more than 8 thousand km, it is crossed by the equator and, the only one in the world, is entirely located in hot climatic zones - from northern to southern subtropical. Together with the islands, the area of Africa exceeds 30 million km, which is 20.4% of all land on the planet. There are 60 states in which more than 1.2 billion people live. In terms of size and population, the continent ranks second after Eurasia.

Like other continents, Africa attracts the attention of researchers and travelers only by its inherent qualities:

The oldest remains of great apes (hominids) found by scientists give reason to call Africa the cradle of mankind.
Only the African savannah is home to such a large number of large animals, and some of them live only in the territories of reserves.
The African continent is the hottest on our planet. The largest and hottest desert (Sahara) is also located here - its area is comparable to the territory of the United States and it increases from year to year; surface temperature can reach 80°C.
Most of the countries have been under the colonial yoke of European states for centuries, gaining independence began only in the 2nd half of the 20th century.
Africans communicate in two thousand languages and dialects, but most often they use Arabic.
In some tribes, there are the shortest and tallest people on Earth.
There are areas where even today it is impossible to reach - a human foot has not set foot there yet.
The average life expectancy is 54 years, but the birth rate on this continent is the highest in the world - by the middle of the 21st century, the population is predicted to increase to two billion or more.
Half of the world's gold is mined in Africa. It is rich in diamonds, mineral and fuel raw materials. Nevertheless, the lion's share of GDP comes from agriculture - from growing coffee, cocoa, dates to rubber trees.

A distant continent where winter begins in June and summer in December. On local globes and maps, it is depicted in the upper part of the hemisphere, like Antarctica, which is strange to see at the site of the North Pole. Here, on the territory of 7.7 million square meters. km (together with the islands) there is one state with a population of 24.9 ml. Human. Discovered in 1606 and mapped by Dutch navigators, this mainland became dependent on Great Britain, and most of the local inhabitants are descendants of English and Irish settlers. The current high standard of living attracts new immigrants to Australia.

The largest cities on the mainland - Sydney and Melbourne - claimed the role of the capital, as a result, the city of Canberra was specially built for this purpose. Other interesting facts include the following:

The landmark of the northeast coast of Australia is the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral massif on the planet.
Surfers can ride the waves of two oceans - Indian and Pacific.
Almost 75% of the mainland is covered with deserts and semi-deserts, often artificial irrigation is required for agriculture. At the same time, wheat is successfully grown here, sheep are bred to obtain high-quality wool.
Many lakes are located in hollows, where water comes only during rain. The rest of the time, they can be observed saline-clay crust.
Due to the peculiarities of the landscape and climatic conditions, most of the population is urban and concentrated on the eastern coast of the country, and the average density in the country is 3 people/sq.km.
The mainland is covered with a network of roads with a total length of over 900 thousand km. The longest road in the world (145 km) is laid through the Nullarbor desert. When traveling, you need to be careful - there may be kangaroos in front of the car.
Of the wide variety of Australian flora and fauna (12 thousand species), most are pandemics, that is, they are found only here (9 thousand species). This category includes kangaroos, platypuses, koalas, emus, etc. Instead of pigeons and sparrows, parrots fly over city streets.
For the sake of environmental safety, many things cannot be imported into Australia - from food and plants to leather, fur, wood products and even lumps of soil on the soles of shoes.

Antarctica was discovered in 1820 by Russian navigators M. Lazarev and F. Bellingshausen. The area of this ice-covered mainland is 14.1 million square meters. km; in terms of coordinates, its center is quite close to the geographic south pole. No country in the world has exclusive rights to Antarctica.

It is impossible to live permanently in this realm of ice because of the most severe climate on Earth, but for scientific purposes there are 50 stations belonging to different countries. What is interesting about Antarctica:

Up to 85% of the world's glaciers are concentrated here, their melting threatens with a catastrophic rise in the level of the world ocean (by 60 m).
With an average height of the mainland of 2040 m, in its eastern part the thickness of the ice shell can reach 2500-4800 m, and in the western part only 1100 m.
Scientists found 140 lakes under the ice, and fragments of tropical vegetation in the ice massifs.
At the Vostok station, the world's lowest air temperature of -89.2 °C was recorded, which gave reason to consider this point as the South Pole of Cold.
Tourists have also reached Antarctica - up to 35 thousand guests come here a year. They are interested in the work of scientific centers, scuba diving, observing the life of the local fauna (penguins, whales, seals).

It's amazing how many interesting things you can learn by wondering how many continents there are on Earth!

New about the continents

New Zealand scientists, studying these islands and New Caledonia, came to the conclusion that they are nothing more than the tops of the mainland, 94% hidden in the abyss of the Pacific Ocean. They put forward serious justifications for considering it as such and calling it Zeeland. Well, to decide how many continents on Earth are 6 or 7, the world scientific community should now. Perhaps the development of this hypothesis will open new pages in the geological history of our planet.

Consists of body of water and land. The share of the World Ocean accounts for 70.8% of the Earth's surface, which is 361.06 million km 2, and the share of land - 29.2%, or 149.02 million km 2.

It is customary to conditionally divide all the land of the Earth into parts of the world and continents.

Continents of the Earth

continents, or continents are very large areas of land surrounded by water (Table 1). There are six of them on Earth: Eurasia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica and Australia. All continents are quite well isolated from each other.

The total area of all continents is 139 million km2.

A piece of land that extends into an ocean or sea and is surrounded on three sides by water is called peninsula. The largest peninsula on Earth is the Arabian Peninsula (its area is 2732 thousand km 2).

A small piece of land compared to the mainland, surrounded on all sides by water, is Island. There are single islands (the largest is Greenland, its area is 2176 thousand km 2) and clusters of islands - archipelagos(for example, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago). By origin, the islands are divided into:

continental - large islands that have separated from the continents and are located on the underwater margin of the continents (for example, the island of Great Britain);
oceanic, among which there are volcanic and coral.

Perhaps the largest number of volcanic islands can be observed in the Pacific Ocean. Coral (organogenic) islands are characteristic of the hot zone. Coral structures - atolls have the shape of a ring or a horseshoe with a diameter of up to several tens of kilometers. Sometimes atolls form truly gigantic clusters along the coast - barrier reefs(for example, the Great Barrier Reef along the east coast of Australia has a length of 2000 km).

Parts of the world

In addition to the division of land into continents, in the course of cultural and historical development, there was another allocation parts of the world of which there are also six: Europe, Asia, America, Africa, Antarctica and Australia. Part of the world includes not only the mainland, but also the islands adjacent to it. Far from the mainland, the islands of the Pacific Ocean form a special group called Oceania. The largest of them - about. New Guinea (area - 792.5 thousand km 2).

Geography of the continents

The location of the continents, as well as differences in the properties of waters, the system of currents and tides, allows us to divide, called oceans.

Currently, five oceans are distinguished: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and since 1996, by decision of the Commission on Geographical Names, the South. More information about the oceans will be given in the next section.

Table 1. General information about the continents


Characteristics			North America	South America	Australia	Antarctica
Area, mln km2 without islands with islands
Coastline, thousand km
Length, km: from North to South from west to east
extreme points
northern	Cape Chelyuskin 77°43" N	m Ben Secca 37°20" N	Cape Murchison 71°50" N	Cape Gapinas 12°25" N	m York 10°41"S	Sifre 63° S
	m. Piai 1° 16" media.	Cape Igolny 34°52" Yu.Sh.	m. Maryato 7° 12" N	Cape Froward 53°54" Jul.	m. Yugo-Vostochny 39°11" S
western	Cape Roca 9°34"W	Cape Almadi 17°32"W	m Prince of Wales 168°00"W	Cape Parinhas 81°20"W	m. Steep Point 113°05"E
eastern	Dezhnev metro station 169°40"W	Cape Ras Hafun 51°23"E	m. St. Charles 55°40" PLN	Cape Cabo Branco 34°46"W	Cape Byron 153°39"E

Hello geographers! Today I would like to talk about the continents, but in general, to learn more about what the word continent means from a scientific point of view, what continents are on Earth, where the continents get their name from.

About the continents in more detail, there will be separate articles that you can read in the same section, or you can click on their names in this article and go to an article specifically about this continent. (If there is an article about this continent, its name is highlighted with a blue link).

What is a mainland? A mainland or continent is a large part of the land that is completely washed by water.

Mainland (continent)- this is a large array, a significant part of which protrudes above the World level, and below its level is the periphery. Continental type of structure of the earth's crust with a thickness of 35 - 70 km with the presence of a granite-metamorphic ball, characteristic of the mainland.

There are 6 continents: North and South America, and Australia, and 7 parts of the world are distinguished: and South America, Antarctica, Africa, Australia, and.

There are several islands of large size (close to the mainland), which are sometimes called "mainland islands". The most famous among them are Madagascar, Greenland, Kalimantan and New Guinea. The continents are surrounded by shallow zones of the oceans - shelves, with depths usually not exceeding 150 m.

The names of the continents and parts of the world are fraught with different origins.

So, for example, the ancient Greeks called all the lands to the east of the Bosphorus - Asia, and to the west of it - Europe. The Romans divided their Asian (eastern) provinces into Asia Minor and Asia. The name "Africa" also has an ancient origin; it applied only to the northwestern part of the mainland, and did not include Libya, Ethiopia and Egypt.

Ancient geographers foresaw that there should be another large continent in the south, which would balance the large land masses in the north, but only in the 17th century. it was open.

Its first name was "New Holland", and then it was changed to "Australia" (in the 19th century). The first guesses about the existence of Antarctica date back to the 18th century, but the discovery and study of this continent refers only to the 19th-20th centuries.

No one even imagined the existence of America, and when it was discovered, they took it for part of China or India. On the map of M. Waldseemuller (1507), the term "America" first appeared, he named the New World in honor of the explorer and geographer. Most likely, it was A. Vespucci who first realized that Columbus had discovered a new continent.

The very term "mainland", in the modern sense, appeared in England in the 17th century.

94% of the land area falls on the continents and 29% of the entire surface area of the Earth. But not all of the continents are dry land, as there are large ice-covered areas, lakes and inland seas. Not infrequently, the boundaries of the continents were the subject of disagreement.

Asia and Europe are usually divided by the watershed of the Ural Mountains, but further south the border becomes less expressive and is again defined only in the Greater Caucasus. Further, the border runs to the Bosphorus, dividing Turkey into Asian and European parts. In Egypt, a similar problem arises: the Sinai Peninsula is often referred to as Asia.

From a geographical point of view, all of Central America, including Panama, is attached to North America, but politically, the relation of all territories located south of the United States to Latin America is often practiced.

Now you can dot all the "i", as for the continents, as well as add useful information to your processor called the brain😉 Read new articles on the site about the planet, thank you for your attention.

Continents and their sizes

Mainland	Land area, million km 2	Shelf area, thousand km 2	Length of the coastline (without islands) thousand km
Eurasia	53,4