There are only 6 continents on the blue planet, which are separated by oceans:

• Eurasia is the largest continent on Earth. Its area is 54.8 million square kilometers. It is washed by all oceans at once: in the north - by the Arctic, in the south - by the Indian, Pacific Ocean Eurasia is washed from the east, and from the west the waves of the Atlantic beat against its shores. More than 5 billion people live here!
• Africa is the second largest continent on the planet, with an area of ​​30.2 million km2. It is washed in the west by the Atlantic, and in the east by the Indian Ocean. Almost 1 billion people live here. The black continent is the hottest on Earth.
• North America is on the list in third place in terms of area - 24.3 million sq. km. From the north, the cold waves of the Arctic Ocean roll onto the shores of the continent, from the east - the Atlantic, and from the west - the Pacific. The population of the mainland is 500 million people.
• South America. Its area is 17.8 million square kilometers, washed by the waters of the Pacific (in the west) and Atlantic (in the east) ocean. The population of the mainland is 387.5 million people.
• Antarctica. The area of ​​the continent is 14.1 million square kilometers, washed by the waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, people do not live here. This is an amazing continent! It is located in the very south of the planet, while the average temperature here is all year round keeps at around -50 ... -60 ° С, and in July 1983 the most low temperature on the planet for the entire history - -89.2 ° С! Here it is cool cold!
• Australia is the most small mainland over an area that is "only" 7.7 million sq. km. Her East Coast it is washed by the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and the western, southern and northern - by the Indian. About 21.5 million people live here. This is the only continent on Earth, the entire territory of which is occupied by a single state with the same name - Australia.

General geographical information, climate

The smallest continent on Earth stretches for 3,700 km from north to south, and almost 4,000 km from east to west. Near Australia there are 2 major islands– Tasmania and New Guinea. This continent became the "most-most" in three more nominations:

• he is the lowest in the world average height equal to 330 m above sea level, 95% of the land surface does not exceed 600 meters above sea level. The highest point in Australia (2228 m) is Mount Kosciuszko in the south of the mainland. For comparison, most high peak on the planet is Everest (another name is Chomolungma). The mountain with a height of 8848 m literally props up the sky, in its apical zone the air is rarefied to such an extent that a person cannot breathe. The lowest point in Australia (16 m) is Lake Eyre in the desert in the Central part of the continent;
• it is the driest on the planet. The least precipitation falls here, droughts occur very often;
• it is the poorest rivers. The largest river on the continent and the only one that never dries up is Murray, the length of its channel is 2375 km. Its main tributaries are the Murrumbidgee (1485 km) and the Darling (1470 km). All other rivers in Australia are short, shallow, fed by rain and melting snow, so they often dry up during the hot season.

Australia is divided into 3 natural areas: subequatorial in the north, tropical in the central part of the mainland and subtropical in the south. The temperate zone only slightly affects the island of Tasmania.

Flora and fauna

The smallest continent is isolated from " mainland"thousands of kilometers of water surface. This was the reason that the flora and fauna are completely unique here. Of the 12 thousand plant species that grow in Australia, 9 thousand are endemic, that is, they are not found anywhere else on the planet. These are eucalyptus trees, sometimes reaching gigantic sizes, umbrella acacias, bottle tree, impenetrable thickets of scrub malga, Bidwill's Araucaria tree, the cones of which weigh more than three kg, Nepenthes Tenax predator flower, eating rats, Kennedy's hairy bush, beautiful Vanda Tricolor orchid and others.

And what an amazing animal world Australia! Among the species inhabiting the smallest continent in the world, 95% are endemic! Australian animals are truly unique. After the colonization of Australia began, and many specimens of mammals were brought to Europe, academia At first I thought it was some kind of joke. For example, everyone was perplexed appearance platypus, an animal with a duck's beak and a beaver's tail. Lovely koalas, jumping kangaroos, wombats, marsupial devil, graceful marsupial flying squirrel, birds of paradise, emu and other representatives of the Australian fauna create a unique microcosm that attracts tourists from all over the world.

True, arachnophobes will not like it here: tens of thousands of varieties of spiders are found on the mainland, and the most poisonous spiders in the world live in Australia. These are the Sydney leucoweb, redback, web spider, wandering spider and recluse spider. Interestingly, the most poisonous snakes in the world also come from Australia: the Australian spiketail, tiger snake, taipan, brown king or mulga, cruel snake, sea belchera.

And in the coastal waters of Australia lives the most poisonous jellyfish in the world - the sea wasp. A drop of this creature's venom is enough to kill 60 people at once.

Scientists consider Australia an amazing ecosystem, the second such in the world does not exist.

Population, cities, economy

Australia today is inhabited by approximately 21.5 million people, while its density is only 0.8 people per 1 km2. This figure is the lowest on the planet, not counting Antarctica. Huge territories continents are not inhabited at all.

the smallest continent is characterized by very uneven settlement: large territories vacant land contrasts sharply with densely populated cities. Approximately 60% of the total population lives in the top 5 major cities countries: Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. Interestingly, the city of Canberra, the capital of Australia, is missing from this list.

Such unevenness is associated with natural and climatic conditions and the history of the settlement of the mainland.

The vast majority of the country's population speaks English language. The country's currency is the Australian dollar. Australia is one of the most highly developed, wealthy and prosperous countries in the world.

This is the only place on Earth, where there are no active volcanoes at all.

On the smallest continent, one can observe an interesting phenomenon: streams that constantly change the direction of the channel and their location. The natives call them "screams".

Along the northeastern coast of this continent, the Great Barrier Reef stretches for 2500 km - the largest coral reef in the world. It occupies an area of ​​about 345 thousand square kilometers. and so huge that it can be seen from space! Formed by billions of tiny living organisms - polyps. Recognized as a wonder of the world and in 1981 included in world heritage UNESCO.

On the smallest continent on the planet is the largest farm in the world, its pastures are comparable in area to the size of Belgium.

Kangaroos are held in high esteem by Australians. These animals are national symbol. An image of a kangaroo along with an emu is on state emblem. With all this, kangaroo meat is actively eaten!

There are no subways in Australia.

Most big mainland- Eurasia. Its area is 54,759,000 km² - this is approximately 36% of the land. On it are located as many as 2 parts of the world - Europe and Asia. There are 4 of them, including the largest - Russia, which occupies 30% of the territory of Eurasia. 75% of the world's population lives in Eurasia in 102 states. Here is located - Chomolungma (Everest)

Eurasia is the largest continent on planet Earth

Part of the world - regions of land, including the continents or large parts of them, along with nearby islands.

The second largest continent is Africa. Its area is 30,221,532 km² - this is approximately 20% of the land. There are 55 states on the territory of Africa, the largest of which, and one of the 10 largest, is Algeria. Africa has the most a large number of.

Africa is the second largest continent

The third largest continent is North America. Area - 24,250,000 km² (16% land). There are 23 states on the territory of North America, in which a little more than half a billion people live. 2 North American countries (Canada and USA) are in the top 10.

North America is the third largest continent

The fourth largest continent is South America. Area - 17,840,000 km² (slightly less than 12% of the land area). In the territory South America There are 12 countries in which almost 400 million people live. 2 countries in South America (Argentina and Brazil) are in the top ten.

South America is the fourth largest continent

Antarctica is the continent with the highest proportion of Russian citizens - from 4% in summer to 10% in winter, in Eurasia only - 3%

Antarctica is the fifth largest continent

The sixth and last largest continent is Australia. Area - 7,659,861 km² (5% of the land area). There is only one state on the mainland - Australia, whose population is only 23 million people.

Australia is the smallest continent by area

How easy it is to remember the order of decreasing continents

In order to remember in what descending order the continents are located, it is enough to imagine how they are located on the map and remember this diagram:

Continents in decreasing order - from largest to smallest

Guess which continent is the largest on Earth? The answer is very simple - it is Eurasia, which is the largest continent in the world, both in terms of size and population. But what about the rest of the continents: North America and South America? Here you will find out the area and population of these continents, as well as some Interesting Facts about each of them.

Distribution of the Earth's continents by area

If we take into account the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe territory, then all the continents of the world, from largest to smallest, are located in the following order:

1. Eurasia: about 55,000,000 square kilometers (21,000,000 square miles), of which about 44,391,162 square kilometers (17,139,445 square miles) fall in Asia and about 10,354,636 square kilometers (3,997,929 square miles) in Europe;
2. Africa: 30,244,049 square kilometers (11,677,239 sq mi);
3. North America: 24,247,039 square kilometers (9,361,791 sq mi);
4. South America: 17,821,029 square kilometers (6,880,706 sq mi);
5. Antarctica: 14,245,000 square kilometers (about 5,500,000 square miles);
6. Australia: 7,686,884 square kilometers (2,967,909 sq mi).

Distribution of the Earth's continents by population

If we take into account the population, then the distribution of the continents of our planet, from the most to the least populated, is as follows:

1. Eurasia: more than 5.2 billion people, of which about 4.5 billion live in Asia and about 742 million in Europe;
2. Africa: over 1.2 billion people;
3. North America: about 575 million people (including Central America and the Caribbean)
4. South America: more than 420 million people;
5. Australia: about 23.2 million people;
6. Antarctica: there are no permanent residents, but about 5,000 researchers and workers live in the summer and about 1,000 in the winter.

In addition, more than 15 million people do not live on the mainland. Almost all of these people live in the island countries of Oceania, which is a region of the world, but not a continent. Drawing a conclusion from the lists presented above, Eurasia is the leader among all the continents of the world, both in terms of area and population.

Some interesting facts about each continent

• Eurasia includes the largest and smallest countries in the world. Russia is the largest with an area of ​​over 17 million square kilometers, while the Vatican, with an area of ​​0.44 square kilometers, is the smallest state on the planet. Asia has the highest and lowest points on Earth. Mount Everest is the highest point on the planet - 8,848 meters above sea level. The most low point The Dead Sea, which is 430 meters below sea level.
• Africa is home to the world's longest river, the Nile. It extends for approximately 6,853 km from Sudan to the Mediterranean Sea.
• North America has the largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Superior. It is part of

There are only six continents on earth and the smallest of them is Australia. Australia is very different in its climate, economy, inhabitants of other continents. She is also the most calm territory on Earth (the First and Second World Wars practically did not touch it).

Australian characteristics

• The area of ​​the continent is 7,692,024 square kilometers.
• Population 24,067,700.
• The inhabitants are Australians, official languages Australian and English.
• Currency - Australian dollar.
• The amount of GDP is just over a trillion dollars.

History of Australia

Europeans first arrived in Australia in 1606. Until this year, little was known about this continent, except that the natives ruled here and people were valued as goods. Until about the end of the 18th century, the Dutch explored Australia repeatedly. every traveler and navigator contributed to the creation of a map of Australia. In 1788, a colony was founded here, ruled by the British. Gradually, the continent was inhabited by the British, and in 1828 Great Britain declared Australia its territory and began to manage it.

On January 1, 1901, the continent became independent and named itself Australian Union up to the present day. Throughout the twentieth century, the capital of Australia changed periodically, and today it has become Canberra.

Climate and resources of Australia

More than half of the mainland is desert. This is due to low blood pressure and ocean waters that prevent precipitation.

Australia ranks among the top three countries in the world for the extraction of bauxite, zirconium and uranium. Interestingly, a third of the world's uranium is in Australia. Mineral resources are the continent's main source of income. More than half of the population works in the extraction of minerals and in factories for their processing.

But the water reserves in Australia are not particularly pleasing to their inhabitants. Fresh water is in short supply, so the authorities were forced to issue several laws regarding water consumption.

The work was added to the site samzan.ru: 2016-06-20

Geographical location and general information

Australia is the smallest continent on Earth, located entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of the mainland is located in a hot thermal zone. There are no active volcanoes or glaciers here. This is the most isolated mainland, therefore, in its organic world compared to other continents, most endemics. On three sides of the world: north, west and south, Australia is washed by the Indian Ocean, only from the east - by the Pacific. The shores of the continent are slightly indented. In the south, the Great Australian Gulf stands out, in the north - the Gulf of Carpentaria and two peninsulas - Arnhemland and Cape York. Most big Island Australia - Tasmania, located at its southeastern outskirts. archipelagos and inland seas connect Australia with Southeast Asia. In the Coral Sea is the world's largest coral reef - the Great Barrier Reef, its length is 2300 km, the width varies from 2 to 150 km.

Inland waters

The river network of Australia is very poorly developed, 60% of its territory belongs to the area of ​​internal flow. The reason for this is the dominance of a dry tropical climate, the absence of high mountains with snow and glaciers. Short rapids flow down from eastern slopes Big Dividing Range to the Pacific Ocean. They have a mixed diet. Most of the rivers belong to the Indian Ocean basin and are fed by rain. The largest of them is the Murray with the Darling tributary. For most of the continent

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific (or Great) Ocean occupies 1/3 of the Earth's surface and almost half of the area and more than half of the volume of the World Ocean. This is the largest, warmest (in terms of temperature surface water) and the deepest of all oceans. The ocean is located in all hemispheres of the Earth and is surrounded by Eurasia and Australia in the west, North and South America in the east and Antarctica in the south. Its border with the Arctic Ocean runs along the Bering Strait, with the Atlantic - along the narrowest point of the Drake Strait, and with the Indian - along conditional line(The Pacific Ocean includes all the seas between the islands of the Malay Archipelago, and south of Australia, all the waters east of the 145th meridian E.)

LESSON 4 (C/R ON THE PACIFIC)

Atlantic Ocean

The second largest Atlantic Ocean is located for the most part in western hemisphere and is bounded by the shores of North and South America, Europe, Africa and Antarctica. Its border with the Indian Ocean is conventionally drawn along the meridian of Cape Agulhas (about 20° E). The coastline of the ocean in the northern hemisphere is strongly dissected by peninsulas and bays, in the southern hemisphere the coasts are slightly indented. Important feature ocean - the presence of the Mediterranean seas, protruding thousands of kilometers deep into the continents ( Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and mediterranean sea). In total, there are 13 seas in the ocean, they occupy 11% of its area.

Northern Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean The smallest and shallowest Arctic Ocean is located on the top of the Earth in the center of the Arctic, almost all of its sides are surrounded by land (North America and Eurasia). border with Atlantic Ocean spend from Scandinavian Peninsula(62° N.

sh.), to the Shetland and Faroe Islands, further to Iceland, along the Danish and Davis Straits. It is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Strait. The coastline is heavily indented. The nine seas account for half of the entire surface of the ocean. The largest sea is Norwegian, the smallest is White. Many single islands and archipelagos. In the west of Eurasia, the coasts are high, fjord-like, in the east - deltaic, lagoonal, in the north of America - low, even.

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is located entirely in the Eastern Hemisphere, between Asia, Africa and Australia, most of it lies south of the equator. Its extreme western and eastern borders are rather conditional. The coastline is poorly dissected, with the exception of the northern and northeastern parts, where all eight seas and large bays. There are eight seas in the ocean, there are large bays. There are relatively few islands, the largest of them are located near the mainland.

Climate of Eurasia

The vast size of the territory of Eurasia and the nature of the relief determine the main features of its climate. High mountains close the mainland from the south and east from penetration air masses Pacific and Indian Oceans deep into the mainland. In the west and north, Eurasia is "open" to the influence of the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean.

Eurasia is located in all climatic zones northern hemisphere: from arctic to equatorial. However largest areas takes temperate zone. In the marginal regions, a maritime climate prevails, while in the interior - continental and sharply continental.

In the arctic and subarctic zones, there are sharp differences western areas with maritime climate(with a small temperature range, large quantity rainfall, relatively warm winter and cool summers) and eastern continental climate(very cold winter, down to -40…-45 °c and much less precipitation).

LESSON 9 (C.R. INDIAN OCEAN)

The smallest continent on earth

Australia is the smallest continent on earth. Its area with islands is 8.9 million sq. km. The mainland is washed by the waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans. Almost in the middle of Australia crosses the southern tropic. At the base of the relief of the mainland lies Australian platform. West Side platforms are raised. Here is located the Western Australian plateau 400-600 m high, on the surface of which there are crystalline rocks.

The eastern part of the mainland, from the Cape York Peninsula in the north to Tasmania in the south, is occupied by a folded region - here are the mountains of the Great Dividing Range.

"Terra incognito", as Australia was called in the old days, and now remains for us a land full of mysteries and surprises. Like no other place on the planet, Australia is striking in its diversity. This country of beautiful roads and endless ocean beaches, land of rugged mustangs and coral reefs. In terms of the number of species of unique plants and animals, Australia has no rivals. In fact, the whole country is a reserve of world importance, and 80% of the animals are endemic, as they are found only here.

The mainland, which is considered the smallest continent in the world, was discovered by the Dutch. Abel Tasman's expedition collected a lot of information. He explored the northern and northwestern shores of the mainland in 1642-1643 and discovered the island of Tasmania.

The East Coast was discovered in the 18th century by James Cook. From the end of the 18th century, the development of Australia began.

The capital is Canberra. Area - 7682 thousand square meters. km. Percentage of land area the globe- 5%. Population - 19.73 million people (2003). The population density is 2.5 people per 1 sq. km. km. The share of the world population is 0.3%. The most high point- Mount Kosciuszko (2228 m above sea level), the lowest - Lake. Air (16 m below sea level). Length coastline- 36,700 km (including Tasmania). The northernmost point is Cape York. The most south point- Cape Southeast. The most eastern point- Cape Byron. The most western point- Cape Steep Point. Administrative division: 6 states and 2 territories. National holiday- Australia Day, 26 January. National anthem: "Forward, beautiful Australia!"