By definition, continents and continents are quite similar. This is a large land area, which is washed on all sides by the waters of the seas and oceans. However, there is a difference between these concepts and it is quite large. Scholars explain her theories of continental drift.

Mainland

A large landmass, which is washed on all sides by oceans, is called the mainland. An important condition is the presence of most of the land above the surface of the oceans. There are six of them on planet Earth:

• Eurasia- the largest of them.
• Africa– with the highest surface temperature.
• North America- along its coastline has the most bays and islands.
• South America This is where the most rain falls.
• Australia- defeats everyone for the number of plains.
• Antarctica- the coldest of them.

The smallest of them is Australia. All of them are separated by seas and oceans, although some of them are divided into man-made formations. For example, the Suez Canal is located between Africa and Eurasia, and the Isthmus of Panama is between North and South America.

Do not confuse continents with islands. Although both of these formations are land areas that are washed by water from all sides, their main difference lies in size - the continents are much larger. For example, the smallest mainland Australia is several times larger than the largest island on Earth - Greenland. In addition, most of the islands are still uninhabited, at a time when people live on all continents.

Continents

Until now, there is no consensus on the division of the continents. Some scientists distinguish four parts of the world:

• New World (both Americas).
• Old world (Africa and Eurasia).
• Australia.
• Antarctica.

According to others, there are six:

• Europe.
• Asia.
• America (both).
• Africa.
• Antarctica.
• Australia.

When they mean continents, they also talk about the islands that adjoin them. For example, Madagascar is part of the African continent, although it is a rather large land formation.

Translated from Latin, the word continent means "continuous". Scientists do not separate North and South America, since the Panama Canal separated them only in 1920. The same applies to Africa and Eurasia, which are separated by the artificial Suez Canal. Interestingly, the idea of ​​connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the isthmus originated in the 17th century. Some scholars of the time foresaw a huge benefit to trade. However, the Spanish King Philip forbade the project for religious reasons. Only after 3 centuries the ideas returned to the implementation again. Thus, the American continent was divided into two continents: South and North America.

In some cases, Antarctica is thrown out of the list, as this territory is practically uninhabited.

What do they have in common

Both formations are huge pieces of land that protrude above the oceans. They are necessarily washed from all sides by the waters of the seas and oceans. In addition, people live on their territory.

Common features of continents and continents:

1. Big sizes.
2. Tiled origin (as opposed to islands, which may be a tectonic lava formation).
3. The surface is above sea level.
4. Inhabited by people.

In the semantics of the Russian language, these two words are considered synonyms, but they denote two different concepts.

Main differences

The division of the continents and parts of the world occurs on the basis of drift theory, which in 1912 will be offered by a German scientist Alfred Wegener. Its essence is that more than 200 million years ago, back in the Jurassic period, all the land was a single continent. After the impact of tectonic forces, the continents began to move away from each other.

As proof of the veracity of this theory is the structure of the continents, namely their coasts. After looking at the map, one can come to the conclusion that the western coast of Africa coincides almost perfectly with the eastern coast of South America. The fauna and flora of the "divided" continents are also identical.

After analyzing images from space, scientists concluded that many millions of years ago there was only one supercontinent and one huge ocean on our planet. The earth's crust is made up of several plates that slide along the surface of the mantle. Due to the fact that the planet is constantly rotating, as well as due to the influence of the Moon and the Sun, irreversible geological processes began, which marked the beginning of the displacement of these plates. Thus, one mainland was divided into several parts, which began to slowly drift in the ocean. This movement continues in our time - every year they move a couple of centimeters.

The concept of "mainland" is a geographical concept that refers to a large part of the land. “Continent” or “part of the world” is a more geopolitical concept that refers to a specific area inhabited by people. The formation and grouping of continents happened historically. Part of the world may include several continents that are tied or were tied in the recent past to each other by land.

No matter how similar these concepts are to each other, they still need to be distinguished. If the mainland is a geographical unit, then the word "continent" is used to refer to a specific historical-geographical space.

For a long time, our ancestors believed that the Earth was flat and stood on three elephants. Today, even the smallest children know that our planet is round and like a ball. In this article, we will “run through” the course of school geography and talk about the continents.

The main thing in the article

What is a mainland?

We all live on a planet called Earth, the surface of which is water and land. The land consists of continents and islands. Let's talk about the first one in more detail.

The mainland, it is also called a continent, is a very large part (mass) of land that protrudes from the waters of the oceans, while being washed by these waters.

What is the difference between mainland, continent and part of the world?

There are three concepts in geography:

• Mainland;
• Continent;
• Part of the world.

Often they are referred to the same definition. Although this is wrong, because each of these terms has its own designation.

In some sources, continents and continents are distinguished as one and the same. In others, the continent is distinguished as a large land area, which is inseparable and “girdled” from all sides by the waters of the oceans. In other words, continents do not have conventional boundaries on land. No matter how the definition sounds mainland and continent are identical concepts.

As for the part of the world, there are significant differences. Firstly, the concept itself is arbitrary, since it has developed historically from the division of parts of the land into certain regions. Secondly, there are no clear restrictions on the borders of the part of the world. This may include both continents and continents, as well as islands and peninsulas.

How many continents were originally on Earth?

Let's turn to history and try to explain how our Earth looked millions of years ago. Scientific studies have shown that initially there was only one continent on earth , call him Nuna. Further, the plates diverged, forming several parts, which were reunited again. During the existence of our planet, there are 4 such reunited continents:

• Nuna - from which it all began.
• Rodinia.
• Pannotia.
• Pangea.

The last continent became the "progenitor" of today's massive dry land, towering above the water. Pangea split into the following parts:

• Gondavanu which united today's Antarctica, Africa, Australia, South America.
• Laurasia, which in the future became Eurasia and North America.

How many continents are on Earth today?

In sources that share such concepts as mainland and continent, only four continents are indicated:

• Antarctica.
• Australia.
• The New World, which included the two Americas.
• The Old World, consisting of Africa and Eurasia.

This is interesting: modern scientists have managed to prove that today the continents are moving towards each other. This fact proves the theory of a single land, which, due to technical reasons, breaks up into parts.

How many continents and parts of the world are there on Earth?

All land on Earth covers only 30% of the planet's surface . It is divided into six large pieces of land called continents. All of them have different sizes and unequal earth's crust. Below we give names of continents starting with a large one and then decreasing.

Now, as regards parts of the world. This concept is more conditional, since the history of the development of peoples and cultural differences led to the allocation of a specific site to a certain part of the world. Today, seven parts of the world stand out.

• Asia- the largest, occupying about 30% of all land on Earth, which is approximately 43.4 million km². It is located on the continent of Eurasia, separated from Europe by the Ural Mountains.
• America consists of two parts, these are the continents of North and South America. Their area is estimated at 42.5 million km².
• Africa- this is the third largest part of the world, but despite its size, most of the mainland is uninhabited (desert). Its size is 30.3 million km². This area also includes islands located near the mainland.
• Europe, the part of the world adjacent to Asia has many islands and peninsulas. It occupies, taking into account the island part, approximately 10 million km².
• Antarctica- the "overall" part of the world, located on the polar continent, has an area of ​​​​14107 thousand km². At the same time, its huge area is glaciers.
• Australia- located on the smallest continent, washed on all sides by seas and oceans, and having an area of ​​​​7659 thousand km².
• Oceania. In many scientific sources, Oceania is not singled out as a separate part of the world, "attaching" it to Australia. It consists of a cluster of islands (more than 10 thousand) and occupies 1.26 million km² of land.

How many continents are on Earth and what are they called: description, area, population

As it turned out, the planet has six continents, which differ in area and other individual characteristics. Let's get to know each of them closer.

Eurasia

On this stretch of land are located 5,132 billion people, and this is a lot - 70% of the total population of the planet. The mainland is also the leader in size and occupies 54.3 million km². In percentage terms, this is 36% of all land that protrudes above sea level. It is washed by all four oceans. Due to its length, in Eurasia you can meet all the climatic zones of our planet. The extreme points of the mainland are as follows:
This continent was one of the very first to be inhabited, therefore it has a rich history, many attractions, both natural and man-made. The main indicators that can characterize the scale of this mainland include the largest cities on the mainland:
What is significant in the territory of Eurasia:

Africa

Africa is much smaller than Eurasia and in many ways inferior to it in terms of characteristics. It is considered the cradle of mankind, and on its territory there are 57 states. There are few people here 1.2 billion people but in use on this continent about 2000 languages. The total area of ​​the mainland with the island part is 30.3 million km² of which about 9 million km² occupies the Sahara desert, which continues to grow.

It is believed that this is the only continent on which there are places where no human foot has set foot.

Africa is rich in minerals. The geography of the mainland has the following arrangement.
What is significant in Africa:

North America

In the Western Hemisphere, it extends approximately 20 million km² North America. This part of the world is still quite young, as it was discovered only in 1507. As for the population, they live in this part of America more than 500 million people. Basically, the Negroid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid races prevail. All states on the mainland have access to the sea. The extreme points on the mainland are as follows.

The length from south to north is represented by the following indicators.
What is significant in North America:

South America

Everyone has heard about how Columbus discovered America. This discoverer first set foot on the land of South America. The size of the continent fluctuates within 18 million km². Lives in this area 400 million people. As for the "edge" of geography, it looks like this in South America:

The mainland is located in warm climatic zones, which allows the development of fauna and flora.
What is significant in South America:

Australia

The entire mainland of Australia is one huge state with an identical name. Its total area is 7659 yew km². This summed area also includes the large islands adjacent to Australia. 1/3 of the area of ​​the mainland is desert. This continent is also called green, and on the inhabited territory live 24.7 million people. The extreme points of the mainland are:

What is significant in Australia:

Antarctica

Antarctica is a huge continent, having an area along with glaciers in 14107 thousand km². Due to the constant cold on the mainland lives from 1000 to 4000 thousand people. Most of them are imported specialists working at numerous research stations located in Antarctica. The mainland is a neutral territory and does not belong to anyone. The world of animals and plants is very limited here, but even the cold is unable to stop its development.
What is significant in Antarctica:

What oceans are washed by the continents on Earth?

The oceans today occupy 2/3 of the entire area of ​​the planet Earth. The world ocean, washing all the continents, is divided into four parts:

• Pacific Ocean (178.6 million km²)- is considered the largest, since it has almost 50% of the total water mass on Earth.
• Atlantic Ocean (92 million km²)- 16% of it consists of seas, channels. This ocean extends over all climatic zones of the Earth. It is in this ocean that the well-known "Bermuda Triangle" is located.
• Indian Ocean (76.1 million km²)- it is considered to be the warmest, although the hot Gulf Stream is not present in it (the Gulf Stream flows in the Atlantic Ocean).
• Arctic Ocean (14 million km²) is the smallest ocean. It has large oil reserves in its depths and is famous for its large number of icebergs.

Map of the continents of the Earth

How many continents on Earth start with "a": cheat sheet

Here, the opinions of experts differ, since some name only 3 continents, the name of which begins with “a”, others stubbornly defend the number 5. So which of them is right? Let's try to figure it out.

If we proceed from the theory that almost all the continents on Earth are called "a", more precisely 5 out of 6, then the following comes out. The names remain indisputable:

1. Antarctica.
2. Australia.
3. Africa.

Three that everyone agrees on. Adherents of 5 continents with the letter "a" are attached to the above written:

• America South.
• America North.

Only the largest continent of Eurasia is distinctive, but even here there are facts that it was originally divided into two continents (parts of the world), which were called:

• Asia.
• Auropa.

Over time, the latter changed into the Europe we are used to, and the mainland was named in one word - Eurasia.

How to count the continents on planet Earth: video

It is located on two continents - South America and North America.

North America also includes numerous islands: Greenland, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Aleutian Islands, Vancouver Island, Alexander Archipelago and others. The area of ​​North America, together with islands, is 42 million km 2, without islands 35 million km 2.

South America

South America also includes various islands, most of which belong to the countries of the continent. The Caribbean territories are part of North America. Countries in South America that border the Caribbean - including Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana - are known as Caribbean South America.

The most important river systems in South America are the Amazon, Orinoco and Parana, whose total basin is 7,000,000 km 2 (the area of ​​South America is 7,500,000 km 2). Most of the lakes in South America are in the Andes, the largest and highest navigable lake in the world is Titicaca, on the border of Bolivia and Peru. The largest in area is Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, it is also one of the oldest on the planet.

In South America is the highest waterfall in the world - Angel. The most powerful waterfall is also located on the mainland - Iguazu.

Africa

Africa- the third largest continent after Eurasia and North America, washed by the Mediterranean Sea from the north, the Red Sea from the northeast, the Atlantic Ocean from the west and the Indian Ocean from the east and south. Africa is also called the part of the world, consisting of the mainland Africa and adjacent islands.

The African continent crosses the equator and several climatic zones; it is the only continent that stretches from the northern subtropical climate zone to the southern subtropical one. Due to the lack of permanent rainfall and irrigation - as well as glaciers or aquifers of mountain systems - there is practically no natural regulation of the climate anywhere except the coasts.

Australia

Antarctica

Disappeared continents

Kenorland

Kenorland- a hypothetical supercontinent that, according to geophysicists, existed in the Neoarchean (about 2.75 billion years ago). The name comes from the Kenoran phase of folding. Paleomagnetic studies indicate that Kenorland was at low latitudes.

Nuna

Nuna (Colombia, Hudsonland) is a hypothetical supercontinent that existed in the period from 1.8 to 1.5 billion years ago (maximum assembly ~ 1.8 billion years ago). The assumption of its existence was put forward by J. Rogers and M. Santosh in 2002. Nuna is dated to the Paleoproterozoic era, making it the supposedly oldest supercontinent. It consisted of ancient platform precursor plateaus that were part of the earlier continents of Laurentia, Fennosarmatia, the Ukrainian Shield, Amazonia, Australia, and possibly Siberia, the Sino-Korean Platform, and the Kalaharian Platform. The existence of the Columbia continent is based on geological and paleomagnetic evidence.

Rodinia

Laurasia

Pangea Ultima

It is assumed that in the future the continents will once again gather into a supercontinent called Pangea Ultima.

see also

Notes

1. Continent- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
2. Ozhegov's dictionary
3. R. W. McColl Encyclopedia of World Geography, Volume 1. - "And since Africa and Asia are connected at the Suez Peninsula, Europe, Africa, and Asia are sometimes combined as Afro-Eurasia or Eurafrasia."
4. Océano Uno, Diccionario Enciclopédico y Atlas Mundial, "Continente", page 392, 1730. ISBN 84-494-0188-7
5. Los Cinco Continentes (The Five Continents), Planeta-De Agostini Editions, 1997. ISBN 84-395-6054-0
6. official Greek Paedagogical Institute 6th grade Geography textbook, 5+1 continents combined-America model, Pankosmios Enyklopaidikos Atlas, CIL Hellas Publications, ISBN 84-407-0470-4 , page 30, 5+1 combined-America continents model, Neos Eikonographemenos Geographikos Atlas, Siola-Alexiou, 6 continents combined-America model, Lexico tes Hellenike Glossas, Papyros Publications, ISBN 978-960-6715-47-1 , lemma continent( epeiros), 5 continents model, Lexico Triantaphyllide online dictionary, Greek Language Center ( Kentro Hellenike Glosses), lemma continent( epeiros), 6 continents combined-America model, Lexico tes Neas Hellenike Glossas, G. Babiniotes, Kentro Lexikologias(Legicology Center) LTD Publications , ISBN 960-86190-1-7 , lemma continent( epeiros), 6 continents combined-America model. the uninhabited and once lesser-known or unknown Antarctica (just like the Olympic Circles-Logo); they don't refer to some other 5 or other number continent modeling scheme.
7. "Continent". The Columbia Encyclopedia. 2001. New York: Columbia University Press - Bartleby.
8. world, National Geographic - Xpeditions Atlas. 2006. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.
9. The World - Continents, Atlas of Canada
10. "Continent". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
11. The New Oxford Dictionary of English. 2001. New York: Oxford University Press.
12. "Continent". MSN Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006.. Archived 2009-10-31.
13. "Continent". McArthur, Tom, ed. 1992. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press; p. 260.
14. .
15. UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center Protected Areas and World Heritage - Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area . Department of the Environment and Heritage (1980). (unavailable link - story) Retrieved March 31, 2008.
16. N. V. Lubnina: "East European craton from Neoarchean to Paleozoic according to paleomagnetic data"
17. Rogers, J.J.W. and Santosh, M., 2002, Configuration of Columbia, a Mesoproterozoic supercontinent. Gondwana Research, v. 5, pp. 5-22
18. Zhao, Guochun; Cawood, Peter A.; Wilde, Simon A.; Sun, M. (2002). "Review of global 2.1–1.8 Ga orogens: implications for a pre-Rodinia supercontinent". Earth Science Reviews 59 : 125–162. Retrieved 2007-01-07.
19. Zhao, Guochun; Sun, M.; Wilde, Simon A.; Li, S.Z. (2004). "A Paleo-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent: assembly, growth and breakup". Earth Science Reviews 67 : 91–123. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
20. Pesonen, Lauri J.; J. Salminen, F. Donadini and S. Mertanen (November 2004). "Paleomagnetic Configuration of Continents During the Proterozoic" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-03-11.
21. Bispo-Santos, Franklin; Manoel S. D'Agrella-Filho; Igor I.G. Pacca; Liliane Janikian; Ricardo I.F. Trindade; Sten Ake Elming; Jesué A. Silva; Marcia A.S. barros; Francisco E.C. Pinho (June 2008). Columbia revisited: Paleomagnetic results from the 1790 Ma colider volcanics (SW Amazonian Craton, Brazil) Precambrian Research, v. 164, p. 40-49-162". Retrieved 2007-01-07.
22. Li, Z. X.; Bogdanova, S. V.; Collins, A. S.; Davidson, A.; B. De Waele, R. E. Ernst, I. C. W. Fitzsimons, R. A. Fuck, D. P. Gladkochub, J. Jacobs, K. E. Karlstrom, S. Lul, L. M. Natapov, V. Pease, S. A. Pisarevsky, K. Thrane and V. Vernikovsky (2008). "Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: A synthesis". Precambrian Research 160: 179-210
23. Houseman, Greg Dispersal of Gondwanaland. University of Leeds. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved October 21, 2008.

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A continent is a huge piece of land where most of it is land. In addition to land, it includes its outskirts, the shelf and the islands located there. Concepts Continents and Continents in Russian are synonyms.

A continent is a single, undivided piece of land. The largest continent is Eurasia, which has two parts of the world: Asia and Europe. Next in size are North America, then South America, after Africa, Australia and Antarctica.

Continents on Earth - 6

In some countries, a different number of continents are distinguished:

• In China, they are sure that there are seven of them, since Asia and Europe are separated into separate parts there.
• In Portugal and Greece, six continents are also distinguished, but instead of uniting Europe and Asia, they unite North and South America.
• The Olympic Committee understands only the inhabited part of the Earth as continents, excluding Antarctica from this list. Therefore, there are five continents and the same number of Olympic rings.

If we combine not only Europe and Asia, but also North and South America, we get four continents. Therefore, the dispute over the number of continents has not been resolved so far, scientists from different countries put forward their theory and stubbornly prove it. But while the majority for six continents on planet Earth.

History of the continents

However, such a number of continents on Earth was not always. Scientists identify several hypothetical continents that existed on Earth in different time periods.

1. Kenorland- a supercontinent that existed during the Neoarchean period (2.75 billion years ago).
2. Nuna- a supercontinent, the existence of which is considered to be the Paleoproterozoic era (1.8-1.5 billion years ago).
3. Rodinia- the supercontinent of the Proterozoic-Precambrian era. The mainland appeared 1.1 billion years ago, and broke up 750 million years ago.
4. Pangea- a supercontinent that arose in the Paleozoic (Permian period) and disappeared in the Triassic era (200-210 million years ago).
5. Euramerica (or Laurussia)- the supercontinent of the Paleozoic era. The mainland broke up in the Paleogene era.
6. gondwana- a supercontinent that appeared 750-530 million years ago, and broke up 70-80 million years ago.

This is not the whole list of predecessors of modern continents. Furthermore, some scientists argue that in the future, earthlings expect the formation of another supercontinent. Presumably, future events will develop as follows:

• First, Africa will merge with Eurasia.
• After about 60 million years, Australia will connect with East Asia, as a result of which the continent Australia-Afro-Eurasia will appear.
• In 130 million years, Antarctica will adjoin southern Australia or Asia, and the mainland Australia-Antarctica-Afro-Eurasia will appear.
• In 250-400 million years, the inhabitants of the planet expect the appearance of the supercontinents Pangea Ultima (200-300 million years, all the current continents will merge), Amasia (50-200 million years, the center of the mainland will be at the North Pole), New Pangea (reappearance of the supercontinent past - Pangea).

The information presented is only part of scientists' assumptions about the future of the Earth. And today, erudite and educated people answer the question “How many continents are there on Earth?” confidently answer - exactly 6.

Video

In this article you will learn how many continents are on earth and all the details about them.

About 71% of the earth's surface is occupied by the World Ocean, and the remaining land surface is distributed between the continents (continents).

By definition, a continent is a large mass of the earth's crust, rising above the level of the oceans. Oddly enough, the number of continents is not generally accepted, ranging from 4 to 7 in different countries. In the post-Soviet space, 6 continents are distinguished with the following area in million km 2:

1. Eurasia - 54;
2. Africa - 30;
3. Antarctica - 14;
4. Australia - 9.5;
5. North America -24;
6. South America -18.

The largest continent - Eurasia - includes two parts of the world - Europe and Asia. The two American continents, on the contrary, make up one part of the world - America. The remaining continents coincide with the parts of the world with the same name.

Mainland - Eurasia

Eurasia accounts for a third of the entire earth's land, on which ¾ of the total population is concentrated. Here are the largest countries in the world in terms of territory and population. Russia occupies over 17 million km 2, and the population of China at the beginning of 2016 was 1 billion 375 million people.

The territory of Asia occupies 80% of the entire Eurasian continent. This continent, with an average height of 830 m above sea level, is the highest mountain.

Eurasia holds several more geographical records:

• Chomolungma (Everest) - the highest mountain on the planet (8848 m);
• Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth (1642 m), and the Caspian Sea is the largest;
• The Mariana Trench of the Dead Sea is the deepest ocean floor (about 11 km);
• the smallest is the Sea of ​​Azov, and the largest is the Mediterranean.

Mainland - Africa (how many continents on earth)

The African continent has the largest number of states - 53. Africa has the largest placers of diamonds and here is the highest level of their extraction, often illegal.

This fact practically does not affect the material standard of living, which here, with rare exceptions, is very low.

Africa is home to the world's largest desert, the Sahara. Africa is distinguished by the richness of the animal world, among which the cheetah is the fastest animal on the planet.

Everyone knows the Egyptian pyramids. But rare people know that there are much more pyramids in the largest African country - Sudan. It is hard to believe, but in Africa, in Morocco, there is a good ski resort Ifrane, located at an altitude of 1600 m.

Mainland - Antarctica (how many continents on earth)

The ice of Antarctica makes up 90% of all terrestrial ice and contains 70% of all terrestrial fresh water reserves. The average ice thickness exceeds 2 m. The largest iceberg discovered was 300 km long and 37 km wide.

Surprisingly, it is Antarctica, and not Africa, that is the driest continent on earth. Only 10 cm of precipitation per year is recorded here - less than in the African deserts.

Antarctica belongs to no one. There are no time zones here. No one lives permanently on the mainland, and the temporary population is made up of members of scientific expeditions.

The climate of Antarctica is too harsh even for polar bears, which are not there, contrary to popular belief. Most of the continent is inhabited by penguins.

Mainland - Australia (how many continents on earth)

The smallest continent on earth consists of a single state - the Commonwealth of Australia. A third of the continent is desert, so Australia is the driest inhabited continent.

At the same time, the Australian Snowy Mountains receive more snow than the Swiss Alps.

Tasmania, one of the 6 Australian states, has the cleanest air in the world, and the country as a whole is famous for its ideal ecology.

The length of the longest road in the world in the Nullarbor Desert is 146 km, and the Great Barrier Reef stretches for 2600 km.

There are a lot of kangaroos, sheep, and especially rabbits in Australia. It was to protect sheep pastures from rabbits and dingo dogs that the longest fence in the world was built at 8.5 thousand km.

Mainland - North America (how many continents on earth)

The border between the US and Canada, which is almost 9 thousand km, is not guarded. Partially it passes through residential buildings. The island of Greenland, geographically belonging to the North American mainland, belongs to the European state of Denmark.

The Bay of Fundy on the east coast of Canada is the site of the highest tides in the World Ocean, reaching 18 m. Under the influence of a tidal wave, the waterfall located here reverses its direction of movement.

North America has the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth. In 1913 it was 57 0 C in California's Death Valley.

Sequoia grows on the North American continent - the most ancient representative of the earth's flora. These trees reach 150 m in height and 20 m in width.

Mainland - South America (how many continents on earth)

Many people know that Colombia bears the name of a Spanish navigator. The name Venezuela also has European roots. Amerigo Vespucci (who gave the name to the entire continent), having studied the features of the development of Venezuela, found similarities with Venice.

And the Panama hat was invented not in the country of the same name, but in Ecuador, named from the word "equator".

This continent holds several geographical records:

• The Amazon with a length of about 7 thousand km is the largest earthly river;
• the height of the Venezuelan Angel Falls exceeds a kilometer;
• the highest mountain capital in the world is the Bolivian La Paz, whose height reaches 4 km;
• in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, there has been no precipitation for centuries (!)

If you have interesting facts about the written article - How many continents are on earth, leave your comment - it will be interesting for everyone to read and further discuss.