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

Continent(from lat. continens, genitive case continentis) - a large massif of the earth's crust, a significant part of which is located above the level of the world ocean (land), and the rest of the peripheral part is below sea level. The continent also includes islands located on the underwater periphery. In addition to the concept of a continent, the term mainland is also used.

Terminology

Mainland- a vast expanse of land washed by the seas and oceans (or Land, land - as opposed to water or islands). In Russian, the words mainland and continent have the same meaning.

From a tectonic point of view, continents are sections of the lithosphere that have a continental structure of the earth's crust.

There are several continental models in the world (see below). On the territory of the post-Soviet space, the model of six continents with a divided America is adopted as the main one.

There is also a similar concept of part of the world. The division into continents is made on the basis of separation by water space, and parts of the world are rather a historical and cultural concept. Thus, the continent of Eurasia consists of two parts of the world - Europe and Asia. And part of the world America is located on two continents - South America and North America. In other cases, parts of the world coincide with the above continents.

The border between Europe and Asia runs along the Ural Mountains, then the Ural River to the Caspian Sea, the Kuma and Manych rivers to the mouth of the Don River and further along the shores of the Black and Mediterranean Seas. The Europe-Asia border described above is not indisputable. This is just one of several options accepted in the world.

In geology, the continent is also often referred to as the underwater margin of the continent, including the islands located on it.

In English and some other languages, the word continent denotes both continents and parts of the world.

Continental models

In the world, different countries estimate the number of continents differently. Number of continents in different traditions

• 4 continents: Afro-Eurasia, America, Antarctica, Australia
• 5 continents: Africa, Eurasia, America, Antarctica, Australia
• 6 continents: Africa, Europe, Asia, America, Antarctica, Australia
• 6 continents: Africa, Eurasia, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia
• 7 continents: Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia

The seven continents model is popular in China, India, partly in Western Europe and in English-speaking countries.

The six continent model with America united (we call it "Parts of the World") is popular in Spanish speaking countries and parts of Eastern Europe including Greece with its five continent model (five populated continents).

Comparison of area and population

Continent	Length (km from east to west, and from south to north, along the periphery)	Share of sushi	Population	Share of population
Afro-Eurasia
Oceania

- the largest and only continent on Earth, washed by four oceans: in the south - the Indian, in the north - the Arctic, in the west - the Atlantic, in the east - the Pacific. The continent is located in the Northern Hemisphere between approximately 9° W. and 169° W. while some of the Eurasian islands are located in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of continental Eurasia lies in the Eastern Hemisphere, although the extreme western and eastern ends of the mainland are in the Western Hemisphere. Eurasia stretches from west to east for 10.5 thousand km, from north to south - for 5.3 thousand km, with an area of ​​53.6 million km2. This is more than a third of the total land area of ​​the planet. The area of ​​the Eurasian islands is approaching 2.75 million km2.

Contains two parts of the world: Europe and Asia. The border line between Europe and Asia is most often drawn along the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Emba River, the northwestern coast of the Caspian Sea, the Kuma River, the Kuma-Manych Depression, the Manych River, the eastern coast of the Black Sea, the southern coast of the Black Sea, the Strait Bosphorus, the Sea of ​​Marmara, the Dardanelles, the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, the Strait of Gibraltar. This division has developed historically. Naturally, there is no sharp boundary between Europe and Asia. The continent is united by the continuity of land, the current tectonic consolidation and the unity of numerous climatic processes.

(English North America, French Amérique du Nord, Spanish América del Norte, Norteamérica, Ast. Ixachitlān Mictlāmpa) is one of the continents of planet Earth, located in the north of the Western Hemisphere of the Earth. North America is washed from the west by the Pacific Ocean with the Bering Sea, Alaska and California bays, from the east by the Atlantic Ocean with the Labrador, Caribbean, St. Lawrence and Mexican seas, from the north by the Arctic Ocean with the Beaufort, Baffin, Greenland and Hudson Bay seas. From the west, the continent is separated from Eurasia by the Bering Strait. In the south, the border between North and South America runs through the Isthmus of Panama.

North America also includes numerous islands: Greenland, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Aleutian Islands, Vancouver Island, the Alexander Archipelago and others. The area of ​​North America, together with the islands, is 24.25 million km2, without the islands, 20.36 million km2.

(Spanish América del Sur, Sudamérica, Suramérica, port. América do Sul, English South America, Dutch Zuid-Amerika, French Amérique du Sud, Guar. Ñembyamérika, Quechua Urin Awya Yala, Urin Amerika) - the southern continent in America, located mainly in the Western and Southern hemispheres of planet Earth, however, part of the continent is also located in the Northern Hemisphere. It is washed in the west by the Pacific Ocean, in the east by the Atlantic, from the north it is limited by North America, the border between the Americas runs along the Isthmus of Panama and the Caribbean Sea.

South America also includes various islands, most of which belong to the countries of the continent. Caribbean territories belong to North America. The South American countries 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, with a total basin of 7,000,000 km2 (the area of ​​South America is 17,800,000 km2). Most of the lakes in South America are located in the Andes, the largest of which and the world's highest navigable lake 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.

Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, is located in South America. On the mainland, there is also the most powerful waterfall - Iguazu.

- the second largest continent on our planet Earth after Eurasia, 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 the islands adjacent to it, the largest of which is the island of Madagascar.

The African continent crosses the equator and several climatic zones; its feature is that it is the only continent that stretches from the northern subtropical climatic zone to the southern subtropical one.

Due to the lack of constant rainfall and irrigation on the continent - as well as glaciers or the aquifer of mountain systems - there is practically no natural regulation of the climate anywhere, except for the coasts.

(from Latin australis - "southern") - a continent located in the Eastern and Southern hemispheres of our planet Earth.

The entire territory of the mainland is the main part of the state of the Commonwealth of Australia. The mainland is part of the world Australia and Oceania.

The northern and eastern coasts of Australia are washed by the Pacific Ocean: the Arafura, Coral, Tasman, Timor Seas; western and southern - the Indian Ocean.

Near Australia are the large islands of New Guinea and Tasmania.

Along the northeast coast of Australia, the world's largest coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef, stretches for more than 2,000 km.

(Greek ἀνταρκτικός - the opposite of Arctida) - a continent located in the very south of the Earth, the center of Antarctica approximately coincides with the geographic south pole. Antarctica is washed by the waters of the Southern Ocean. Antarctica is also called the part of the world, consisting of the mainland of Antarctica and adjacent islands.

Antarctica is the highest continent, its average height is 2040 meters. About 85% of the planet's glaciers are also located on the mainland. There is no permanent population on Antarctica, but there are more than forty scientific stations belonging to different states and intended for research and detailed study of the characteristics of the continent.

Antarctica is almost completely covered by an ice sheet, the average thickness of which exceeds 2500 meters. There is also a large number of subglacial lakes (more than 140), the largest of which is Lake Vostok discovered by Russian scientists in the 1990s.

Hypothetical continents

Kenorland

Kenorland is 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 (Columbia, 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's existence dates back to the Paleoproterozoic era, making it supposedly the oldest supercontinent. It consisted of plateau precursors of ancient platforms that were part of the earlier continents of Laurentia, Fennosarmatia, the Ukrainian Shield, Amazonia, Australia, and possibly Siberia, the Sino-Korean platform and the Kalahari platform. The existence of the Columbia continent is based on geological and paleomagnetic data.

Rodinia

Rodinia (from Rus. Rodina or from Rus. give birth) is a hypothetical supercontinent that presumably existed in the Proterozoic - the Precambrian eon. It originated about 1.1 billion years ago and broke up about 750 million years ago. At that time, the Earth consisted of one giant piece of land and one giant ocean, which received the name Mirovia, also taken from the Russian language. Rodinia is often considered the oldest known supercontinent, but its position and shape is still a matter of controversy. After the collapse of Rodinia, the continents managed to once again unite into the supercontinent Pangea and disintegrate again.

Lavrussia

Laurussia (Euramerica) is a Paleozoic supercontinent formed as a result of the collision of the North American (the ancient continent of Laurentia) and the East European (the ancient continent of Baltica) platforms during the Caledonian orogeny. Also known are the names Caledonia, Old Red Continent, Old Red Sandstone Continent. In the Permian period, it merged with Pangea and became its integral part. After the collapse of Pangea, it became part of Laurasia. Broken up in the Paleogene.

gondwana

Gondwana in paleogeography is an ancient supercontinent that arose about 750-530 million years ago, was localized around the South Pole for a long time, and included almost all the land that is now located in the southern hemisphere (Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia), as well as tectonic blocks of Hindustan and Arabia, now moved to the northern hemisphere and become part of the Eurasian continent. In the early Paleozoic, Gondwana gradually shifted northward and in the Carboniferous (360 million years ago) joined with the North American-Scandinavian continent to form the giant protocontinent Pangea. Then, during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago), Pangea split again into Gondwana and the northern continent of Laurasia, which were separated by the Tethys Ocean. 30 million years later, in the same Jurassic period, Gondwana gradually began to break up into new (current) continents. Finally, all modern continents: Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica and the Hindustan Peninsula stood out from Gondwana only at the end of the Cretaceous period, that is, 70-80 million years ago.

Pangea

Pangea (ancient Greek Πανγαῖα - “all-earth”) is the name given by Alfred Wegener to the protocontinent that arose in the Paleozoic era. The giant ocean, which washed Pangea from the Silurian period of the Paleozoic to the early Mesozoic inclusive, received the name Panthalassa (from other Greek παν- “all-” and θάλασσα “sea”). Pangea was formed in the Permian period, and split at the end of the Triassic (about 200 - 210 million years ago) into two continents: the northern continent - Laurasia and the southern continent - Gondwana. In the process of the formation of Pangea from more ancient continents, mountain systems arose at the places of their collision, some of them have existed to this day, for example, the Urals or the Appalachians. These early mountains are much older than the younger mountain systems (the Alps in Europe, the Cordillera in North America, the Andes in South America or the Himalayas in Asia). Due to the erosion that lasts for many millions of years, the Urals and the Appalachians are run-in low mountains.

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstania - the Middle Paleozoic continent, which was located between Laurussia and the Siberian platform. It stretches from the Turgai trough and the Turan lowland to the Gobi and Takla-Makan deserts.

Laurasia

Laurasia is a supercontinent that existed as the northern part of the fault of the Pangea protocontinent (southern - Gondwana) in the late Mesozoic era. It united most of those territories that today make up the existing continents of the Northern Hemisphere - Eurasia and North America, which in turn broke away from each other from 135 to 200 million years ago.

Pangea Ultima

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

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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 part of the land large sizes. “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.

The topic of continents and parts of the world was easy for me at school, while my classmates did not see the difference and confused them. Back then I dreamed of visiting all continents and all parts of the world.

The difference between continents and parts of the world

A continent is a large piece of land that is surrounded by water on all sides, but connected by a narrow piece of land to another continent (not to be confused with a continent, it is not completely surrounded by water). There are only 6 of them:

• Eurasia;
• Africa;
• North America;
• South America;
• Antarctica;
• Australia.

I have arranged them in decreasing order (from largest to smallest).

Parts of the world are large parts of the land, including the continents or large parts of them. The division into parts of the world is rather historical and cultural, and into continents - geographical. There are also six parts of the world (I also arranged them in decreasing order):

• Asia (Western part of Eurasia);
• America (North and South);
• Africa;
• Antarctica;
• Europe (Eastern part of Eurasia);
• Australia and Oceania (Australia and the islands near it).

Above, I showed the difference between the continents and parts of the world, and also named all the continents and parts of the world that mankind knows.

The reason for this division

As I wrote above, the division into continents is geographical, that is, 6 large pieces of land are clearly visible on the map, which are surrounded on all sides by blue - water.

With the division into parts of the world, everything is a little more complicated. This division happened as a result of historical and cultural incidents. It is also partly related to the Old World and the discovery of the New World.

Continental drift theory

Alfred Wegener made this point in 1912. He was not the first to come to such conclusions. The theory says that once all the continents were one, then, due to drift, separate continents began to stand out, surrounded by water on all sides. A single continent, or supercontinent, was called Pangea. The geographer noticed the coincidence of the outlines of Africa and America (as part of the world), as well as the similarity of climate in different eras, and this prompted such thoughts in his brain. Indeed, if you look at the current globe, you can see that our Earth resembles a puzzle, but this is just a theory.

All land on Earth people conditionally divided into parts. There is more than one way to make this distinction. Let us consider this issue in more detail and find out how the continents differ from parts of the world.

Definition

continents in geology and geography, large segments of land protruding on the bosom of the oceans are called.

Parts of the world- these are areas into which the earth's surface is conditionally divided according to historical and cultural grounds.

Comparison

These options for delimiting land are used in separate areas from each other. The difference between the continents and parts of the world lies in the fact that the first concept is geological, as well as geographical, while the second is associated with the historical development of society, culture, and political relations.

Continents are interesting as real physical objects. In the relevant sciences, they are considered as formations that arose as a result of powerful processes occurring with the earth's shell. These massifs are in some cases separated by oceans. Sometimes they are in close proximity.

It is assumed that once there was one huge continent. In size, it was the same as the totality of all known now, along with the islands adjacent to them. However, powerful processes inside our planet led to the split of this formation in two. Then, these areas began to become covered with cracks, and over time, each block fell apart into even smaller fragments.

The boundaries of parts of the world do not always coincide with the mainland, although the number of elements in both categories is the same - six. For example, a whole area of ​​the surface called Eurasia is divided into two independent parts of the world, each of which developed in its own way. We are talking about Europe and Asia.

But with America it's the other way around. Both of its constituent continents form one part of the world, again due to the common development of the civilizations existing there. The table below reflects the described nuances and gives the names of the objects of each group:

What is the difference between continents and parts of the world? The fact that these concepts were not formed at the same time. They began to talk about the continents when scientific data appeared on the features of the structure of the earth's crust and the ongoing geological processes. Meanwhile, people began to divide the land into such areas as parts of the world much earlier on the basis of the information obtained about these regions of the Earth.