Our planet is amazingly beautiful and diverse. Seas and oceans, continents and islands, rivers and lakes, mountains and volcanoes create its unique face. Today we will deal with how many continents there are on the blue-eyed Earth.
Some terminology
Before talking about how many continents are on our mother Earth, it is necessary to understand what it is. In science, the term "mainland" means a significant area of land that rises above the level of the oceans. And the continental crust is its foundation.
Answering the question about how many continents on the globe exist, you will not hear many options. There are only six of them, but each of them has its own characteristics. We will talk about them in the next section.
Continents of the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth
So, with how many continents are on our planet, we figured out. Now let's talk about each of them separately. First of all, consider those that are in the north.
- Eurasia. It consists of two massifs, two parts of the world, and the conditional border between Asia and Europe runs along the Ural Mountains. This is the largest continent of the Earth, and it is washed immediately by four oceans (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic). Most of Eurasia is located in the Northern Hemisphere, including beyond the Arctic Circle. In the southern hemisphere there are only individual islands and archipelagos. In the mainland, there are about a hundred states, and the Asian part is the most populated in the world.
- Second in size is Africa. This is the hottest continent in the world, because there is no aquifer of mountains and glaciers on it, snow can only be found on the highest volcanoes. The shores are washed by the Atlantic and Indian oceans, the Mediterranean Sea. And in Africa there are 53 countries. It is noteworthy that the mainland is divided by the equator, that is, part of it is in the Northern Hemisphere, and part in the Southern.
- North America, as expected, is entirely in the Northern Hemisphere. Its territory is washed immediately by three oceans (Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic), as well as several seas that belong to their water area. The continent is separated from neighboring South America by the narrow Isthmus of Panama. This is the third largest continent, which includes about 16% of the islands and their groups. Only three states are located here: USA, Canada and Mexico.
How many continents in the south?
- South America can be found in the Southern Hemisphere and only a small portion of it is located in the Northern Hemisphere. The borders of the mainland are outlined by the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It accounts for about twelve percent of land (fourth largest), with a dozen countries. The continent is considered the wettest because it has the most full-flowing rivers, the highest waterfall and the same navigable lake.
- Antarctica is the fifth largest. It is the coldest continent on whose territory the South Pole is located. There are no countries on it, and the entire area is covered with snow and centuries-old ice. Only occasionally there are places free of ice cover (the so-called oases). The shores are washed by the Southern Ocean.
- Last - Australia ranks sixth in size. In addition to it, the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea belong to the mainland. Australia is a deserted and sparsely populated continent, and on its territory there is a single state (of the same name). The shores are washed by the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Conclusion
So, how many continents and their names the reader already knows. We briefly talked about their features, because a more detailed overview of each of them could take more than one page.