Eurasia is the largest continent on our planet. It occupies about 54.3 million km 2 , which is 36% of all the Earth’s land. It includes two parts of the world - Europe and Asia.
Mainland geography
Most of Eurasia is located in the northern hemisphere, although at 11 o it deepens into the southern hemisphere. Extreme continental points of Eurasia:
- northern - Cape Chelyuskin (Taimyr Peninsula, Russia);
- south - Cape Piai (Malacca Peninsula, Malaysia);
- western - Cape Roca (Portugal);
- East - Cape Dezhnev (Chukotka Peninsula, Russia).
In the north, the mainland is washed by the Arctic Ocean, in the west - the Atlantic, from the east the Pacific, and in the south - the Indian.
From other continents it is separated by straits and seas. North America is located beyond the Bering Strait, and the Strait of Gibraltar, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea separate from Africa, where they are connected by the Suez Isthmus.
Islands of eurasia
They surround the mainland in a semicircle. The islands and archipelagos of Eurasia are more concentrated in eastern waters. But also in the northwestern part there are rather large separate islands or groups of islands.
Mostly groats archipelagos are found in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Small ones are located in the Aegean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The large ones include the Japanese archipelago (Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, Hokkaido), the Philippine Islands (Mindanao, Palawan, Luzon), the Malay archipelago (Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Celebes), British (Great Britain, Ireland).
Now about each in more detail.
The Japanese archipelago consists of four large and 6848 small islands. The first four large ones - Kyushu, Hokkaido, Honshu and Shikoku - account for 97% of the total area of the state, which is 377.9 thousand km 2 (364.4 km 2 is land, the remaining 13.5 km 2 is water). The islands themselves are of volcanic origin and are part of the Pacific volcanic ring of fire, which is the result of strong earthquakes and tsunamis.
The Philippines are washed by the western waters of the Pacific Ocean, consist of three large islands, stretching from north to south. The state also includes 7638 islands. The total area of the entire territory is 299.764 km 2 .
The British archipelago consists of two large islands (Great Britain and Ireland), archipelagos (they include the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland Islands) and other small islands. The entire territory of Great Britain is isolated from the mainland by the straits of the Pas de Calais and the English Channel. Its total area is 325 thousand km 2 .
The Malaysian archipelago is located southwest of the Philippines and is washed by the waters of two oceans: the Indian and Pacific. It is the largest archipelago in the world. Its total area is approximately 2 million km 2 . The largest islands are among the largest in area in the world.
The largest island of Eurasia
The islands of Eurasia are scattered around the mainland, but archipelagos exist. This is a cluster of a large number of islands in a relatively small area. In the central part of the Malaysian archipelago is the third largest island in the world and the largest island of Eurasia - Kalimantan. Borneo is his second name.
The island covers an area of 743,330 km 2 . An interesting fact is the only island in the world that is shared by three states at once: Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia.
Large peninsulas and islands of Eurasia
The peninsula is a part of the land that wedges a certain distance into the adjacent waters of the seas and oceans and is washed by water from all sides, except for one. This side connects the peninsula with the mainland.
The "record holder" of the world was the Arabian Peninsula, whose area is 3.25 million km 2 . It is located in the south-west of Eurasia and is almost completely covered by desert sands. Behind him with a large lag follows the Hindustan Peninsula, located in the south of the mainland. Its area is 2 million km 2 . They are followed by Scandinavian, Yukotan, Balkan, Taimyr, Yamal and many others, whose area is much smaller.
Sakhalin is one of the largest islands of Eurasia. Stretched from north to south. The area of the island is 76,400 km 2 . It is washed by the waters of the warm Japanese and cold Sea of Okhotsk.
Java is considered the most populated in the Malay archipelago. Its area is 132 thousand km 2 (land area 128.297 km 2 ). About 120 volcanoes are located on the island, of which 30 are active. The total length from west to east is 1,000 km.
Sumatra is an island of the Malay archipelago washed by the Indian Ocean. It is the sixth largest in the world. The area is 473.481 km 2 (including adjacent islands, whose area is approximately 30 thousand km 2 ). Earthquakes are frequent here, reaching an amplitude of 7-8 points.