How many parts of the world are there on earth? Europeans in the 16th century divided the world into four continents: Africa, America, Asia and Europe. Each of them seemed to be its own quadrant of the world. Europe is in the north, Asia is in the east, Africa is in the south and America is in the west. This division corresponded to the trends of that era - then the world was divided into four seasons, four classical elements, four cardinal directions and so on.
Ancient Tripartite World
How many parts of the world are there on earth? At a time when people still did not know anything about America, Australia and Antarctica, there were not so many of them. Before the discovery of the New World, classical and medieval geography distinguished three parts of the Earth - Europe, Asia and Africa. As Laurent de Premierfeit (an outstanding French translator of Latin literature at the beginning of the fifteenth century) once said to his readers: “Asia is one of the three parts of the world that extends to the East until the rising sun.”
If you look through the eyes of a modern geographer, the Ural Mountains, which separate Europe from Asia, are a geological seam between two fragmented continents or cratons. The Hellespont (the ancient name of the Dardanelles Strait) was another separating factor. He neatly separated Europe from Asia. From a European point of view, in the era of Discovery, Asia began outside the Hellespont, where the Roman province was located, stretching to incredibly exotic and distant places ...
How many parts of the world are there on earth?
In the sixteenth century, America was full of bewitching promises of a new world. So the fourth part of the world appeared. Following the official confirmation that Australia was an island continent, the theme of the four continents lost much of its relevance long before the sixth continent, Antarctica, was discovered. However, despite this, the iconography “Four corners of the world” has remained in its original form.
Parts of the world and continents
There are six continents on planet Earth , of which the smallest is Australia, and the largest is Eurasia, which geologically is one, but for convenience it was divided into Europe and Asia. A conditional border was drawn between them along the Ural Mountains.
There are six parts of the world, as well as continents. The most densely populated and alpine is Asia. America consists of two continents, which are interconnected by the Isthmus of Panama. Africa is separated from Asia by the Suez Canal. There are also continents that do not touch the rest - these are Australia and icy Antarctica.
A single array spread out on different sides
It is likely that, as some scientists believe, all continents were once a single, single massif, which, over time, broke into pieces under the influence of the Earth's internal forces. There is an assumption that certain sections of the planet have risen, while others, on the contrary, have descended. The mystery of the appearance of continents still remains an urgent issue in geography, people have only one thing left - to build various hypotheses. Perhaps the future generation of scientists will be able to shed light on the endless secrets of the universe.
What is the difference between parts of the world and continents?
What parts of the world are there and how do they differ from the mainland? Let's get it right. The continents are large segments of land that appear in the lap of the oceans. Parts of the world belong to areas into which the planet’s surface is conditionally divided for historical and cultural reasons. The difference between them is that these concepts are used in completely different spheres. The main difference is that the “mainland” is a geological and geographical term, and “part of the world” is a concept related to history, culture, and politics.
The continents are of interest, first of all, as really existing physical objects. Geology and geography are engaged in their detailed study, including the study of powerful processes that occur on Earth. As a rule, the continents are separated from each other by oceans, but there are those that are the closest neighbors (Eurasia).
How many parts of the world are there on earth? Despite the fact that their borders and the borders of the continents do not coincide 100%, there are also six in terms of their number. Eurasia, for example, is one continent, but is divided into two parts of the world - Europe and Asia. Things are a little different with America. There, two continents form one part of the world. Only Africa, Australia, Antarctica coincide.