Geologists have already named the two parts of the African Plate. The area of central-eastern Africa is important to scientists who study evolution and the earliest origins of humanity. This area is thought to be the place where hominids began to evolve.
The entire continent of Africa sits on the African Plate. Asia Asia, the largest continent, stretches from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the western Pacific Ocean. There are more than 40 countries in Asia. Some are among the most-populated countries in the world, including China, India, and Indonesia.
The continent of Asia includes many islands, some of them countries. The plateaus in Central Asia are largely unsuitable for farming and are thinly populated. The continent has a wide range of climate regions, from polar in the Siberian Arctic to tropical in equatorial Indonesia.
Southeast Asia, on the other hand, depends on the annual monsoons, which bring rain and make agriculture possible. Asia is the most mountainous of all the continents.
More than 50 of the highest peaks in the world are in Asia. Mount Everest, which reaches more than 8, meters 29, feet high in the Himalaya range, is the highest point on Earth. These mountains have become major destination spots for adventurous travelers. Plate tectonics continuously push the mountains higher.
As the landmass of India pushes northward into the landmass of Eurasia, parts of the Himalayas rise at a rate of about 2. The land there lies more than meters 1, feet below sea level. Although the Eurasian Plate carries most of Asia, it is not the only one supporting major parts of the large continent.
The Indian Plate supports the Indian peninsula, sometimes called the Indian subcontinent. The Australian Plate carries some islands in Indonesia. Australia In addition to being the smallest continent, Australia is the flattest and the second-driest, after Antarctica. The continent is sometimes called Oceania , to include the thousands of tiny islands of the Central Pacific and South Pacific, most notably Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia including the U.
However, the continent of Australia itself includes only the nation of Australia, the eastern portion of the island of New Guinea the nation of Papua New Guinea and the island nation of New Zealand. Australia covers just less than 8. Its population is about 31 million. It is the most sparsely populated continent, after Antarctica. Rainfall is light on the plateau, and not many people have settled there. The Great Dividing Range, a long mountain range, rises near the east coast and extends from the northern part of the territory of Queensland through the territories of New South Wales and Victoria.
Mainland Australia is known for the Outback , a desert area in the interior. This area is so dry, hot, and barren that few people live there. In addition to the hot plateaus and deserts in mainland Australia, the continent also features lush equatorial rainforests on the island of New Guinea, tropical beaches, and high mountain peaks and glaciers in New Zealand. Biologists who study animals consider Australia a living laboratory. When the continent began to break away from Antarctica more than 60 million years ago, it carried a cargo of animals with it.
Isolated from life on other continents, the animals developed into creatures unique to Australia, such as the koala, the platypus, and the Tasmanian devil. The reef itself is 1, kilometers 1, miles of living coral communities. Most of Australia sits on the Australian Plate. Antarctica Antarctica is the windiest, driest, and iciest place on Earth. Antarctica is larger than Europe or Australia, but unlike those continents, it has no permanent human population. People who work there are scientific researchers and support staff, such as pilots and cooks.
The climate of Antarctica makes it impossible to support agriculture or a permanent civilization. Temperatures in Antarctica, much lower than Arctic temperatures, plunge lower than degrees Celsius degrees Fahrenheit.
Scientific bases and laboratories have been established in Antarctica for studies in fields that include geology , oceanography , and meteorology. Antarctica is also an ideal place for discovering meteorites, or stony objects that have impacted Earth from space. The dark meteorites, often made of metals like iron , stand out from the white landscape of most of the continent. Antarctica is almost completely covered with ice, sometimes as thick as 3.
Like all other continents, Antarctica has volcanic activity. The most active volcano is Mount Erebus, which is less than 1, kilometers miles from the South Pole. Antarctica does not have any countries. However, scientific groups from different countries inhabit the research stations.
A multinational treaty negotiated in and reviewed in states that research in Antarctica can only be used for peaceful purposes. Vostok Station, where the coldest temperature on Earth was recorded, is operated by Russia. All of Antarctica sits on the Antarctic Plate. Microcontinents In addition to the seven major continents, Earth is home to microcontinents, or pieces of land that are not geologically identified with a continent. Major microcontinents include:.
Also called cosmic dust or space dust. Gas molecules are in constant, random motion. Also called the Somali Peninsula. The last ice age peaked about 20, years ago. Also called glacial age. Monsoon usually refers to the winds of the Indian Ocean and South Asia, which often bring heavy rains. Regions are the basic units of geography. Sea level is determined by measurements taken over a year cycle. Also called lithospheric plate. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.
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Landforms are natural and distinctive features. Explore how they show up in various landscapes. These resources can be used to teach middle schoolers more about the natural world, its distinctive features, and landscapes. These tectonic plates rest upon the convecting mantle, which causes them to move. The movements of these plates can account for noticeable geologic events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and more subtle yet sublime events, like the building of mountains.
Teach your students about plate tectonics using these classroom resources. Hundreds of years before the arrival of European explorers, the ancient civilizations of South America developed rich and innovative cultures that grew in and amongst the geographic features of their landscape.
The most famous of these civilizations is the Incan Empire. Emerging in C. The Inca relied on the Pacific Ocean and major rivers originating in the Amazon Basin for fishing and trade, as well as rich plant and animal life that they supported. The Inca constructed inns, signal towers, roads, and massive forts such as the famous Machu Picchu, the ruins of which continue to teach archaeologists about the Incan Empire.
Learn more about the history and rich culture of the Inca and the ancient civilizations of South America with this curated resource collection.
Continental drift describes one of the earliest ways geologists thought continents moved over time. No spam ever too, I promise! Sharing's caring! Share this awesome article with your friends, you know u wanna What is a Continent? What Are The 7 Continents? So to confirm, how many continents are there? How many continents in the world? How many continents are there? Relaxing in Antarctica.
How many continents are there in the world? In Tiber, Asia. Dublin, Ireland. Peru, South America. The Olympics originally had 5 rings representing 5 continents. Remember, never travel without travel insurance! And never overpay for travel insurance! You can read my review here , and you can sign-up here Also, if you want to start a blog Got a question?
Wanna comment? Hi there! We wish to visit Chichen Itza and Machu Picchu this summer but with the virus situation is a bit uncertain … As an experienced traveler, what do you advise us — to stay at home this year and delay our trip until the next one or no? Very informative. More room for improvement so Keep it up. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Follow me on Instagram onestep4ward To my mum. Call it male ego, or repressed emotion,.
Looking back at the last couple of weeks in Maurit. UK air miles people!!! Tomorrow is promis. Day 2 and 3, deep in the Sahara. Not much intern. Is this on your bucket list? The world is reopen. Ever flown business class? Iceland and Greenland are far from mainland Europe, but they were both settled by Nordic peoples from Scandinavia ; therefore these areas still connect regarding a cultural ancestry with many Europeans.
However, even though Greenland is governed by Denmark and was settled by Vikings, it is considered part of North America. North America was originally inhabited by numerous tribes of Native Americans, some of which still exist and practice indigenous cultures and traditions. However, they were overwhelmed by European settlers who brought slaves from Africa. These settlers went on to build large farms that supported large cities — and for a long time, both the farms and cities were largely supported by slave labor.
This cultural history makes the United States and Canada very similar to each other and very different from other parts of the world. But what about Mexico? In terms of geographical features, Mexico and Central America , as well as the Caribbean islands, are part of North America.
This answer really depends on whether you ask a geographer or an anthropologist! Each continent is extremely diverse — even Antarctica has various teams of scientists from all over the world, as well as different animals that live there. Think of them as mega-regions — they have some broad, general things in common, but when discussed in terms of individual people groups that live on each continent, there can be profound differences.
For example, the diversity between the Yupik peoples of Alaska and the inhabitants of New Orleans, even though they are on the same continent, are probably greater than the differences between the Yupik and the Ainu peoples of Japan. So keep in mind that studying continents requires thinking in broad, general terms that may not apply to everyone on the continent.
After Asia , Africa is the largest and most populous of the seven continents. It is perhaps the most diverse in terms of cultures, languages, and people groups, some of which are still untouched by Westernization and modernity. Paleoanthropologists believe that humans originated in Africa and that from there, they migrated throughout the rest of the world.
Africa has historically been the home of many great civilizations, such as those of Ancient Egypt , Timbuktu, and Abyssinia. Today, there are 55 sovereign states in Africa, though there are thousands of people groups, many of which speak their own languages, have their own traditions and cultures, and consider themselves to be nations. Today, Africa is best understood as being divided into two regions. North Africa is north of the Sahara desert; its countries are predominantly Muslim, and most of the people speak Arabic.
Sub-Saharan Africa lies south of the Sahara desert, and while it includes many Muslim populations, it also has significant communities of Christians and other religions. Of all the seven continents, Africa suffered the worst effects of colonization. The slave trade led to many Africans being kidnapped and sent to North America to work on plantations.
Countries like Belgium , France , the Netherlands , and the United Kingdom governed countries in such a way that the people were forced into servitude. The colonial governments created countries whose borders were so arbitrary that people groups became separated from each other. The effects on traditional, indigenous culture were disastrous. Many of the long-standing conflicts in Africa today, such as the wars in the Congo, are the legacy of colonialism.
The governments of many African countries are notoriously corrupt, and sadly, genocides, such as those in Rwanda and Sudan , continue to occur. However, one success story is that of South Africa. Following the end of Dutch colonial rule, a policy of apartheid ensured that black Africans had few rights and that whites who lived there enjoyed lifestyles of privilege and prestige.
Thankfully, the fall of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela showed that African countries could heal from the ravages of colonialism. Today in South Africa, though, there are still significant disparities between whites and blacks, and many blacks remain in dire poverty. Today, countries in Africa have some of the lowest human development indexes HDIs in the world.
Nearly all of the 30 countries with the lowest HDIs, as reported by the United Nations, are in Africa; missing from the list is Somalia , in the horn of Africa, which is considered to be a failed state and is one of the most impoverished and dangerous places in the world. However, Africa is abundant in natural resources and hard-working people; what is holding the continent back is the corrupt governments and longstanding conflicts that came to dominate the scene following the withdrawal of colonial governments.
Africa is not poor but rather poorly managed. The Nile River is possibly the longest river in the world though some believe that the Amazon may actually be longer , and it provides water to the countries of Sudan and Egypt. Africa has vast savannahs and woodlands, but the continent is being deforested at twice the global average. Giant land animals, such as elephants, giraffes, and rhinoceroses, are endangered because of poaching.
Given that much of the continent is impoverished and under corrupt governments, addressing the environmental crisis in Africa requires international action. The African Union, which formed in and includes all 55 African countries, can be seen as a corollary to the European Union.
It has strengthened relations among nations in Africa and hopes to work to decrease poverty and end human rights violations. One notable sign of success in Africa is that during the civil war in the Congo, neighboring African countries, rather than Western countries, have been intervening and attempting to promote peace and reconciliation.
With assistance from international organizations, countries all across Africa will become even more empowered to lift themselves out of poverty and address the environmental crisis. It is connected to the main land mass of Europe , with the border defined somewhat by the Ural Mountains that run through Russia and the Bosphorus that cuts through Turkey.
Two countries are split between Europe and Asia: Turkey and Russia. There are many large regions inside of Asia. The Middle East stretches from Turkey through Saudi Arabia and is dominated by Sunni Islam and the Arabic language, although a significant number of Christians, Jews, and followers of other religions and speakers of other languages live there, as well. Central Asia goes from Iran to the border of India. India is considered a region in and of itself, but it has similarities, as well as conflicts, with its neighboring countries that were carved out of it — Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Southeast Asia includes many coastal and island nations, such as Myanmar , Thailand , the Philippines , and Indonesia. In other words, Asia was the part of the world that was not European, and the idea of a European identity was based on the idea that Europeans were not Asian. The conflicts between Pakistan and India today, as well as many other conflicts in Asia, are the legacies of European colonization in Asia.
That said, before colonization, Asia had some of the earliest civilizations and greatest empires in the world. Asia has some of the most extreme geography on the planet.
The Himalayas are the largest mountain range in the world, and the Gobi desert is one of the largest deserts in the world.
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