How many continents on Earth, in the world: a list with names, area. What is the largest continent on the globe and what is its area? Continent and the mainland: What is the difference?

Interesting facts about the Continents of the Earth.

Content

What is a continent? This term itself sounds impressive. We involuntarily imagine something large-scale, which cannot be covered with an eye at a time. When someone pronounces this word, the thought flies into my head that we are talking about a huge earthen mass that is being swimming on our blue planet and keeps a wide variety of living creatures. No less interesting is the word "mainland", but do we understand the meaning of these words correctly? Well, let's understand this at first glance not a very easy issue.

How many continents on Earth, in the world: a list with names, area

Before we move on to the number of continents, let's see what the continent actually is grief.

According to terminology, this, as stipulated above, is a large earthen massif, which is practically not covered with the waters of the ocean and is called land. Only the edges of this array, leaving deep, are affected by the ocean. Since they are under water, these edges are inaccessible to the human eye (unless, of course, you are a scientist studying this side of land, which has several submarines in stock).
There is a well -known fact that on our planet we have only six continents. This list includes: Australia, Antarctica, Old Light (Africa and Eurasia) and New Light (North and South America).
These earthen blocks are impressive with their sizes and numbers indicating their area. Thanks to measurements, we know that the area, for example, Australia, is 7,692,000 km². And it is precisely Australia that is the smallest continent of the planet, which we can judge by the map of the world, at least. By the way, this is the only continent that is busy with one state!
Although Australia and the smallest continent, this does not prevent her from being the first in other nominations. As it turned out, in Australia we can see the longest wall in the world. And this is not at all about the great Chinese wall, which is considered to be the largest. This is the so -called “dog fence”, which divides the entire continent into two parts - in one of them there is a natural habitat of wild dogs of Dingo, they forced the Australians to build this “fence” with their gluttony to protect their pastures. The length of this structure is amazing - 5614 km of a reliable obstacle to Dingo.
It is also worth mentioning that Australia is the only mainlandon which not a single active volcano was found. And even if this is not too much amazing, you can also say that it is on this continent that you can find the cleanest air on the planet, namely, in Tasmania (this is one of the areas).
Australia, as a continent, has many interesting places that occupy first places in a variety of nominations (for example, a large barrier reef, as the largest coral structure; or the most white sand of the Hyams beach, which is even listed in the Guinness Book of Records).
As for Antarctica, this is the mainland that is located in the very south of our planet Earth and it is considered to be the kingdom of ice and cold. As you know, this is the highest continent in the world (altitude above sea level - more than 2000 m) and its area is 14,107,000 km², that is, almost twice as large, Um Australia.

Interestingly, it is this continent that contains about 70% of the planet's fresh water reserves. Where is there so much water from, you ask? Of course, she is there in the form of ice! Antarctica is considered not only the coldest continent, but also the most dry. The most powerful wind in the world that can take you like a fluff is freely walking through the dried deserts. A wonderful place, isn't it? It becomes even more remarkable when during winter frosts it doubles - the nearby seas are covered with a crust of ice with a fairly high speed - about 65 thousand km² per day!
This mainland is covered with ice masses so tightly that only occasionally you can see the Earth itself. It is also known that it was in Antarctica that the most huge and impressive iceberg was found-his name B-15 and this block of ice has 295 km in length and 37 km in width. It is like a separate island from ice alone.
What about belonging to some state, this continent is completely free-this is a neutral zone that is available only to tourists and scientists. The second is always there work - despite cold and dryness, in Antarctica we can find a variety of fauna, which has adapted to such strong colds and feels quite comfortable in such conditions. You can spend a lot of time on their study. Ah, yes, there is no time on this mainland. How can it be? And so that this is also a neutral temporary zone - everyone who is on the continent live in the time of the country from which they arrived.
From one of the coldest places, we smoothly move to one of the most warm - a mainland called Africa, which is part of the General Group Old Light. The African area is 30,370,000 km² and is the second in area among all existing continents.
Africa herself is unique in that only on this mainland there are places where a person’s leg never stepped. Absolutely untouched flora and fauna. Africa also boasts of the largest sugar in the world of desert, which every schoolboy heard about. It covers as many as 10 countries of the African continent! And even if the desert is not surprised by everyone, then having learned that there are the largest deposits of diamonds and gold, many can suddenly express a desire to get to this mainland in search of wealth.
Surely you heard legends about the mysterious flying of the Dutchman, a mysterious pirate ship. And it is precisely in Africa that is the cape of good hope, which is just associated with this legend.
As for real horrors, this is the fact of loose sands. Terrible, right? But their depth reaches about 150 m.
From sand to water - the Nile River, which is also known much, is the longest river in the world. Its length is 6,650 km, and it flows through 11 countries all of Africa.
The next continent that will be discussed is a new light. As mentioned at the beginning, it consists of two parts called the continents - North and South America.
North America has slightly different numbers regarding the area. It all depends on whether nearby islands are included in the composition, or not. In the first case, the area of \u200b\u200bthis continent is 24.25 million km², in the second - 20.36 million km²
As you know, most of North America is Canada, which is the second largest country in the world.
As for the truly impressive things, it is on the North American continent that the largest and deepest canyon in the world, which is called the Great Canyon. This place is most popular among tourists, many want to take a memorable photo of the canyon, then to brag about this fact.
Many have heard about a person like Christopher Columbus. It was he who was the first European, whose leg stepped to the land of North America, although then he did not suspect that this was not the “earth” where he was heading. Thanks to such a mistake, today we can see such a continent as North America with all its charms, which are especially closely connected with Canada. After all, when mentioning this country, the idea of \u200b\u200bmaple syrup and hockey immediately comes to mind, isn't it?

For many, it will be news that the cause of frequent earthquakes in California is that it is in North America that two tectonic plates are faced, which cause these underground shocks. It’s not enough pleasant, but it is very impressive.
As for the fauna of this mainland, only off the coast of North America can we see flocks of dolphins who hunt groups. You can’t see it with any continent or continent. Ground animals differ little from those that inhabit the mainland of Eurasia, we will talk about it later. Wolves, deer, bears, proteins and many other representatives of the fauna live here.
It can be mentioned that nearby with North America is the largest island of our planet - Greenland, whose name is literally translated as a “green country”. But it is covered with an ice with a thickness of 340 m. It is strange, isn't it? And all because Normanne Eric Rygia called the Green Country only that part of the island that was covered with plants, and this site was not very large. But soon the whole island began to be called so, causing bewilderment to everyone who visited him and did not yet know the reason for such a strange name that did not fully correspond to what he saw.
Turning to South America, it is worth saying that it, like North America, is part of the group New World, which is generalized in one name "America". As far as is known, before, South and North America were not two continents included in the same group, but by a separate continent.
South America is 17.8 million km². In area, it is very little more well -known country of Russia. Also, South America includes clusters of the islands.
This mainland can also surprise with its interesting and unusual places. For example, there is the most salty lake in the world-Salar de-Yuin, which is located in Bolivia. Just imagine the density of this water. It is unlikely that there is some kind of living creature. Although, we all know that the fauna is perfectly adapted to harsh conditions.
We all remember horror films about huge snakes that feed a special love for people in a not quite pleasant sense. So it is in South America that this type of snakes with the frightening name of “Anaconda” lives.
As for other attractions, the highest waterfall in the world - Angel is on this mainland. Its sizes are very inspiring and both tourists and people living here always come to him. Agree, you will never get used to this, even if you live all your life on the same mainland with such a huge waterfall.

What is the largest continent on the globe and what is its area?

As promised, we cross to the largest continent of planet Earth - Eurasia. He is part of the Old World. Its area is quite impressive - 54.3 million km². The population of this continent is more than 70% of the population of the entire planet.

The mainland itself is divided into two parts, united in its name - Europe and Asia. Also, this is the only mainland that, as we know, is washed by all four oceans.
Eurasia also has something to boast of the category of "the most-most." For example, the narrowest strait in the world is the Bosphorus. The largest archipelago is the Sunda Islands.

As for the depth, it is Eurasia that owns the lowest point of land - this is a cavity at the bottom of the Dead Sea. And since it was about the seas, it is worth mentioning that only this mainland has the seas of “four colors” - black, white, yellow and red. Quite unusual diversity.
There is an interesting fact that it was on this continent that such a science as geography was formed. And not surprisingly, because scientific men were quite enough to start studying and drawing some conclusions, creating terms, etc.
And it is on the banks of Eurasia, which, as mentioned, is surrounded on all sides of water, are the largest ports of the world. All amenities for travel, import and export to other continents.

Continent and the mainland: what is the difference, what is the difference?

Meanwhile, I want to ask: “Do you know the difference between the frequently mentioned words“ mainland ”and“ continent? ”

Above these words were mentioned chaotically, mixing when it came to the same part of the land. As far as it is known, these terms are considered synonymous words, as they imply one meaning - land surrounded by water. Regardless of use, the difference between the “mainland” and “continent” only in the fact that phonetically they are pronounced differently, the semantic load does not change.
Therefore, all of the above parts of the world are essentially both continents and continents, this will not be considered a mistake.

So, we examined all the continents of our planet, with all their pleasant and not very pleasant details that will be interesting to both an ordinary person and a tourist or scientist. The continents are not particularly distinguished by the scale, but completely different in terms of other criteria. Each in their own way is unique and worthy of being interesting not only to scientists, but also to ordinary people.