Continent Earth Area

Each of the seven continents has a different shape, and each of these shapes contributes to the country boundaries. What is considered a continent by one person can be considered a sea feud by another. For example, Pakistan is sometimes considered part of Asia, and sometimes considered to be in South Asia. Also, there are significant differences in the names given to different continents. For example, Australia has the longest name of any continent (in one language), and most people just call it “Australia” these days. The names of continents outside Europe come from ancient Greek and Roman times. The largest islands are often named after these ancient peoples or places. This article will highlight the seven continents around the world with respect to the land area of each continent.

What is a Continent?

A continent is a large landmass, usually defined by convention rather than any strict criteria. The term is also applied to islands of continental size. This can be a matter of opinion and perspective. The most commonly accepted definitions of “continent” are:

a large landmass, usually defined in terms of the population inhabiting the map area.

How Many Continents are there in the world?

The accepted convention is seven. The major landmasses of the earth are grouped into seven continents, and these have been named:

•       Asia
•       Africa
•       North America
•       South America
•       Antarctica
•       Europe
•       Australia

There is an eighth continent, Zealandia. Zealandia was once part of the Gondwana supercontinent but became separated when the Indo-Australian plate shifted in a northeast direction.

Denali (Mount McKinley) in Alaska is sometimes referred to as the “ninth continent”. This name has not found widespread acceptance because Denali is linked geologically to North America.

Which is the Largest Continent in the world?

The world’s largest continent is Asia. It is also the most populous continent at about three billion people. China and India are the most populous countries on this continent, with nearly a quarter of the world’s population.

China and India have more people than all other continents combined – 3,110,000,000 (world census 2013)  Asia with an area of approximately 1.3 million square miles has a population of 3,101,000,000 (world census 2013), or almost 4 times that of Australia which has a population of 25 million. The total land area is roughly equal to that of Australia and is slightly more than half that of Africa.

Area of Earth:

The total area of earth is approx. 510 million square kilometres. The area of Asia is slightly more than half of this figure at approx. 350 million square kilometres, that is to say it covers 1/3rd of all land on the planet Earth.

Facts about the Continents of the world:                                        

1) Asia is the most populated continent.

2) Antarctica is the coldest continent. Its average annual temperature is -30°C (-22°F). The Arctic Ocean has a more temperate climate with temperatures of 10–20°C (50–70°F).

3) Australia and Antarctica are the only continents that do not fit the ‘continent’ concept.

4) In some older geologic references, ‘Europe’ refers to all of continental Europe plus Scandinavia and North Africa. ‘Africa’ is used in some geologic references to include what are now known as Eurasia and North America.

5) Some older reference sources may use the terms “Palaeo Gea” and “Laurasia” as alternative names for the continents—or they may use these terms to refer only to a smaller area within these continents.

6) Australia was not part of any of the supercontinents formed in the past. It is a very old continent, growing from a submerged laurasia over 400 million years ago.

7) The word continent comes from the Latin word ‘continentia’ which means to “elevate or rise high.” This means that when we look at a map, all of the land connected together seems to rise high above sea level.

Conclusion:

Asia is the most populated continent and considered to be the largest continent on earth with an area of 34% of the Earth’s land surface and with a population over 4.4 billion, it has almost 60% of the world’s population. After Asia, Europe is the second largest continent in area and the second most populous continent in the world. Many people throughout history have had a vision of a supercontinent which would join all of these landmasses together. The supercontinent Pangaea used to cover almost all of Earth’s land masses before it broke up into seven continents.