Continents and continents. Continent and mainland - two big differences

Consists of water and land. The World Ocean accounts for 70.8% of the Earth's surface, which is 361.06 million km2, and the land share is 29.2%, or 149.02 million km2.

The entire landmass of the Earth is conventionally divided into parts of the world and continents.

Continents of the Earth

continents, or continents- these are very large areas of land surrounded by water (Table 1). There are six of them on Earth: Eurasia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica and Australia. All continents are quite well isolated from each other.

The total area of ​​all continents is 139 million km2.

A piece of land that juts out into an ocean or sea and is surrounded on three sides by water is called peninsula. The largest peninsula on Earth is the Arabian (its area is 2,732 thousand km 2).

A small piece of land compared to the mainland, surrounded on all sides by water, is island. There are single islands (the largest is Greenland, its area is 2176 thousand km 2) and clusters of islands - archipelagos(eg Canadian Arctic Archipelago). Based on their origin, the islands are divided into:

• continental - large islands that have separated from the continents and are located on the underwater edge of the continents (for example, the island of Great Britain);
• oceanic, among which there are volcanic and coral.

Perhaps, greatest number volcanic islands can be observed in the Pacific Ocean. Coral (organogenic) islands are characteristic of the hot zone. Coral structures - atolls have the shape of a ring or horseshoe with a diameter of up to several tens of kilometers. Sometimes atolls form truly gigantic clusters along the coast - barrier reefs(for example, the Great Barrier Reef along the east coast of Australia is 2000 km long).

Parts of the world

In addition to dividing the land into continents, in the course of cultural and historical development there was another division parts of the world, of which there are also six: Europe, Asia, America, Africa, Antarctica and Australia. Part of the world includes not only the mainland, but also the islands adjacent to it. Islands significantly removed from the mainland Pacific Ocean form a special group called Oceania. The largest of them is Fr. New Guinea(area - 792.5 thousand km 2).

Geography of continents

The location of the continents, as well as differences in the properties of waters, the system of currents and tides makes it possible to divide, called oceans.

Currently, there are five oceans: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and since 1996, by decision of the Commission on Geographical Names, the Southern. More detailed information about the oceans will be given in the next section.

Table 1. General information about the continents

Characteristics			North America	South America	Australia	Antarctica
Area, million km 2 without islands with islands
Coastline, thousand km
Length, km: from North to South from west to east
Extreme points
northern	m. Chelyuskin 77°43" N	m. Ben Sekka 37°20" N	Cape Murchison 71°50"N	m. Gapyinas 12°25" N	m. York 10°41" S	Sifre 63° S
	m. Piai 1° 16" Media.	m. Igolny 34°52" S.Sh.	m. Maryato 7° 12" N	m. Frowerd 53°54" juli.	m. South-East 39°11" S.
western	M. Roka 9°34" W	m. Almadi 17°32" W	Prince of Wales m. 168°00" W.	m. Parinhas 81°20" W	m. Steep Point 113°05" E.
eastern	m. Dezhneva 169°40" W.	m. Ras Hafun 51°23" E.	m. St. Charles 55°40" zl.	m. Cabo Branco 34°46" W.	m. Byron 153°39" E.

Instructions

Look at how the position of the continent compares to other continents, the equator, the north and south poles, in which hemisphere the continent is located, for example, North America is in the northern hemisphere, and Africa crosses the equator. Describe this in as much detail as possible.

Carefully study the coordinate grid and find the coordinates of the continent: the northernmost (upper), southern (lower), western (right) and eastern (left) points. To find the coordinates of a point, find the latitude and longitude.

Count the latitude from the equator; if you go up from the equator, then the latitude value will be positive, if you go down, it will be negative. It is impossible to determine the exact value on paper; estimate approximately using the drawn parallels (horizontal lines). That is, if your point (for example, Cape Agulhas - the southernmost point of Africa) lies between the parallels of 30° and 45°, divide this distance by eye and determine about 34° - 35°. For a more accurate determination, use an electronic map or geographic atlases.

Count longitude from the prime meridian (this is a line passing through London). If your point lies to the east of this line, put a “+” sign in front of the value, if to the west, put a “-”. In the same way as latitude, determine longitude, only not by horizontal, but by vertical lines (meridians). The exact value can only be determined from an electronic map or using a sextant.

Write down the coordinates of all the extreme points of the continent in the form (latitude from -90° to +90°, from -180° to +180°). For example, the coordinates of Cape Agulhas will be (34.49° south latitude and 20.00° east longitude). Modern notation of a coordinate system involves notation in degrees and decimals, but previously the measurement in degrees and minutes was popular; you can use either one or the other recording system.

At the globes and geographical maps There is own system coordinates Thanks to this, any object on our planet can be applied to them and found. Geographic coordinates are longitude and latitude, these angular quantities are measured in degrees. With their help, you can determine the position of an object on the surface of our planet relative to the prime meridian and equator.

Instructions

Instructions

Determine whether a river flows in a part of the continent. In the northern regions, precipitation quickly accumulates into ice, so there are no rivers with rapid currents there. In the south, on the contrary, rain moisture quickly evaporates, so there are no rivers there either. The deepest rivers with fast and turbulent currents are observed in the middle part of the country.

Find out where the river flows. All rivers flow into seas or oceans. The junction of the river and the sea is called the mouth.

Determine in which direction the river flows. There will be no problems with this, since the direction of river flow is from source to mouth.

Also, for a complete geographical study, establish how the river flows (i.e., what kind of current is there: fast, slow, torrent), depending on the terrain.

Determine the type of river. All rivers are divided into mountain and lowland. In the mountains the current is fast and stormy; in the lowlands it is slow, and the valleys are wide and terraced.

Explain the economic and historical meaning rivers. After all, throughout the development of mankind, rivers played significant role in the development of the area. Since ancient times, they have been used as trade routes, for fish farming and fishing, timber rafting, water supply and field irrigation. Since ancient times, people have settled on the banks of rivers. Now the river is the main source of hydroelectric power and the most important transport route.

Video on the topic

What is tundra?

The natural area is located in the northern hemisphere and covers the northern part of Russia and Canada. Nature here is very sparse, and the climate is considered harsh. Summer is practically absent - it lasts only a few weeks, and the temperature, as a rule, stays at 10-15 degrees Celsius. Precipitation occurs frequently, but the total amount is small.

The tundra extends along the entire coast of the Arctic Ocean. Due to constant low temperatures, winter lasts here for about nine months (temperatures can reach -50°C), and the rest of the time the temperature does not rise above +15°C. Low temperatures also lead to the fact that the ground is frozen all the time and does not have time to thaw.

There are no forests or tall trees here. In this area there are only swamps, small streams, mosses, lichens, low plants and shrubs that can survive in such a harsh climate. Their flexible stems and short height allow them to adapt to cold winds.
However, the tundra is still a nice place. This can be especially noticeable in the summer, when it sparkles with different colors thanks to the many delicious berries, which spread in a beautiful carpet.

In addition to berries and mushrooms, in the summer you can find herds of reindeer in the tundra. At this time of year they feed on whatever they find: lichens, leaves, etc. And in winter, deer feed on plants that they take out from under the snow, and can even break it with their hoofs. These animals are very sensitive, have great charm, and also know how to swim - reindeer can freely swim across a river or lake.

Flora and fauna

The flora in the tundra is very poor. The soil of this zone can hardly be called fertile, since most time she is frozen. Few plant species can survive in such difficult conditions, where there is little heat and sun rays. Mosses, lichens, snow buttercups, saxifrage grow here, and some berries appear in the summer. All plants here are of dwarf growth. The “forest”, as a rule, grows only to the knee, and the local “trees” are no taller than an ordinary mushroom. Geographical position It is completely unsuitable for forests, since the temperature here remains low for many years in a row.

As for animals, the tundra is most suitable for those that prefer the sea. Due to the large amount of water in these places, there are many waterfowl- ducks, geese, loons. The fauna of the tundra is rich in hares, foxes, wolves, brown and

Northernmost point of Africa

The most extreme point The African continent has the following latitudes: 37° 20′ 28″ north latitude and 9° 44′ 48″ east longitude. Thus, it can be stated that this point is located on the territory of one of small states V North Africa- in Tunisia.

A closer look at the characteristics of this point shows that it is a cape projecting quite far into the Mediterranean Sea. The Arabic name of this world-famous point is pronounced “Ras al-Abyad”, but quite often you can find a shortened version of this phrase - “El Abyad”.

From a substantive point of view, both of these options are legitimate. The fact is that “ras” translated from Arabic in Russian it means “cape”, so the use of the Russian analogue in this situation is quite acceptable. In turn, the word “abyad” can be translated from the original language as “white”, and “el” is just an untranslatable article in this situation. Thus, the name of the extreme northern point of Africa translated into Russian means “white cape”.

However, according to geographers, it is unlikely that this name was assigned to it due to its northern position. Most likely, this name reflects the special color of the sand on this Mediterranean coast.

Other names

At the same time, the cape, which represents the northernmost point of the African continent, has other names. So, at a time when Tunisia was a French colony, in European countries the name was quite common, representing a translation of the Arabic original into French: it was called “Cap Blanc”, which French also meant "white cape". However, the original source of this name was the Arabic name of this geographical point.

Another name common in those days was the name “Ras Engela”, which, by analogy with the modern name, was often shortened to the version “Engel”: in fact, such a name can be translated into modern Russian as “Cape Engel”. Researchers suggest that this African cape could have received its name in honor of the once quite famous German traveler Franz Engel, who accomplished several significant geographical discoveries at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, although his activities were in to a greater extent associated with South America rather than Africa.

Hello geographers! Today I would like to talk about continents, but in general, to learn more about what the word continent means from a scientific point of view, what continents there are on Earth, where the continents get their name from.

There will be separate articles about the continents in more detail that you can read in the same section, or you can click on their names in this article and go to the article specifically about this continent. (If there is an article about this continent, its name is highlighted in blue link).

What is a continent? A continent or continent is a large part of land that is completely washed by water.

Mainland (continent)- this is a large massif, a significant part of which protrudes above the level of the World, and below its level is the periphery. Continental type of structure of the earth's crust 35 - 70 km thick with the presence of a granite-metamorphic ball, characteristic of the continent.

There are 6 continents: North and South America, and Australia, as well There are 7 parts of the world: and South America, Antarctica, Africa, Australia, etc.

There are several islands large sizes(close to the mainland), which are sometimes called "mainland islands". The most famous among them are Madagascar, Greenland, Kalimantan and New Guinea. The continents are surrounded by shallow ocean zones - shelves, with depths usually not exceeding 150 m.

The names of continents and parts of the world have different origins.

For example, the ancient Greeks called all the lands east of the Bosphorus Asia, and those west of it Europe. The Romans divided their Asian (eastern) provinces into Asia Minor and Asia. The name "Africa" ​​too antique origin; it applied only to the northwestern part of the mainland, and did not include Libya, Ethiopia and Egypt.

Ancient geographers envisaged that there should be another big continent in the south, which would balance large land masses in the north, but only in the 17th century. it was open.

Its first name was “New Holland”, and then it was changed to “Australia” (in the 19th century). The first guesses about the existence of Antarctica date back to the 18th century, but the discovery and exploration of this continent dates back only to the 19th – 20th centuries.

No one even imagined the existence of America, and when it was discovered, they mistook it for part of China or India. The term “America” first appeared on M. Waldseemüller’s map (1507); he called New World in honor of the explorer and geographer. Most likely, it was A. Vespucci who first realized that Columbus had discovered a new continent.

The term “mainland” itself, in the modern sense, appeared in England in the 17th century.

94% of the land area is made up of continents and 29% of the total surface area of ​​the Earth. But not the entire area of ​​​​the continents is dry land, since there are large ice-covered areas, lakes and inland seas. The boundaries of continents were often the subject of disagreement.

Asia and Europe usually share a watershed Ural mountains, but to the south the border becomes less expressive and is again defined only in the Greater Caucasus. Further, the border runs to the Bosphorus, dividing Turkey into Asian and European parts. A similar problem arises in Egypt: the Sinai Peninsula is often classified as Asia.

From a geographical point of view, all of Central America, including Panama, is included in North America, but politically it is often practiced to include all territories located south of the United States to Latin America.

Now you can dot all the “i”s regarding the continents, and also add useful information to your processor called the brain😉 Read new articles on the site about the planet, thank you for your attention.

Continents and their sizes

Mainland	Land area, million km 2	Shelf area, thousand km 2	Length coastline(without islands) thousand km
Eurasia	53,4

Continent(from Latin continents, genitive continentis) - a large mass of the earth's crust, a significant part of which is located above ocean level (land), and the rest of the peripheral part is below ocean level. The continent also includes islands located on the underwater periphery. In addition to the concept of continent, the term continent is also used.

Terminology

Mainland- a vast expanse of land washed by seas and oceans (or land, land - as opposed to water or islands). In Russian, the words continent and continent have the same meaning.

Continents from a tectonic point of view are areas of the lithosphere that have a continental structure of the earth's crust.

There are several continental models around the world (see below). In the post-Soviet space, the model of six continents with a divided America is adopted as the main one.

There is also a similar concept of a part of the world. The division into continents is made on the basis of separation by water, and parts of the world are rather a historical and cultural concept. Thus, the continent of Eurasia consists of two parts of the world - Europe and Asia. And part of the world, America, is located on two continents - South America and North America. In other cases, parts of the world coincide with the above continents.

The border between Europe and Asia runs along the Ural Mountains, then the Ural River to the Caspian Sea, the Kuma and Manych rivers to the mouth of the Don River and further along the shores of the Black and Mediterranean seas. The Europe-Asia border described above is not indisputable. This is just one of several accepted options around the world.

In geology, the continent also often includes the underwater edge of the mainland, including the islands located on it.

In English and some other languages, the word continent refers to both continents and parts of the world.

Continental models

In the world different countries The number of continents is estimated differently. Number of continents in different traditions

• 4 continents: Afro-Eurasia, America, Antarctica, Australia
• 5 continents: Africa, Eurasia, America, Antarctica, Australia
• 6 continents: Africa, Europe, Asia, America, Antarctica, Australia
• 6 continents: Africa, Eurasia, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia
• 7 continents: Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia

The seven continents model is popular in China, India, and partly in Western Europe and in English-speaking countries.

The model of six continents with a united America (we usually call it “Parts of the World”) is popular in Spanish-speaking countries and some of Eastern Europe including Greece with its pentacontinental model (five inhabited continents).

Comparison of area and population

Continent	Length (km from east to west, and from south to north, along the periphery)	Sushi share	Population	Population share
Afro-Eurasia
Oceania

- the largest and only continent on Earth, washed by four oceans: in the south - Indian, in the north - Arctic, in the west - Atlantic, in the east - Pacific. The continent is located in the Northern Hemisphere between approximately 9° W. Longitude and 169°W etc., while some of the islands of Eurasia are located in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of continental Eurasia lies in the Eastern Hemisphere, although the extreme western and eastern ends of the continent are in the Western Hemisphere. Eurasia stretches from west to east for 10.5 thousand km, from north to south - for 5.3 thousand km, with an area of ​​53.6 million km2. This is more than a third of the entire land area of ​​the planet. The area of ​​the Eurasian islands is approaching 2.75 million km2.

Contains two parts of the world: Europe and Asia. The border line between Europe and Asia is most often drawn along the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Emba River, the northwestern coast of the Caspian Sea, the Kuma River, the Kuma-Manych depression, the Manych River, the eastern coast of the Black Sea, the southern coast of the Black Sea, the strait Bosphorus, Sea of ​​Marmara, Dardanelles, Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, Strait of Gibraltar. This division has developed historically. Naturally, there is no sharp border between Europe and Asia. The continent is united by the continuity of land formed on currently tectonic consolidation and unity of numerous climatic processes.

(English North America, French Amérique du Nord, Spanish América del Norte, Norteamérica, Asian Ixachitlān Mictlāmpa) is one of the continents of planet Earth, located in the north of the Western Hemisphere of the Earth. North America is washed from the west by the Pacific Ocean with the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska and California, from the east by the Atlantic Ocean with the seas of Labrador, Caribbean, Gulf of St. Lawrence and Mexico, from the north by the Arctic Ocean with the Beaufort, Baffin, Greenland and Hudson Bay seas. From the west, the continent is separated from Eurasia by the Bering Strait. In the south, the border between North and South America passes through the Isthmus of Panama.

North America also includes numerous islands: Greenland, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Aleutian Islands, Vancouver Island, the Alexandra Archipelago and others. The area of ​​North America including the islands is 24.25 million km2, without the islands it is 20.36 million km2.

(Spanish América del Sur, Sudamérica, Suramérica, port América do Sul, English South America, Dutch Zuid-Amerika, French Amérique du Sud, Guar Ñembyamérika, Quechua Urin Awya Yala, Urin Amerika) - the southern continent in America, located mainly in the Western and Southern Hemispheres of planet Earth, however, part of the continent is also located in the Northern Hemisphere. It is washed in the west by the Pacific Ocean, in the east by the Atlantic Ocean, in the north it is limited by North America, the border between the Americas runs along the Isthmus of Panama and the Caribbean Sea.

South America also includes various islands, most of which belong to the countries of the continent. The Caribbean territories belong to North America. South American countries that border Caribbean Sea- including Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana - are known as Caribbean South America.

The most important river systems in South America are the Amazon, Orinoco and Paraná, whose total basin is 7,000,000 km2 (the area of ​​South America is 17,800,000 km2). Most of South America's lakes are in the Andes, the largest of which and the world's highest navigable lake is Titicaca, on the border of Bolivia and Peru. The largest lake in area is Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela; it is also one of the oldest on the planet.

The tallest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls, is located in South America. The most powerful waterfall, Iguazu, is also located on the mainland.

- the second largest continent on our planet Earth after Eurasia, washed by Mediterranean Sea from the north, Red - from the northeast, Atlantic Ocean from the west and the Indian Ocean from the east and south.

Africa is also the name given to the part of the world consisting of the continent of Africa and its adjacent islands, the largest of which is the island of Madagascar.

The African continent crosses the equator and several climate zones; its peculiarity is that it is the only continent stretching from the northern subtropical climate zone to southern subtropical.

Due to the lack of constant precipitation and irrigation on the bottom of the continent - as well as glaciers or the aquifer of mountain systems - there is practically no natural regulation of climate anywhere except the coasts.

(from Latin australis - “southern”) is a continent located in the Eastern and Southern hemispheres of our planet Earth.

The entire territory of the mainland is the main part of the state of the Commonwealth of Australia. The continent is part of the world Australia and Oceania.

The northern and eastern coasts of Australia are washed by the Pacific Ocean: the Arafura, Coral, Tasman, Timor Seas; western and southern - Indian Ocean.

Near Australia are the large islands of New Guinea and Tasmania.

Along the north-eastern coast of Australia stretches for more than 2000 km the widely known, largest in the world coral reef- Great Barrier Reef.

(Greek ἀνταρκτικός - the opposite of Arctida) is a continent located in the very south of the Earth, the center of Antarctica approximately coincides with the southern geographic pole. Antarctica is washed by the waters of the Southern Ocean. Antarctica is also called the part of the world consisting of the mainland of Antarctica and adjacent islands.

Antarctica is the highest continent, its average height is 2040 meters. The continent also contains about 85% of the planet's glaciers. There is no permanent population on Antarctica, but there are more than forty scientific stations, owned by different states and intended for research and detailed study of the characteristics of the continent.

Antarctica is almost completely covered by ice sheets, the average thickness of which exceeds 2,500 meters. There are also a large number of subglacial lakes (more than 140), the largest of which is Lake Vostok, discovered by Russian scientists in the 1990s.

Hypothetical continents

Kenorland

Kenorland is a hypothetical supercontinent that, according to geophysicists, existed in the Neoarchean (approximately 2.75 billion years ago). The name comes from the Kenoran folding phase. Paleomagnetic studies indicate that Kenorland was located at low latitudes.

Nuna

Nuna (Columbia, Hudsonland) is a hypothetical supercontinent that existed between 1.8 and 1.5 Ga (maximum assembly ~1.8 Ga). Its existence was proposed by J. Rogers and M. Santosh in 2002. Nuna's existence dates back to the Paleoproterozoic era, making it presumably the oldest supercontinent. It consisted of plateau predecessors of ancient platforms that were part of the earlier continents of Laurentia, Fennosarmatia, the Ukrainian Shield, Amazonia, Australia and possibly Siberia, the Sino-Korean platform and the Kalahari platform. The existence of the continent of Colombia is based on geological and paleomagnetic data.

Rodinia

Rodinia (from Russian Rodina or from Russian to give birth) is a hypothetical supercontinent that supposedly existed in the Proterozoic - Precambrian eon. Originated about 1.1 billion years ago and disintegrated about 750 million years ago. At that time, the Earth consisted of one giant piece of land and one giant ocean, called Mirovia, also taken from the Russian language. Rodinia is often considered the oldest known supercontinent, but its position and outline are still a matter of debate. After the collapse of Rodinia, the continents managed to once again unite into the supercontinent Pangea and break up again.

Lavrussia

Laurussia (Euramerica) is a Paleozoic supercontinent formed as a result of the collision of the North American (ancient continent of Laurentia) and East European (ancient continent of Baltica) platforms during the Caledonian orogeny. The names Caledonia, “Old Red Continent”, and “Old Red Sandstone Continent” are also known. During the Permian period it connected with Pangea and became its integral part. After the collapse of Pangea, it became part of Laurasia. It disintegrated in the Paleogene.

Gondwana

Gondwana in paleogeography is an ancient supercontinent that arose approximately 750-530 million years ago, for a long time localized around South Pole, which included almost all the land now located in southern hemisphere(Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia), as well as the tectonic blocks of Hindustan and Arabia, which have now moved to the northern hemisphere and become part of the Eurasian continent. In the early Paleozoic, Gondwana gradually shifted north and in the Carboniferous period (360 million years ago) connected with the North American-Scandinavian continent into the giant protocontinent Pangea. Then, during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago), Pangea split again into Gondwana and the northern continent of Laurasia, which were separated by the Tethys Ocean. 30 million years later, in the same Jurassic period, Gondwana gradually began to break up into new (current) continents. Finally everything modern continents: Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica and the Hindustan Peninsula separated from Gondwana only at the end of the Cretaceous period, that is, 70-80 million years ago.

Pangea

Pangea (ancient Greek Πανγαῖα - “all earth”) is the name given by Alfred Wegener to the protocontinent that arose during the Paleozoic era. The giant ocean that washed Pangea from the Silurian period of the Paleozoic to the early Mesozoic inclusive was called Panthalassa (from the ancient Greek παν - “all-” and θάλασσα “sea”). Pangea formed in the Permian period, and split at the end of the Triassic (approximately 200 - 210 million years ago) into two continents: the northern continent - Laurasia and the southern continent - Gondwana. During the formation of Pangea, mountain systems arose from more ancient continents at the sites of their collision, some of which have existed to this day, for example, the Urals or the Appalachians. These early mountains much older than relatively young mountain systems (the Alps in Europe, the Cordillera in North America, the Andes in South America or the Himalayas in Asia). Due to erosion lasting many millions of years, the Urals and Appalachians are rolled low mountains.

Kazakhstania

Kazakhstania is a Middle Paleozoic continent that was located between Laurussia and the Siberian platform. It stretches from the Turgai trough and the Turan lowland to the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts.

Laurasia

Laurasia is a supercontinent that existed as Northern part the break of the protocontinent Pangea (southern - Gondwana) in the late Mesozoic era. United most of those territories that today make up the existing continents of the Northern Hemisphere - Eurasia and North America, which in turn broke off from each other between 135 and 200 million years ago.

Pangea Ultima

It is assumed that in the future the continents will once again gather into a supercontinent called Pangea Ultima.

(Visited 3,264 times, 6 visits today)