15 Interesting Facts About Continents

  1. The concept of 7 continents (Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica) is generally accepted. However, sometimes Asia and Europe (Eurasia) and North and South America (Americas) are combined, which gives rise to 4, 5, or 6 continents theories.
  2. Asia is the largest, most populated, and most densely populated continent of the world.
  3. Antarctica is the smallest continent by population. It has no permanent human residence due to a severe cold climate and complete coverage of ice.
  4. Australia, also known as Oceania, is the smallest continent by area. It is composed of the islands of Australia, Tasmania, and (sometimes) New Guinea.
  5. All seven continents were once part of a single continent, known as Pangaea, around 200 million years ago. This supercontinent gradually separated into its current position around 60 million years ago.
  6. There is no definite or clear boundary between Asia and Europe. Therefore, both these continents are sometimes grouped together and called Eurasia.
  7. Ural Mountains (western Russia), Caucasian Mountains (Russia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan), Ural River (Russia and Kazakhstan), Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea are used as boundaries between Asia and Europe.
  8. All the continents on earth are in constant motion, which can result in their unification or separation. This movement can cause the formation of a new supercontinent in the next 100 million years. (Source)
  9. Areas like Zealandia (New Zealand and its nearby islands), Caribbean islands, Socotra (an island and part of Yemen), Madagascar (an isolated island near eastern Africa), etc. are sometimes not considered as part of any continent due to their geographical location. These areas are known as microcontinents
  10. The Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean separate the Americas (North America and South America) from the rest of the inhabited continents. 
    Political division of the North and South America
    Central America joins the North and South America

  11. North America and South America are joined by the area known as Central America. This area is included in the continent of North America.
  12. Italian explorer Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas (North America and South America). However, both these continents are named after another Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. He was the first man who found that the West Indies and Brazil are not part of India but belong to a separate region.
  13. The names of all the continents start and end with the same alphabet.
  14. Africa has the highest number (54) of sovereign countries. There are merely two countries (Australia and Papua New Guinea) in Australia.
  15. Africa separates from Asia and Europe through the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, respectively. However, the distance between land areas of these continents is very small at various places.

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