What is the name of the largest continent in the world. The most continents on earth - from the largest to the smallest

About 30% of the surface of our planet is land, which is represented by six continents. They vary greatly in size. And the question arises: "What is the largest continent of the Earth?" You can learn about this from this article.

Eurasia - the largest continent of the Earth

This continent covers an area of ​​about 54,000,000 km2. Thus, it is the largest continent on Earth. At the same time, the number of people living on it has already exceeded 5 billion people, which is about 75 percent of the total population of the planet.

Geographically, Eurasia is also divided into two parts: Europe and Asia. As you know, there are six parts of the world in total, of which Asia is the largest (the mainland on Earth is a purely geographical concept, while part of the world is cultural and ethnographic). It should be noted that Europe accounts for only 20% of the entire area of ​​Eurasia.

The largest continent on Earth is territorially continuous, and the demarcation line between the European and Asian parts is very arbitrary. As a rule, it is carried out along the slopes of the Ural Mountains, along the Emba River, the shores of the Caspian Sea, the southeastern coast of the Black Sea and the Bosphorus Strait.

Eurasia extends from equatorial to subpolar latitudes. At the same time, some of its islands are already located south of the equator line. The length of the mainland from west to east is 18,000 kilometers, and from north to south - 8,000 km.

Eurasia: features of the nature of the mainland

Eurasia is a continent of natural contrasts. After all, here you can meet absolutely everything: the highest snow-capped peaks and deep depressions, cold harsh tundra and hot, huge deserts, impenetrable forests and expanse steppes. In terms of natural diversity, this continent has no equal on our entire planet!

Of course, such geographical diversity is due to the size of Eurasia and its elongation from north to south. All possible natural zones of the Earth are represented on the continent - from arctic deserts to tropical rainforests (there are 14 natural zones in Eurasia). There are more than a dozen large mountain systems on the mainland, within which altitudinal belts have formed.

The highest point in Eurasia (and the planet as a whole) is Mount Chomolungma in the Himalayas. Its height is 8848 meters. The lowest point on the mainland is the Dead Sea depression.

Eurasia: countries and peoples

Interesting origin of the name major continent on the ground. It is curious that at first the entire mainland was called Asia (in particular, Alexander von Humboldt called it that in the middle of the 19th century). But Eurasia was the first to be named by the scientist Eduard Suess, and this happened only at the end of the century before last. This name was assigned to the largest continent.

The largest continent on Earth today has about a hundred countries. All of them are very different in size, economic development, cultural and other features. The contrast of Eurasia is fully manifested in this aspect as well. Can only bring one interesting example. So, on the same continent, the largest world state is located - Russia (area - 17 million km 2) and the smallest - the Vatican (an area of ​​\u200b\u200bonly 0.5 km 2).

Eurasia is characterized by an amazing diversity of cultures, languages ​​and dialects. Especially when it comes to Asia. So, in India alone, people speak more than 800 languages ​​and dialects!

Eurasia: records and amazing facts

Finally, to summarize all of the above, here is a list of the most famous and amazing records of the territory we are considering. So:

• Eurasia is the most populated continent on the planet. About five billion people live here (only in India and China, the population exceeds two billion).
• Eurasia is the only continent that is washed by all the oceans of the planet at once.
• It is here that the largest lake in size - the Caspian Sea - is located.
• Behind this mainland there is another "lake" record: the most deep lake on Earth (Baikal) "registered" precisely here.
• The highest and lowest points of the planet are located in Eurasia.
• The shallowest sea on Earth (Azov) is also located here (imagine: its depth does not exceed 15 meters!).
• It is on the map of Eurasia that you can find 4 seas with "color" names: Black, White, Red and Yellow.
• This continent is the absolute leader on the planet in terms of the total number of mountain systems, the largest among them is Tibet.

As you can see, it is not for nothing that this part of the world is called the largest. The continent on Earth, which has all these amazing records, simply cannot have a small area.

Conclusion

So, we found out that Eurasia is the largest continent on Earth. It occupies a colossal territory of 54,000,000 km2. Over 5 billion people live on these lands. Diversity of languages, wealth of cultural heritage different countries attracts to this mainland a huge number of researchers and ordinary tourists from other continents.

Land makes up one third of the total area of ​​our planet. The earth's surface is divided by oceans into continents. The largest continent on Earth is Eurasia. There are continents that are located in only one of the hemispheres, such as Antarctica, Australia, North and South America. Continents such as Africa and Eurasia are located in all hemispheres of the Earth. Recall that it divides the Earth into the east and the border between the south and north runs along the zero parallel (equator).

In the distant past, about a quarter of a billion years ago, there was one continent on Earth - Pangea. As a result endogenous processes Pangea split into Laurasia and Gondwana. Still later, the final division of land into modern continents took place. Scientists believe that such a transformation of the land surface is not the last. According to experts, in the future, flooding of many land areas and a partial rise of the ocean floor may occur.

Eurasia is the largest continent

The territory of the mainland occupies about 36% of the entire surface of the Earth, it is stretched for 16,000 km from east to west and 8,000 km from south to north. There are about 100 states on the mainland. The largest continent on Earth includes Asia and Europe. The dividing line between them conditionally runs along Ural mountains. Closest to - Africa.

"The most" - not only in terms of area

Answering the question of which continent of the Earth is the largest, it should be noted that not only the size of Eurasia is outstanding.

It is here that the greatest mountain system, Tibet, is located, in which the highest point in the world - Everest (Chomolungma) is located.

The mainland is located in all climatic zones and belts. In Eurasia, there is a pole of absolute cold in the northern part of the Earth - this is Oymyakon.

The whole world is located here - Baikal. It is Eurasia that owns the greatest peninsula of the world - Arabian.

The largest continent on Earth is washed by the waters of all oceans. Eurasia at its northern borders has the largest oceanic shelf.

The most numerous countries in the world, such as India and China, are located on this continent.

The largest continent on Earth has a lot of features. The location of the continent in all provides a variety of flora and fauna. The vast territory contributes to the diversity of soil types and the presence of water resources of terrestrial and underground origin. The mineral pantry of Eurasia is represented by almost all chemical elements included in the periodic table. States located on the mainland have adjacent borders, which facilitates economic cooperation between them. The large number of peoples and ethnic groups living on such a vast territory allows them to exchange cultural and historical heritage. Well, the most important thing is our mainland, here is our country, our Motherland, in the name of which all our feats of life will be accomplished.

What continents are on the planet?

Those for whom the school geography course was not in vain remember that there are only six continents on our planet: Eurasia, Australia, Antarctica, North America and South. Which of them is the largest and what is its area?

The mainland is a vast expanse of land, which is washed by the seas and oceans. The word "continent" is also used to designate it. The boundaries between the continents on earth pass along the isthmuses: between North and South America - along the Isthmus of Panama, between Asia and Africa - along the Suez Canal.

The largest continent is Eurasia, which is washed by 4 oceans at once: Indian (south), Arctic (north), Pacific (east) and Atlantic (west). Eurasia is located in the Northern Hemisphere, but some of its islands are located in the Southern Hemisphere.

The area occupied by the largest continent of the Earth is 3.3 million km², which is more than 1/3 of the entire land area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe planet, or, more precisely, 36%. The area of ​​all the islands of Eurasia is almost 2.5 million km².

From a geological point of view, the largest continent is different from all other continents. It is composed of several platforms and plates that formed during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic periods, which suggests that Eurasia is also the youngest of the six continents. In addition, on the territory of Eurasia there is an incredible number of rather large faults, as well as cracks, which are concentrated mainly in Siberia, Tibet and other regions.

The relief of the mainland is extremely diverse, the largest mountain systems and plains of the world ( West Siberian Plain, East European, Tibetan Plateau) are located in Eurasia.

highest mainland

In addition, Eurasia is also the highest continent: its average height is 830 m. The highest mountains, the Himalayas, are also located in Eurasia, and the mountain systems of the Himalayas, Tien Shan, Pamir, Hindu Kush, etc. form the largest mountainous region on the planet . In general, the mountains of this continent, together with its plateaus, occupy almost 65% of the entire territory of the mainland. In Iceland, Kamchatka, some islands South-East Asia and the Mediterranean Sea, as well as some other areas have active volcanoes.

The relief of some mountainous and northern regions of the continent was affected by ancient glaciation, as a result of which almost 11 million km² are occupied by permafrost rocks (mainly in Siberia). In the highlands, in Iceland and on the islands of the Arctic, glaciers remain. In the northeast of the mainland, in Oymyakon, as well as Verkhoyansk, there are cold poles.

Other mainland records include: the deepest lake - Baikal, the largest lake - the Caspian Sea, the largest peninsula - Arabian, the highest mountain - Chomolungma, the largest geographical area - Siberia and the lowest point - a depression in the Dead Sea.

Eurasia is the only continent where absolutely everything is represented climatic zones and climatic zones, as well as all natural zones, which is associated primarily with the incredibly large sizes continent, as well as its extent. And here all 4 types of air masses dominate.

Eurasia is also the most populated continent. According to 2010 data, more than 4.7 billion people live here, which is almost 3/4 of the entire population of the Earth. The largest continent of the Earth is also distinguished by the diversity of the peoples inhabiting it. Basically, all peoples belong to one of two races - to Caucasoid (inhabitants of Europe, most of India and South-West Asia) or to Mongoloid (all inhabitants of Asia except its South-Western part). In general, racial, like ethnic composition Eurasia is quite diverse and this is due, first of all, to the centuries-old migration of the people, which occurred as a result of wars, conquests, natural disasters etc. The most numerous nationality is the Chinese.

Population of Eurasia

On the largest mainland, as well as the islands adjacent to it, there are two largest countries in terms of population - China and India. In addition, there are five countries in Eurasia, each with a population well over 100 million people: Russia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Japan, and Indonesia.

Before finding out which continent is the largest, you need to decide what, in fact, the very concept of “mainland” is. In fact, there is no strict definition - this is the name of a significant landmass. There are many islands in the world, but if you look at the world map, they immediately stand out large territories surrounded by the oceans. These are the continents, and there are six of them in the world - Antarctica, North and South America, Africa, Australia and Eurasia. Although in European countries it is believed that there are five continents, North and South America are considered to be one continent.

At first, when “God created the earth”, or rather, in the youth of our planet, there was only one continent - Pangea. This was reported back in 1912 by the geophysicist Alfred Wegener. He also suggested that all modern continents are fragments of Pangea, which have moved away from each other over billions of years, because lithospheric plates- parts earth's crust are constantly in motion. At first, this theory was not taken seriously, but in 1968, both geophysicists and geologists finally came to an agreement. It was not only proven, but also measured the speed of the continents, and even their direction. The continents, according to measurements, move at a speed of 6 - 8 centimeters per year.

Pangea, having broken up about 200 million years ago, did not at all form all the modern continents. It turned out only two large pieces - the mainland - Laurasia and Gondwana. And only 180 million years ago, during the Jurassic period, they split into smaller parts. From Laurasia came North America and Eurasia, and from Gondwana - Hindustan, a single mainland with South America and Africa, and a single Antarctica with Australia. By the way, South America then separated from Africa and joined the united Australia with Antarctica. And only very recently it joined with North America, so these two continents have practically nothing in common either in flora or in fauna. Everything on them developed in its own way, mixing occurred only in the modern era.

The largest continent, which turned out from all these "stray" pieces - Eurasia. Ancient Laurasia gave rise to two continents - Eurasia and North America. And although over time Greenland moved away from Eurasia, but even more Hindustan, which was also once a separate continent, joined.

As a result, the territory of Eurasia is the largest of the modern continents - almost 54 million square kilometers, or more than a third of all land on Earth. It is on the territory of Eurasia that about 75% of the population of our planet lives. It contains the most populated states - China and India. Russia, too, by the way.

The very name "Eurasia" comes, as you might guess, from two words - "Europe" and "Asia". IN different times the mainland was called differently - and simply Asia, and Europe-Asia. The ancient Greeks called the land to the east of the Bosphorus Asia, and to the west - Europe. For the first time the name "Eurasia" was used by the geologist Eduard Suess in 1883. Since then, this name has become generally accepted.

The name says that on the mainland there are two parts of the world - Europe and Asia. Indeed, they are separated historically, although there is no strict separation between them - this is one mainland. The "border" was drawn along the Ural Mountains, the northwestern shore of the Caspian Sea, the eastern and southern shores of the Black Sea, and then - the Bosphorus and up to Strait of Gibraltar separating Eurasia from Africa.

Europe and Asia have differences in climate, flora and fauna, geological structure Finally, even the cultures of the population are different. In Asia, most of the territory is occupied by mountains and plateaus, while in Europe there are relatively few mountains. The Tibetan Plateau is the highest on Earth, with the highest peak world - Everest, located in Asia. The deepest lake, Baikal, is also located in Asia.

Eurasia is washed by four oceans - the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic and Arctic. No other continent can boast of this more. The vast territory of the mainland is the reason for the very different climate on its territory - from polar to tropical.

Russia occupies a huge part of Eurasia, although its population is not very large. Most of the territory of Russia is occupied by inaccessible and difficult to develop northern regions. Russia has the largest natural area- Siberia. Its vast territory has many yet undiscovered riches and unexplored territories.

Each continent has its own unique properties. But Eurasia, as the largest, has the most of them. And although it would seem that they began to study the world precisely from her, it will not be possible to comprehend all the secrets very soon.