A continent is each of the great expanses into which the earth's surface is divided, separated from each other by the oceans. This is also considered as a large area of emerged land that constitutes the lithosphere, along with islands and ocean basins, which are smaller. The hemispheres have very diverse and strange shapes and contours, and they amount to approx. 29% of the total area of the plan Aeta land. Its distribution is very uneven; north of the equator or northern hemisphere, lie more than two-thirds of the continental surface.
What is a Continent
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As already mentioned, this represents immense portions of land present in the terrestrial globe, which are divided by the oceans and some geographical features, historically the planet earth is represented by 5 continents.
This word can also be used as an adjective. In that case, for example, the continent is used as a way of characterizing people who practice the virtue of continence, that is, of the administration and reserve of their instinctual impulses.
The continents have irregular shapes, their contours are very diverse and some as distant as Africa and America are said to have long ago joined.
The word comes from the Latin continent , which means "to keep together" and it comes from the Latin "continents earth", "the continuous lands". Specifically. The expression refers to a great extension of the mainland on the surface of the terrestrial globe. The names of the continents in English are: Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
The oceans cover approximately 71% of the earth's surface, with the Pacific Ocean being the largest, since it occupies a third of the planet earth.
Focusing a bit on the history and geological evolution of the planet, the origin of the hemispheres and oceans has focused on two positions or trends according to scientists and the arguments used for this, some consider a position of fixing the origin of the hemispheres and oceans, trying to explain that their evolution has developed in the same place where they are today, without denying the transformation processes in place, not only due to erosion caused by agents of atmospheric origin whose base is in energy from the sun; but because of the movements of the mantle that cause earthquakes and volcanoes as a result of the internal energy of the planet.
Various researchers have maintained a mobilistic perspective by stating that these continental masses have been moving within the planetary mass and, what's more, they still continue to move as a result of isostatic readjustments caused by the internal currents of the planet that, together with external erosive processes, have shaped the shape of today's hemispheres.
The mobilist theory is the most successful today by science and among them the so-called plate tectonics or the new global tectonics that has its closest antecedents in the theory formulated by Alfred Wegener in 1915 known as continental drift. The tectonics refers to all forms of fracture and folding occurring in the earth 's crust, so it is observed that these fractures are plates that have a certain relationship within a certain area that gives it, a certain homogeneity.
The first global map of the plates appeared in 1968 giving an overview of how many continents there are. However, they have been readjusted according to the advances that science has determined on this aspect. According to this theory, initially there was a single continental mass, called PANGEA, which decomposed under strong internal movements.
How many continents are there
How many continents are there? This is a question that many people ask. In a usual way, the existence of 5 continents in the world has always been indicated, which are: Africa, Asia, America, Oceania and Europe.
The continents of the world according to the different theories:
- On earth there are 5 continents if only those that are inhabited are taken into account and, therefore, considering territories such as Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
- If all fractions of the earth are included, there would be 6 continents on the planet, even though they are not inhabited. Included in this idea is Antarctica.
- If the American continent is divided into its two regions, that is, North and South, there would be 7.
Until now, the scientific community is not completely in agreement with this matter. However, it is true that the pilot of the 5 continents of the earth is the one used by important official organizations such as the United Nations or the International Olympic Committee.
In the pattern of the 6 it is the best known in Latin America and that of the 7 continents is protected by the countries of North America that are distinguished by the use of the English language as an official language.
As has been observed, there is no specific number, since the distribution of the hemispheres, islands and oceans has not always been the same. According to Alfred Wagener in his "theory of continental drift"; More than 200 million years ago, the hemispheres formed a large land mass or supercontinent, which he called Pangea, which was surrounded by an immense ocean (Panthalasa). This great continental mass became irritated, for unknown reasons, and was fragmenting into blocks, which then slowly separated to form the hemispheres that we know today.
Framing like this, how many continents there are or how many are believed to be, in total they would be:
- Africa.
- Antarctica.
- Asia.
- Europe.
- Oceania.
- Zeeland.
What are the continents
America
This continent has a surface area of 42,083,283 km², and a density of 23.6 inhabitants / km², it is separated from Asia by the Bering Strait, bordered to the north by the Arctic Glacial Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and to the west with the Pacific Ocean.
It is made up of 35 countries, including Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador, among others. America can be divided into two or three subcontinents:
- North America: located in the northwestern hemisphere.
- Central America: it widens from the extension of Tehuantepec to the extension of Panama.
- South America: it develops from the isthmus of Panama to Cape Horn.
However, in the United Nations it is believed that there are two American continents: the South American and the North American one that is made up of: Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Europe
It has an area of 10,510,546 km², has a density of 70 inhabitants / km², is made up of 49 countries among which are Germany, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, among others. Europe is the second smallest continent in the world, just ahead of Oceania. It is separated from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Urals to the west and to the Iberian Peninsula.
Asia
It is one of the largest on the planet and has an area of 44.58 million km² and a density of 102.8 inhabitants / km², it is also the most populated, followed by the American, African, Antarctic, and European continents. and the continent Oceania.
Asia is made up of 48 countries, which are: Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Armenia, Bahrain, Burma / Myanmar, Brunei, Bhutan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia among others. This continent has territory in all four hemispheres, but the largest proportions are in the northern and eastern hemispheres. Asia extends from 77º41 ′ north latitude to 1º16 ′ south latitude and 26º4 ′ east longitude and 169º40 ′ west longitude.
Asia is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the south by the Indian Ocean, to the east by the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean and to the west by the Red, Mediterranean, Black, Caspian Seas and the Sinai Peninsula, the Ural Mountains, the Ural River and the Caucasus Mountains.
Africa
It has an area of 44.58 million km² and a density of 33 inhabitants / km², it is made up of 54 countries among which are, Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Ivory Coast, Egypt, among others. It is joined to the Asian continent by the Isthmus of Suez and separated from Europe by the Strait of Gibraltar and expands south to the Cape of Good Hope; It is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, to the east by the Indian Ocean and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean.
Oceania
It is represented with an area of 8,944,468 km², this is the insular continent of the earth constituted by the continental shelf of Australia, the islands of New Guinea, the coral, volcanic archipelagos of Melanesia, Micronesia, New Zealand and Polynesia. Historically, Insulindia was also considered part of this continent. All these islands are distributed throughout the Pacific Ocean.
With an area of 9,008,458 km², it represents the smallest continent on planet Earth. This area is made up of 14 countries among which are: Australia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, among others.
After specifying which are the continents, it should be added that their surfaces show great differences in continental relief; from huge mountain ranges to vast plains and valleys. The climate is also different, there are deserts, areas of perpetual snow, jungles, plains, among others.
Map of the continents
To be able to visualize with greater precision the location of the continents, the following are presented: a map of the European continent, a map of the Asian and the African continent, the map of the Antarctic and Oceanic continents.
What is continental relief
The continental relief consists of all those parts of the lithosphere that are not covered by seawater and some that are covered, and includes all the changes that can occur on the surface of the earth, either at ground level or in the bottom of the sea. The definition of continental relief is based primarily on landforms that exist in the hemispheres and on the continental shelf.
The sixth continent
It is a submerged area in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean that meets the conditions to be considered a continent. A team of scientists began investigating this area of the ocean 20 years ago, but only now have they been able to prove it.
According to Nick Mortimer, the lead research geologist for the GNS Science team, Zealand was formed after the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, 85 million years ago to about 30 million years ago.
The scientist says that at 30 million years, the continent was submerged to the maximum and has since raised parts of Zealand that formed the islands of New Zealand, due to its proximity and convergence with the Pacific-Australia plate.
