What is a Continent?

A continent is a large mass of land on the planet Earth.  Earth has seven continents.  The seven continents are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

Some continents are surrounded completely by water.  Australia/Oceania, Antarctica, and Africa are continents surrounded by water.

Other continents are connected together. North America and South America are connected together and Europe and Asia are connected together.

The continents is size order largest to smallest:

Asia
Africa
North America
South America
Antarctica

Africa

Africa is a huge continent.  It is made up of over 11 million square miles!  There are 54 countries in Africa.

The equator runs through Africa.  The equator is an imaginary line that runs through the middle of the planet separating the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.  The hottest places on earth are located at the equator.  Some of the hottest countries on earth are found in Africa.

More than half of all the diamonds in the world come from Africa.

The ivory coast and Ghana both located in Africa is where most of the worlds cocoa come from.  Cocoa is used to make chocolate.

Mount Kilimanjaro located in Tanzania is the highest point in Africa.  It is over 19,000 above sea level.

The Nile River, the longest river in the world is located in Africa.  it runs through the countries of Egypt, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Zaire.

Antarctica

Antarctica is the southernmost continent.  It is the fifth-largest continent and is the driest and coldest continent. It rarely rains there.

Antarctica is covered with sheets of ice.  These sheets of ice can be over 2 miles thick.

Antarctica is surrounded by the Southern Ocean.

The South Pole is in Antarctica

Antarctica is the least populated continent. People do not permanently live on Antarctica.  There are people who come to the continent to live and work at the research facilities during different times of the year.

Penguins, whales and some seals live in the waters of the southern part of Antarctica.

Asia

Asia is the largest continent.  There are 48 countries that makeup Asia.

It is also the most populated continent.  There are approximately 4 billion people that live in Asia.

Asia is home to Mount Everest, the world’s largest mountain. Mount Everest is located in the Himalayan mountain range located in Nepal and China.

Australia/Oceania

Australia is the smallest of the seven continents. There are 14 countries that make up the continent of Australia/Oceania.  Some of the countries include: Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Papua New Guinea, Figi, Soloman Islands, Tonga and other islands make up the continent of Australia/Oceania.  It is the sixth largest country of the world.

Australia is surrounded by the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

There are over 300 languages that are spoken on the continent.

Australia is home to many animals that only live in that region of the world.  These animals include kangaroo, Koala, wombats and dingo.

There are many indigenous people that live on the continent of Australia/Oceania.  Indigenous people are people who are native to that land, they did not immigrate there nor are ancestors of people who immigrated there.  Indigenous people are considered first people.

Europe

Europe is the second smallest continent.

There are no oceans that separate Asia from Europe.  The Black Sea, The Caspian Sea and the Sea of Marmara divide the two continents.

The Arctic Ocean borders the North, the Atlantic Ocean borders the West and the Mediterranean Sea borders the South part of the continent.

There are 46 countries that make up the continent of Europe.

Europe is home to the world’s smallest country the Vatican.

Europe is also home to the largest country in the world, Russia.  Russia is so big it is located on two continents, Europe and Asia.

North America

North America is the third largest continent is the world.

There are 23 countries that make up North America.  The largest country on the continent is Canada.

The United States is located in North America.

The largest cities in North America include: Mexico City Mexico, New York, New York USA, Los Angeles California USA, Chicago Illinois USA, Dallas-Forth Worth Texas USA, Huston Texas USA and Toronto Canada.

The highest mountain is Mt Denali  in Alaska.

The lowest and driest point is Death Valley Death Valley National Park which is located in California and borders Nevada.

South America

South America is the fourth largest continent.  It is home to 12 countries.

The largest country is South America is Brazil.  Brazil takes up most of the landmass of South America.  Brazil is so large that it is only slightly smaller than the United States of America.

South America is home to the second largest river in the world, the Amazon.

The Amazon the world’s largest rainforest is located on the continent of South America.  The Amazon runs through the counties of Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela.