give the details of all major continents
Answers
A continent is one of several very large landmasses of the world. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, they are: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia
1.Antarctica
Of all the continents, Antarctica is the southernmost. According to geographers, the south pole of the earth is contained in Antarctica. Because of these characteristics, this continent is the most uninhabitable in the entire face of the earth. It has a population of less than 5000 people, making it the least inhabited continent on earth. Furthermore, it home to only a few animal and plant species. Only the cold adapted organisms have the adaptive mechanisms to survive in this environment. Antarctica is the coldest continent on earth and most of its landmass is made of permanent glaciers. The glaciers covers approximately 1.9 kilometers thick which translates to about 98% of the entire continent. Among the continents, Antarctica is the fifth largest almost doubling the size of Australia. It is widely known as the coldest, driest, and windiest of all the continents. It is also the continent with the highest elevation and regarded to be a complete desert. The temperature in Antarctica can reach as low as -89 degrees Celsius.
Africa
Africa is the second largest continent and also the second largest in terms of population. It is made up of 54 countries and hosts about one billion people. Most of the human population is Africa are said to be younger than 19 years of age. Out of the entire world’s population, 15% lives in Africa. Africa also constitutes 20% of the total landmass area in the whole world. Africa is centrally located in the earth with the equator in the middle of it. What makes Africa unique is the fact that it has its landmass stretching all the way from the northern temperate to the southern temperate zone. The climate in Africa is widely tropical in nature, but the southern and northern parts have temperate climatic conditions.
Asia is the largest of all continents and covers about 9% of the total earth’s surface. It is the most populated continent on earth with an estimated human population of 4.3 billion people. As such, the Asian population has a significant role to play in the economy of the world.
Asia is situated in the eastern and northern hemispheres of the earth and covers approximately 30% of the earth’s total landmass area. It is historically recorded that the earliest human populations of the earth were from the Asian continent. Accordingly, history has it that 60% of the planet’s mankind populations were previously in the Asian continent. The Asian continent has densely populated settlements with some regions barely populated.
Europe
Europe is the second smallest of all the seven continents. It is composed of the western peninsula of the massive Eurasian land surface area. Europe covers 2% of the Earth’s surface and 6.8% of the earth’s total landmass. Europe is made up of about 50 countries and it’s the third most populated continent. Russia is the largest country in Europe which takes up approximately 40%
Australia
Australia is termed as a single country continent. It is the sixth largest country by total land surface area and remains the smallest among the seven continents. It is also known as the island continent owing to its isolated location and small size. Australia is situated in the Indo-Australian plate and it is encircled by the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
South America
South America is a situated in the western hemisphere with majority of its landmass occupying the southern hemisphere and a small section on the northern hemisphere. On the western side, it is bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean in the eastern and northern side, and Caribbean Sea and North America in the North West side.
It has a population of about 406 million and is ranked as the fourth largest continent in terms of land surface area and fifth in terms of the number of inhabitants. South America has 12 states and it’s a subcontinent of America. It has diverse biodiversity and geographic features.
North America
North America continent lies completely in the northern hemisphere. It is surrounded by Atlantic Ocean in the east, Arctic Ocean in the north, Pacific Ocean in the west and south, and Caribbean Sea and South America in the south east. It covers about 4.8% of the earth’s surface and makes up approximately 16.5% of the entire landmass