The entire surface of planet Earth consists of the water spaces of the oceans and the land of continental continents. The continents in terms of total area are significantly inferior to the seas and oceans. Four oceans - the Pacific, Arctic North, Indian and Atlantic - occupy about 71% of the planet’s surface, and the area of the continents is, respectively, 29%. The land consists of vast areas forming parts of the world. There are only six of them: Asia, Africa, America, Europe, Antarctica and Australia with Oceania. The first five parts of the world represent countries with a certain status, having demarcated, officially recognized borders that have received international recognition. A part of the world of Australia is supplemented by Oceania, an island state, which in an independent status could not be considered a part of the world.
Parts of the world are divided into continents or continents. America, as part of the world, is divided into two continents - North America and South. Europe and Asia, on the contrary, united in a continental status and the continent of Eurasia appeared. Africa is Africa and remains, be it even a part of the world, even a mainland. The same is with Antarctica. But Australia is called the mainland without the island of Oceania. Continents often do not include islands, although if you summarize the area of all islands, you get an impressive figure. And besides, the island, large or small, is essentially part of the mainland.
Immediately after the separation of all the Earth’s land into parts of the world, there was a secondary separation of the parts of the world into continents. As a result, there are continents and parts of the world on the planet. The largest mainland is Eurasia, whose area is 55 million square meters. kilometers. Then comes the African continent, 30 million. In third place is North America, which has an area of 20 million square meters. km South America has a slightly smaller area of 18 million square meters. km Antarctica - 14 and Australia - 8.5 million square meters. kilometers, respectively. In addition to the area, continents differ in height above sea level, a significant scatter is observed in this indicator. The highest continent on earth is Antarctica, 2200 meters above sea level, Asia - 950 meters, Africa - 750, America - 650, Australia - 340 and Europe 300 meters above sea level.
Asia is the largest part of the world, with an area of over 43 million square meters. kilometers. With the accession of Europe, Asia lost its status as part of the world and became a mainland. In Asia, there are several dozen countries with a population of more than 4 billion people. Asia includes almost all climatic zones, from the equatorial in the south to the Arctic in the northern zone. Together with Europe, Asia forms the continent of Eurasia. The relief of the mainland is diverse, along with the vast plains in Eurasia there are huge mountain ranges, the Himalayas, Tien Shan and Pamir.
In contrast with the mountains, in Eurasia there are deep depressions. For example, the Dead Sea, on the border between Israel and Jordan, is located below sea level by more than 400 meters. The Eurasian continent is a kind of record holder in geographical attractions. In Eurasia, there is the largest lake in the world - the Caspian, Lake Baikal - a natural reservoir with the purest fresh water, Everest - the highest mountain of the planet, the unsurpassed largest Arabian Peninsula, the pole of the Oymyakon cold and, finally, the largest natural zone of the Earth - Siberia.
