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Home  Earth The Continents  |
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___ The Continents of the WorldAfrica, the Americas, Antarctica, Asia, Australia together with Oceania, and Europe are considered to be Continents.The term continent is used to differentiate between the various large areas of the earth into which the land surface is divided. So, a continent is "a large, continuous area of land on Earth". All continents together constitute less than one-third of the earth's surface, that means more than two-thirds of the earth's surface are covered with water. Two-thirds of the continental land mass is located in the Northern Hemisphere. keywords: world continents, Continents and Countries, 7 continents, African continent, American continent, Caribbean, Central America, North America, South America, Asian continent, Central Asia, Middle East, SEA, South East Asia, European continent, Australia/Oceanian continent, Antarctica, map
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Map
of the Continents A map showing the world's continents and regions. |
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How many Continents are there in the world? 5 continentsWe have been taught in school (way back in the 60's in Europe) that there are five continents, Africa, America, Asia, Australia and Europe, for instance symbolised in the five rings of the Olympic Games. 6 continentsHowever, there is no standard definition for the number of continents. In Europe, many students are taught about six continents, where North and South America is combined to form a single America. These six continents are Africa, America, Antarctica, Asia, Australia/Oceania, and Europe. 7 continentsBy most standards, there are a maximum of seven continents - Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America. Many geographers and scientists now refer to six continents, where Europe and Asia are combined (because they're one solid landmass). These six continents are then Africa, Antarctica, Australia/Oceania, Eurasia, North America, and South America. Oceania a continent? Actually, by the definition of a continent as a large continuous area of land, the Pacific Islands of Oceania aren't a continent, but one could say they belong to a continent, e.g. Oceania is sometimes associated with the continent of Australia. |
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 The Olympic Rings, a Symbol that represents the 5 (inhabited) continents of the world: Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania/Australia. The rings were designed by Pierre de Coubertin the "father" of the modern Olympic Games in 1912. |
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The roots of the continents name.
From Latin "continere" for "to hold together", terra continens, the "continuous land". Africa A Roman term Africa terra "African land", the land of Africus, the northern part of Africa, a part of the Roman Empire. The Roman name has possibly its roots in the Phoenician term Afryqah, meaning "colony", as translitered into Roman Latin. America The name America was first used in 1507 by the Cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in its treatise "Cosmographiae Introductio" to name the New World, after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian navigator who made two (or four) trips to America with Spanish and Portuguese expeditions, it was Vespucci who first recognized that America was a new continent, and not part of Asia. Asia Latin and Greek origin - the "Eastern Land", it is speculated to be from the word asu "to go out, to rise," in reference to the sun, thus "the land of the sunrise." Australia Europe Latin and Greek origin. Europa, Europe, often explained as "broad face," from eurys "wide" and ops "face." Some suggests a possible semantic origin by the Sumerian term erebu with the meaning of "darkness" and "to go down, set" (in reference to the sun) which would parallel Orient. Oceania From the French Term Océanie, the southern Pacific Islands and Australia, conceived as a continent". Antarctic Old French: antartique, in Modern Latin: antarcticus, in Greek: antarktikos, from anti: "opposite" + arktikos: "of the north". Other Names for the Continents. "Latin America", the term denotes the regions of the American continent where Romance languages are spoken like in Mexico, in parts of Central and South America and the islands in the Caribbean; ("Latin" here is used as a designation for "people whose languages descend from Latin" especially Spanish, and Portuguese; see also: Languages of the World). "New World" for North America. Occident, (Europe) from the Latin term occidentem "western sky, part of the sky in which the sun sets". Orient, "the East" (originally, usually meaning what is now called the Middle-East) from the Latin term orientem "the east part of the sky where the sun is rising". Far East, the Eastern Hemisphere = Asia. Down Under, colloq.: the term refers to Australia and New Zealand, or Australia alone. |
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