Eurasia is the largest continent on our planet. This continent combines Asia and Europe, which, despite the many differences in climate, relief and other characteristics, are one and perfectly complement each other.
For the first time the name "Eurasia" was applied to the mainland by Eduard Suess (in 1880). Before him, this continent was called differently, for example, Alexander Humboldt liked to call it Asia more.
Dimensions of Eurasia
Eurasia occupies 36 percent of the entire land mass of the Earth, which is equal to 54,759,000 square kilometers. 93 states are located on the territory of the continent. No other continent can "boast" of such a number of available countries. The population of the mainland is 3/4 of all those living on our planet - 4,947 billion people (according to statistics from 2010).
Features of the geographical location
As noted above, the continent consists of Asia and Europe. The distinction between these parts of the world is made by mountains, rivers, straits and parts of the seas (for example, the Ural Mountains, the Emba and Kuma rivers, the northwestern part of the Caspian Sea, the Bosporus, etc.). However, if we consider Europe and Asia from a natural point of view, then there are no sharp boundaries between them - the mainland continuously goes in the form of land for 8,000 km from north to south, and from west to east for 16,000 km.
This largest continent is washed by all the oceans on our planet (there are four in total). From the south it is washed by the Indian Ocean, from the north by the Arctic Ocean, from the east by the Pacific, and from the west by the Atlantic. In terms of washing the shores of all the world's oceans, the mainland is the only one on the planet.
relief features
The continent is distinguished by a rather diverse relief. Here are the Tibetan Plateau, the West Siberian and East European Plains (considered one of the largest). The mainland on the entire planet is recognized as the highest - its average height is 830 meters. Approximately 65 percent of the mainland is covered by mountain peaks and plateaus. For example, Eurasia is the location of the highest mountains of our planet - the Himalayas.
Climatic and natural features
Because of the vast size of the continent, everyone is present here. climatic zones and zones. The maritime climate prevails on the islands and in the western part. In the east and south of the mainland, the climate is monsoonal. When moving inland, one can note the predominance of a continental climate (this is especially characteristic when moving from west to east in a temperate climate zone). This climate is most typical for Eastern Siberia.
And natural areas here are characterized by diversity. Highlands and islands in the northern part are covered with glaciers. Eastern Siberia and Far East represent the location of the tundra and forest-tundra. Siberia is almost completely covered with taiga. In the center of the mainland and its southwestern part there are deserts and semi-deserts. The steppe and forest-steppe zones are inherent in the southern part of Western Siberia and the Russian Plain.
What can "boast" of Eurasia?
On its territory, Eurasia has many geographical points that are recognized as the largest: Lake Baikal, the Caspian Sea, Tibet, Chomolungma, the Arabian Peninsula, Siberia. In this regard, the mainland can be called a kind of champion in comparison with other continents that are present on our planet.
Ancient peoples who lived around mediterranean sea, distinguished between Europe and Asia, considering that the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits serve as the border between them, and then the Black Sea and the Tanais (Don) River. It is clear that such a division developed due to the fact that the vast expanses of the mainland were then poorly studied. The Black Sea turned out to be just a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean, an inland sea in the depths of a giant continent, which later received the name of Eurasia. This largest continent on Earth was explored for a long time, its coast was finally mapped only in the 19th century. But there are still many white spots in its depths.
Relief
The landscape of Eurasia is amazingly diverse. There are all kinds of relief here - from vast low-lying plains (West Siberian and East European plains) to high mountain plateaus (Tibet). The highest point on the planet is Mount Chomolungma (8848 m), and the deepest land depression is the coast of the Dead Sea, which lies 427 meters below sea level. Most large lake, which they even hesitated to call a lake - the Caspian Sea - is also located in the center of Eurasia. This continent holds many geographical and landscape records that are difficult to even enumerate. Suffice it to say that one of the six continents of the Earth occupies 36 percent (more than a third!) Of the land.
The largest mountain systems of Eurasia are:
- Himalayas,
- Alps,
- Caucasus,
- Hindu Kush
- Karakorum,
- Tien Shan,
- kunlun,
- Altai,
- Pamir-Alai,
- Tibet,
- Sayano-Tuva highland,
- Deccan Plateau,
- Central Siberian Plateau,
- Carpathians,
- Ural.
But what record does not belong to Eurasia is the possession of the longest or most abundant river in the world. This situation has developed precisely due to the diversity of the continental relief. Numerous mountain systems divide its surface into landscape-isolated regions, preventing water flows from becoming full-flowing and super-extended. The Amazon has become the deepest and longest river in the world, the catchment area of which is almost half the area of South America - the mainland with a simple relief.
natural areas
All the natural zones of our planet are represented in Eurasia. In the far south it all year round the hot and humid world of the equatorial forests, where "the weather is also the climate." As you move north, the climate changes to temperate, where there is already a change of seasons. And in the far north of Eurasia there is a lifeless Arctic desert, where nothing grows and where even the tundra is already south.
Due to the diversity of the relief and the presence of warm and cold sea currents, areas lying at the same latitude can vary greatly in climate. For example, the city of Vladivostok is located almost one and a half degrees south of Crimean Yalta. But the average annual temperature in Vladivostok is +4.4 degrees Celsius, and in Yalta +13.1. On the same latitude as Yalta, there are such world-famous cultural centers as Ravenna and Genoa, which also lie in an area with a warm climate.
In the depths of the territory of Eurasia, at a great distance from the oceans, there are areas with a sharply continental climate. The difference between winter and summer temperatures in such areas reaches very high values. The climate of the inner regions of Mongolia is the most severe. In the Gobi Desert, daily temperature fluctuations can reach 40 degrees - from +20 Celsius during the day to -20 at night. And the absolute annual fluctuations here are even greater - up to 113 degrees: the maximum summer temperature is +58 degrees Celsius, the minimum winter temperature is -55 degrees.
Population
The largest continent on Earth is inhabited by almost 5 billion people, which is approximately 75 percent of the world's population. The most populous are China and India. About half of the inhabitants of the mainland live in these two countries. The population of many countries in South and Southeast Asia is growing rapidly.
The peoples inhabiting Eurasia belong to 21 language families, 4 more languages have the status of an isolate, and 12 languages could not be classified. The most "rich" is the Indo-European language family, consisting of 449 languages included in various groups. And the largest in terms of the number of speakers is Chinese. It is spoken by 1.213 billion people.
During the last century, the population of the continent has grown at a rapid pace. The number of people in China has grown especially strongly. Between 1960 and 2010, its population grew from 680 million to almost 1.4 billion - more than doubling! But thanks to the policy of birth control, the Chinese government managed to stabilize the situation. Today, the population growth rate is 0.49 percent per year, one of the lowest in the world.
What continents are on the planet?
Those for whom the school geography course was not in vain remember that there are only six continents on our planet: Eurasia, Australia, Antarctica, North America and South. Which of them is the largest and what is its area?
The mainland is a vast expanse of land, which is washed by the seas and oceans. The word "continent" is also used to designate it. The boundaries between the continents on earth pass along the isthmuses: between North and South America - along the Isthmus of Panama, between Asia and Africa - along the Suez Canal.
The largest continent is Eurasia, which is washed by 4 oceans at once: Indian (south), Arctic (north), Pacific (east) and Atlantic (west). Eurasia is located in the Northern Hemisphere, but some of its islands are located in the Southern Hemisphere.
The area occupied by the largest continent of the Earth is 3.3 million km², which is more than 1/3 of the entire land area of \u200b\u200bthe planet, or, more precisely, 36%. The area of all the islands of Eurasia is almost 2.5 million km².
From a geological point of view, the largest continent is different from all other continents. It is composed of several platforms and plates that formed during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic periods, which suggests that Eurasia is also the youngest of the six continents. In addition, on the territory of Eurasia there is an incredible number of rather large faults, as well as cracks, which are concentrated mainly in Siberia, Tibet and other regions.
The relief of the mainland is extremely diverse, the largest mountain systems and plains of the world ( West Siberian Plain, East European, Tibetan Plateau) are located in Eurasia.
highest mainland
In addition, Eurasia is also the highest continent: its average height is 830 m. The highest mountains, the Himalayas, are also located in Eurasia, and the mountain systems of the Himalayas, Tien Shan, Pamir, Hindu Kush, etc. form the largest mountainous region on the planet . In general, the mountains of this continent, together with its plateaus, occupy almost 65% of the entire territory of the mainland. There are active volcanoes in Iceland, Kamchatka, some islands of Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean Sea, as well as some other areas.
The relief of some mountainous and northern regions of the continent was affected by ancient glaciation, as a result of which almost 11 million km² are occupied by permafrost rocks (mainly in Siberia). In the highlands, in Iceland and on the islands of the Arctic, glaciers remain. In the northeast of the mainland, in Oymyakon, as well as Verkhoyansk, there are cold poles.
Other mainland records include: the deepest lake - Baikal, the largest lake - the Caspian Sea, the largest peninsula - Arabian, the highest mountain - Chomolungma, the largest geographical area - Siberia and the lowest point - a depression in the Dead Sea.
Eurasia is the only continent where absolutely everything is represented climatic zones and climatic zones, as well as all natural zones, which is primarily due to the incredibly large size of the continent, as well as its length. And here all 4 types of air masses dominate.
Eurasia is also the most populated continent. According to 2010 data, more than 4.7 billion people live here, which is almost 3/4 of the entire population of the Earth. The largest continent of the Earth is also distinguished by the diversity of the peoples inhabiting it. Basically, all peoples belong to one of two races - to Caucasoid (inhabitants of Europe, most of India and South-West Asia) or to Mongoloid (all inhabitants of Asia except its South-Western part). In general, the racial, as well as the ethnic composition of Eurasia is quite diverse and this is primarily due to the centuries-old migration of the people, which occurred as a result of wars, conquests, natural disasters, etc. The most numerous nationality is the Chinese.
Population of Eurasia
On the largest mainland, as well as the islands adjacent to it, there are two largest countries in terms of population - China and India. In addition, there are five countries in Eurasia, each with a population well over 100 million people: Russia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Japan, and Indonesia.
Guess which continent is the largest on Earth? The answer is very simple - it is Eurasia, which is the largest continent in the world, both in terms of size and population. But what about the rest of the continents:, North America and South America? Here you will find out the area and population of these continents, as well as some Interesting Facts about each of them.
Distribution of the Earth's continents by area
If we take into account the area of \u200b\u200bthe territory, then all the continents of the world, from largest to smallest, are located in the following order:
- Eurasia: about 55,000,000 square kilometers (21,000,000 square miles), of which about 44,391,162 square kilometers (17,139,445 square miles) fall in Asia and about 10,354,636 square kilometers (3,997,929 square miles) in Europe;
- Africa: 30,244,049 square kilometers (11,677,239 sq mi);
- North America: 24,247,039 square kilometers (9,361,791 sq mi);
- South America: 17,821,029 square kilometers (6,880,706 sq mi);
- Antarctica: 14,245,000 square kilometers (about 5,500,000 square miles);
- Australia: 7,686,884 square kilometers (2,967,909 sq mi).
Distribution of the Earth's continents by population
If we take into account the population, then the distribution of the continents of our planet, from the most to the least populated, is as follows:
- Eurasia: more than 5.2 billion people, of which about 4.5 billion live in Asia and about 742 million in Europe;
- Africa: over 1.2 billion people;
- North America: about 575 million people (including in Central America and the Caribbean);
- South America: more than 420 million people;
- Australia: about 23.2 million people;
- Antarctica: there are no permanent residents, but about 5,000 researchers and workers live in the summer and about 1,000 in the winter.
In addition, more than 15 million people do not live on the mainland. Almost all of these people live in the island countries of Oceania, which is a region of the world, but not a continent. Drawing a conclusion from the lists presented above, Eurasia is the leader among all the continents of the world, both in terms of area and population.
Some interesting facts about each continent
- Eurasia includes the largest and smallest countries in the world. Russia is the largest with an area of more than 17 million square kilometers, while the Vatican, with an area of 0.44 square kilometers, is the smallest state on the planet. Asia has the highest and lowest points on Earth. Mount Everest is the highest point on the planet - 8,848 meters above sea level. The lowest point is the Dead Sea, which is 430 meters below sea level.
- Africa is home to the most long river in the world, Neela. It extends for approximately 6,853 km from Sudan to the Mediterranean Sea.
- North America has the largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Superior. It is part of, and covers more than 82,000 square kilometers between the US and Canada.
- South America has the longest mountain range in the world. The Andes stretch about 9,000 km from Venezuela to southern Chile.
- Australia is the smallest and also the only continent with only one state.
- Antarctica is covered with ice more than any other continent in the world. Almost 98 percent of the territory of this southern continent is ice.
About 30% of the surface of our planet is land, which is represented by six continents. They vary greatly in size. And the question arises: "What is the largest continent of the Earth?" You can learn about this from this article.
Eurasia - the largest continent of the Earth
This continent covers an area of about 54,000,000 km2. Thus, it is the largest continent on Earth. At the same time, the number of people living on it has already exceeded 5 billion people, which is about 75 percent of the total population of the planet.
Geographically, Eurasia is also divided into two parts: Europe and Asia. As you know, there are six parts of the world in total, of which Asia is the largest (the mainland on Earth is a purely geographical concept, while part of the world is cultural and ethnographic). It should be noted that Europe accounts for only 20% of the entire area of Eurasia.
The largest continent on Earth is territorially continuous, and the demarcation line between the European and Asian parts is very arbitrary. As a rule, it is carried out along the slopes of the Ural Mountains, along the Emba River, the shores of the Caspian Sea, the southeastern coast of the Black Sea and the Bosphorus Strait.
Eurasia extends from equatorial to subpolar latitudes. At the same time, some of its islands are already located south of the equator line. The length of the mainland from west to east is 18,000 kilometers, and from north to south - 8,000 km.
Eurasia: features of the nature of the mainland
Eurasia is a continent of contrasts in nature. After all, here you can find absolutely everything: the highest snow-capped peaks and deep depressions, cold harsh tundra and hot, huge deserts, impenetrable forests and expanse steppes. In terms of natural diversity, this continent has no equal on our entire planet!
Of course, such geographical diversity is due to the size of Eurasia and its elongation from north to south. All possible natural zones of the Earth are represented on the continent - from arctic deserts to humid rainforest(Total natural areas there are 14 in Eurasia). There are more than a dozen large mountain systems on the mainland, within which altitudinal belts have formed.
The highest point in Eurasia (and the planet as a whole) is Mount Chomolungma in the Himalayas. Its height is 8848 meters. The lowest point on the mainland is the Dead Sea depression.
Eurasia: countries and peoples
The origin of the name of the largest continent on Earth is interesting. It is curious that at first the entire mainland was called Asia (in particular, Alexander von Humboldt called it that in the middle of the 19th century). But Eurasia was the first to be named by the scientist Eduard Suess, and this happened only at the end of the century before last. This name was assigned to the largest continent.
The largest continent on Earth today has about a hundred countries. They all vary greatly in size. economic development, cultural and other characteristics. The contrast of Eurasia is fully manifested in this aspect as well. Can only bring one interesting example. So, on the same continent is the largest world state - Russia (area - 17 million km 2) and the smallest - the Vatican (an area of \u200b\u200bonly 0.5 km 2).
Eurasia is characterized by an amazing diversity of cultures, languages and dialects. Especially when it comes to Asia. So, in India alone, people speak more than 800 languages and dialects!
Eurasia: records and amazing facts
Finally, to summarize all of the above, here is a list of the most famous and amazing records of the territory we are considering. So:
- Eurasia is the most populated continent on the planet. About five billion people live here (only in India and China, the population exceeds two billion).
- Eurasia is the only continent that is washed by all the oceans of the planet at once.
- It is here that the largest lake in size - the Caspian Sea - is located.
- Behind this continent there is another "lake" record: the deepest lake on Earth (Baikal) "registered" here.
- The highest and lowest points of the planet are located in Eurasia.
- The shallowest sea on Earth (Azov) is also located here (imagine: its depth does not exceed 15 meters!).
- It is on the map of Eurasia that you can find 4 seas with "color" names: Black, White, Red and Yellow.
- This continent is the absolute leader on the planet in terms of the total number of mountain systems, the largest among them is Tibet.
As you can see, it is not for nothing that this part of the world is called the largest. The continent on Earth, which has all these amazing records, simply cannot have a small area.
Conclusion
So, we found out that Eurasia is the largest continent on Earth. It occupies a colossal territory of 54,000,000 km2. Over 5 billion people live on these lands. Diversity of languages, wealth cultural heritage different countries attracts to this mainland a huge number of researchers and ordinary tourists from other continents.
