Continent
Animated, color-coded map showing the vari-
ous continents. Depending on the convention
and model, some continents may be consolid-
ated or subdivided: for example, Eurasia is
often subdivided into Europe and Asia (red
shades), while North and South America are
sometimes recognized as one American con-
tinent (green shades).
Dymaxion map by Buckminster Fuller shows
land masses with minimal distortion as nearly
one continuous body.
A continent is one of several large land-
masses on Earth. They are generally identi-
fied by convention rather than any strict cri-
teria, with seven regions commonly regarded
as continents – they are (from largest in size
to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America,
South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Aus-
tralia.[1]
Plate tectonics is the geological process
and study of the movement, collision and di-
vision of continents, earlier known as contin-
ental drift.
The term "the Continent", used in Great
Britain, Ireland, Sardinia, Sicily and the
Scandinavian Peninsula, means mainland
Europe.[2]
Definitions and
application
"Continents are understood to be large, con-
tinuous, discrete masses of land, ideally sep-
arated by expanses of water."[3] However,
many of the seven most commonly recog-
nized continents are identified by convention
rather than adherence to the ideal criterion
that each be a discrete landmass, separated
by water from others. Likewise, the criterion
that each be a continuous landmass is often
disregarded by the inclusion of the continent-
al shelf and oceanic islands. The Earth’s ma-
jor landmasses are washed upon by a single,
continuous World Ocean, which is divided in-
to a number of principal oceanic components
by the continents and various geographic cri-
teria.[4][5]
Extent of continents
The narrowest meaning of continent is that of
a continuous[6] area of land or mainland, with
the coastline and any land boundaries form-
ing the edge of the continent. In this sense
the term continental Europe is used to refer
to mainland Europe, excluding islands such