Name The Continents And Oceans

The vii continents of the world are North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. The 5 oceans of the world are the Atlantic Sea, the Indian Bounding main, the Pacific Bounding main, the Antarctic ocean, and the Arctic Ocean.

I of the almost fascinating scientific topics is the study of the v oceans and seven continents. The reason for this is that, even though most of united states written report the globe'due south oceans and continents at school, very frequently nosotros institute ourselves in conversations where people do not seem to agree on the exact number of continents and oceans.

When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as 1, the whole universe appears every bit an infinite storm of beauty. – John Muir

Can y'all name the 7 continents of the earth?

North America
South America
Antarctica
Europe
Asia
Africa
Commonwealth of australia

And even when we know that the right number is 7 continents and 5 oceans, it is more challenging than it may initially seem to name them all.

Why does studying continents and oceans so important? Because if y'all want to understand Planet Earth, you actually need to empathize the planet's surface. Near of the surface is really covered in h2o (about 70%). More 95% of it is saltwater. This saltwater surface has been organized into 5 distinct oceans, whereas the relatively modest land surface we take organized into vii distinct continents.

Four Continents	5 Continents	Six Continents	Six Continents (Alt.)	Seven Continents
Afro-Eurasia	Africa	Africa	Africa	Africa
America	Eurasia	Asia	Eurasia	Asia
Antarctica	America	Europe	North America	Europe
Australia	Antarctica	America	S America	North America
	Australia	Antarctica	Antarctica/Oceania	Southward America
		Australia	Australia	Antarctica/Oceania
				Australia

What are continents?

At its most bones, we could say that continents are the areas of our planet's surface that are not underwater.

Anyone with a sharp heed would immediately pick holes in that definition. Why? Because the shapes and boundaries of continents are e'er changing. Every bit oceans rise, continents go, by that definition, smaller.

But not only that, the land masses that we now call continents are the effect of shifts that broke up a supercontinent that scientists take called Pangea. It would be a error to think that the shifts that created the 7 continents have stopped. These shifts go along and will create new continents in the distant future (we are talking most hundreds of millions of years from now).

How many continents are there?

Although the number seven is the most common for continents, there are two other widely spread and fairly accepted number of continents.

It used to be believed that there were only 5 continents. Indeed, some people still believe to be the case. The five continents would be the following:

Africa
America
Asia
Australia
Europe

Other people believe that at that place are half-dozen continents, as follows:

America
Antarctica
Asia
Africa
Commonwealth of australia (Oceania)
Europe

But, by far, the almost commonly agreed number of continents is seven:

Due north America
South America
Africa
Antarctica
Australia (Oceania)
Europe
Asia

Whether y'all believe at that place are 5, half-dozen, or 7 continents would largely depend on when and where (i.due east., which country) you went to school. Some people would also have the landmass that encompasses Europe and Asia as one whole known every bit Eurasia. At that place is likewise a common misconception concerning Australia (the continent) and Australia (the country). The continent known indistinctly as Commonwealth of australia or Oceania should non be confused with the country of Commonwealth of australia, for Australia (the continent) includes Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and New Zealand, as well equally Polynesian and Micronesian islands.

The Continents

Africa

This continent has a landmass of xi,670,0000 square miles or 28,489,869 square kilometers.

Africa is the 2d continent on the planet both in terms of size and population (1,119,307,147 as of 2016).

It is estimated that virtually 15% of the world's population currently lives in Africa.

With the equator traversing the African continent roughly through its center, Africa has distinct climatic regions. The areas immediately n and due south of the equator have climates that vary from warm to tropical or a combination of both. The far northward and the far s are, in contrast to the fundamental areas, relatively temperate.

Considering of this climatic diversity, Africa is habitation to many different animal and insect species that are unique to the continent. Elephants, hippos, and giraffes are but some of the animals that have fabricated Africa globally famous.

From a historical perspective, Africa is hugely important as it is at present credited to be the birthplace of humankind.

Present-day Africa is made up of 54 independent countries, about of which are the result of continent-wide independence and decolonization movements in the 20th century. Some of the arbitrary borders that were fatigued by the erstwhile colonial overseers have resulted in encarmine conflicts in many different parts of the continent.

Africa is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Cherry Body of water to the northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Indian Bounding main to the eastward.
The largest city in the whole continent is Lagos, Nigeria inhabited by 15,188,780 people as of 2014.
Other large cities in Africa include Cairo, Egypt; Kinshasa, Autonomous Democracy of Congo; Johannesburg, South Africa; Khartoum, Sudan; Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; and Alexandria, Egypt.

Antarctica

This continent has a land mass of five,405,000 square miles or 12,949,940 square kilometers.

Antarctica is, by far, the well-nigh sparsely populated continent on Earth, with a population of only 4,912 people equally of 2015.

Antarctica is mostly known for being the southernmost continent on our planet. Because of its geographical position in the Southward Pole, Antarctica suffers the coldest temperatures on Earth, sometimes reaching -130°F (-90°C).

With those harsh weather weather, it is hardly surprising that this continent is so sparsely populated. Its largest "city" is the McMurdo Station where, as of 2013, simply one,258 people live.

Antarctica is 1 of the smallest continents on Earth, simply larger than Europe and Australia. But, even though Antarctica is larger than Europe, its population is a lot smaller in size. In fact, Antarctica has the smallest population of all 7 continents.

Asia

With a land surface area of 17,210,000 foursquare miles or 44,029,797 square kilometers, Asia occupies about 9% of our planet'southward surface.

Asia is also the almost widely populated continent on Earth with a population of 4,494,302,221 as of 2016. This means that about 60% of the earth'southward population lives in Asia.

Considering of the sheer size of its population and the rising economies of many of its countries (Bharat, People's republic of china, South Korea, Japan, etc.), Asia is one of the nigh important countries in terms of the globe'due south economy.

The largest metropolis in Asia is as well the largest city on Earth. The city in question is Tokyo, Japan with 37,126,000 as of 2012.
Other large cities in Asia include Djakarta, Indonesia; Delhi, India; Karachi, Islamic republic of pakistan; Seoul, South korea; Shanghai, Communist china; Manila, Philipines; and Mumbai, India.
Although a continuing landmass with Europe, Asia is the part of the landmass e of an imaginary line going n from the Aegean Sea all the way to the Black Sea, then on to the North West of the Caspian Bounding main, the Ural River and finally catastrophe at the Arctic Sea.
The Pacific Ocean is to the east of Asia, the Indian Ocean to the south and the Chill Ocean to the north.

Australia

This continent has a state area of 2,970,000 square miles or 5,179,976 square kilometers. As of 2016, its population is 39,901,000, making information technology the second least populated continent on Earth, simply behind Antarctica.

In Australia, the largest city is Sydney which, every bit of 2016, has a population of five,029,768.
Other large cities in Commonwealth of australia include Melbourne, Victoria; Brisbane, Queensland; Auckland, New Zealand; and Perth, Western Australia.
Australia is as well known for being the remotest continent on the planet as information technology is the farthest from any of the other 6 continents. Australia is also the smallest continent although, paradoxically harbors one of largest countries on earth (Australia) in terms of size if non population.
When talking about this continent, we must always gainsay the mutual misconception that conflates the Commonwealth nation of Australia and, specifically, its mainland, with the whole continent, which as well includes New Zealand (with its two large islands), Tasmania, and several other smaller islands.
Australia (also sometimes known as Oceania) is located betwixt the Indian Body of water to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the West.

This continent has long fascinated botanists and biologists due to the uniqueness of the hundreds of different found and animal species that are unique to this continent. The fact that the overwhelming percentage of fauna and plant specifies present in Australia cannot be establish anything else in the globe is due to Commonwealth of australia's remoteness.

Apart from its many different animal and constitute species, this continent is too globally famous because it is home to the biggest reef in the earth: The Great Bulwark Reef.

Europe

With a land area of 3,931,000 square miles or vii,769,964 square kilometers, Europe is the smallest continent on Globe.
It is the westernmost area of the Eurasian landmass, which only makes upwards about 7% of the earth's land expanse.
The largest metropolis in Europe is Istanbul, Turkey with a population of xiv,657,434. Interestingly, the largest European city is also partially in Asia. Turkey is one of those nations that straddle two dissimilar continents (Russia is another of import instance). Only its main city and Europe's largest city as well straddles both continents.
Other big cities in Europe include Moscow, Russian federation; London, United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland; Saint Petersburg, Russia; Berlin, Germany; Madrid, Spain; Kieve, Ukraine; Rome, Italia; and Paris, France.
Europe is the near densely populated continent on Earth with a populated mainland stretching e from the Atlantic Body of water to the Ural Mountains. The continent is bordered by the Mediterranean and Black seas to the south, and the Antarctic Ocean to the northward. Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, The British Isles, or the Balearic Islands are also densely populated islands that are part of Europe.
Europe harbors both the largest and the smallest nations on Globe. The largest i is Russian federation (although most of its territory is, in fact, in Asia), and the smallest ane is Vatican Urban center in the Italic Peninsula.

Many different European civilizations accept shaped the world considering of their historical impact not just in Europe itself but besides in every other continent on world due to imperialistic expansion and its subsequent colonialism. Testament to this is that European languages (chiefly, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Russian) are widely spoken in every other continent, mostly in N and South America (Spanish, English language, French), Africa (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish), Asia (Russian, English, French, Portuguese), and Commonwealth of australia (English).

North America

This continent has a land area of ix,540,000 foursquare miles or 23,309,892 square kilometers. Every bit of 2016, its population is 579,014,000. This population is spread over 23 different countries including three that occupy vast lands, such every bit Canada, The Us, and Mexico.
This ways that around 8% of the globe's population lives in this landmass, which is approximately 17% of the planet'south landmass.
Although ethnically diverse, its population is mostly of European descent, well-nigh of which alive in the The states of America, Mexico, and Canada but also in the Caribbean islands and the nations of Cardinal America.
The largest metropolis in North America is Mexico Urban center with a population of xx,400,000. This also makes information technology the third-largest city in the world behind Tokyo, Japan and São Paulo, Brazil.
Other largest cities in Due north America include New York Metropolis, New York; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; Toronto, Ontario; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Miami, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Due north America presents a great variety of climate, from the farthermost common cold in Alaska, Canada, and most of the northern section of the Us, to tropical and subtropical on the East coast, or desert conditions in the southwest of the U.s.a., and the northwest of Mexico.
North America is also abode to the world's largest lakes, straddling Canada and United States.

Generally due to the global economic powerhouses that are Canada and, by and large, the Usa, North America is the richest continent in the world. This is in terms of Gross domestic product (Gross domestic product) per capita, which is the largest of all the continents.

South America

This continent has a land area of 6,888,000 square miles or 15,539,928 square kilometers. Its population is 414,332,000 equally of 2015.
The biggest city in South America is São Paulo in Brazil with a population of 21,242,939. This makes São Paulo the 2d largest global city, only behind Tokyo in Japan.
Other largest cities in Southward America include Lima, Peru; Bogotá, Republic of colombia; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Caracas, Venezuela; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Salvador, Brazil; Brasilia, Brazil; Fortaleza, Brazil; Guayaquil, Ecuador; and Quito, Ecuador.
This continent is the southern area of the landmass it shares with North America. Like North America, Due south America borders with the Atlantic Sea to the Due west and the Pacific to the East. Due south America stretches all the mode to the South Pole where its nearest neighboring continent, Antarctica, is located.
Despite its vastness, there are only twelve contained nations in South America. Past far, the largest of them all is Brazil. Not simply is Brazil the biggest country on the continent, but information technology besides has the largest population of them all.
Considering of the Amazon River, which is the longest river in the world, merely followed by the Nile in Africa; and the Andes mountains, which is the longest mountain range in the world, South America has a fascinating level of biodiversity.
The ethnic variety of South America is the result of southern migration of ethnic N American populations, followed by the inflow of Europeans who initially where the conquistadors, explorers, and colonists from Spain and Portugal and then immigrants from those countries and other European nations, and, importantly, in Brazil the import of slaves from Southward Saharan Africa.

The v Oceans:

Although for hundreds of years, the global consensus was that there were iv oceans, in the 21st century this number was officially increased to 5 when in the year 2000 the International Hydrographic Organization decided almost unanimously to include the Southern Sea.

So, the list of the five oceans is now as follows:

The Pacific Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean
The Indian Ocean
The Chill Ocean
The Antarctic ocean

Pacific Ocean

"The history of exploration has never been driven by exploration. Just Columbus himself was a discoverer. So was Magellan. But the people who wrote checks were not. They had other motivations." – Neil deGrasse Tyson

This ocean covers an expanse of 63,784,077 square miles or 165,200,000 foursquare kilometers.
The Pacific ocean covers the whole area betwixt the eastern coasts of two continents: Australia (Oceania) and Asia, all the way to the west coasts of Northward and South America.
The Pacific sea was discovered past Europeans in 1520 when Portuguese explorer Magellan accessed it from South America for the offset time.
Two notable facts make this bounding main world famous. On the one hand, the Pacific has the longest shoreline in the world. Taking into account all the different shorelines done by the Pacific and add them together, the Pacific has 84,3000 miles or 135,663 kilometers of shoreline.
The other notable fact almost the Pacific is that its seafloor holds the deepest point on the whole planet. Back in 1875, the HMS Challenger discovered it around the The states territory of Guam, specifically in the Marianas Trench. The depth of the seafloor is close to 7 miles or 11,000 meters below sea level.

Atlantic Ocean

With an expanse of 41,081,270 square miles or 106,400,000 square kilometers, the Atlantic is the 2nd-largest ocean on Earth behind the Pacific.
Like the Pacific body of water, the Atlantic stretches all the way from the Arctic to the Antarctic region. Information technology covers the area betwixt western Europe and Africa to western North and S America.
The Atlantic includes many seas, such as the Baltic, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mediterranean seas.
Europeans were able to chart this sea fully in the 15^th century when they began sailing to Northward and South America. This makes information technology, together with the eastern portion of the Indian Ocean, the oldest ocean to be chartered past Europeans.
Since and so, the Atlantic has become hugely important in earth trade. The Atlantic ocean has played a central office in the imperialistic and colonialist enterprises by European states (Spain, Portugal, Not bad United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, France, etc.).
The fertility of the warm waters of the N Atlantic specifically has also contributed to human development thanks to the abundance of whale sperm and cod.

Indian Bounding main

Comprising the expanse between East Africa, South East asia and the east of Australia, the Indian Body of water covers an surface area of 28,400,130 square miles or 73,556,000 square kilometers.
Washing the shores of some of the world'south most important civilizations, the Indian Ocean has been crucial in trade for several hundreds of years.
Historically, the Indian Sea has been central in the trade between Europe and Asia. Western (and, indeed, global) medicine and food preservation have profoundly progressed thanks to the astonishing spices that are found in the countries effectually the Indian Sea, including its many islands.
Europeans recognized the importance of these species centuries ago, so the sailed throughout the Indian Bounding main in search of them.

Arctic Ocean

Both the smallest and the shallowest ocean, the Arctic Bounding main covers an area of 5,400,015 foursquare miles or 13,986,000 square kilometers.
The Arctic Sea is surrounded by North America, Asia, and Europe.
This sea, which is by and large covered in water ice for most of the year, includes the Barents, North and Hudson Bay seas.
Despite the freezing temperatures and the fact that most of the area covered in ice, unlike Northern civilizations from the three continents that surround it have inhabited for hundreds of years.
Perhaps this was what encouraged Europeans explorers to attempt to apply the Arctic Ocean to access Asia. This was supposed to be a shorter pass that the already exploited one of the Indian Ocean. However, considering of its incredibly harsh climatic conditions, this exploring enterprise was an utter failure.

Southern Body of water

The surface area covered by the Southern ocean is vii,848,299 square miles or xx,327,000 square kilometers. This makes it the penultimate ocean in terms of size just in front end of the Chill Ocean.
The Southern Ocean is the "youngest" ocean on Globe, as it was only considered equally such in the twelvemonth 2000. Before then it was just considered a southern extension of the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian Oceans. This is considering its waters are joined to the north with the southern portions of the Indian, the Atlantic, and the Pacific Oceans.
The Antarctic ocean is hugely important in global weather patterns, and not just those affecting the southern hemisphere.

And then, how many continents and oceans are there, really?

When it comes to the study of the continents and oceans on planet Earth, we need to recognize that the number of continents and oceans (and sometimes the terminology we utilize) has changed and new perspectives are put forward and new consensuses are reached past the scientific community. And, although, we must always acknowledge any possible discrepancies we take to always piece of work on the basis of the current scientific consensus. And correct now, in 2017, the scientific consensus is that there are 7 continents and five oceans.

About Juan Ramos PRO INVESTOR

Juan has been writing about science for over a decade and regularly keeps upwardly with technological and scientific advancements. Juan is known for taking complex research and technology and presenting it in an easily digestible form for education. Juan holds a Chief's degree from The Open University in the Uk.