Continents of the World

Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Antarctica are the seven continents of the world. These seven continents were believed to be part of Pangaea which was a single landmass around 250 million years ago. Due to the tectonic movement, the landmass broke up and the component continents separated and moved away to its present position.

All these took around 1 million years to complete. Pangaea was surrounded by a sea, the Panthalassa. The continents map of the world map will give you information about the geographical positions of the continents as well as their political divisions.

Some of the basic facts of the various continents are given below

Continent	Total Area (square kilometers)	Total landmass percentage	Population (approx 2008)	Total population percentage	Population Density per square kilometers
Asia	43,820,000	29.5%	3,879,000,000	60%	86.70
Europe	10,180,000	6.8 %	731,000,000	11%	69.7
Africa	30,370,000	20.4%	922,011,000	14%	29.30
North America	24,490,000	16.5%	528,720,588	8%	21.0
South America	17,840,000	12.0%	382,000,000	6%	20.8
Australia	9,008,500	5.9%	32,000,000	0.5%	3.6
Antarctica	13,720,000	9.2%	1,000	0.00002%	0.00007

The total land area of the all the continents is around 148,647,000 square kilometers which is 29.1% of the surface of the earth. The continents of the world map also provide information on the different continents through the outline, blank and political maps.

Physical Features

Through the world continents map, you can see that the landmass is more concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere. The largest continent is Asia which is adjacent to Europe. Sometimes both these are referred as a single continent as Eurasia.


The following table gives the details of the highest and lowest points in the continents.

Continent	Highest Point	Height (meters)	Lowest Point	Height (meters)
Asia	Mount Everest	8,848	Dead Sea	-408
Europe	Mount Elbrus	5,633	Caspian Sea	-28
Africa	Mount Kilimanjaro	5,895	Lake Assal	-155
North America	Mount McKinley	6,198	Death Valley	-86
South America	Aconcagua	6,960	Laguna del Carbon	-105
Australia	Puncak Jaya	4,884	Lake Eyre	-15
Antarctica	Vinson Massif	4,892	Bentley Subglacial Trench	-2,540

The continent of Asia is bordered by the Arctic Ocean in the north, the Pacific Ocean in the east, the Indian Ocean in the south and the Mediterranean and Europe in the west. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea to the south and by the Ural Mountains to the east.

The continent of Africa is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the north, the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea in the east, and the meeting point of the Atlantic and the Indian oceans in the south.

The northern boundary of South America is the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean eastern, the Pacific Ocean is to the west and the continent of Antarctica is in the far south. North America is the 3rd largest continent. It is bounded by the Arctic Ocean in the north, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Caribbean Sea in the south. The narrow Isthmus of Panama connects it with South America.

Australia is the smallest continent in the world. It is located in the Southern Hemisphere and is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Antarctica is the most remote continent located in the South Pole region. It is the mostly covered by ice throughout the year.