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58-618: The period was characterized on most continents by either new platforms or final cratonization of fold belts . Oxygen levels were 10% to 20% of current values. Rafatazmia , controversially claimed to be present in Statherian beds in India , may be the oldest known confirmably eukaryotic fossil organism. By the beginning of the Statherian, the supercontinent Columbia had assembled. Approximately 1.7 billion years ago, natural nuclear fission reactors were generating power in what

116-574: A continent as "a large space of dry land comprehending many countries all joined together, without any separation by water. Thus Europe, Asia, and Africa is one great continent, as America is another." However, the old idea of Europe, Asia and Africa as "parts" of the world ultimately persisted with these being regarded as separate continents. By convention, continents "are understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, ideally separated by expanses of water". In modern schemes with five or more recognized continents, at least one pair of continents

174-520: A continent. This divides the entire land surface of Earth into continents, regions, or quasi-continents. The criterion that each continent is a discrete landmass is commonly relaxed due to historical conventions and practical use. Of the seven most globally recognized continents, only Antarctica and Australia are completely separated from other continents by the ocean. Several continents are defined not as absolutely distinct bodies but as " more or less discrete masses of land". Africa and Asia are joined by

232-615: A discrete landmass is completely disregarded if the continuous landmass of Eurasia is classified as two separate continents (Asia and Europe). Physiographically , Europe and the Indian subcontinent are large peninsulas of the Eurasian landmass. However, Europe is considered a continent with its comparatively large land area of 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi), while the Indian subcontinent, with less than half that area,

290-425: A geological continent has been disputed by some geologists. However, a study conducted in 2021 found that part of the submerged continent is indeed Precambrian , twice as old as geologists had previously thought, which is further evidence that supports the idea of Zealandia being a geological continent. All seven geological continents are spatially isolated by geologic features. The term "continent" translates

348-465: A help to English history (1641). He was the writer of the "Cosmographie", an attempt to describe in meticulous detail every aspect of the known world in 1652, the geography, climate, customs, achievements, politics, and belief systems. It appears to have been the first description in print of Australia, and perhaps of California, Terra del Fuego, and other territories in the New World. He objected to

406-681: A large family. His monument is in Westminster Abbey . He was a prolific writer, and a keen and acrimonious controversialist against the Puritans . Among his works are a History of the Reformation of the Church of England , and a Life of Archbishop William Laud ( Cyprianus Anglicanus ) (1668). He affixed Greek titles to two of his books, Κειμήλια Ἐκκλησιαστικά: Historical and miscellaneous tracts (1662) and Ἡρωολογία Anglorum; or,

464-550: A nearby continent to divide all the world's land into geographical regions. Under this scheme, most of the island countries and territories in the Pacific Ocean are grouped together with the continent of Australia to form the geographical region Oceania . In geology , a continent is defined as "one of Earth's major landmasses, including both dry land and continental shelves ". The geological continents correspond to seven large areas of continental crust that are found on

522-468: A part of South America. Apart from the current continents, the scope and meaning of the term continent includes past geological ones. Supercontinents , largely in evidence earlier in the geological record, are landmasses that comprise most of the world's cratons or continental cores. These have included Vaalbara , Kenorland , Columbia , Rodinia , Pannotia , and Pangaea . Over time, these supercontinents broke apart into large landmasses which formed

580-523: A separate land. In 1507 Martin Waldseemüller published a world map, Universalis Cosmographia , which was the first to show North and South America as separate from Asia and surrounded by water. A small inset map above the main map explicitly showed for the first time the Americas being east of Asia and separated from Asia by an ocean, as opposed to just placing the Americas on the left end of

638-821: A third part of the world. Division into three parts eventually came to predominate. From the Greek viewpoint, the Aegean Sea was the center of the world; Asia lay to the east, Europe to the north and west, and Africa to the south. The boundaries between the continents were not fixed. Early on, the Europe–Asia boundary was taken to run from the Black Sea along the Rioni River (known then as the Phasis ) in Georgia . Later it

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696-502: A very large peninsula on the fringe of a continent. Where the Americas are viewed as a single continent (America), it is divided into two subcontinents ( North America and South America ) or three ( Central America being the third). When Eurasia is regarded as a single continent, Asia and Europe are treated as subcontinents. Some areas of continental crust are largely covered by the ocean and may be considered submerged continents . Notable examples are Zealandia , emerging from

754-451: Is considered a subcontinent. The alternative view—in geology and geography—that Eurasia is a single continent results in a six-continent view of the world. Some view the separation of Eurasia into Asia and Europe as a residue of Eurocentrism : "In physical, cultural and historical diversity, China and India are comparable to the entire European landmass, not to a single European country. [...]." However, for historical and cultural reasons,

812-435: Is divided into several principal oceanic components by the continents and various geographic criteria. The geological definition of a continent has four criteria: high elevation relative to the ocean floor; a wide range of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks rich in silica; a crust thicker than the surrounding oceanic crust; and well-defined limits around a large enough area. The most restricted meaning of continent

870-507: Is inhabited by more numerous people and animals than our Europe, or Asia or Africa", the first known explicit identification of part of the Americas as a continent like the other three. Within a few years, the name "New World" began appearing as a name for South America on world maps, such as the Oliveriana (Pesaro) map of around 1504–1505. Maps of this time, though, still showed North America connected to Asia and showed South America as

928-430: Is joined by land in some fashion. The criterion "large" leads to arbitrary classification: Greenland , with a surface area of 2,166,086 square kilometres (836,330 sq mi), is only considered the world's largest island, while Australia , at 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi), is deemed the smallest continent. Earth's major landmasses all have coasts on a single, continuous World Ocean , which

986-404: Is now Oklo , Gabon . This geochronology article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single landmass or a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of Asia or Europe. Due to this,

1044-728: Is now the heads residence at Abingdon School . Heylyn supported Anthony Huish (Master of the School) in maintaining the services at St Nicholas Church where Huish was rector. This was opposed by the Puritan dominated town council. A house facing Bath Street from the Abingdon School grounds is named 'Heylyns' in commemoration. At the Restoration , he left Abingdon and was made sub-Dean of Westminster , but poor health prevented further advancement. He married Letitia Highgate and had

1102-612: Is that of a continuous area of land or mainland, with the coastline and any land boundaries forming the edge of the continent. In this sense, the term continental Europe (sometimes referred to in Britain as "the Continent") is used to refer to mainland Europe, excluding islands such as Great Britain , Iceland , Ireland , and Malta , while the term continent of Australia may refer to the mainland of Australia , excluding New Guinea , Tasmania , and other nearby islands. Similarly,

1160-407: Is usually considered an island of Africa, but its divergent evolution has caused it to be referred to as "the eighth continent" from a biological perspective. Geologists use four key attributes to define a continent: With the addition of Zealandia in 2017, Earth currently has seven recognized geological continents: Due to a seeming lack of Precambrian cratonic rocks, Zealandia's status as

1218-458: The continental United States refers to "the 49 States (including Alaska but excluding Hawaii ) located on the continent of North America, and the District of Columbia ." From the perspective of geology or physical geography , continent may be extended beyond the confines of continuous dry land to include the shallow, submerged adjacent area (the continental shelf ) and the islands on

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1276-666: The Black Sea . The names were first applied just to lands near the coast and only later extended to include the hinterlands . But the division was only carried through to the end of navigable waterways and "... beyond that point the Hellenic geographers never succeeded in laying their finger on any inland feature in the physical landscape that could offer any convincing line for partitioning an indivisible Eurasia ..." Ancient Greek thinkers subsequently debated whether Africa (then called Libya ) should be considered part of Asia or

1334-613: The Isthmus of Suez , and North America and South America by the Isthmus of Panama . In both cases, there is no complete separation of these landmasses by water (disregarding the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal , which are both narrow and shallow, as well as human-made). Both of these isthmuses are very narrow compared to the bulk of the landmasses they unite. North America and South America are treated as separate continents in

1392-456: The Pacific Ocean , as well as the continent of Australia . Zealandia (a submerged continent ) has been called the eighth continent. The following table provides areas given by Encyclopædia Britannica for each continent in accordance with the seven-continent model, including Australasia along with Melanesia , Micronesia , and Polynesia as parts of Oceania. It also provides populations of continents according to 2021 estimates by

1450-584: The Pleistocene ice ages , greater areas of the continental shelf were exposed as dry land, forming land bridges between Tasmania and the Australian mainland . At those times, Australia and New Guinea were a single, continuous continent known as Sahul . Likewise, Afro-Eurasia and the Americas were joined by the Bering Land Bridge . Other islands, such as Great Britain , were joined to

1508-782: The United Nations Statistics Division based on the United Nations geoscheme , which includes all of Egypt (including the Isthmus of Suez and the Sinai Peninsula ) as a part of Africa, all of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey (including East Thrace ) as parts of Asia, all of Russia (including Siberia ) as a part of Europe, all of Panama and the United States (including Hawaii ) as parts of North America, and all of Chile (including Easter Island ) as

1566-422: The tectonic plates , but exclude small continental fragments such as Madagascar that are generally referred to as microcontinents . Continental crust is only known to exist on Earth. The idea of continental drift gained recognition in the 20th century. It postulates that the current continents formed from the breaking up of a supercontinent ( Pangaea ) that formed hundreds of millions of years ago. From

1624-492: The "subcontinents" concerned are on different tectonic plates from the rest of the continent, providing a geological justification for the terminology. Greenland , generally considered the world's largest island on the northeastern periphery of the North American Plate , is sometimes referred to as a subcontinent. This is a significant departure from the more conventional view of a subcontinent as comprising

1682-638: The 16th century the English noun continent was derived from the term continent land , meaning continuous or connected land and translated from the Latin terra continens . The noun was used to mean "a connected or continuous tract of land" or mainland . It was not applied only to very large areas of land—in the 17th century, references were made to the continents (or mainlands) of the Isle of Man , Ireland and Wales and in 1745 to Sumatra . The word continent

1740-533: The Americas, Columbus never believed he had reached a new continent—he always thought it was part of Asia. In 1501, Amerigo Vespucci and Gonçalo Coelho attempted to sail around what they considered the southern end of the Asian mainland into the Indian Ocean , passing through Fernando de Noronha . After reaching the coast of Brazil , they sailed along the coast of South America much farther south than Asia

1798-697: The Black Sea and the Caspian Sea , and the border between Asia and Africa at the isthmus between the Red Sea and the mouth of Lake Bardawil on the Mediterranean Sea . The Roman author Pliny the Elder , writing in the 1st century CE, stated that "The whole globe is divided into three parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa", adding: I shall first then speak of Europe, the foster-mother of that people which has conquered all other nations, and itself by far

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1856-691: The Catholic church, began to associate itself with the concept of Europe. Through the Roman period and the Middle Ages , a few writers took the Isthmus of Suez as the boundary between Asia and Africa, but most writers continued to consider it the Nile or the western border of Egypt (Gibbon). In the Middle Ages, the world was usually portrayed on T and O maps , with the T representing the waters dividing

1914-498: The Earth, the text claims that the Earth has seven continents and Lord Vishnu Measured the entire universe from his first foot from the land of Earth which has 7 continents. ato devā avantu no yato viṣṇurvicakrame | pṛthivyāḥ saptadhāmabhiḥ || idaṃ viṣṇurvi cakrame tredhā ni dadhe padam | samūḷhamasya pāṃsure || trīṇi padā vi cakrame viṣṇurghopā adābhyaḥ | ato dharmāṇi dhārayan || The Gods be gracious unto us even from

1972-619: The Greek word ἤπειρος , meaning "landmass, terra firma", the proper name of Epirus and later especially used for Asia (i.e. Asia Minor ). The first distinction between continents was made by ancient Greek mariners who gave the names Europe and Asia to the lands on either side of the waterways of the Aegean Sea , the Dardanelles strait, the Sea of Marmara , the Bosporus strait and

2030-477: The concept of a continent may go beyond the continental shelf to include oceanic islands and continental fragments. In this way, Iceland is considered a part of Europe, and Madagascar a part of Africa. Extrapolating the concept to its extreme, some geographers group the Australian continental landmass with other islands in the Pacific Ocean into Oceania , which is usually considered a region rather than

2088-405: The division into three of what is really a single landmass, a debate that continues nearly two and a half millennia later. Herodotus believed Europe to be larger (at least in width) than the other two continents: I wonder, then, at those who have mapped out and divided the world into Libya, Asia, and Europe; for the difference between them is great, seeing that in length Europe stretches along both

2146-688: The earth'. A. Glucklich adds that 'In the Matsya Purana , for instance, there is a seven-part map of the world ... [it has] one centre, where an immense mountain – Mount Meru (or Maha Meru, Great Meru) – stands ... The continents encircle the mountain in seven concentric circles ... It seems clear that the Himalayas were the approximate location of Mt. Meru and the text is clear that the earth has seven continents. Peter Heylin Peter Heylyn or Heylin (29 November 1599 – 8 May 1662)

2204-490: The mainlands of their continents. At that time, there were just three discrete landmasses in the world: Africa - Eurasia - America , Antarctica , and Australia - New Guinea ( Sahul ). There are several ways of distinguishing the continents: In the English-speaking countries, geographers often use the term Oceania to denote a geographical region which includes most of the island countries and territories in

2262-429: The map and Asia on the right end. In the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio , Waldseemüller noted that the earth is divided into four parts, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the fourth part, which he named "America" after Amerigo Vespucci's first name. On the map, the word "America" was placed on part of South America. The Sanskrit text Rig Veda often dated 1500 BCE has the earliest mention of seven continents in

2320-549: The mid-17th century, Peter Heylin wrote in his Cosmographie that "A Continent is a great quantity of Land, not separated by any Sea from the rest of the World, as the whole Continent of Europe, Asia, Africa." In 1727, Ephraim Chambers wrote in his Cyclopædia, "The world is ordinarily divided into two grand continents: the Old and the New ." And in his 1752 atlas, Emanuel Bowen defined

2378-543: The most beauteous portion of the earth. Indeed, many persons have, not without reason, considered it, not as a third part only of the earth, but as equal to all the rest, looking upon the whole of our globe as divided into two parts only, by a line drawn from the river Tanais to the Straits of Gades. Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the culture that developed in its place , linked to Latin and

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2436-635: The number of continents varies; up to seven or as few as four geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Most English-speaking countries recognize seven regions as continents. In order from largest to smallest in area, these seven regions are Asia , Africa , North America , South America , Antarctica , Europe , and Australia . Different variations with fewer continents merge some of these regions; examples of this are merging North America and South America into America , Asia and Europe into Eurasia , and Africa, Asia, and Europe into Afro-Eurasia . Oceanic islands are occasionally grouped with

2494-475: The ocean primarily in New Zealand and New Caledonia , and the almost completely submerged Kerguelen Plateau in the southern Indian Ocean . Some islands lie on sections of continental crust that have rifted and drifted apart from a main continental landmass. While not considered continents because of their relatively small size, they may be considered microcontinents . Madagascar, the largest example,

2552-455: The others together, and it appears to me to be wider beyond all comparison. Eratosthenes , in the 3rd century BCE, noted that some geographers divided the continents by rivers (the Nile and the Don), thus considering them "islands". Others divided the continents by isthmuses , calling the continents "peninsulas". These latter geographers set the border between Europe and Asia at the isthmus between

2610-479: The place whence Vishnu strode Through the seven regions of the earth! Through all this world strode Vishnu; thrice his foot he planted, and the whole Was gathered in his footstep's dust. Vishnu, the Guardian, he whom none deceiveth , made three steps; thenceforth Establishing his high decrees. In regard to the above-quoted verses, it is commonly accepted that there are Seven Continents or 'regions of

2668-558: The present continents. Certain parts of continents are recognized as subcontinents, especially the large peninsulas separated from the main continental landmass by geographical features. The most widely recognized example is the Indian subcontinent . The Arabian Peninsula , Southern Africa , the Southern Cone of South America, and Alaska in North America might be considered further examples. In many of these cases,

2726-615: The same year. He became Rector of Houghton-le-Spring , County Durham, in 1632 and rector of Alresford , Hampshire, in 1633. Also in 1633 he was licensed to preach and was awarded D.D. on 13 April 1633. He became a chaplain to Charles I. In 1639 he became Rector at South Warnborough, Hampshire. He suffered for his loyalty to the king when, under the Commonwealth , he was deprived of his preferments. He subsequently settled at Lacies Court in Abingdon , from 1653 until 1660. Lacies Court

2784-552: The seven-continent model. However, they may also be viewed as a single continent known as America . This viewpoint was common in the United States until World War II , and remains prevalent in some Asian six-continent models. The single American continent model remains a common view in European countries like France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Latin American countries and some Asian countries. The criterion of

2842-415: The shelf ( continental islands ), as they are structurally part of the continent. From this perspective, the edge of the continental shelf is the true edge of the continent, as shorelines vary with changes in sea level. In this sense the islands of Great Britain and Ireland are part of Europe, while Australia and the island of New Guinea together form a continent. Taken to its limit, this view could support

2900-651: The three continents. By the middle of the 18th century, "the fashion of dividing Asia and Africa at the Nile, or at the Great Catabathmus [the boundary between Egypt and Libya ] farther west, had even then scarcely passed away". Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean in 1492, sparking a period of European exploration of the Americas . But despite four voyages to

2958-479: The view of Europe as a separate continent continues in almost all categorizations. If continents are defined strictly as discrete landmasses, embracing all the contiguous land of a body, then Africa, Asia, and Europe form a single continent which may be referred to as Afro-Eurasia . Combined with the consolidation of the Americas, this would produce a four-continent model consisting of Afro-Eurasia, America, Antarctica, and Australia. When sea levels were lower during

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3016-471: The view that there are only three continents: Antarctica, Australia-New Guinea, and a single mega-continent which joins Afro-Eurasia and America via the contiguous continental shelf in and around the Bering Sea. The vast size of the latter compared to the first two might even lead some to say it is the only continent, the others being more comparable to Greenland or New Zealand. As a cultural construct ,

3074-597: Was an English ecclesiastic and author of many polemical, historical, political and theological tracts. He incorporated his political concepts into his geographical books Microcosmus in 1621 and Cosmographie (1657). Heylyn was born in Burford , Oxfordshire, the son of Henry Heylyn and Elizabeth Clampard. He entered Merchant Taylors' School in March 1612. At 14 he was sent to Hart Hall, Oxford , and matriculated from Magdalen College, Oxford , on 19 January 1616, aged 16. He

3132-558: Was awarded BA on 17 October 1617 and was elected a Fellow in 1618. He lectured on historical geography at Magdalen. Heylyn was awarded MA on 1 July 1620. In 1620 he presented his lecture to Prince Charles , at Theobalds . He was incorporated at Cambridge University in 1621. In 1621 his lectures were published as Microcosmos: a Little Description of the Great World . This would prove to be his most popular work and by 1639, eight editions had been produced. At college, where he

3190-684: Was dubbed 'the perpetual dictator', Heylyn had been an outspoken controversialist. He subsequently became an outspoken preacher and one of Charles I 's clerical followers. He was awarded a BD on 13 June 1629. As a member of the Arminian party he played a part in struggles between the Arminians and their opponents that disturbed England in the 1630s. In 1630 he lectured against the Feoffees for Impropriations . He became licensed Canon of Westminster in 1631 and Rector of Hemingford, Huntingdonshire, in

3248-438: Was known to extend, confirming that this was a land of continental proportions. On return to Europe, an account of the voyage, called Mundus Novus ("New World"), was published under Vespucci's name in 1502 or 1503, although it seems that it had additions or alterations by another writer. Regardless of who penned the words, Mundus Novus credited Vespucci with saying, "I have discovered a continent in those southern regions that

3306-417: Was used in translating Greek and Latin writings about the three "parts" of the world, although in the original languages no word of exactly the same meaning as continent was used. While continent was used on the one hand for relatively small areas of continuous land, on the other hand geographers again raised Herodotus's query about why a single large landmass should be divided into separate continents. In

3364-685: Was viewed as running from the Black Sea through Kerch Strait , the Sea of Azov and along the Don River (known then as the Tanais ) in Russia . The boundary between Asia and Africa was generally taken to be the Nile River. Herodotus in the 5th century BCE objected to the whole of Egypt being split between Asia and Africa ("Libya") and took the boundary to lie along the western border of Egypt, regarding Egypt as part of Asia. He also questioned

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