answer choices. The border demarcations are not universally definitive and vary from one source to another. There is no Europe but it is a part of Asia. [69], The threefold division of the Old World into Africa, Asia, and Europe has been in use since the 6th century BC, due to early Greek geographers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus. The boundary between Asia and Europe is often defined to follow the Aegean Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Turkish Strait, the Black Sea, the Greater Caucasus, and the Ural River and Mountains. The Ural River bridges in Atyrau and Orenburg are even labeled with permanent monuments carved with the word "Europe" on one side, "Asia" on the other.[99]. The most common demarcation in atlases and other sources follows the Darin Mountains watershed that divides along the ColombiaPanama border where the isthmus meets the South American continent (see Darin Gap). [46][53] Inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands, on the periphery of the main Japanese archipelago, are sometimes associated with Austronesians. For instance, while UNSD includes Georgia and Cyprus in Western Asia, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and UNESCO include both states in Europe. Which mountain range separates India from Europe? The Falkland Islands have historically had a British population, with a distinct culture to that of mainland South America. The continental boundaries are considered to be within the very narrow land connections joining the continents. The Hawaiian Islands, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on the Pacific Plate, are usually considered part of North America.South AmericaSouth America is connected to North America by the narrow Isthmus of Panama. [59] Palau made an unsuccessful attempt to join the Asian Football Confederation in 2009. The Nile has played an important role in the history of Africa. ", "Standard country or area codes and geographical regions for statistical use", European Parliament Resolution 2014/2717(RSP), "European Council conclusions on Ukraine, the membership applications of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, Western Balkans and external relations, 23 June 2022", "Volcanic Islands of Oceania.The Galapagos", "Nomenclatural status of Emoia cyanura (Lacertilia, Scincidae) populations in the Central Pacific", "East of Easter: Traces of human impact in the far-eastern Pacific", "The Eastern Tropical Pacific coral population connectivity and the role of the Eastern Pacific Barrier", "Clipperton Island | island, Pacific Ocean | Britannica", "Shore Fishes of Easter Island, John E. Randall & Alfredo Cea Egaa", "Marine Biodiversity in Juan Fernndez and Desventuradas Islands, Chile: Global Endemism Hotspots", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boundaries_between_the_continents_of_Earth&oldid=1136348740, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles with dead external links from August 2016, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from April 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023, All Wikipedia articles needing clarification, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from June 2021, Articles containing Portuguese-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, the delineation between Africa, Asia, and Europe in the, the delineation between Asia and Europe in the, the delineation between Europe and North America in the, the delineation between North and South America in the. They have oceanic geology, making them distinct from both mainland Asia and mainland Australia. How Is The Border Between Africa And Asia Defined? Even though Kilimanjaro is not far from the Equator,snowcovers its summit all year long.In eastern Africa, a giant depression called the Great Rift Valley runs from the Red Sea to the country of Mozambique. Europe has more than 40 countries and many of the worlds major cities, including London, the United Kingdom; Paris, France; Berlin, Germany; Rome, Italy; Madrid, Spain; and Moscow, Russia.Most European countries have access to the ocean. Two islands in the Caribbean are legally a direct part of France, Guadeloupe and Martinique. Image: kk nationsonline.org. The Norwegian islands of Jan Mayen and Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean are usually associated with Europe. [102][103], The Council of Europe includes transcontinental or Eurasian states, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Russia, and Turkey as members. Q. The Arabian Peninsula, in the continents southwest, is carried by the Arabian Plate. The sea is 746 miles long and 270 miles wide making it a large completely enclosed water body. Eurasia (plus the comfortably close places in Northern and Eastern A. By contrast, the Canary Islands and the Madeira islands (the latter of which also include the Desertas Islands and the Savage Islands) off the Atlantic coast of Morocco are much closer to, and usually grouped with, Africa; the Canary Islands are only 100km (62mi) from the African mainland at their closest point but 945km (587mi) from the European mainland, while Madeira is 520km (320mi) from the African mainland and 1,000km (620mi) from the European mainland. The central and southern areas of Africa aredominated by rainforests. The modern definition of the Eurasian boundary places some countries into both continents while others entirely in one continent. For hundreds of thousands of years, sheets of ice up to 3.2 kilometers (two miles) thick coated the Canadian Shield. The Ural Mountain watershed forms a natural boundary separating the two continents. What is Greece's easternmost city? Temperatures in Antarctica, much lower than Arctic temperatures, plunge lower than -73 degrees Celsius (-100 degrees Fahrenheit).Scientific bases and laboratories have been established in Antarctica for studies in fields that includegeology,oceanography, andmeteorology. One way mountains form is through the collision of two tectonic plates. Malpelo Island, located 500 km from Colombia, is nominally associated with South America, while the Galpagos Islands, 1,000 km from Ecuador, are also sometimes associated with Oceania. Caucasus Mountains, which also separate Europe and Asia, and are the namesake of the Caucasian race. It is expected to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,[38] having been involved as an ASEAN Regional Forum member since independence, and has participated in the Southeast Asian Games since 2003. The splitting of Eurasia into Europe and Asia based on the true definition of a continent is now put on record. Three of these are administered by France, and three of these are administered by Spain. People who work there are scientificresearchers and support staff, such as pilots and cooks.The climate of Antarctica makes it impossible to support agriculture or a permanent civilization. MicrocontinentsIn addition to the seven major continents, Earth is home to microcontinents, or pieces of land that are not geologically identified with a continent. Parts of the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and California sit on the tiny Juan de Fuca Plate. Acontinentis one of Earths seven main divisions of land. [51] Scientific journal PLOS One describe Easter Island, the Desventurudas Islands, the Juan Fernndez Islands and Salas y Gmez (collectively titled Insular Chile) as having "cultural and ecological connections to the broader insular Pacific."[137]. the Caucasus Mountains. Philip Johan von Strahlenberg in 1725 was the first to depart from the classical Don boundary by drawing the line along the Volga, following the Volga north until the Samara Bend, along Obshchy Syrt (the drainage divide between the Ural and Volga rivers) and then north along the Ural Mountains. Madagascar and Seychelles). :) Let's begin. The Prince Edward Islands are located between Africa and Antarctica, and are the territory of South Africa, an African country. Ural Mountains, which form the boundary between Europe and Asia. The Bering Strait and Bering Sea separate the landmasses of Asia and North America, as well as forming the international boundary between Russia and the United States. The Galpagos Islands and Malpelo Island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean are possessions of Ecuador and Colombia, respectively. Which one of the following mountain ranges separates Europe from Asia? Platforms are cratons with sediment andsedimentary rocklying on top.The Canadian Shield makes up about a quarter of North America. According to the EUs geographic requirement, the definition of Europe is culturally and geographically intertwined and therefore is subject to political discretion. [44][45], Japan possesses the Bonin Islands (also known as the Ogasawara Islands),[46] the Volcano Islands, and three remote islets (Nishinoshima, Minami-Tori-shima and Okinotorishima), all governed collectively as Ogasawara Village, which is an administrative division consisting of scattered island atolls located in the Pacific Ocean. Q. Due to the fact that the Kazakhs are an Asian people, after the collapse of the USSR, the option according to which the border of Europe runs from the Caspian Sea along the state border between Russia and Kazakhstan to the Ural River has also gained popularity. It is among the easternmost and least remote of the oceanic island groups in the southeastern Pacific. Almost every type ofecosystemis represented somewhere on the continent, fromcoral reefs in the Caribbean to Greenlands ice sheet to theGreat Plainsin the U.S. and Canada.Today, North America is home to the citizens of Canada, the United States, Greenland, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the island countries and territories that dot the Caribbean Sea and the western North Atlantic.Most of North America sits on the North American Plate. Mount Everest, which reaches more than 8,700 meters (29,000 feet) high in the Himalaya range, is the highest point on Earth. [113][114][115][116][117][118][119] The Galpagos Islands lie on the Nazca Plate and are thought of as being included in Oceania due to their geographical distance from South America in the Pacific Ocean, and their oceanic geology. Cyprus is also placed in Asia by some geographers although the country is often accepted as being included in the modern definition of Europe. As the heat increased, some of Earths rocky materials melted and rose to the surface, where they cooled and formed a crust. Many activevolcanoes dot the range. The continent is sometimes called Oceania, to include the thousands of tiny islands of the Central Pacific and South Pacific, most notably Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (including the U.S. state of Hawai'i). [39], Occasionally, all of the Malay Archipelago is included in Oceania, although this is extremely rare, especially as most of the archipelago lies on the Asian continental shelf. Ural RiverEurope is divided from Asia by a series of watersheds including the Ural River and the Caspian and Black Seas. The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow waterway separating the Atlantic Ocean (bottom left) from the Mediterranean Sea (top right). Their materialfused with that of islands on the neighboring plate. It has often been called the incubator of Western civilization. International Education Week: Continent IQ Quiz. The landmassess averageelevationabovesea levelis about 838 meters (2,750 feet).Although each isunique, all the continents share two basic features: old, geologicallystableregions, and younger, somewhat more activeregions. [52] Their official discovery came much later in the 16th century, through Europeans. However, the segment covered by the Ural River is yet to be determined. One commonly accepted border follows the Aegean Sea, the DardanellesSea of MarmaraBosporus (together known as the Turkish Straits), the Black Sea, along the watershed of the Greater Caucasus, the northwestern portion of the Caspian Sea, and along the Ural River and Ural Mountains to the Kara Sea, as mapped and listed in most atlases including that of the National Geographic Society and as described in The World Factbook. These transcontinental countries include Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Some definitions of the Europe America continent boundary place it on (the northern half of) the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which would make Iceland a transcontinental country. [131][132] Easter Island was annexed by Chile in 1888, but their first major contact with South America came during the 1860s, when islanders were kidnapped by Peruvians for slavery. A multinational treaty negotiated in 1959 and reviewed in 1991 states that research in Antarctica can only be used for peaceful purposes. Parts of Central Asia, including the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia, are dry year-round. The Aleutian Islands are sometimes associated with Oceania, owing to their status as remote Pacific islands, and their proximity to the Pacific Plate. However, trees are being cut down in Africas rainforests for many of the same reasonsdeforestationis taking place in the rainforests of South America and Asia:developmentfor businesses, homes, and agriculture.Much of Africa is a high plateau surrounded by narrow strips of coastal lowlands. Overview Of Eurasia The boundary between Asia and Europe is often defined to follow the Aegean Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Turkish Strait, the Black Sea, the Greater Caucasus, and the Ural River and Mountains.. What separates Asia from Africa? [58] The presence of these teams in the AFC is not necessarily related to geography or politics, but rather because the Asian Football Confederation have far more resources than the Oceania Football Confederation. All rights reserved. Ascension Island, the South Sandwich Islands). Europe is considered a separate continent from Asia because of its distinct historical, cultural, and political identity, rather than any clear geographical demarcation. Early Europeans learned the river systems of the Volga, Danube, Don, Rhine, and Po, and could successfully travel the length and width of the small continent fortrade,communication, orconquest.Navigation and exploration outside of Europe was an important part of the development of the continentseconomic, social, linguistic, and politicallegacy. In total area, the continent of Europe is only slightly larger than the country of Canada. Scholars of antiquity may raise the issue of continental cultural influences on the western and northwestern border islands of Oceania, but these are exceptions, and the Asian mainland influences were largely absent until the modern era. To the south, the Alps form anarcstretching from Albania to Austria, then across Switzerland and northern Italy into France. The Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, and Taiwan are major island nations in Asia.Most of Asias people live in cities or fertile farming areas near rivervalleys, plains, and coasts. [28] South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands do not have any permanent residents. [23], The French Crozet Islands, le Amsterdam, le Saint-Paul, and the Norwegian Bouvet Island are also located on the Antarctic continental plate, and are not often associated with other continents. The Soviet definition of the boundary placed the Caucasus entirely in Asia while the Urals are entirely in Europe. The falls are so high that most of the waterevaporates intomistor is blown away by wind before it reaches the ground.South American rainforests contain an enormous wealth of animal and plant life. Asia, the largest continent, has the longest series ofcoastlines.Coastlines, however, do notindicatethe actual boundaries of the continents. Africa might have split in two along the Great RiftValley. These fires, made byindigenouspeople, seemed to float on the water, which is probably how the islands got their nameTierra del Fuego means "Land of Fire. Earth Science, Geology, Geography, Physical Geography. This area is thought to be the place wherehominids began to evolve.The entire continent of Africa sits on the African Plate.AsiaAsia, the largest continent, stretches from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the western Pacific Ocean. It was a member from 1975 to 1989, but now competes as part of the Asian Football Confederation. Akin to Cyprus, these small islets would nominally be considered Asian if only the continental shelf were used to define the boundary, but due to their history and cultural influences they are considered a part of Europe. These two continents werent always connected; they came together only three million years ago. The Suez Canal happens to traverse the isthmus between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, dividing Africa and Asia. Major microcontinents include: The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Why is Europe a continent of its own? There is a significantly uneven distribution of people between the two portions of the country with the European portion being home to over 75% of the country's population. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions 2023 worldatlas.com. Isolated from life on other continents, the animals developed into creatures unique to Australia, such as the koala, the platypus, and the Tasmanian devil.The Great Barrier Reef, off mainland Australias northeast coast, is another living laboratory. When the continent began to break away from Antarctica more than 60 million years ago, it carried acargoof animals with it. However, the Europe-Asia boundary remained unusual even among the Greek geographers and even Herodotus. By some estimates, it is the worlds largest living organism.Most of Australia sits on the Australian Plate. [96], This Ural River delineation is the only segment not to follow a major mountain range or wide water body, both of which often truly separate populations. The southern part of the South Island of New Zealand sits on the Pacific Plate.AntarcticaAntarctica is the windiest, driest, and iciest place on Earth. Asia Minor. For the part which is called Asia extends from the south through the east to the north; Europe, from the north to the west; and Africa thence from the west to the south. I'm trying to calculate Esim for different boundary conditions on Fsim. The island was never inhabited, yet it was known about by the natives of Easter Island during prehistoric times. Sometimes Eurasia is divided into West Eurasia and East Eurasia. At that time, aprimitiveocean covered Earth. Water flows more than 979 meters (3,212 feet)almost a mile. However, the Austronesians of the Malay Archipelago had significant contact with mainland Asia during prehistoric times, unlike with the Austronesians and Indigenous Australians of Oceania, who were isolated from the culture of Asia and the eastern world. Heard Island has only been visited 240 times throughout its entire history, and the McDonald Islands have only ever been visited twice, in 1971 and 1980. However, scientific groups from different countries inhabit the research stations. The Ural Mountain range the natural boundary between Europe and Asia extends about 2 100 km (1 300 mi) south from the Arctic Ocean to the northern border of Kazakhstan. The European and the African continents are separated by a channel of water that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean sea. The Greek North Aegean islands and the Dodecanese lie on the coast of the Asian part of Turkey (on the Asian continental shelf). T he Ural Mountains run for a distance of 1,600 miles in the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. Gradually, the different landmasses moved to their present locations.The positions of the continents are always changing. The Caribbean Plate carries most of the small islands of the Caribbean Sea (south of the island of Cuba) as well as Central America from Honduras to Panama. [4] The Greenland national football team, while not officially part of any confederation, has historically competed against teams from Europe, rather than North America. [4] Definitions of South America that exclude the Galpagos Islands and Juan Fernndez Islands (both oceanic in nature) still generally include the Falklands, which share biographical affinities to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, and which are located on the South American continental shelf. Mediterranean Sea, an intercontinental sea that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean on the west to Asia on the east and separates Europe from Africa. The area of the ocean is more than double the area of all the continents combined. The nations of Russia and Kazakhstanstraddleboth continents. Its population is about 31 million. Europe is considered a separate continent from Asia because of its distinct historical, cultural, and political identity, rather than any clear geographical demarcation. National Geographic Society is a 501 (c)(3) organization. The freezing temperatures of Antarctica make it an excellent place to study the history of Earthsatmosphereand climate.Ice cores from the massive Antarctic ice sheet have recorded changes in Earths temperature and atmospheric gases for thousands of years. St. Lawrence Island in the northern Bering Sea belongs to Alaska and may be associated with either continent but is almost always considered part of North America, as with the Rat Islands in the Aleutian chain. The continents are, from largest to smallest: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Politically, however, it is more associated with Europe as it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, although it has extensive home rule and EU law no longer applies there. 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