The Seven Continents

What Is a Continent?

Look at a map of the world. You will see big areas coloured in green and brown, and large areas coloured blue. The blue parts are the oceans, full of water. The green and brown parts are land.

A continent is one of the very large areas of land on Earth. There are seven of them. Their names are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.

Each continent is like a giant puzzle piece. Together they make up all the land in the world. In this book we will travel to every one and find out what makes it special. Pack your bags — our journey around the planet begins!

Asia: The Biggest of All

Asia is the largest continent. It is so big that more than half of all the people in the world live there.

Asia has almost everything. In the south stand the Himalayas, the tallest mountains on Earth, including Mount Everest. In the north there are freezing forests and snow. There are hot jungles, huge deserts and long rivers.

Famous countries in Asia include China, India and Japan. The Great Wall of China, which is thousands of years old, is found here. Animals like tigers, pandas and elephants live in Asia too.

Africa: Land of Amazing Animals

Africa is the second-largest continent and is famous for its wildlife. Wide grasslands called savannas are home to lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras and rhinos.

The world's longest river, the Nile, flows through Africa. The world's largest hot desert, the Sahara, is here too, with sand that stretches as far as you can see.

Long ago, the ancient Egyptians built giant pyramids in Africa, and they still stand today. Africa has many countries — more than fifty — each with its own languages, food and music.

North America: From Ice to Jungle

North America stretches from the frozen north all the way down to warm, tropical lands in the south.

It includes the big countries of Canada, the United States and Mexico, along with many smaller ones. You can find snowy mountains, golden deserts, the Grand Canyon, and the long Rocky Mountains.

Animals here include grizzly bears, bald eagles, bison and beavers. The Great Lakes, a group of huge lakes, hold a great amount of the world's fresh water.

South America: Rainforests and Mountains

South America is joined to North America by a thin strip of land. It is a continent of dramatic places.

The mighty Amazon Rainforest covers much of it. This jungle is home to more kinds of plants and animals than anywhere else, including jaguars, monkeys, parrots and tiny poison frogs. Through it flows the Amazon River, which carries more water than any other river on Earth.

Down the western side run the Andes, the longest mountain range in the world. Countries here include Brazil, Argentina and Peru.

Europe: Many Countries Close Together

Europe is a smaller continent, but it has many countries packed close together — around forty of them. You could drive through several countries in a single day.

Europe has rolling green hills, snowy Alps mountains, and famous cities like Paris, London and Rome. Long ago, castles were built across Europe, and many still stand today.

Europe and Asia are actually joined together in one giant landmass. People sometimes call the whole thing Eurasia. But because their history and people are so different, we usually count them as two continents.

Australia: The Island Continent

Australia is the smallest continent. It is also a single country, surrounded by ocean on every side, so people call it the island continent.

Much of Australia is hot, dry desert in the middle, which Australians call the Outback. Many people live near the coast in cities like Sydney.

Australia is famous for animals found nowhere else, like kangaroos, koalas and the duck-billed platypus. Off its coast lies the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world.

Antarctica: The Frozen South

Antarctica sits at the very bottom of the world, around the South Pole. It is the coldest, windiest and iciest place on Earth.

Almost the whole continent is buried under a thick blanket of ice, in some places kilometres deep. It is so cold and harsh that no people live there permanently. There are no towns and no countries. The only people are scientists who visit to study the ice, the weather and the animals.

Even so, life finds a way. Penguins, seals and whales live in and around its icy waters.

Oceans Between the Lands

Between the continents lie the great oceans. The biggest is the Pacific Ocean, followed by the Atlantic, the Indian, the Southern (or Antarctic) and the small, icy Arctic Ocean.

The oceans separate the continents but also connect them. For thousands of years, people have sailed across them in ships to trade and explore. Today, planes can fly from one continent to another in just hours.

What We Learned

We have travelled all the way around the world! Let's remember our seven continents.

Asia is the biggest and has the most people. Africa is famous for wild animals and the Sahara. North America runs from ice to jungle. South America has the Amazon and the Andes. Europe packs many countries close together. Australia is the small island continent. And Antarctica is the frozen land at the bottom of the world.

Each continent is special, and together they make up our amazing planet.

Keen to explore more of the world? Climb high in Mountains of the World, or set sail across The Five Oceans of the World.