🌍 Seven Continents, One Planet The big picture
About 29% of Earth's surface is land, and it is divided into seven continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Oceania (Australia). Together they are home to about 8 billion people living in roughly 195 countries.
Where one continent ends and another begins is partly a matter of convention. Europe and Asia are one landmass (Eurasia), North and South America are linked by Panama, and some schools count them as one American continent or count five or six continents in total. This site uses the seven-continent model common in English-speaking countries.
Continents by land area
Millions of km², rounded. Figures vary a little by source and by whether islands are included.
🧭 The Seven Continents Size, people, climate and character
Choose a continent to see its size, population, highest and lowest points, general climate, major landforms and how its trade has changed.
Compare the continents
Population figures are approximate (mid-2020s). Highest and lowest points are land elevations above or below sea level.
🗺️ Explore the Map Mountains, deserts, rivers, ports and trade routes
Tap any pin for a summary. Turn kinds of places on and off with the buttons, and show the historic and modern trade routes as lines. Use the layer button (top right) to switch between satellite, a street-style map and a dark map.
Routes are simplified and illustrative, not exact tracks. Dashed gold lines are historic routes; solid teal lines are modern ones.
🏳️ Countries of Each Continent
Open a continent to see its countries. A few countries span two continents (Russia, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Cyprus is usually grouped with Europe politically but lies in Asia geographically); here each is listed once, where most of its land or population lies.
Tap or click any country to see its capital, estimated population and main languages.
⛰️ Key Natural Features
The great deserts, mountain ranges (from the Himalaya to gentler ranges like the Adirondacks and Appalachians), rivers, plateaus and ice sheets that shape each continent's climate, wildlife and history. Filter by continent or type.
🧩 Pangaea & Drifting Continents How today's continents came to be
About 250 million years ago nearly all of Earth's land was joined in one supercontinent, Pangaea (Greek for "all earth"), surrounded by one huge ocean, Panthalassa. Over the following 200 million years it split apart, and the pieces drifted to where they are today. They are still moving, about as fast as your fingernails grow.
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Where did each continent come from?
How do we know the continents moved?
Supercontinents come and go
🌡️ Climate of the Continents Zones, records and extremes
Climate depends on latitude (distance from the equator), altitude, nearness to the sea, ocean currents and mountain barriers that block wind and rain. Each continent mixes several climate zones.
Hottest recorded temperatures
Highest reliably reported air temperature on each continent, °C. Some old records are disputed.
Coldest recorded temperatures
Lowest recorded air temperature, in degrees below zero (°C). Antarctica's number is a station reading; satellites have measured colder ice-surface temperatures.
Main climate zones
Climate superlatives
🚢 Trade Routes: Then and Now From sail and steam to the container age
For most of history, goods crossed continents slowly, passing through many hands along caravan roads and sea lanes. Over the last two centuries steamships, railways, canals, telegraphs and finally containers and the internet made moving goods radically cheaper and faster, and linked the continents into one global economy.
Major routes
The 1800s world
Today's world
Key trade hubs and choke points
The busiest ports and passages are marked on the map. See Planet Ocean for the canals and straits in detail.