The Continents Of The World

The continents of the world are Asia, Antarctica, Australia, Africa, North America, South America, and lastly Europe. These 7 continents of the world make up the main landmasses found on Earth.

Our Earth is comprised of 71% water, meaning that only a small fraction of the Earth is actually land. That land is spread out in 7 large landforms, called continents. The names of the continents of the world are Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Europe, Antarctica, and lastly Australia (sometimes referred to as Oceania). Those continents house the entire population of Earth. To learn all about each continent, check out this guide.

When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty. John Muir

What is a continent?

Before we delve into the individual continents it is important to actually define the term continent. According to Dictionary.com (found here), the term continent means:

one of the main landmasses of the globe, usually reckoned as seven in number (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America,Australia, and Antarctica)

Each of those seven landforms each has its own climate and unique geography. Oftentimes North and South America will be referred to as simply the “Americas” and some people might combine them into 1 big continent. Some people think there are only 5 continents, America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Europe which is what the 5 Olympic rings represent, which is pretty interesting, but the most accepted number of continents is 7.

The Seven Continents Of The World

Now let’s go over each continent individually:

1. Australian Continent

Australia (Oceania) is the smallest continent on Earth and is home to only .3% of the population of the Earth. It is also called Oceania to differentiate between the country Australia and the continent named Australia. The largest city in Oceania is Sydney, Australia with a population of 4.9 million people. A lot of the country Australia is uninhabited by humans, but it does have a massive amount of unique plants and animals. Living in Australia is not for the faint of heart with its large desert and scary insects.

“But no matter how far or how wide I roam, I still call Australia home.” — Peter Allen

Here are the 13 countries that comprise Australia (Oceania) in alphabetical order:

Country	Capital
Australia	Canberra
Fihi	Suva
Kiribati	Tarawa
Marshall Islands	Majuro
Micronesia	Palikir
Nauru	Yaren
New Zealand	Wellington
Palau	Koror
Papua New Guinea	Port Moresby
Solomon Islands	Apia
Tonga	Nuku’alofa
Tuvalu	Funafuti
Vanuatu	Port Vila

2. Antarctica Continent

Antarctica is our southernmost continent and usually has a population of 1,000 to 5,000 when researchers and scientists are visiting to conduct tests and experiments. It is extremely cold, with the temperature ranging between -110 degrees Fahrenheit to 50 degrees Fahrenheit (at the northernmost coast during the summer). It has very little precipitation and is actually one of the driest continents on Earth.

Antarctica is home to many different animals, such as penguins, orcas, whales, seals, and even some species of squid.

3. Africa Continent

Africa is the second-largest continent in the world and houses at least 16% of the World’s population at 1 billion people. Eastern Africa is believed to be the “birthplace” of humanity based on fossil records that researchers have found in Ethiopia that date back to 200,000 years ago. The climate of Africa ranges from sub-arctic in the southernmost part to tropical at the northernmost part of the continent. Africa is home to huge amount of diverse wildlife such as cheetahs, lions, elephants, camels, snakes, a massive amount of sea life, and many species of primates.

Here are the countries (and capitals) in Africa in alphabetical order:

Country	Capital
Algeria	Algiers
Angola	Luanda
Benin	Porto Novo
Botswana	Gaborone
Burkina Faso	Ouagadougou
Burundi	Bujumbura
Cameroon	Yaoundé
Cape Verde	Praia
Central African Republic	Bangui
Chad	N’Djamena
Comoros	Moroni
Democratic Republic of Congo	Kinshasa
Djibouti	Djibouti
Egypt	Cairo
Equatorial Guinea	Malabo
Eritrea	Asmara
Ethiopia	Addis Ababa
Gabon	Libreville
Gambia	Banjul
Ghana	Accra
Guinea	Conakry
Guinea-Bissau	Bissau
Ivory Coast	Yamoussoukro
Kenya	Nairobi
Lesotho	Maseru
Liberia	Monrovia
Libya	Tripoli
Madagascar	Antananarivo
Malawi	Lilongwe
Mali	Bamako
Mauritania	Nouakchott
Mauritius	Port Louis
Morocco	Rabat
Mozambique	Maputo
Namibia	Windhoek
Niger	Niamey
Nigeria	Abuja
Republic of the Congo	Brazzaville
Rwanda	Kigali
São Tomé and Príncipe	São Tomé
Senegal	Dakar
Seychelles	Victoria
Sierra Leone	Freetown
Somalia	Mogadishu
South Africa	Pretoria
South Sudan	Juba
Sudan	Khartoum
Swaziland	Mbabane
Tanzania	Dodoma
Togo	Lomé
Tunisia	Tunis
Uganda	Kampala
Zambia	Lusaka
Zimbabwe	Harare

4. Asia Continent

Asia is the largest continent in the world and is also the most populous continent, housing 4.5 billion people. It has size of 17 million miles and the climate ranges from subarctic at the northernmost part to tropical in the southernmost part of the continent. Asia is also home to the Himalaya mountains, which is the highest point on Earth. Asia is also home to the Gobi desert which spreads across most of the Middle East.

Here are the countries (and their capitals) that are in Asia in alphabetical order:

Country	Capital
Afghanistan	Kabul
Armenia	Yerevan
Azerbaijan	Baku
Bahrain	Manama
Bangladesh	Dhaka
Bhutan	Thimphu
Brunei	Bandar Seri Begawan
Cambodia	Phnom Penh
China	Beijing
Cyprus	Nicosia
Georgia	Tbilisi
India	New Delhi
Indonesia	Jakarta
Iran	Tehran
Iraq	Baghdad
Israel	Jerusalem
Japan	Tokyo
Jordan	Amman
Kazakhstan	Astana
Kuwait	Kuwait City
Kyrgyzstan	Bishkek
Laos	Vientiane
Lebanon	Beirut
Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur
Maldives	Male
Mongolia	Ulaanbaatar
Myanmar	Naypyidaw
Nepal	Kathmandu
North Korea	Pyongyang
Oman	Muscat
Pakistan	Islamabad
Philippines	Manila
Qatar	Doha
Russia	Moscow
Saudi Arabia	Riyadh
Singapore	Singapore
South Korea	Seoul
Sri Lanka	Colombo
State of Palestine	Ramallah
Syria	Damascus
Taiwan	Taipei
Tajikistan	Dushanbe
Thailand	Bangkok
Timor – Leste	Dili
Turkey	Ankara
Turkmenistan	Ashgabat
United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi
Uzbekistan	Tashkent
Vietnam	Hanoi
Yemen	Sana’a

5. Europe Continent

Clockwise from top left: Berlin, Madrid, Paris, and London (Images licensed under CC0)

Europe is home to 11% of the World’s population with 740 million people and takes up about 7% of the Earth’s landmass. Europes climate is actually very temperate and is greatly affected by trade winds and the Gulf stream. The northernmost part of Europe’s climate is in the tundra range, whereas the southernmost part of Europe is pretty dry. Animals are really heavily influenced by humans since most of Europe is inhabited by humans.

“I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself.” — James Baldwin

Here are the countries (and capitals) in Europe in alphabetical order:

Country	Capital
Albania	Tirana
Andorra	Andorra la Vella
Armenia	Yerevan
Austria	Vienna
Azerbaijan	Baku
Belarus	Minsk
Belgium	Brussels
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Saravejo
Bulgaria	Sofia
Croatia	Zagreb
Cyprus	Nicosia
Czech Republic	Prague
Denmark	Copenhagen
Estonia	Tallinn
Finland	Helsinki
France	Paris
Georgia	Tbilisi
Germany	Berlin
Greece	Athens
Hungary	Budapest
Iceland	Reykjavik
Ireland	Dublin
Italy	Rome
Kazakhstan	Astana
Latvia	Riga
Liechtenstein	Vaduz
Lithuania	Vilnius
Luxembourg	Luxembourg
Macedonia	Skopje
Malta	Valletta
Moldova	Chișinău
Monaco	Monaco
Montenegro	Podgorica
Netherlands	Amsterdam
Norway	Oslo
Poland	Warsaw
Portugal	Lisbon
Romania	Bucharest
Russia	Moscow
San Marino	San Marino
Serbia	Belgrade
Slovakia	Bratislava
Slovenia	Ljubljana
Spain	Madrid
Sweden	Stockholm
Switzerland	Bern
Turkey	Ankara
Ukraine	Kiev
United Kingdom	London
Vatican City	Vatican City

6. North America Continent

North America takes up about 17% of the World’s landmass, coming in with 9.5 million square miles of land, making it the 3rd largest continent. North America’s population is 560 million, holding 7% of the World’s population. The climate ranges from arctic in its northernmost portions to subtropical in its southernmost regions. Animals who call North America home include bears, turkeys, wolves, and bison. The United States of America was rated as the richest country in the world in 2016.

“One of the characteristics of North American culture is that you can always start again. You can always move forward, cross a border of a state or a county, and move west — most of the time, west. You leave behind guilt, past traditions, memories.” — Isabel Allende

Here are a list of the countries (and their capitals) in alphabetical order:

Country	Capital
Antigua	Saint John’s
Bahamas	Nassau
Barbados	Bridgetown
Belize	Belmopan
Canada	Ottawa
Costa Rica	San Jose
Cuba	Havana
Dominica	Roseau
Dominican Republic	Santo Domingo
El Salvador	San Salvador
Grenada	Saint George’s
Guatemala	Guatemala City
Haiti	Port-au-Prince
Honduras	Tegucigalpa
Jamaica	Kingston
Mexico	Mexico City
Nicaragua	Managua
Panama	Panama City
Saint Kitts	Basseterre
Saint Lucia	Castries
Saint Vincent	Kingstown
Trinidad	Port of Spain
United States of America	Washington, D.C.

7. South America Continent

The final continent is South America, which takes up about 6.9 million square miles, and is home to about 420 million people. South America is home to the largest river in the world, the Amazon River. South America is home to hundreds of different animals, with many animals that have yet to be discovered yet. The climate in South America is very similar to Africa in that the southernmost portions of the continent are subarctic, and the northernmost parts are tropical. The Amazon river valley is very tropical and is massive, taking up most of Brazil.

Here are the countries (and capitals) that are in South America in alphabetical order:

Country	Capital
Argentina	Buenos Aires
Bolivia	Sucre
Brazil	Brasilia
Chile	Santiago
Colombia	Bogotá
Ecuador	Quito
Guyana	Georgetown
Paraguay	Asunción
Peru	Lima
Suriname	Paramaribo
Uruguay	Montevideo
Venezuela	Caracas