Continent fact

facts
 Largest continent , covering almost third of the world’s land area ;
Asia Highest place on the earth :MOUNT EVEREST (8848mtrs above sea level;
Lowest place on the earth: DEAD SEA SHORE (399mtrs below sea level).
PHYSICAL • Northern Lowlands :comprise the SERBIAN PLAIN which extends
between the URAL MOUNTAINS (W) and RIVER LENA (E)
DIVISION • Central Mountains :comprising fold mountains and plateaus
• Southern Plateaus :formed of very old rocks , the southern plateaus
comprising the PLATEAU OF ARABIA, THE DECCAN PLATEAU AND THE
PLATEAU OF YUNNAN
• Great River Valleys: some of these river systems – The Tigris-
Euphrates, The Indus, The Ganga-Brahmaputra, The Ayeryarwaddy,
The Mekong, The Sikiang, The Chang Jiang (Yangtze- kiang) and The
Huang He – are very old.
• Island Groups : Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan

MOUNTAIN Asia has more mountain than any other continent.

Himalaya, Karakoram, Altai, Elbruz, Zagros, Urals. Kunlun ,Tein Shan
S PAMIR KNOT(Roof of the world):large group of rugged peaks and deep
valleys(lies where Afghanistan, China , Pakistan and Central Asian Republics
meet)
TARIM BASIN : Between the Kunlun and the Tein Shan
RIVERS Euphrates, Tigris, Ganga, Hwang Ho, Amur, Sikiang, The Yangtze is Asia’s
longest river.
DESERTS Arabian Desert, Gobi Desert, Thar Desert
LAKES Baikal (Siberia ) is deepest lake in world ; Caspian Sea, Aral Sea
STRAITS Strait of Malacca, Bering Strait
COASTLIN 129077km
E
 Second largest continent, covering one-fifth of the land area; separated from
Africa Europe by the Mediterranean Sea and from Asia by the Red Sea.
In the north-west: Gibraltar, northeast: Suez Canal; strait of Bab-el Mandeb
connect Africa to Eurasia: Africa has largest tropical area in the world.

PHYSICAL • Low Africa (consisting northern, western and central )

• Costal Lowlands
DIVISION • Northern Highlands
• Saharan Plateau
• Western Plateau
• Nile Basin
• Congo Basin
• High Africa (consisting eastern and southern Africa)
• Rift System: special physical feature of Africa, consist of the Great
Rift Valley (series of parallel cracks in the earth), extends from
Ethiopia in the East to Mozambique in the southeast. Rich in
volcanic soil
• Eastern Highlands
• Southern Plateau
• Coastal Lowlands
• Madagascar

MOUNTAINS Atlas( extending from Morocco to Tunisia, non –volcanic), Drakensberg,

Mt. Kilimanjaro(in Tanzania) and Mt. Kenye (in Kenya) are volcanic activity
RIVERS Nile(longest river in the world, drains into the Mediterranean sea)
Zaire(Congo: carries the greatest volume of water among all the rivers of
Africa), Niger(discharge into the Atlantic), Limpopo and Zambezi(drain into
Indian ocean), Orange, ,Nyasa, Turkana
DESERTS cover two-fifths of Africa
Sahara: world’s largest desert; stretches across northern Africa from the
Atlantic sea to the red sea, Kalahari, Namib
LAKES Victoria: largest lake in Africa and source of river Tanganyika, Rudolf,
Albert ,Nyasa, Turkana
STRAITS Strait of Babel-Mandeb, Strait of Gibraltar
COASTLINE ----
 Third largest continent, extending from the Arctic Ocean in the north to
North south America in the south.

America
PHYSICAL • Canadian Shield: huge area of ancient rocks covers most of
Canada; reservoir of valuable mineral resources like gold, silver,
DIVISION nickel, iron, and copper, platinum; made up of swamps and no. of
lakes: Great Bear, Winnipeg and Great Lakes (Superior, Huron,
Erie, Ontario, and Michigan). The famous Niagara Falls is located
between Lake Erie and lake Ontario
• The Appalachian Mountains/Eastern Highlands
• The Central Plains :cover flat river basin of the Missouri-Mississippi
• Western Cordilleras: Intermontane Plateaus- the Great Basin
(largest Intermontane Plateau of continent) active volcano in
Alaska and Mexico.

MOUNTAINS Rockies: North America’s largest mountain range, Alaska: North America’s
highest mountain range, Cascade, Sierra Madre, Mt McKinley(6194m): North
America’s highest mountain
RIVERS Mississippi, Missouri, Rio Grande, Mackenzie. Columbia
Mississippi- Missouri-Ohio: Continent’s Largest River System
Grand Canyon of river Colorado- Largest In World
DESERTS Mojave, Sonoran
LAKES Superior: largest freshwater lake in world, Huron, Erie, Ontario, Great
Bear , Great Slave , Great Salt Lake in Utah ( saltier than sea)
STRAITS Bering strait
COASTLINE About 300000km: longer than any other continent
 Fourth largest continent , surrounded by water – the Caribbean Sea
South (north), the Atlantic Ocean (northeast and east) , the Pacific ocean
(west) and the Dark Passage (south); the Isthmus of Panama: connected
to central America by narrow strip of land
America
PHYSICAL • Western Coastal Strip
• Western Mountains
DIVISION • The Central Plains :covering about three-fifths of south America
made up of LALMOS :rolling grasslands in Orinoco river basin of
Colombia and Venezuela, THE SELVA:tropical rain forest of the
Amazon river basin in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru , THE GRAN
CHACO(hardwood serial forest in north-central Argentina ,
western Paraguay and southern Bolivia, THE PAMPAS(vast
grasslands in Argentina)
• Eastern Highlands: consist of the Guyana Highlands and the
Brazilian Highlands

MOUNTAINS Andes :called western mountains, from Venezuela in the north to Tierra
del Fuego in the south , young fold mountain second highest mountain
system in the world ,next to Himalaya , world’s largest mountain
ranges above sea level
Mt Aconcagua in Argentina(6959m) : tallest mountain in western
hemisphere
Cotopaxi in Ecuador: highest active volcano in the world.
RIVERS Amazon: world’s second longest river but has the largest drainage
basin Orinoco, Parana, Paraguay , The Rio de le Plata, the Magdalena-
Cauca, the San Francisco. The Angel Falls in southern-eastern
Venezuela- highest water fall in the world
DESERTS Atacama, Patagonia
LAKES Lake Maracaibo, Lake Titicaca
STRAITS Strait of Magellan
COASTLINE 32000km , Tierra del Fuego( largest islands ), the Juan Fernandez the
Falkland and the Galapagos
Europe
sixth in terms of area of continents ; extends from the Arctic Ocean
(North) to the Mediterranean Sea , the Black Sea and the Caucasus
Mountains (south) and from the Atlantic Ocean (west)

PHYSICAL • Northwest Mountains: include some of the oldest rock

formations on earth
DIVISION • North European Plains: extends from Urals in east to Atlantic
coast in west.
• The Central Uplands: include the Meseta (Spain and
Portugal)The Massif Central and Juna Mountains (France),
the Black Forest (Germany)
• The Alpine System :stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in west
to Caspian sea in East

MOUNTAINS Alps(covering part of south –eastern France, north Italy, most of

Switzerland ,parts of southern Germany, Austria and Northern
Yugoslavia), the Apennines, the Alpines Pyrenees, Carpathians,
Urals, Balkans. The highest mountain peak of Europe is Mount Elbrus
(5633m) in the Caucasus.
RIVERS Volga: longest river of Europe ,flowing through Russia – Caspian Sea,
Danube: 2nd longest river of Europe , drains into Black Sea,
Rhine: flows through Alps –western Germany – Netherlands- North
Sea ;Po, Dnieper, Don, Vistula, Elbe, Oder
DESERTS No desert
LAKES Lake Ladoga: Europe’s largest freshwater lake in Russia.
The salt water Caspian sea: which lies partly in Europe and partly in
Asia, is the world’s largest lake ,Europe’s lowest point.
Finland : country of 60000 lakes, known as ‘land of thousand lakes’
STRAITS Strait of Gibraltar
COASTLINE 60957km
 Lies entirely in Southern Hemisphere
Australia

PHYSICAL DIVISION • Western Plateau : covers two-third of Australia ; The

Nullarbor Plain : vast, dry ,treeless plateau
• Central Lowlands
• Eastern Highlands

MOUNTAINS Great Dividing Range , Mount Kosciusky(2228m): highest peak in

Australia
RIVERS Murray: originating from the Snowy mountains in Alps ,
continents’ longest permanently flowing river, fed by Darling in dry
season
DESERTS Gibson Desert, Great Sandy Desert, Great Victoria Desert, Simpson
Desert (cover third of Australia)
LAKES Lake Eyre (lowest point in Australia)
STRAIT Bass Strait ; World largest coral reef: Barrier Reef