Only a third of planet Earth is occupied by land, while the remaining 2/3 is vast expanses of water. That is why it is also called the “blue planet”. Water separates parts of the land, creating several continents from once existing fused land masses.
What parts is the earth divided into?
Geologically, the land is divided into continents, but from the point of view of history, culture and politics - into parts of the world.
There are also concepts of "Old" and "New World". During the heyday of the ancient Greek state, three parts of the world were known: Europe, Asia and Africa - they are called the “Old World”, and the remaining areas of the earth that were discovered after 1500 are called the “New World”, this includes North and South America , Australia and Antarctica.
A large area of land that has common cultural, scientific, economic and political heritage is called a “part of the world.”
It’s interesting to know: which ones exist on planet Earth?
Their names and locations
They often coincide with continents, but it is known that one continent can contain two parts of the world. For example, the continent of Eurasia is divided into Europe and Asia. And, on the contrary, two continents can be one part of the world - South and North America.
So, there are six parts of the world in total:
- Europe
- Africa
- America
- Australia and Oceania
- Antarctic
It is worth noting that the islands close to the mainland also belong to a certain part of the world.
A continent, or continent, is a large and unbroken area of the Earth's crust that is not covered with water.. The boundaries of continents and their outlines change over time. Continents that existed in ancient times are called paleocontinents.
They are separated by oceanic and sea waters, and those between which the land border lies are separated by isthmuses: North and South America are connected by the Isthmus of Panama, Africa and Asia by the Isthmus of Suez.
Eurasia
The largest continent on Earth, washed by the waters of four oceans (Indian, Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific), is Eurasia. It is located in the Northern Hemisphere, and some of its islands are in the Southern Hemisphere. It occupies an area of about 53 million square kilometers - this is 36% of the entire land surface of the earth.
On this continent there are two parts of the world that belong to the “Old World” - Europe and Asia. They are separated by the Ural Mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Dardanelles Strait, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Aegean, Mediterranean and Black Seas.
Initially, the continent was called Asia, and only since 1880, Austrian geologist Eduard Suess The term Eurasia was introduced. This part of the land was formed when the protocontinent Laurasia was divided into North America and Eurasia.
What is unique about the parts of the world Asia and Europe?
- The presence of the narrowest strait in the world - the Bosphorus;
- The continent is home to great ancient civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Roman and Byzantine empires, etc.);
- Here is an area that is rightfully considered the coldest point on earth - Oymyakon;
- Eurasia contains Tibet and the Black Sea basin - the highest and lowest points on the planet;
- The mainland has all existing climate zones;
- The continent is home to 75% of the entire world population.
Belongs to the New World, surrounded by the waters of two oceans: the Pacific and the Atlantic. The border between the two Americas is the Isthmus of Panama and the Caribbean Sea. The countries bordering the Caribbean Sea are commonly called Caribbean America.
In terms of size, South America ranks 4th among the continents, the population is about 400 million.
This land was discovered by H. Columbus in 1492. In his desire to find India, he crossed the Pacific Ocean and landed on the Greater Antilles, but realized that beyond them lay a whole hitherto unexplored continent.
- A third of the total area is occupied by the Amazon, Parana and Orinoco rivers;
- The largest river in the world is located here - the Amazon. According to the results of the 2011 world competition, it is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
- In South America there is the largest dry-bottom lake in the world - Titicaca;
- On the territory of the continent there are the highest - Angel, and the most powerful - Iguazu waterfalls in the world;
- The largest country on the continent is Brazil;
- The highest capital in the world is La Paz (Bolivia);
- There is never any precipitation in the Chilean Atacami Desert;
- It is also home to the largest beetles and butterflies in the world (woodcutter beetles and agrippina butterflies), the smallest monkeys (marmosets) and life-threatening poisonous red-backed frogs.
North America
Another continent belonging to the same part of the world. Located in the Western Hemisphere on the northern side, it is washed by the Bering Sea, the Mexican, California, St. Lawrence and Hudson Bays, the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
The discovery of the mainland took place in 1502. It is believed that America was named after the Italian navigator and traveler Amerigo Vespucci who discovered it. However, there is a version according to which America was discovered by the Vikings long before this. First appeared on the map as America in 1507.
On its area, which occupies about 20 million square kilometers, there are 20 countries. Most of the territory is divided between two of them - Canada and the United States.
North America also includes a number of islands: the Aleutian, Greenland, Vancouver, Alexandra and Canadian archipelago.
- North America is home to the world's largest administrative building, the Pentagon;
- Most of the population spends almost all of their time indoors;
- Mauna Kea is the highest mountain in the world, the height of which is two thousand meters higher than Chomolungma;
- Greenland is the largest island on the planet and belongs to this continent.
Africa
Second largest continent after Eurasia. Its area occupies 6% of all land on Earth. It is washed by the Mediterranean and Red Seas, as well as the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The continent crosses the equator.
It is believed that the name of the continent comes from such Latin words as “sunny”, “without cold”, “dust”.
What makes Africa unique?
- The mainland contains huge reserves of diamonds and gold;
- There are places here that no human has ever set foot on;
- You can see tribes with the shortest and tallest people on the planet;
- The average human life expectancy in Africa is 50 years.
Antarctica
Part of the world, a continent, almost entirely covered with 2 thousand meters of ice. Located in the very south of the globe.
- There are no permanent residents on the mainland, only scientific stations are located here;
- Traces have been found in glaciers indicating the “former tropical life of the continent”;
- Every year a large number of tourists (about 35 thousand) come to Antarctica who want to see seals, penguins and whales, as well as those who are interested in scuba diving.
Australia
The continent is washed by the Pacific and Indian oceans, as well as the Tasman, Timor, Arafura and Coral seas of the Pacific Ocean. The mainland was discovered by the Dutch in the 17th century.
Near the coast of Australia there is a huge coral reef - the Great Barrier Reef, about 2 thousand km long.
Also sometimes a separate part of the world means Oceania, the Arctic, New Zealand.
But most scientists still divide the land into the 6 parts of the world presented above.
Today, when answering the question about the number of parts of the world, we automatically answer: six. Yes, in geography lessons at school more than one lesson is devoted to this.
Currently, there are traditionally 6 parts of the world:
- Europe;
- Asia;
- Africa;
- North America;
- South America;
- Australia and Oceania;
- Antarctica.
In recent years, some scientists have proposed identifying Oceania as a separate part of the world. If this is officially approved, then there will be 7 parts of the world on Earth.
But if you ask the question about the time when people began to divide the land known to them into parts of the world, then few will answer this question. The maximum that can be heard in response is: “It happened historically.” And from this it follows that answers to the question about the time of division of land into parts must be sought in history.
Turning to historical chronicles, in search of an answer to the question “How many parts of the world are there on Earth, and when did they begin to be divided?” you can find out the following:
1. The ancient Greeks were the first to divide the land into parts of the world. They divided the landmass known to them along cultural and political lines. At the same time, they considered Greece itself the center of the world.
2. In VI BC. Ancient Greek philosophers divided the part of the Earth they knew into two parts. They called the land that lay to the west Europe, that is, the land of Sunset. The landmass east of Hellas was given the name Asia, which translated from the Assyrian language means “east”. The use of the Assyrian name was due to the fact that the ancient state of Assyria was located east of Ancient Greece and Assyrian words were popular among the ancient Greeks, and then among the Romans.
3. A century later, in the 5th century BC, the father of history, Herodotus, singles out Libya and Ethiopia lying behind it as a separate part of the land. The Romans called this land Africa when they went to conquer Carthage. The name comes from the name of the Afarik tribe who lived in those places. But there is a second version of the origin of the word “Africa” - Arabic. The Arabic word "Ifriqiya" translates to "Separated".
The ideas of the Greeks about dividing the world known to them into parts of the world were formalized in writing by Claudius Ptolemy in his work on geography, which supplemented the already existing parts of the world: Europe, Asia and Africa - also “Terra incognita” - with unknown lands.
At this point, the process of dividing the land into parts of the world temporarily stopped. The ancient era with its desire to understand the world was replaced by the era of the early Middle Ages, which fully deserves the title of the Dark Ages. During this historical period, people were not interested in the question “How many parts of the world are there on Earth?”
But everything comes to an end, and the period of decline was replaced by the Renaissance. People again began to strive to gain new knowledge and explore the world.
Christopher Columbus, in search of a route to India, sailed from the Spanish port of Palos de la Fontera in 1492. This voyage ended with the discovery of a new continent for Europeans, named after Amerigo Vespucci, who predicted its existence.
North and South America began to be divided at the end of the 19th century after the construction of the Panama Canal, which divided the American continent into two parts.
Dutch navigators discovered Australia in the 17th century - “Terra Australis Incognita”. This is how a fifth of the world appeared - Australia and Oceania.
The last, sixth continent, Antarctica, was discovered by the expedition of Russian navigators Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev in 1820. The discovery of Antarctica was completely completed by the beginning of the 20th century, when it received its name, meaning “Opposite to the Arctic.”
The process of dividing land into parts of the world began in ancient times, and was completed almost today. But now the question about the time of the beginning of the division of land into parts of the world can be answered quite specifically.
largest part of the world
Alternative descriptionsThe largest and most populated part of the world
The largest and, as many believe, the most uncivilized part of the world
The Land of Light - the birthplace of the peacock
What does the yellow ring on the Olympic emblem symbolize?
Trans-Urals
Part of the world
The cardinal direction is the birthplace of the peacock
In which part of the world are the highest basins located?
In which part of the world are the highest mountain ranges located?
Which continent does the yellow ring on the Olympic emblem symbolize?
Part of the world is the champion in terms of population
Siamese twin of Europe
Europe's neighbor
Neighbor of the Old World
Densely populated part of the world
India, China, Japan, Siberia
Shares the continent with Europe
Its population is 4 billion people
Europe's continental neighbor
Region of slanted eyes
On the other side of the Urals and the Caucasus
China, Laos, Mongolia, Kazakhstan
Close to Europe
She is inseparable from Europe
Expanses from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean
East of Europe
From Kamchatka to the Urals
Small, Front or Middle
Europe's eastern neighbor
Actress Argento
British supergroup
On the right side of the Urals
Shocking continent
Yellow Olympic Ring
The most populated part of the world
Largest part of the world (about 43.4 million km2)
Part of the world
The part of the world that is washed by all the oceans of the Earth
How many parts of the world are there on Earth? Europeans in the 16th century divided the world into four continents: Africa, America, Asia and Europe. It seemed that each of them represented its own quadrant of the world. Europe is in the east, Africa is in the south and America is in the west. This division corresponded to the trends of that era - then the world was divided into four seasons, four classical elements, four cardinal directions, and so on.
Ancient tripartite world
How many parts of the world are there on Earth? At a time when people still did not know anything about America, Australia and Antarctica, there were not so many of them. Before the discovery of the New World, classical and medieval geography distinguished three parts of the Earth - Europe, Asia and Africa. As Laurent de Premierfeit (the eminent French translator of Latin literature at the beginning of the fifteenth century) once told his readers: “Asia is one of the three parts of the world that extends towards the East until the rising sun.”
Seen through the eyes of a modern geographer, the Ural Mountains, which divide Europe from Asia, represent a geological seam between two fragmented continents or cratons. Another dividing factor was the Hellespont (ancient name for the Dardanelles Strait). He neatly separated Europe from Asia. From a European point of view, during the Age of Discovery, Asia began beyond the Hellespont, where the Roman province was located, extending to incredibly exotic and remote places...
How many parts of the world are there on Earth?
Sixteenth-century America was filled with exciting promises of a New World. This is how the fourth part of the world appeared. Once Australia was officially confirmed as an island continent, the four continents theme lost much of its relevance long before the sixth continent, Antarctica, was discovered. However, despite this, the iconography of the “Four Corners of the World” has been preserved in its original form.
Parts of the world and continents
There are only six continents, of which the smallest is Australia, and the largest is Eurasia, which is geologically one whole, but for convenience it has been divided into Europe and Asia. A conditional border was drawn between them along the Ural Mountains.
There are six parts of the world, as well as continents. The most populous and mountainous is Asia. America consists of two continents, which are connected by the Isthmus of Panama. Africa is separated from Asia by the Suez Canal. There are also continents that do not touch the others - these are Australia and icy Antarctica.
A single massif, spread out in different directions
It is likely, as some scientists believe, that all the continents were once one whole, a single massif, which over time broke into pieces under the influence of the internal forces of the Earth. There is an assumption that certain areas on the planet rose, while others, on the contrary, sank. The mystery of the appearance of continents still remains a pressing issue in geography; people still have only one thing left to do - build various hypotheses. Perhaps the future generation of scientists will be able to shed light on the endless mysteries of the Universe.
How do parts of the world differ from continents?
What parts of the world are there and how do they differ from the continents? Let's figure it out. Continents are large segments of land that jut out from the oceans. Parts of the world are referred to as areas into which the surface of the planet is conventionally divided for historical and cultural reasons. The difference between them is that these concepts are used in completely different areas from each other. The main difference is that “mainland” is a geological and geographical term, and “part of the world” is a concept associated with history, culture, and politics.
Continents are of interest, first of all, as actually existing physical objects. Geology and geography deal with their detailed study, including the study of powerful processes that occur on Earth. As a rule, continents are separated from each other by oceans, but there are those that are closest neighbors (Eurasia).
How many parts of the world are there on Earth? Despite the fact that their borders and the borders of the continents do not coincide 100%, there are also six of them in number. Eurasia, for example, is one continent, but is divided into two parts of the world - Europe and Asia. Things are a little different in America. There, two continents form one part of the world. Only Africa, Australia, and Antarctica are the same.
Cultivated in abundance throughout the world, it is called Citrullus lanatus in Latin. This large plant, forming lashes up to 3 meters long, belongs to the pumpkin family. The closest wild related species are still found in southern Africa, and the history of watermelons as a cultivated plant goes back thousands of years.
Features common to all varieties of watermelons include the presence of long, powerful lashes covered with pubescent pinnately lobed leaves with a noticeable bluish tint. To secure themselves to horizontal and vertical surfaces, watermelons use tendrils, which become coarser and dry out as the plant develops.
Pale yellow single flowers are located in the axils of the leaves. When pollination occurs, a large fruit is formed in place of the flower. It is because of this false berry with a hard surface layer and a juicy core that watermelon is grown. In the early stages of development, the fruits, like stems and foliage, are covered with hard hairs, which disappear as they grow and are considered one of the signs of watermelon ripeness.
And ripe round and oblong watermelons with a diameter of up to 60 cm have:
- smooth, hard peel, usually dark green or striped in color, but white, yellow, marbled and spotted peels are also found;
- juicy, sweet pulp of pink, dark red, orange, yellow or white with numerous brown or dark brown seeds.
Watermelons are thermophilic and grow comfortably only at temperatures not lower than 20–25 °C.
At the same time, for many decades, breeding work has been carried out to obtain varieties that are both drought-resistant and have good disease resistance, as well as those characterized by early ripening.
Therefore, the northern boundaries of crop cultivation have seriously shifted over the past hundred years. More and more people know about watermelons not only from hearsay, but also regularly feast on the sweet berries. And fruits appeared on the beds, ripening within 65–75 days after the appearance of the first shoots.
Origin and history of watermelons
Archaeologists and paleobotanists believe that the cultivated variety of watermelons has common roots with small wild representatives of the genus Citrullus, which are still found in abundance in the desert regions of South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia, Namibia and Botswana. It was in these countries that the largest number of genetic forms of watermelons were identified, producing fruits with bitter, fresh and slightly sweet pulp.
In ancient times, the wild ancestors of modern watermelons were practically the only source of moisture for animals, local tribes, and travelers in the desert.
It was then that the history of watermelon began as a food crop. If bitter plants with a high content of glycosides were ignored, then more edible varieties reached northern Africa 4 thousand years ago and attracted the interest of the peoples inhabiting the Nile Valley. From here, the culture, as the history of watermelon goes, spread to the Mediterranean, the Middle East and beyond, all the way to India and China.
The Encyclopedia Britannica talks about the cultivation of watermelons in Egypt during the early kingdom. It also mentions the presence of frescoes that tell of the collection of these recognizable fruits on the banks of the Nile.
Seeds of watermelon or its distant ancestor were discovered in the tombs of the pharaohs of the 12th dynasty.
There is written evidence of the cultivation of one type of wild watermelon in India in the 7th century AD. Even today, small fruits of Citrullus lanatus variety fistulosus are used as a vegetable crop in India.
In the 10th century, watermelons came to China, a country that today is the main supplier of this type of melon to the world market. And watermelons came to Europe, or rather to the Iberian Peninsula, with Moorish warriors.
In the 10th–12th centuries, the plant was cultivated in Cordoba and Seville, from where, according to medieval history, watermelons spread to other parts of the continent. But due to climatic restrictions, it was not possible to obtain stable harvests anywhere except the south of Europe, and watermelons were used as exotic plants in gardens and greenhouses.
It is interesting that the melon culture very quickly acclimatized on the shores of the New World, where watermelons arrived in two ways at once: with European colonists and slaves brought from the African continent.
It is reliably known that the history of watermelons in America began in 1576. This distant summer, watermelons planted by Spanish settlers were already bearing fruit in Florida.
A little later, melon plantations appeared in South America. Watermelons were enjoyed by the Indian tribes of the Mississippi Valley, as well as the local population of the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii.
Watermelons were apparently imported into Russia along the Great Silk Road, but due to the complexity of the climate, until the middle of the last century, the culture was widespread only in the southern regions, for example, in Little Russia, the Kuban and the steppe regions of the Volga region. It’s no longer possible to learn everything about the history of watermelons, since the plant lives for so long next to humans. Today, the roots of the cultivated species grown in many regions of Russia in dacha gardens are not even known for certain.
But this does not stop people from working to improve the plant and obtain new varieties. At the moment, there are several hundred varieties and hybrids of cultivated watermelons in the world. Thanks to this and the development of greenhouse technologies, it has become possible to grow sweet fruits even where people had never heard of the giant berry before.
At the same time, breeders are no longer limited to developing new varieties with traditionally green bark and scarlet flesh.
Watermelons ripen in the beds, with white, black, spotted or yellow skin hiding not only red or pink, but also white and yellow flesh.
And for the most sophisticated gourmets, farmers in the Japanese province of Zentsuji, placing the ovary in a special case, have mastered the cultivation of first cubic and now shaped watermelons.
Chemical composition of watermelon
What makes people all over the world love watermelons so much? The most obvious answer is the sweet, refreshing taste of ripe fruit. But what is the full energy and chemical composition of watermelons, and which substances can have a beneficial effect on human health?
100 grams of fresh scarlet watermelon pulp contains:
- 0.61 grams of protein;
- 0.15 grams of fat;
- 7.55 grams of carbohydrates, 6.2 grams of which are sugars;
- 0.4 grams of dietary fiber;
- 91.45 grams of water.
With this composition, the calorie content of watermelon does not exceed 30 kcal, but the benefits of eating the fruit do not end there. A 100-gram slice contains a lot of vitamins, including 10% of the daily intake of ascorbic acid, as well as at least 4% of the amount required by a person, vitamin B1, B2 and B3, B5 and B6, choline and essential micro- and macroelements. These are calcium, magnesium and iron, potassium and phosphorus, manganese, sodium and zinc.
An important place in the chemical composition of the pulp is occupied by lycopene, which contains up to 4530 mcg in 100 grams. And watermelon bark contains such a valuable amino acid as citrulline.
How long to store watermelon?
To maximize the benefits of watermelon, you need to eat ripe fruits grown in compliance with the rules of agricultural technology. Moreover, as they are stored, watermelons also lose some of their vitamins, moisture and sugar. This means that the question of how long is of paramount importance. The answer to this depends on the variety and storage method.
If the pulp of watermelon of the Ogonyok or Crimson Sweet variety loses its juiciness and becomes grainy a couple of weeks after being removed from the vine, then the juicy fresh fruits of the Kholodok variety, stored for up to 5 months, can become a pleasant surprise on the New Year's table.
At room temperature, away from heating devices, sunlight and moisture, watermelon can be stored for a short period of time, up to a month. In a cool, ventilated basement or cellar, whole watermelons remain tasty on average for 2 to 4 months.
- If you want to preserve the watermelon longer, you can freeze the pulp or juice.
- Watermelon slices are dried to form a kind of chips. Natural chewing candies are made from dried juice.
- Watermelons are also pickled, salted and fermented, their juice and pieces of fruit are made into jam, jam and aromatic candied fruits.
When using these methods, the shelf life of watermelon is extended to a year. But cut watermelon cannot be stored for a long time. Even in the refrigerator within a day, pathogenic flora develops on the sweet, wet pulp, and bacteria that lead to fermentation settle. In warm conditions, this process begins within a couple of hours.
Signs of a ripe watermelon
Being able to recognize a ripe, ready-to-eat watermelon is important not only for the buyer at the counter, but also for the summer resident who has received a rich harvest. How long the watermelon is stored and what useful substances have accumulated in its pulp depend on the correctness of the choice. Without cutting the fruit, you can determine ripeness by the appearance of the watermelon and the vine on which it is located.
- experienced a lack of heat, which was reflected in a slowdown in the development process;
- received excess amounts of nitrogen fertilizers;
- was under the influence of pesticides leading to the accumulation of harmful substances;
- suffered from a lack of moisture in the soil and air;
- experienced a deficiency of molybdenum, sulfur, cobalt or potassium in the soil;
- was in soil with high acidity or salt content.
The maximum permissible rate of nitrates in watermelon is 60 mg/kg. And here it is important to remember that the greatest amount of harmful substances is concentrated closer to the surface, and especially in the crust.
For an adult, the permissible amount of nitrates entering the body is determined at the rate of 5 mg per kilogram of weight. The limit for nitrites is even lower and should not exceed 0.2 mg per kilogram of human body weight.
If the norm of nitrates in watermelon is exceeded, these substances cause metabolic disorders in humans, and if excessive amounts of these dangerous compounds are regularly ingested into the body, the development of cancerous tumors, cyanosis, severe damage to the nervous system and digestion, and pathologies of the heart and blood vessels is possible. Nitrates and nitrites have an extremely negative effect on the development of the fetus during pregnancy.
To know everything about watermelon intended for food and to be sure of its safety, it is important to adhere to the rules of agricultural technology when growing and use express analysis tools.
How to choose a sweet and ripe watermelon - video