Continents of the World

The seven-continent model names Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. A continent is a very large land region. Different schools group the world in different ways; some combine Europe and Asia as Eurasia.

North and South America stretch along the western side of many world maps. Africa lies south of Europe, and Asia extends east of Europe. Australia is the smallest continent by land area. Antarctica surrounds the South Pole and is covered mostly by ice.

People live on six continents. Antarctica has researchers who stay for a while, but no permanent towns. Use a globe and point to each continent while saying its name; moving from map to globe helps you picture how the shapes meet around a round Earth.