Earth's land is split into seven continents. Each one is a large part of Earth's land. A continent is one of the large main divisions of land on Earth. Here they are: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Australia. Asia is the largest continent. Australia is the smallest. Africa is the second-largest. It covers about 30.4 million square kilometers. That is more than three times the area of the United States.

Asia also has more people than any other continent. Look at the numbers. About 6 out of every 10 people on Earth live there, as of November 2026. Africa is home to the Sahara. This desert covers about 9 million square kilometers. The Sahara is in Africa. Two rivers run through the big lands. The Nile, in Africa, is the longest river in the world. The Amazon, in South America, carries more water than any other river on Earth.

Not everyone counts seven. Some count only six. They count six continents. They join North America and South America into one called America. The Isthmus of Panama is a narrow strip of land. It connects the two. Europe and Asia are also really one huge piece of land. It is called Eurasia. Some people draw the map that way. So seven is one way to count. It is not the only way.

The Andes run along the western edge of South America. They are the longest mountain range on land. The tallest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest. It sits between Nepal and Tibet. As of November 2026, its official height is 8,848.86 meters. That is 29,031.7 feet. Nepal and China announced that figure together in December 2020. As of November 2026, the coldest air ever measured on Earth was -89.2 degrees Celsius. It was measured at Vostok Station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983.

Most of Antarctica is covered by a huge ice sheet. Some of the ice is about 3.2 kilometers thick. That is about 2 miles. The ice is nearly 4.9 kilometers thick at its thickest point. Antarctica has no countries. It has no permanent human population. Scientists stay at research stations there. About 5,000 stay in summer. Around 1,000 stay in winter.

The continents do not sit still. Their positions are always changing. Earth's land masses move toward and away from each other. They move about 1.5 centimeters a year, on average. Earth's outer layer is broken into about a dozen large plates. Long ago, almost all of Earth's land was joined together. It was one huge supercontinent called Pangaea. It broke into pieces. The pieces became today's continents. Each continent is a piece of the old land. Look at a world map. It shows land that is still moving. The map is a picture of now. Long ago it looked very different.

Words to know

• continent: big land
• Eurasia: Europe plus Asia
• isthmus: narrow land bridge
• Pangaea: old supercontinent
• plates: moving pieces