Continents and Oceans

What is Continents and Oceans?

Within Geography, which covers maps, landforms, weather, climate, population and settlements: understand how our planet and people connect, this topic explains Continents and Oceans. Geography explains how places, people and natural processes connect, so each topic here combines a clear definition with a visual model.

Check that you can explain Continents and Oceans in your own words and give one example from everyday life. If you can do that, you have understood the core idea.

Understanding Continents and Oceans helps you explain patterns on maps and in the news, and make reasoned decisions about places and environments.

Continents and Oceans in detail

The Earth has seven continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Oceania (Australia). Asia is the largest and most populated, and Antarctica is the coldest and has no permanent residents.

The five oceans are the Pacific (the largest and deepest), Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic. Water covers about 71% of the Earth's surface. Knowing the locations of continents and oceans is a base for understanding trade routes, climate and regions. Continents have moved over time through plate tectonics.

How the interactive helps you understand Continents and Oceans

Watch the globe in the interactive. Use any sliders or buttons it offers to change the values and see how the globe responds.

Before you change anything, predict the result. Then change one value at a time and check whether your prediction was right. This is a quick way to build a correct mental model of Continents and Oceans.

Real-life uses and examples

• Explain how Continents and Oceans affects people, jobs and land use in a region.
• Support an answer about Continents and Oceans with a named case study and specific evidence.
• Interpret a graph or map that shows Continents and Oceans and say what it suggests.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Mixing up cause, effect and consequence when you explain Continents and Oceans.
• Writing general statements without a named place or example.
• Learning the definition without testing it. Use the quiz and the interactive to check that you can apply the idea.