martes, 16 de abril de 2013

Continents



Earth is divided in big peaces of land which are separated by the oceans. These big pieces of land are known "Continents" which can be composed by mass of land, island ad aspects not related to the geography such as: culture and history. Long time ago around 300 million years ago the continents were together, making a super-continent called "Pangaea", but 100 millions after, this super-continent started separating, making the actual continents where we know and live: America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania and Antarctica. The humans were evolving and populating these big lands.





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World Map


Pangaea and Division of the Continents


America

America is the newest of the five traditional continents to be discovered and it is the second biggest continent of the world. It was accidentally worked out by Christopher Columbus on October 12th in 1492 while he was traveling to arrive to India, being colonized by some European countries in the following years. Moreover, it had great civilization such as Aztecs, Mayas and Incas where they left a important legacy in the American history. This continent is composed by thirty six countries and divided in three zones, North America, Central America and South America. North America which is composed by three countries: Canada, United States and Mexico. Central America is composed by a narrow piece of land which works like a bridge between North and South America; together with island and archipelagos called "Caribbean". Some main countries of this are Cuba, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, etc. The last zone is South America which is composed by thirteen countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela. Also, America borders to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by Atlantic Ocean, to the west by the Pacific Ocean, and to the south by the Antarctica separated by the Magallanes strait.



Africa
  
Africa is the continent where the humans had their beginnings million years ago. It is third biggest one on size and it presents a big reservation of plants and animals. Africa is a continent with many cultures and many ethnicities, where the black people are the biggest one in this place. Also, Africa had biggest civilization over its lands as the Egyptian empire, leaving a main legacy in the history of the humanity. Moreover, together with America and Asia, this continent was colonized by the most important European empires such as United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, etc. During many years, Africa has been considered the poorest continent of the world, where there are many problems of starvation, illness and others. Africa is composed by fifty four countries where some of them are: South Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, Congo, Morocco, Sudan, etc. Africa borders to the north by Europe, separated by the Mediterranean Sea, to the south by the connection between the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by the Indian Ocean and the Arabic peninsula, Asia.




Europe

Europe is known as the "Old Continent" and along with Asia, thus they forms a big continental mass. However Europe it separated from Asia due to the historical and cultural facts. Europe is the second smallest continent of the world and it is the place of the beginning of the western civilization. In this place there were civilizations suh as Greek and Roman and other original towns such as Viking, Celts, Germanic, etc. During the XVI until XIX century, some countries of this continents such as: Spain, England, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, etc; had big empires where they colonized many territories around the world, especially in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Europe has forty five countries and it has the biggest economy of the world. Europe borders to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and the east by Asia, separated by the Urals Mountains and the Black Sea.





Asia 

As we watched in the last description, Asia and Europe are a same continental mass, but they are separated by their historical and cultural facts. Asia is the biggest and the most populated continent of the world. It has around the sixty percent of the world population and a rich cultural and historical input for the world. In this continent, there were important civilizations such as: Indian, Arabic, Chinese, Hebrews, Phoenicians and others. On the other hand, many cultures disappeared by the coming and the conquest of the European countries which arrived to colonize this place. During the XX century and until nowadays, Asia has been showing a big economic growth in some of its countries such as: China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, India, etc. Also, this continent is composed by many island and archipelagos which are located in the southeast Asia such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, etc; and peninsulas such as: Arabic peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Middle east), Korean peninsula (North and South Korea), Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam), Indian peninsula (India), etc. Asia borders to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the south by the Indian Ocean, to the west by Europe separated by the Urals Mountains and to the east by the Pacific Ocean.





Oceania


Oceania is the smallest continent of the world. it is composed by big and small islands, archipelagos making an area kwon "Polynesia" and a sub-continent which is Australia. This continent like Asia, America and Africa, it was colonized by European countries such as: England, Spain, France and Netherlands. The predominant climate in this area of the world is tropical, where there are a lot of plants and animals. Also, there are corals and reefs in the sea, giving a beautiful maritime scene. The most important countries are Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Also, there are islands which belong to other countries from other continents such as: Hawaii, Marshall islands (U.S.A.) Easter island or Rapa Nui (Chile), etc. this continent is surrounded by the Pacific and Indian Oceans.





Antarctica

Antarctica is the last continent of the world. It is located in the end of the world of the planet where the polar climate is present. The temperature always bellows zero degrees Celsius, it snows a lot, the land is covered on ice and it’s common to see strange phenomenon in this place. For example: the auroras re light which are seen in the nights, having different colors such as: green, red, yellow, purple, etc. Other phenomenon is the duration of the daytime and the night. Between autumn and winter, the sky is always dark like the night, because the sun disappears for six months. But in spring and summer the situation changes, there is light daylong because the sun is present the second part of the year. This continent is rich in natural resources such as petroleum, gold, silver, copper, iron, etc. However this continent doesn't belong to any country, but there are trades where some countries have bases on this territory with the purpose of scientific advances, such as U.S.A, Russia, England, France, Chile, Argentina, Australia, China, South Africa, etc.




Activities:

1) Click here to see the power point and the activity
2) Word activity

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