Afro-Eurasia
Area | 84,980,532 km2 (32,811,167 sq mi) |
---|---|
Population | 6.7 billion (2019) |
Population density | 78.5/km2 (204.2/sq mi) |
Demonym | Afro-Eurasian, Eurafrasian |
Countries | 147 |
Dependencies | 17 |
Time zones | UTC−01:00 – UTC+12:00 |
Part of | Earth |
Afro-Eurasia (also Afroeurasia and Eurafrasia) is a landmass comprising the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The terms are compound words of the names of its constituent parts. Afro-Eurasia has also been called the "Old World", in contrast to the "New World" referring to the Americas.
Afro-Eurasia encompasses 84,980,532 km2 (32,811,167 sq mi), 57% of the world's land area, and has a population of approximately 6.7 billion people, roughly 86% of the world population. Together with Mainland Australia, they comprise the vast majority of the land in the world's Eastern Hemisphere. The Afro-Eurasian mainland is the largest and most populous contiguous landmass on Earth.
Related terms
The following terms are used for similar concepts:
- Ecumene: a term from classical antiquity for the world as was known to ancient Greek scholars, which was limited to Europe and parts of Africa and Asia.
- Old World: a term from the Age of Discovery which, for European explorers, contrasted their previously known world from the New World of the Americas.
- Japanese Archipelago, Madagascar, and the Malay Archipelago.[2] "Afro-Eurasia" generally includes those islands usually considered parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Geology
Although Afro-Eurasia is typically considered to comprise two or three separate continents, it is not a proper supercontinent. Instead, it is the largest present part of the supercontinent cycle.[3]
Past
The oldest part of Afro-Eurasia is probably the
The
Present
Today, the
Conventionally, Africa is joined to Eurasia only by a relatively narrow land bridge (which has been split by the Suez Canal at the Isthmus of Suez) and remains separated from Europe by the straits of Gibraltar and Sicily.
Future
Extreme points
This is a list of the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location as well as the highest and lowest elevations on Afro-Eurasia.
Mainland
- Easternmost Point — Cape Dezhnev†, Russia
- Northernmost Point — Cape Chelyuskin, Russia
- Southernmost Point — Cape Agulhas, South Africa
- Westernmost Point — Pointe des Almadies, Senegal
Including islands
- Easternmost Point — Big Diomede†, Russia
- Northernmost Point —
- Southernmost Point — Cape Agulhas, South Africa. If the Prince Edward Islands are included in Africa, then Marion Island is the southernmost point at 46°54'S.
- Westernmost Point — Santo Antão, Cape Verde
† The 180th meridian passes through Asia, meaning that these points are in the Western Hemisphere.
Elevation
• Highest Point –
• Lowest Point (on land) – Shores of the Dead Sea, between Israel and Jordan
See also
- Extreme points of Earth
- Extreme points of Africa
- Extreme points of Eurasia
- Geography of Africa
- Geography of Asia
- Geography of Europe
- Intermediate Region
- The Geographical Pivot of History
References
- ^ Mackinder, Halford John. The Geographical Pivot of History.
- ^ See Francis P. Sempa, Mackinder's World
- ^ Based upon 2019 population estimates from https://population.un.org/wpp/
- ^ a b Manaugh, Geoff (23 September 2013). "What Did the Continents Look Like Millions of Years Ago?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
- ^ "Future World". www.scotese.com.
- ISBN 0-393-01952-7.
Only the inflow of Atlantic water maintains the present Mediterranean level. When that was shut off sometime between 6.5 to 6 MYBP, net evaporative loss set in at the rate of around 3,300 cubic kilometers yearly. At that rate, the 3.7 million cubic kilometres of water in the basin would dry up in scarcely more than a thousand years, leaving an extensive layer of salt some tens of meters thick and raising global sea level about 12 meters.
- ^ Williams, Caroline; Nield, Ted (20 October 2007). "Pangaea, the comeback". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 13 April 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
External links
- Interactive scholarly edition, with critical English translation and multimodal resources mashup (publications, images, videos) Engineering Historical Memory.