Continents

Presently, there are seven continents in the world - Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Antarctica.

Australia is the only continent on which geographers differ. Australia includes New Zealand, Tasmania, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands (Micronesian, Melanesian and Polynesian islands). That is why they prefer to call this continent Australasia, while some others call it Oceania.

The past
However, the Earth was not divided in continents in the beginning as it is in the present. Today, most of the land lies north of the Equator, but it was in the beginning stretched from North pole to South pole. The rest was ocean.

In 1912, the German geologist Alfred Wegener called this single vast continent 'Pangaea', which meant in Greek 'all-land'. He, on the basis of certain evidence, suggested that the Pangaea began breaking apart around 200 million years ago that is during the late Carboniferous times.

He suggested that the crust of the Earth is made up of two main types of rock - great block of granite-type rock which he called continents, and heavier basalt type rock. He said that the granite continents as rafts are floating on the basalt crust.
At that time there was only one Tethys Sea.

About 125 million years ago the single land mass Pangaea broke into two main continental masses called Laurasia in the North and Gondwana land in the South.

About 65 million years ago, there were five main lands - Asia, Europe and North America in the North; South America in the West; Afica in the centre; India in the East; and Antarctica and Australia in the South.

The Present
Presently, Antarctic plate in the South is all alone. American plate, the North and South America is almost joined. African plate is separate. Eurasian plate is one including India. Indo-Australian plate is in the East while Pacific plate is in the far East. On the land there are also water bodies like rivers.

The Future
Scientists and geologists now suggest that Africa is now drifting towards north, and will almost close the Mediterranean. In addition, Africa will split up. Australia will move northward.