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Info Bits                                          called the Isthmus of Panama    . This continent is
                 Info Bits
                                                                    bounded by three oceans. Its total land area is
                                                                    about 2,42,35,280 sq km.
            Edmund Hillary (Britain) and Sherpa Tenzing
            Norgay (India) were the first men to climb Mt.          South America
            Everest, the highest mountain peak on the earth,        It is separated from North
            on 29th May, 1953.                                      America by a narrow land

             Continents                                             mass. Its total land area is
                                                                    about 1,78,20,770 sq km.
            The huge land masses are called continents and
            smaller ones are called islands. There are seven        Australia                             River Amazon
            continents—Asia, Europe, Africa, North America,         It is the smallest continent and is sometimes
            South America, Australia and Antarctica.                referred to as island continent . Its total land area is
                                                                    about 78,30,682 sq km.
            Asia
                                                                    Antarctica
            It is the largest continent. It
            covers about 4,44,85,900 sq                             It is fully situated in the Southern Hemisphere
            km, which is nearly 30 percent                          around the South Pole. Its land area is about
            of the Earth’s total land surface.                      1,40,00,000 sq km. About 98 percent of its area is
                                                                    covered    with   ice  and    the
            Europe                               Tibetan Plateau
                                                                    remaining area is rocky. It is an
            Europe lies to the west of Asia and is separated by     uninhabited continent. Many
            the Ural mountains. As it is the continuation of        countries have established their
            Asia’s  land   mass,   the   two                        research camps here. India’s
            continents of Asia and Europe                           research    stations  here    are
            together are called Eurasia, but                        named    Maitri   and   Dakshin         Penguin
            are treated as separate for all                         Gangotri .
            practical purposes. The total
                                                                    Islands
            land area of Europe is about
            1,05,30,750 sq km.                   River Thames       There are a lot of islands in the world. An island is
                                                                    surrounded by sea on all sides. Many of them are
            Africa                                                  uninhabited. The largest island is Greenland .
            Africa is the second largest
                                                                     Landforms
            continent after Asia. It is the
            only continent through which                            All oceans and seas are interconnected, so the sea
            the Equator, the Tropic of                              level remains same all over the world; but this is
            Cancer    and   the   Tropic   of                       not the case with land. This is high at some places
            Capricorn run. It is separated                          and low at others. The land has three chief
            from Asia by the Suez Canal. Its      Lake Victoria     landforms—mountains, plains and plateaus.
            area is about 3,02,59,680 sq km.                        Mountains
            North America
                                                                    A mountain is higher than the surrounding areas.
            North    America    and    South                        It has sharp slopes. Generally
            America were a single land                              mountains occur in ranges
            mass     before    they     were                        over hundreds of kilometres.
            separated by the Panama Canal.                          The Himalayas in Asia, the
            The       narrow       landmass                         Alps in Europe and the
            connecting the two land masses                          Andes in South America are
            is called isthmus, so this is        Lake Superior      such mountain ranges.                Himalayas

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