It is far from an ordinary world!
The planet we live on is both beautiful and highly fascinating! Sure it might seem random and bizarre at times, but there is order in that chaos!
Take for example, our continents. When viewed on a map, or even a globe, all you can see are random squiggly lines drawn on a piece of paper, but we both know they are way more than that. They are our home! The land we were born in, and have been living in since time immemorial.
In fact, you might be surprised to know that our continents have a lot of interesting trivia that will blow your and your preschooler kid’s minds away!
So let us uncover these facts for you one by one, shall we?
- What are continents is a question your preschooler may have asked you. If you want to explain it to them, the simple way would be to call it an undisrupted, large piece of land. That should do it!
- How many continents are there in the world you ask? Well, that is easy! Can you guess? The answer is 7!
- Thought North America was the largest continent? Think again. The spot for the largest continent in the world goes to Asia! Not only is Asia super huge in terms of size, but it also scores the number one spot when it comes to population. 4.75 billion people live here! That’s a hair more than half of the entire world’s population!
- Speaking of population, the largest continent in the world also packs in the most populous cities in the world. Surprise, surprise are we right? Tokyo, Japan’s capital, is the largest city in the world both in sheer size and population. It is home to over 37 million people! It is a good thing it’s so big or can you believe how congested it would be if it were small? Boggles the mind.
- Now that we are on the topic of Asia, did you know that the world’s richest countries are found in this mammoth of a continent? That is correct. Of the top ten richest countries in the world, 3 are Asian. The nations of Singapore, Qatar and UAE come in at the 3rd, 4th and 6th spot according to the latest stats!
- Well, the prowess of the Asian continent does not stop there. Asia also trumps all other continents when it comes to the maximum number of languages spoken in any continent. A whopping 2300 languages are spoken by the people of Asia! That is a huge number if you put into context that there are only 7000 languages in the world. That said, many of these 2300 languages are exclusively spoken by small sections of this continent’s population.
- Can you take a shot at guessing the smallest continent in the world? The smallest continent in the world is Australasia or Oceania as it is also commonly known! This coastal island of a continent is a cluster of many scenic and lush countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and more.
- Oceania not only enjoys lush natural beauty, but it is also less population dense. Especially when you compare it to its neighbour, Asia. As of September 2023, over 45 million call this continent home.
- Which continent do you think comes on top when it comes to the most number of countries? If your answer was Africa, you are right! This continent is made up of an impressive 54 countries! Just for context, the world has 195 countries, so you can imagine what a huge chunk Africa occupies in that figure.
- ‘Cradle of humankind’ – that is what Africa is known as! And that is because us humans are believed to have evolved here.
- Of the 54 countries in the grand, old continent of Africa, only two were able to completely evade the clutches of colonisation. These two are Liberia and Ethiopia.
- The Nile is the longest river on this whole planet and it runs through the heart of Africa, touching eleven countries along its mighty course.
- Let us talk about North America! This massive continent is entirely a part of the western as well as northern hemisphere, and is home to 23 countries. Think the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean Islands and many others.
- Did you think that Greenland was a country? You got it wrong! This island that is part of North America actually belongs to Denmark, which is a country in Europe. Confusing as that may be, here is another fact about Greenland, it is the northernmost place in the whole wide world.
- Christianity is the reigning religion in North America. 80% of this continent’s population practises Christianity.
- Though English is spoken in over 100 countries all across the world, the USA tops the list in terms of people who speak it. Around 230 million in the country speak English fluently.
- The richest continent in the world, Europe, believe it or not, has regions that are quite poor too.
- There are two things that are common between Monaco and Vatican City. One, is that they are both two of the smallest countries on this whole planet. And two, they are both situated in Europe. Actually San Marino, Malta and Liechtenstein also join that list.
- South America as a continent has a lot of great things going for it. From the longest mountain range to the highest waterfall and the driest place ever – all of these records belong to the great and mighty continent of South America.
- Of all the continents of the world, Antarctica has the smallest population of people but is home to 90% of the world’s ice.
Though we have already named all of the continents, here is an alphabetical list for your ease:
- Asia
- Africa
- Antarctica
- Europe
- North America
- Oceania
- South America
We have unpacked a lot in this blog! From combing over what are the continents to how many continents are there in the world and the names of all the continents. There is enough matter for your preschooler to chew on.
At EuroKids, we strive to make education interesting by teaching our kids all kinds of trivia regarding this amazing world we live in. Stop by at any one of our branches to know about our teaching methods.
