General geographical concepts: countries, continents, oceans

Geography is a complex science about the Earth, which is interesting for the features of the territorial location of the most diverse objects, processes and social phenomena. States and countries, continents and oceans are one of the main geographical concepts. About them and will be discussed in this article.

States and countries, continents and oceans

What is the mainland? What is the ocean? How does the country differ from the state? Let's try to answer all these interesting questions together.

Continents, countries, oceans - all these are key concepts for geography, in which a literate person is obliged to understand.

The ocean is a large and continuous water basin that surrounds continents and islands, and also features a number of features (water temperature, salt composition, organic underwater world, etc.).

The continent is a huge geological structure that extends considerably above the surface of the World Ocean. Its power (height) can reach 50-70 kilometers. Synonym of this concept is also the word "continent".

A country is a geographical territory, part of the earth's surface, which has its own definite boundaries.

One should never confuse these two concepts: countries and continents. However, there is one unique example on our planet that can simultaneously be called a country and a continent. It's about Australia.

Countries, continents are very different from each other both in size and in population. For example, the area of the largest country in the world is 5.5 million times larger than the area of the smallest state of the planet! By the way, the state and the country are completely different concepts. What is the difference between them?

The state is a country that has sovereignty (that is, independence), has clear boundaries, as well as all the necessary authorities.

How many continents and oceans are there in the world?

According to one theory, once on our planet there was only one continent (it was named Pangea) and one ocean (Tethys). Subsequently, this single land mass began to crumble, resulting in the formation of six separate continents. This is Eurasia, Africa, North and South America, Australia, Antarctica. Some of the modern continents are connected by narrow isthmus, while others are in complete water isolation (as, for example, Australia).

If the total number of continents is unambiguous, then the geographers can not agree on the exact number of the Earth's oceans . Until 2000, in all schools, teachers were told that there are only four oceans on Earth (Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian). However, at the turn of the millennium the International Hydrographic Union allocated the fifth ocean - the Southern one. It completely surrounds its waters with Antarctica. In general, the allocation of the Southern Ocean is fully justified, since in this part of the water area of the planet its temperature and salt regime, its own system of sea currents.

How many countries and countries are there in the world?

Countries in the modern world are much larger than states. There are 251 of them, but only 194 of them can boast of absolute sovereignty. All these states are recognized by the world community and have all formed branches of power.

The largest state on the planet is Russia (its area is about 17 million km ² ), and the smallest is the Vatican (only 3.2 km ² ). Most countries are located in Eurasia and Africa, but there is not even a permanent population on Antarctica.

In the world there are so-called virtual states. They can be on separate tiny islands (as, for example, the principality of Malu-Ventu) or not have their own territory and exist exclusively on the Internet.

Finally...

Now you know the difference between states and countries, continents and oceans. On planet Earth there are 6 continents (continents) on which 251 countries are located. But about the total number of oceans, scientists have not yet been able to come to a consensus: some believe that there are five, others are sure that there are only four.