North America is the third largest continent in size. North America is the fourth largest continent in population. North America is made up of 23 countries. Mexico City is the most populous city in North America. New York City is the second most populous city in North America. Population is estimated to be 502 million. Highest Point: Mount McKinley in Alaska. (20,322ft) Lowest Point: Death Valley in California. (282 ft below sea level) North America makes up 16.5% of Earth’s land. Most North American’s speak either English, Spanish, or French. North America was named after Amerigo Vespucci. North America is the only continent to have every type of climate. South America is the 4th largest continent. South America ranks 5th in population. The estimated population is around 386 million. South America is home to many of the Earth’s most amazing landforms. S.A. is home to the worlds tallest waterfall. (Angel Falls in Venezuela) S.A. is home to the worlds largest river by volume. (The Amazon) S.A. is home to the longest mountain range. (The Andes) S.A. is home to the largest rainforest. (The Amazon Rainforest) S.A. is made up of 12 countries and 3 dependencies. A dependency is a country that is owned by another country. Brazil is by far the largest country in S.A. Brazil covers more than half of the continents land area and population. Europe is the 6th largest continent in size. Europe is the third most populous continent. Russia is the largest country in both size and population. Russia is located in both Europe and Asia. The Ural Mountains divide Europe and Asia. Europe is the birthplace of our culture. Once upon a time Europe controlled North America, South America, Oceania, and large portions of Africa and Asia. Both World Wars were largely focused in Europe. After the wars the United States and the Soviet Union became the new superpowers. Europe is made up of 50 countries. Africa is the world’s second largest continent. Africa is the world’s second most populous continent. Africa has a population of 1.0 billion people. Africa has 54 sovereign states. A sovereign state is a state that can exist without help from any other state. Sudan is the largest country/state in Africa. Nigeria has the highest population with over 145 million people. Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa. (Over 19,000ft tall.) Unfortunately the top 10 poorest countries in the world are all located in Africa. Niger, Mali, and Uganda are #1,2, and 3 for highest birth rates in the world. 6 of the driest places in the world are located in Africa. The Nile is the longest River in the world and it is located in Africa. 3,000 kids die per day in Africa from Malaria. About half of the world’s diamonds come from southern and central Africa. Three of the world’s largest gold producers have their primary operations in Africa . African elephants are the largest living land animals. They can weigh up to 6-7 tons and drink over 160 liters of water a day. Four of the five fastest land animals live in Africa. The cheetah is the fastest and can run at 60 mph. There are about 2300 bird species in Africa. Asia is the world’s largest and most populous continent. Population is around 3.9 billion people. During the 20th century Asia’s population nearly quadrupled. Asia is a culturally diverse continent. Asia consists of 48 countries. The land area of Asia is actually larger than the land area of the moon. More than 60% of the world’s population lives in Asia. Most of the world’s tallest mountain peaks are located in Asia. Mt. Everest is the world’s tallest peak and is located near the Nepal-China border. Mt. Everest is 29,029ft tall and is part of the Himalayas. The largest man-made structure, The Great Wall of China, is located in Asia. It is 5,500.3 miles long. The Great Wall of China is visible from space. 2 countries in Asia hold half of the continents population. ??? India and China. The main religions practiced in the continent are- Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Islam. The three main financial centers of Asia are Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. China has shown massive growth in their economy in last ten years and it has become the second largest economy in the world after the United States of America. The primary use of the term Oceania is to describe a continental region that lies between Asia and the Americas, with Australia as the major land mass. The name Oceania is used, rather than Australia, because unlike the other continental groupings, it is the ocean rather than the continent that links the nations together. Oceania is the smallest continent in terms of land size. Oceania is the 2nd smallest in population. Oceania has 14 countries and 25 dependencies. Oceania also has 28 official languages. Oceania is usually divided into 5 regions. Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. Polynesia- means many islands. Melanesia- means the black islands. Micronesia- means small islands. Antarctica is almost 98% solid ice. It was finally considered a continent in 1840. Antarctica is claimed by 7 different countries. Many of these claims are disputed by the other countries. Antarctica is the coldest and windiest spot on the planet. The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth occurred here.(-129.3 deg F) Winds are commonly measured at up to 200mph. There is no official population on Antarctica. However, governmental research stations have scientists in them at all times. Also, 37,000 tourists visited the continent in 2010.