the.com/continent
a giant slab of crust slowly bumper-carring across a molten planet at fingernail speed
means One of Earth's large continuous landmasses — Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.
from From Latin 'terra continens,' the 'continuous land' — from 'continēre,' to hold together (con- 'together' + tenēre 'to hold'). The same root gives us 'contain' and 'continuous': a continent is, quite literally, land that holds itself together in one unbroken stretch. The geographic sense came later, narrowing from 'a continuous tract of land' to the great landmasses we name today.
- current count
- seven, though geologists argue it should be six
- hidden one
- Zealandia is 94 percent underwater beneath New Zealand
- once united
- all land formed Pangaea 335 million years ago
- drift speed
- moves roughly as fast as fingernails grow
- biggest
- Asia holds about 60 percent of humanity