Continents are large pieces of land on the Earth that are separated by oceans, seas, rivers and mountains. The formation of continents began in the early Mesozoic era. About 270 million years ago, most of the dry land on the Earth was joined together. It was known as the ‘supercontinent’. The giant ocean surrounding this supercontinent is known as Panthalassa. The evolution of the Earth surface and movement of tectonic plates broke up this giant landmass and gave rise to present- day continents. There are seven continents on the Earth: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Australia.
The theory that the continents were joined earlier and have drifted apart was first proposed by a German Scientist: Alfred Wegener in 1912.
