Recognizing Continents and Oceans

Earth’s Surface Complete knowledge of the features of Earth’s surface is only a few hundred years old. As recently as the 1300s, the Atlantic Ocean was a mysterious “Sea of Darkness” on a flat surface.

Oceans The regions of the Arctic, Pacific, and Antarctic oceans were unknown to Europeans. There were also great misconceptions about the world. For example, Europeans had some knowledge of the Indian Ocean but thought it was a great salt lake surrounded by land. They assumed Asia could be reached from the west only by land.

5 Major Oceans

Continents Today Earth is completely mapped. The largest units of Earth’s land are called continents. Except for the division between Europe and Asia, they are generally well defined. Two continents are islands, and isthmuses—narrow necks of land—clearly separate others. The oceans are merely names given to the largest sections of the body of salt water that covers 71 percent of the globe.

Warm-Up: Oceans and Continents What are the seven continents? What appears to divide Asia from Europe? Where is most of Earth’s landmass-north or south of the equator? A trip from Australia to Africa would involve crossing which ocean?

Answers 1. North America, South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, and Antarctica. 2. The Ural Mountains 3. North of the Equator 4. Indian Ocean

Continents and Oceans Map 30 Points Pages A5-A6 1. Heading: Name, Date, Period (3 Points) 2. Title: Continents and Oceans Map (2 Point) 3. Label the following Continents: (7 Points) North America South America Africa Asia Australia Europe Antarctica 4. Label the following Oceans:(5 Points) Pacific Ocean Atlantic Ocean Indian Ocean Southern Ocean Arctic Ocean 5. Color Map-Ocean Blue (5 points) 6. Continents Different Colors (5 Points) 7. Neat and legible writing (3 Points)