Afro-Eurasia

Afro-Eurasia (also known as Afroeurasia, and Eurafrasia) is a huge landmass made up of the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. People sometimes call it a supercontinent because it is one big connected land area. It is also called the "Old World," which helps to tell it apart from the "New World" — a name used for the Americas plus sometimes Oceania and Antarctica.

Afro-Eurasia covers an area of 85,135,000 km², which is about 57% of all the land on Earth. About 6.7 billion people live there, making up roughly 86% of all the people in the world. Together with mainland Australia, Afro-Eurasia and Australia make up most of the land in the world's Eastern Hemisphere. The Afro-Eurasian mainland is the largest and most crowded continuous land area on Earth.

Related terms

Here are some terms that describe similar ideas:

• Ecumene: an old word from ancient Greek scholars for the world they knew, which included parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia.
• Old World: a term used during the time when Europeans discovered new lands. It described the world they already knew, compared to the New World of the Americas. This term is still used in biology.
• World Island: a term made up by H.J. Mackinder in 1904. It refers to a big connected land area, though it usually does not include islands like the British Isles, the Japanese Archipelago, Madagascar, and the Malay Archipelago. "Afro-Eurasia" typically includes these islands as part of Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Geology

Further information: African plate, Arabian plate, Eurasian plate, Indo-Australian plate, and Somali plate

Afro-Eurasia is made up of the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. It is very big but not a true supercontinent. The oldest part of Afro-Eurasia is the Kaapvaal craton, which was part of very old landmasses billions of years ago.

Over time, different parts of Afro-Eurasia have moved and joined together. For example, the Indian plate moved into the Eurasian plate, forming southern Asia and the Himalayas. The Arabian plate also moved from Africa and joined with other plates.

Today, the Eurasian and African plates are the main ones shaping these continents. The Somali plate covers much of eastern Africa. Afro-Eurasia is connected to Africa by a narrow land bridge, which has been split by the Suez Canal.

Extreme points

This section lists the farthest points north, south, east, and west, as well as the highest and lowest places on Afro-Eurasia.

Mainland

• Easternmost point by longitude — 180th meridian, Russia
• Easternmost point on a continuous eastbound path – Cape Dezhnev, Russia
• Northernmost point – Cape Chelyuskin, Russia
• Southernmost point – Cape Agulhas, South Africa
• Westernmost point – Pointe des Almadies, Senegal

Including islands

• Easternmost point – Big Diomede^†, Russia
• Northernmost point – Cape Fligeli, Rudolf Island, Franz Josef Land, Russia
• Southernmost point – Cape Agulhas, South Africa. If the Prince Edward Islands are included in Africa, then Marion Island is the southernmost point at 46°54'S.
• Westernmost point – Santo Antão, Cape Verde

^† The 180th meridian passes through Asia, so this point is in the Western Hemisphere and is Asia’s easternmost point on a continuous path.

Elevation

• Highest point – Mount Everest, China–Nepal border; 8,848.86 m (29,031.7 ft) above mean sea level
• Lowest point on land – shores of the Dead Sea, between Israel, West Bank and Jordan; 430.5 m (1,412 ft) below mean sea level