Grade Six Social Studies
Hello Boys and Girls.
I hope you had a fantastic week of learning! Please start creating a study timetable that would allow us to schedule time for both academic and fun activities.
This we are continuing to learn about the ‘Composition of the Earth.’ Specifically, we are going to examine the Continents of the World.
Topic: Continents of the World
Sub-Topic: Asia
Objectives: 1) Discuss the concept: Continents of the world. 2) Name the continents of the world. 3) Explore the Continent of Asia.
Background!
Let’s Discuss the Continents of the World!
A continent is one of Earth’s seven main divisions of land. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single landmass or a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of Asia or Europe.
Can You Name the Continents of The World?
The continents are, from largest to smallest:
Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.
Map of the World’s Continents and Regions
Let’s Examine the Continent Asia!
Asia, the world’s largest and most diverse continent. It occupies the eastern four-fifths of the giant Eurasian landmass. Asia is more a geographic term than a homogeneous continent, and the use of the term to describe such a vast area always carries the potential of obscuring the enormous diversity among the regions it encompasses.
Asia has both the highest and the lowest points on the surface of Earth, has the longest coastline of any continent, is subject overall to the world’s widest climatic extremes, and, consequently, produces the most varied forms of vegetation and animal life on Earth. In addition, the peoples of Asia have established the broadest variety of human adaptation found on any of the continents.
The Asian continent includes 49 countries, that are members of the United Nations. Asian countries are mainly located in the eastern Hemisphere and in the northern Hemisphere.
FACT/TIP: Asia is the largest continent in the world.
Did you know that in China alone as many people live as in Australia, New Zealand, North America, South America, and Western Europe combined?
Let’s Examine Facts About Asia!
1) Two of the Asian countries also share part of their territory on the European continent; these countries are Russia and Turkey. Additionally, there are two countries that only have limited international recognition: State of Palestine and Republic of China/Taiwan and some dependencies.
2) More than 4.7 billion people live on the continent. Asia is the most populous continent.
3) Largest Country: Russia by area, even though roughly 40% of the country belongs to the European continent. China is the largest country by population.
4) Asia Facts - Largest City: Tokyo in Japan. With more than 38 million inhabitants Tokyo has the largest metropolitan area and is Japan’s most populous city. This city has more inhabitants than Canada!
5) There are 12 landlocked countries in Asia. The landlocked countries in Asia are: Armenia, Bhutan, Laos, Nepal, Mongolia as well as the seven central Asian countries ending in -stan: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Interesting Fact: These landlocked Asian countries are in the interior of the continent and do not have access to any ocean.
Driest Place: The Gobi desert is the largest desert in Asia and the fifth largest desert in the world. This is a cold desert where the temperatures can be very low and sometimes even snow can occur.
Biggest Lake: Caspian Sea. The coastline is shared by five countries: Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Iran. The lake is also among the deepest lakes in the world with a maximum depth of more than 1,000 m/ 3,300 ft! Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, is located at the Caspian Sea.
Biggest Island: Borneo in South-East Asia is also the third largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. The island belongs to three countries: Malaysia and Brunei in the north while Indonesia claims the southern part of the island.