A continent is a major large landmass on Earth. Continents are used to organize geography, maps, regions, and world studies.
How many continents are there?
Many English-language school systems teach seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, Australia, and South America. Some regions use different models that combine or separate landmasses differently.
Continent versus island
An island is land surrounded by water and smaller than a continent. The exact boundary between a very large island and a continent is partly based on convention.
A continent is both a physical landmass idea and a human geographic classification.