\[ **BT: [[Earth#physical features of the Earth’s surface]]** ] --- # Earth’s continents and oceans ## continents There are at least four continents and at maximum seven; the number changes depending on localised definition.[^1] - see also: [[countries of the world#geopolitical regions|geopolitical regions]] ### Africa ### Antarctica - see: [[Antarctica]] ### Oceania ![[Wikimedia Commons - by M.Bitton - Oceania_(centered_orthographic_projection) - CC BY-SA 3.0.svg]] <small><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oceania_(centered_orthographic_projection).svg">M.Bitton</a> via Wikimedia Commons, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>.</small> Generally considered a continent outside the English-speaking world.[^2] Often called **Australia** within the English-speaking world.[^3] ### North America ### South America ## oceanic regions - see also: - [[Earth#ocean–atmosphere interactions]] - [[Earth#oceanic waters as an important sink for carbon dioxide]] ### Southern Ocean [[The world's oceans hold more than 90% of the energy stored over the last fifty or so years, and the majority of that heat is in the Southern Ocean.]][^4] [^1]: ‘Continent’, Wikipedia, last edited 9 January 2026, 05:53 (UTC), <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent>. [^2]: ‘Oceania’, Wikipedia, last edited 7 January 2026, 22:53 (UTC), <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceania>. [^3]: ‘Continent’, Wikipedia, last edited 9 January 2026, 05:53 (UTC), <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent>. [^4]: Steve Rintoul, in Anja Taylor, dir., *[[Taylor, ‘Polar Change’, 2021|The Poles Revealed]]*, Season 1, Episode 2, 2021; accessed 20 February 2025 (ABC iView), <https://iview.abc.net.au/video/DO2014H002S00>.