Afro-Eurasia (also Afroeurasia, Eurafrasia or the

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

) is a landmass comprising the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The terms are compound words of the names of its constituent parts. Its mainland is the largest and most populous contiguous landmass on Earth. Afro-Eurasia encompasses , 57% of the world's land area, and has a population of approximately 6.7 billion people, roughly 86% of the world population.

Related terms

The following terms are used for similar concepts: * Ecumene: a term from classical antiquity for the world as was known to ancient Greek scholars, which was limited to Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. * Old World: a term from the Age of Discovery which, for European explorers, contrasted their previously known world from the New World of the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. * World Island: a term coined by H.J. Mackinder in his " The Geographical Pivot of History" (1904) and used in geopolitical contexts. Mackinder defines the World Island as the large contiguous landmass, technically excluding islands such as Great Britain. "Afro-Eurasia" generally includes those islands usually considered part of Africa, Europe and Asia.

Geology

Although Afro-Eurasia is typically considered to comprise two or three separate continents, it is not a proper supercontinent. Instead, it is the largest present part of the supercontinent cycle. The oldest part of Afro-Eurasia is probably the Kaapvaal Craton, which together with Madagascar and parts of India and western

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

formed part of the first supercontinent Vaalbara or Ur around 3 billion years ago. It has made up parts of every supercontinent since. At the breakup of Pangaea around 200 million years ago, the North American and Eurasian Plates together formed

Laurasia Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pan ...

while the African Plate remained in

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

, from which the Indian Plate split off. This impacted southern Asia around 50 million years ago and began the formation of the Himalayas. (Around the same time, it also fused with the Australian Plate.) The Arabian Plate broke off of Africa around 30 million years ago and impacted the Iranian Plate between 19 and 12 million years ago, ultimately forming the Alborz and Zagros chains of Iranian Plate. After this initial connection of Afro-Eurasia, the

Betic corridor The Betic Corridor, or North-Betic Strait, was a strait of water connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean that once separated the Iberian plate from the Eurasian plate through the Betic Cordillera. Its closure approximately 5.96 m ...

along the Gibraltar Arc closed a little less than 6 million years ago, fusing Northwest Africa and Iberia together. This led to the nearly complete

desiccation Desiccation () is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container. ...

of the

Mediterranean Basin In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and w ...

, the Messinian salinity crisis. Eurasia and Africa were then again separated: the Zanclean Flood around 5.33 million years ago refilled the Mediterranean Sea through the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...

and the Red Sea and

Gulf of Suez Rift The Gulf of Suez Rift is a continental rift zone that was active between the Late Oligocene ( 28 Ma) and the end of the Miocene (c. 5 Ma). It represented a continuation of the Red Sea Rift until break-up occurred in the middle Miocene, with most ...

s further divided Africa from the Arabian Plate. Today, Africa is joined to Asia only by a relatively narrow land bridge (which has been split by the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

at the Isthmus of Suez) and remains separated from Europe by the straits of Gibraltar and Sicily.

Paleogeologist Historical geology or palaeogeology is a discipline that uses the principles and methods of geology to reconstruct the geological history of Earth. Historical geology examines the vastness of geologic time, measured in billions of years, and inves ...

Ronald Blakey Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'', Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English '' Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised form of ...

has described the next 15 to 100 million years of tectonic development as fairly settled and predictable. In that time, Africa is expected to continue

drifting Drifting may refer to: *Drifting (motorsport) *Pipe drift or drifting, measuring a pipe's inner roundness Film * ''Drifting'' (1923 film), a film directed by Tod Browning * ''Drifting'' (1982 film), the first Israeli gay-themed film * ''Drifting'' ...

northward. It will close the

, quickly evaporating the Mediterranean Sea. No supercontinent will form within the settled time frame, however, and the geologic record is full of unexpected shifts in tectonic activity that make further projections "very, very speculative". Three possibilities are known as

Novopangaea Novopangaea or Novopangea (Greco-Latin for "New Pangaea") is a possible future supercontinent postulated by Roy Livermore in the late 1990s. It assumes closure of the Pacific,Wilkins, Alasdair.A Geological History of Supercontinents on Planet Eart ...

Amasia Amasia may refer to the following places: * Amasya, a city in Northern Turkey ** Amasya Province, which contains the city ** Amasea (titular see), the former Metropolitan Archbishopric with see there, now a Latin Catholic titular see * Amasia, Shir ...

, and

Pangaea Proxima Pangaea Proxima (also called Pangaea Ultima, Neopangaea, and Pangaea II) is a possible future supercontinent configuration. Consistent with the supercontinent cycle, Pangaea Proxima could occur within the next 200 million years. This potential co ...

. In the first two, the Pacific closes and Africa remains fused to Eurasia, but Eurasia itself splits as Africa and Europe spin towards the west; in the last, the trio spin eastward together as the Atlantic closes, creating land borders with

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

Extreme points

This is a list of the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location on Afro-Eurasia.

Including islands

* Easternmost Point — Big Diomede^†, Russia * Northernmost Point —

Cape Fligeli Cape Fligely (; ''Mys Fligeli''), is located on the northern shores of Rudolf Island and Franz Josef Land in the Russian Federation, and is the northernmost point of Russia, Europe, and Eurasia as a whole. It is south from the North Pole. Histo ...

, Rudolf Island, Franz Josef Land, Russia * Southernmost Point — Cape Agulhas, South Africa * Westernmost Point — Santo Antão,

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

Mainland

* Easternmost Point — Cape Dezhnev^†, Russia * Northernmost Point — Cape Chelyuskin, Russia * Southernmost Point — Cape Agulhas, South Africa * Westernmost Point —

Pointe des Almadies Pointe des Almadies or Point Almadies ( " bark canoe point") is the westernmost point on the continent of Africa and of the Afro-Eurasian landmass, lying at 17.5 degrees west of the Greenwich meridian, 8 degrees further west than Cabo da Roca, main ...

, Senegal ^† The

180th meridian The 180th meridian or antimeridian is the meridian (geography), meridian 180° both east and west of the prime meridian in a Geographic coordinate system, geographical coordinate system. The longitude at this line can be given as either east ...

passes through Asia, meaning that these points are in the Western Hemisphere.

References

External links

* Interactive scholarly edition, with critical English translation and multimodal resources mashup (publications, images, videos
Engineering Historical Memory
{{Continents of Earth Supercontinents Geography of Africa Geography of Asia Geography of Europe Extreme points of Earth Extreme points of Asia