A
continent is one of several very large
landmasses on
Earth. They are generally identified by
convention rather than any strict criteria, with up to seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are (from largest in size to smallest):
Asia,
Africa,
North America,
South America,
Antarctica,
Europe, and
Australia.
In
geology, continents are described by means of
tectonic plates.
Plate tectonics is the process and study of the movement, collision and division of continents, earlier known as
continental drift.