The smallest continent on earth - of course, Australia

Mainland Australia is so small that the area is even smaller than some of the world's states. Its territory is only 7.63 million square kilometers. The smallest continent in the southern hemisphere is located and is intersected by the southern tropic. Its banks are washed by the waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans. Because of its small size, Australia is sometimes called the mainland island.

The continent is not bound by land to any of the other continents, it is located completely apart. The rest of the continents of the world are at a considerable distance from Australia. This contributed to the formation of a unique flora and fauna, in many respects different from other parts of the world.

Uniqueness of Australia

In addition to being the smallest continent, it has several features that make it truly unique. The wildlife of the continent is extremely unusual. Only here marsupial animals live - from small marsupial mice and moles to large kangaroos. Australian wolves and bears also have bags in which they carry their young. There are also representatives of fauna that you will not see on other continents - almost 80% of animals are endemic. The most famous of them are echidna and platypus. An amazing mammal of the platypus of its young hatch from the egg, as birds do. Only here you can see the dog dingo, ostrich emu, koala and kangaroo - Australia's most popular animals.

The flora is also unique: 90% of the continent's plants are endemic, found only here. The symbol of the Australian flora is eucalyptus - the highest tree of the planet, reaching the height of a fifty-story house.

The smallest continent is also the most arid on the planet. Most of it is in the tropical climatic zone, as a result of which almost the entire central part of the continent is occupied by huge deserts. Australia is also called the lowest continent. 215 meters - the average absolute height, and the highest point has a height of only 2230 meters.

Past and modern name

"Unknown land" - this is the name of Australia on ancient maps. Even today it remains for most people a mysterious land and full of surprises. The name of the continents is most often associated with their geographical location, the same applies to Australia: in Latin, "australis" means "southern". And this name appeared relatively recently, only at the beginning of the XIX century. Before that, some of its parts were called names given to them by the discoverers. Finally, the modern name was fixed after the floating around the continent of the Englishman Flinders.

The smallest continent of our planet is also famous for the fact that its territory is completely occupied by one country - the Australian Union. The largest city in the country is Sydney, famous for the whole world with its opera house, the present eighth wonder of the world. Another unusual masterpiece is the Harbor Bridge - a bridge across the beautiful bay of Port Jackson, which has an arch of half a kilometer length.