67-643: The Trans-African Highway network comprises transcontinental road projects in Africa being developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (ADB), and the African Union in conjunction with regional international communities. They aim to promote trade and alleviate poverty in Africa through highway infrastructure development and
134-574: A continent as "a large space of dry land comprehending many countries all joined together, without any separation by water. Thus Europe, Asia, and Africa is one great continent, as America is another." However, the old idea of Europe, Asia and Africa as "parts" of the world ultimately persisted with these being regarded as separate continents. By convention, continents "are understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, ideally separated by expanses of water". In modern schemes with five or more recognized continents, at least one pair of continents
201-520: A continent. This divides the entire land surface of Earth into continents, regions, or quasi-continents. The criterion that each continent is a discrete landmass is commonly relaxed due to historical conventions and practical use. Of the seven most globally recognized continents, only Antarctica and Australia are completely separated from other continents by the ocean. Several continents are defined not as absolutely distinct bodies but as " more or less discrete masses of land". Africa and Asia are joined by
268-602: A discrete landmass is completely disregarded if the continuous landmass of Eurasia is classified as two separate continents (Asia and Europe). Physiographically , Europe and the Indian subcontinent are large peninsulas of the Eurasian landmass. However, Europe is considered a continent with its comparatively large land area of 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi), while the Indian subcontinent, with less than half that area,
335-425: A geological continent has been disputed by some geologists. However, a study conducted in 2021 found that part of the submerged continent is indeed Precambrian , twice as old as geologists had previously thought, which is further evidence that supports the idea of Zealandia being a geological continent. All seven geological continents are spatially isolated by geologic features. The term "continent" translates
402-486: A high national priority as opposed to a regional or transcontinental priority. As a result of missing links, of the five major regions— North , West , Central , East , and Southern Africa —road travel in all weather is only relatively easy between East and Southern Africa, and that relies on a single paved road through southwestern Tanzania (the Tanzam Highway ). While North Africa and West Africa are linked across
469-543: A nearby continent to divide all the world's land into geographical regions. Under this scheme, most of the island countries and territories in the Pacific Ocean are grouped together with the continent of Australia to form the geographical region Oceania . In geology , a continent is defined as "one of Earth's major landmasses, including both dry land and continental shelves ". The geological continents correspond to seven large areas of continental crust that are found on
536-468: A part of South America. Apart from the current continents, the scope and meaning of the term continent includes past geological ones. Supercontinents , largely in evidence earlier in the geological record, are landmasses that comprise most of the world's cratons or continental cores. These have included Vaalbara , Kenorland , Columbia , Rodinia , Pannotia , and Pangaea . Over time, these supercontinents broke apart into large landmasses which formed
603-564: A problem. There are numerous missing links in the network where tracks are impassable after rain or hazardous due to rocks, sand, and sandstorms. In a few cases, there has never been a road of any sort, such as the 200 km gap between Salo in the Central African Republic and Ouésso in the Republic of the Congo on highway 3. The missing links arise mainly because the section does not have
670-511: A separate land. In 1507 Martin Waldseemüller published a world map, Universalis Cosmographia , which was the first to show North and South America as separate from Asia and surrounded by water. A small inset map above the main map explicitly showed for the first time the Americas being east of Asia and separated from Asia by an ocean, as opposed to just placing the Americas on the left end of
737-791: A third part of the world. Division into three parts eventually came to predominate. From the Greek viewpoint, the Aegean Sea was the center of the world; Asia lay to the east, Europe to the north and west, and Africa to the south. The boundaries between the continents were not fixed. Early on, the Europe–Asia boundary was taken to run from the Black Sea along the Rioni River (known then as the Phasis ) in Georgia . Later it
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#1732851783400804-502: A very large peninsula on the fringe of a continent. Where the Americas are viewed as a single continent (America), it is divided into two subcontinents ( North America and South America ) or three ( Central America being the third). When Eurasia is regarded as a single continent, Asia and Europe are treated as subcontinents. Some areas of continental crust are largely covered by the ocean and may be considered submerged continents . Notable examples are Zealandia , emerging from
871-437: A way of protecting internal trade, as a weapon in border disputes, and to increase the opportunities for official corruption. The development of trans-African highways and associated road infrastructure is aimed at combating poverty in Africa by increasing interstate and domestic trade, revitalizing small and medium-sized businesses, reducing prices for goods and improving living conditions. Thanks to highways, Africa's population
938-451: Is considered a subcontinent. The alternative view—in geology and geography—that Eurasia is a single continent results in a six-continent view of the world. Some view the separation of Eurasia into Asia and Europe as a residue of Eurocentrism : "In physical, cultural and historical diversity, China and India are comparable to the entire European landmass, not to a single European country. [...]." However, for historical and cultural reasons,
1005-435: Is divided into several principal oceanic components by the continents and various geographic criteria. The geological definition of a continent has four criteria: high elevation relative to the ocean floor; a wide range of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks rich in silica; a crust thicker than the surrounding oceanic crust; and well-defined limits around a large enough area. The most restricted meaning of continent
1072-444: Is finally being served by ambulances , police , fire protection , rescue , repair and construction services. The agencies developing the highway network are influenced by the idea that road infrastructure stimulates trade and so alleviates poverty, as well as benefiting health and education since they allow medical and educational services to be distributed to previously inaccessible areas. On 1 July 1971 Robert K. A. Gardiner ,
1139-501: Is inhabited by more numerous people and animals than our Europe, or Asia or Africa", the first known explicit identification of part of the Americas as a continent like the other three. Within a few years, the name "New World" began appearing as a name for South America on world maps, such as the Oliveriana (Pesaro) map of around 1504–1505. Maps of this time, though, still showed North America connected to Asia and showed South America as
1206-430: Is joined by land in some fashion. The criterion "large" leads to arbitrary classification: Greenland , with a surface area of 2,166,086 square kilometres (836,330 sq mi), is only considered the world's largest island, while Australia , at 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi), is deemed the smallest continent. Earth's major landmasses all have coasts on a single, continuous World Ocean , which
1273-971: Is structured into seven programme divisions: Continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single landmass or a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of Asia or Europe. Due to this, the number of continents varies; up to seven or as few as four geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Most English-speaking countries recognize seven regions as continents. In order from largest to smallest in area, these seven regions are Asia , Africa , North America , South America , Antarctica , Europe , and Australia . Different variations with fewer continents merge some of these regions; examples of this are merging North America and South America into America , Asia and Europe into Eurasia , and Africa, Asia, and Europe into Afro-Eurasia . Oceanic islands are occasionally grouped with
1340-602: Is that of a continuous area of land or mainland, with the coastline and any land boundaries forming the edge of the continent. In this sense, the term continental Europe (sometimes referred to in Britain as "the Continent") is used to refer to mainland Europe, excluding islands such as Great Britain , Iceland , Ireland , and Malta , while the term continent of Australia may refer to the mainland of Australia , excluding New Guinea , Tasmania , and other nearby islands. Similarly,
1407-407: Is usually considered an island of Africa, but its divergent evolution has caused it to be referred to as "the eighth continent" from a biological perspective. Geologists use four key attributes to define a continent: With the addition of Zealandia in 2017, Earth currently has seven recognized geological continents: Due to a seeming lack of Precambrian cratonic rocks, Zealandia's status as
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#17328517834001474-453: The continental United States refers to "the 49 States (including Alaska but excluding Hawaii ) located on the continent of North America, and the District of Columbia ." From the perspective of geology or physical geography , continent may be extended beyond the confines of continuous dry land to include the shallow, submerged adjacent area (the continental shelf ) and the islands on
1541-656: The Black Sea . The names were first applied just to lands near the coast and only later extended to include the hinterlands . But the division was only carried through to the end of navigable waterways and "... beyond that point the Hellenic geographers never succeeded in laying their finger on any inland feature in the physical landscape that could offer any convincing line for partitioning an indivisible Eurasia ..." Ancient Greek thinkers subsequently debated whether Africa (then called Libya ) should be considered part of Asia or
1608-647: The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola are all in rebuilding phases after war. Wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo set back road infrastructure in that country by decades and cut the principal route between East and West Africa. In recent years, security considerations have restricted road travel in the southern parts of Morocco , Algeria , Libya and Egypt as well as in northern Chad and much of Sudan . Trans-African highways can only develop in times of peace and stability, and in 2007
1675-596: The Isthmus of Suez , and North America and South America by the Isthmus of Panama . In both cases, there is no complete separation of these landmasses by water (disregarding the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal , which are both narrow and shallow, as well as human-made). Both of these isthmuses are very narrow compared to the bulk of the landmasses they unite. North America and South America are treated as separate continents in
1742-587: The Mombasa – Nairobi – Kampala – Fort Portal section (or the Kampala– Kigali feeder road) of Trans-African Highway 8 is sometimes referred to as the "Trans-Africa Highway". Colonial powers and, later, competing superpowers and regional powers , generally did not encourage road links between their respective spheres except where absolutely necessary (i.e. trade), and in newly independent African states, border restrictions were often tightened rather than relaxed as
1809-456: The Pacific Ocean , as well as the continent of Australia . Zealandia (a submerged continent ) has been called the eighth continent. The following table provides areas given by Encyclopædia Britannica for each continent in accordance with the seven-continent model, including Australasia along with Melanesia , Micronesia , and Polynesia as parts of Oceania. It also provides populations of continents according to 2021 estimates by
1876-564: The Pleistocene ice ages , greater areas of the continental shelf were exposed as dry land, forming land bridges between Tasmania and the Australian mainland . At those times, Australia and New Guinea were a single, continuous continent known as Sahul . Likewise, Afro-Eurasia and the Americas were joined by the Bering Land Bridge . Other islands, such as Great Britain , were joined to
1943-510: The Sahara , the main deficiency of the network is that there are no paved highways across Central Africa. Not only does this prevent road trade between East and West Africa, or between West and Southern Africa, but it restricts trade within Central Africa. Although there may be paved links from West, East, or Southern Africa to the fringes of Central Africa, those links do not penetrate very far into
2010-747: The United Nations Statistics Division based on the United Nations geoscheme , which includes all of Egypt (including the Isthmus of Suez and the Sinai Peninsula ) as a part of Africa, all of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey (including East Thrace ) as parts of Asia, all of Russia (including Siberia ) as a part of Europe, all of Panama and the United States (including Hawaii ) as parts of North America, and all of Chile (including Easter Island ) as
2077-407: The continental African nations except Burundi , Eritrea , Eswatini , Somalia , Equatorial Guinea (Rio Muni), Lesotho , Malawi , Rwanda and South Sudan . Of these, Rwanda , Malawi , Lesotho and Eswatini have paved highways connecting to the network, and the network reaches almost to the border of the others. More than half of the network has been paved, though maintenance remains
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2144-422: The tectonic plates , but exclude small continental fragments such as Madagascar that are generally referred to as microcontinents . Continental crust is only known to exist on Earth. The idea of continental drift gained recognition in the 20th century. It postulates that the current continents formed from the breaking up of a supercontinent ( Pangaea ) that formed hundreds of millions of years ago. From
2211-483: The "subcontinents" concerned are on different tectonic plates from the rest of the continent, providing a geological justification for the terminology. Greenland , generally considered the world's largest island on the northeastern periphery of the North American Plate , is sometimes referred to as a subcontinent. This is a significant departure from the more conventional view of a subcontinent as comprising
2278-625: The 16th century the English noun continent was derived from the term continent land , meaning continuous or connected land and translated from the Latin terra continens . The noun was used to mean "a connected or continuous tract of land" or mainland . It was not applied only to very large areas of land—in the 17th century, references were made to the continents (or mainlands) of the Isle of Man , Ireland and Wales and in 1745 to Sumatra . The word continent
2345-523: The Americas, Columbus never believed he had reached a new continent—he always thought it was part of Asia. In 1501, Amerigo Vespucci and Gonçalo Coelho attempted to sail around what they considered the southern end of the Asian mainland into the Indian Ocean , passing through Fernando de Noronha . After reaching the coast of Brazil , they sailed along the coast of South America much farther south than Asia
2412-674: The Black Sea and the Caspian Sea , and the border between Asia and Africa at the isthmus between the Red Sea and the mouth of Lake Bardawil on the Mediterranean Sea . The Roman author Pliny the Elder , writing in the 1st century CE, stated that "The whole globe is divided into three parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa", adding: I shall first then speak of Europe, the foster-mother of that people which has conquered all other nations, and itself by far
2479-666: The Catholic church, began to associate itself with the concept of Europe. Through the Roman period and the Middle Ages , a few writers took the Isthmus of Suez as the boundary between Asia and Africa, but most writers continued to consider it the Nile or the western border of Egypt (Gibbon). In the Middle Ages, the world was usually portrayed on T and O maps , with the T representing the waters dividing
2546-494: The Earth, the text claims that the Earth has seven continents and Lord Vishnu Measured the entire universe from his first foot from the land of Earth which has 7 continents. ato devā avantu no yato viṣṇurvicakrame | pṛthivyāḥ saptadhāmabhiḥ || idaṃ viṣṇurvi cakrame tredhā ni dadhe padam | samūḷhamasya pāṃsure || trīṇi padā vi cakrame viṣṇurghopā adābhyaḥ | ato dharmāṇi dhārayan || The Gods be gracious unto us even from
2613-544: The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), established the Trans-African Highway Bureau to oversee the development of a continental road network. As well as preventing progress in road construction, wars and conflicts have led to the destruction of roads and river crossings, have prevented maintenance and have often closed vital links. Sierra Leone , Liberia ,
2680-599: The Greek word ἤπειρος , meaning "landmass, terra firma", the proper name of Epirus and later especially used for Asia (i.e. Asia Minor ). The first distinction between continents was made by ancient Greek mariners who gave the names Europe and Asia to the lands on either side of the waterways of the Aegean Sea , the Dardanelles strait, the Sea of Marmara , the Bosporus strait and
2747-470: The concept of a continent may go beyond the continental shelf to include oceanic islands and continental fragments. In this way, Iceland is considered a part of Europe, and Madagascar a part of Africa. Extrapolating the concept to its extreme, some geographers group the Australian continental landmass with other islands in the Pacific Ocean into Oceania , which is usually considered a region rather than
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2814-527: The continent. The ECA's mandate is to promote the economic and social development of its member states, foster intra-regional integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa's development. [1] On October 6, 2023, the UN Secretary-General appointed Claver Gatete of Rwanda as the Executive Secretary of UNECA, replacing the Cameroonian Vera Songwe . The commission's work
2881-405: The division into three of what is really a single landmass, a debate that continues nearly two and a half millennia later. Herodotus believed Europe to be larger (at least in width) than the other two continents: I wonder, then, at those who have mapped out and divided the world into Libya, Asia, and Europe; for the difference between them is great, seeing that in length Europe stretches along both
2948-402: The east–west direction (highways 6, 8, and 9) while one will cross north to south (highway 3). As of 2014, all have substantial missing links in Central Africa. Nine highways have been designated, in a rough grid of six mainly east–west routes and three mainly north–south routes. A fourth north–south route is formed from the extremities of two east–west routes. Starting with the most northerly,
3015-615: The east–west routes are: Starting with the most westerly, these are: As noted above, TAH 1 and TAH 7 join to form an additional north–south route around the western extremity of the continent between Monrovia and Rabat. Regional international communities are heavily involved in trans-African highway development and work in conjunction with the ADB and UNECA. For example: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA or ECA ; French: Commission économique pour l'Afrique , CEA)
3082-484: The future looks brighter, with the southern Sudan conflict being the only one currently affecting development of the network (highway 6). Lawlessness rather than war hampers progress in developing highway 3 between Libya and Chad, and though economic instability could affect maintenance of paved highways 4 and 9 though Zimbabwe , there are practical alternatives through neighbouring countries. Conflicts in Somalia do not affect
3149-482: The mainlands of their continents. At that time, there were just three discrete landmasses in the world: Africa - Eurasia - America , Antarctica , and Australia - New Guinea ( Sahul ). There are several ways of distinguishing the continents: In the English-speaking countries, geographers often use the term Oceania to denote a geographical region which includes most of the island countries and territories in
3216-541: The management of road-based trade corridors . The total length of the nine highways in the network is 56,683 km (35,221 mi). In some documents the highways are referred to as "Trans-African Corridors" or "Road Corridors" rather than highways. The name Trans-African Highway and its variants are not in wide common usage outside of planning and development circles, and as of 2014 one does not see them signposted as such or labelled on maps, except in Kenya and Uganda where
3283-429: The map and Asia on the right end. In the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio , Waldseemüller noted that the earth is divided into four parts, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the fourth part, which he named "America" after Amerigo Vespucci's first name. On the map, the word "America" was placed on part of South America. The Sanskrit text Rig Veda often dated 1500 BCE has the earliest mention of seven continents in
3350-539: The mid-17th century, Peter Heylin wrote in his Cosmographie that "A Continent is a great quantity of Land, not separated by any Sea from the rest of the World, as the whole Continent of Europe, Asia, Africa." In 1727, Ephraim Chambers wrote in his Cyclopædia, "The world is ordinarily divided into two grand continents: the Old and the New ." And in his 1752 atlas, Emanuel Bowen defined
3417-529: The most beauteous portion of the earth. Indeed, many persons have, not without reason, considered it, not as a third part only of the earth, but as equal to all the rest, looking upon the whole of our globe as divided into two parts only, by a line drawn from the river Tanais to the Straits of Gades. Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the culture that developed in its place , linked to Latin and
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#17328517834003484-440: The network as that is the largest African country with no trans-African highways, but they will affect the development of feeder roads to the network. Using existing national highways as much as possible, the aim of the development agencies is to identify priorities in relation to trade, to plan the highways, and to seek financing for the construction of missing links and bridges, the paving of sections of earth and gravel roads, and
3551-469: The ocean primarily in New Zealand and New Caledonia , and the almost completely submerged Kerguelen Plateau in the southern Indian Ocean . Some islands lie on sections of continental crust that have rifted and drifted apart from a main continental landmass. While not considered continents because of their relatively small size, they may be considered microcontinents . Madagascar, the largest example,
3618-452: The others together, and it appears to me to be wider beyond all comparison. Eratosthenes , in the 3rd century BCE, noted that some geographers divided the continents by rivers (the Nile and the Don), thus considering them "islands". Others divided the continents by isthmuses , calling the continents "peninsulas". These latter geographers set the border between Europe and Asia at the isthmus between
3685-474: The place whence Vishnu strode Through the seven regions of the earth! Through all this world strode Vishnu; thrice his foot he planted, and the whole Was gathered in his footstep's dust. Vishnu, the Guardian, he whom none deceiveth , made three steps; thenceforth Establishing his high decrees. In regard to the above-quoted verses, it is commonly accepted that there are Seven Continents or 'regions of
3752-544: The present continents. Certain parts of continents are recognized as subcontinents, especially the large peninsulas separated from the main continental landmass by geographical features. The most widely recognized example is the Indian subcontinent . The Arabian Peninsula , Southern Africa , the Southern Cone of South America, and Alaska in North America might be considered further examples. In many of these cases,
3819-618: The region. The terrain, rainforest, and climate of Central Africa, particularly in the catchments of the lower and middle Congo River and the Ubangui , Sangha , and Sanaga Rivers , present formidable obstacles to highway engineers, and paved roads there have short lifespans. Further north in Cameroon and Chad , hilly terrain or plains prone to flooding have restricted the development of local paved road networks. Through this forbidding environment, three Trans-African Highways are planned to cross in
3886-550: The rehabilitation of deteriorated paved sections. The need to reduce delays caused by highway checkpoints and border controls or to ease travel restrictions has also been identified, but so far solutions have not been forthcoming. Rather than just having international highways over which each country maintains its regulations and practices, there is a need for transnational highways over which regulations and practices are simplified, unified and implemented without causing delays to goods and travellers. The network as planned reaches all
3953-542: The seven-continent model. However, they may also be viewed as a single continent known as America . This viewpoint was common in the United States until World War II , and remains prevalent in some Asian six-continent models. The single American continent model remains a common view in European countries like France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Latin American countries and some Asian countries. The criterion of
4020-415: The shelf ( continental islands ), as they are structurally part of the continent. From this perspective, the edge of the continental shelf is the true edge of the continent, as shorelines vary with changes in sea level. In this sense the islands of Great Britain and Ireland are part of Europe, while Australia and the island of New Guinea together form a continent. Taken to its limit, this view could support
4087-626: The three continents. By the middle of the 18th century, "the fashion of dividing Asia and Africa at the Nile, or at the Great Catabathmus [the boundary between Egypt and Libya ] farther west, had even then scarcely passed away". Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean in 1492, sparking a period of European exploration of the Americas . But despite four voyages to
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#17328517834004154-479: The view of Europe as a separate continent continues in almost all categorizations. If continents are defined strictly as discrete landmasses, embracing all the contiguous land of a body, then Africa, Asia, and Europe form a single continent which may be referred to as Afro-Eurasia . Combined with the consolidation of the Americas, this would produce a four-continent model consisting of Afro-Eurasia, America, Antarctica, and Australia. When sea levels were lower during
4221-465: The view that there are only three continents: Antarctica, Australia-New Guinea, and a single mega-continent which joins Afro-Eurasia and America via the contiguous continental shelf in and around the Bering Sea. The vast size of the latter compared to the first two might even lead some to say it is the only continent, the others being more comparable to Greenland or New Zealand. As a cultural construct ,
4288-630: Was established in 1958 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council to encourage economic cooperation among its member states (the nations of the African continent ) following a recommendation of the United Nations General Assembly . It is one of five regional commissions . The ECA has 54 member states, corresponding to the 54 member states of the United Nations that lie within the continent of Africa or in oceans nearby
4355-438: Was known to extend, confirming that this was a land of continental proportions. On return to Europe, an account of the voyage, called Mundus Novus ("New World"), was published under Vespucci's name in 1502 or 1503, although it seems that it had additions or alterations by another writer. Regardless of who penned the words, Mundus Novus credited Vespucci with saying, "I have discovered a continent in those southern regions that
4422-417: Was used in translating Greek and Latin writings about the three "parts" of the world, although in the original languages no word of exactly the same meaning as continent was used. While continent was used on the one hand for relatively small areas of continuous land, on the other hand geographers again raised Herodotus's query about why a single large landmass should be divided into separate continents. In
4489-666: Was viewed as running from the Black Sea through Kerch Strait , the Sea of Azov and along the Don River (known then as the Tanais ) in Russia . The boundary between Asia and Africa was generally taken to be the Nile River. Herodotus in the 5th century BCE objected to the whole of Egypt being split between Asia and Africa ("Libya") and took the boundary to lie along the western border of Egypt, regarding Egypt as part of Asia. He also questioned
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