Geography. The Australian continent, as a whole being part of the Australian Plate, is the lowest, flattest, and oldest landmass on Earth and it has had a relatively stable geological history.
Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates including deserts in the interior and tropical rainforests along the coast.
Its low average elevation (300 meters, or less than 1000 feet) is caused by its position near the center of a tectonic plate, where there are no volcanic or other geologic forces of the type that raise the topography of other continents.
After watching this video, you learned that Africa is the hottest continent in the world. It has the highest average temperature and is home to the Sahara Desert, the biggest and hottest desert. Africa also has the longest river, the Nile, which runs through the desert.
Oceania is a region made up of thousands of islands throughout the Central and South Pacific Ocean. It includes Australia, the smallest continent in terms of total land area.
Located in Earth's southern hemisphere, Australia is the smallest continent among the seven, spanning over 8 million square kilometers or 3 million square miles, National Geographic reports.
Definitions of Oceania vary. The broadest definition encompasses the islands between mainland Asia and the Americas. The island nation of Australia is the only piece of land in the area which is large enough to typically be considered a continent.
Cape Town offers a Mediterranean climate with dry, warm summers and cool, wet winters. Its location at the edge of the African continent gives it dramatic scenery and varied weather, with the hottest month being February.
Mali. Mali, located in the western part of the African continent, is known as the hottest country in the world. Because its average annual temperature is 28.8 °C. The city of Timbuktu, located in the north of the country, is under the influence of the Sahara Desert, so there is also an intense heat.
More than 80% of our plants, mammals, reptiles and frogs are unique to Australia and are found nowhere else in the world. Some of our Australian animals are very well known like kangaroos, dingos, wallabies and wombats and of course the koala, platypus and echidna.
Why is Australia so different from the rest of the world?
For starters, mainland Australia is the world's largest island that also tops as a continent. In fact, Australia is considered the 2nd driest continent after Antarctica. The busy Sydney harbour or the skyline of metropolitan Melbourne make it seem unbelievable that nearly 40% of Australia's land is uninhabitable.
The Flattest Countries on Earth – And Why It Matters According to 2025 data from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the Maldives tops the list of the world's flattest nations, with an average elevation of just 1.5 meters (5 feet) above sea level.
Zealandia was formerly part of Gondwana. Today it is 94% submerged, mainly as a result of widespread Late Cretaceous crustal thinning preceding supercontinent breakup and consequent isostatic balance.
Africa is the least wealthy inhabited continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, ahead of Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography, climate, corruption, colonialism, the Cold War, and neocolonialism.
Being surrounded by ocean, Australia is often referred to as an island continent. As a continental landmass, Australia is significantly larger than its fringing islands.
Many people don't realize that Australia is really large, in-fact its about the same size as continental USA. The land area of Australia is 2.989 million square miles compared to the land area of the US at 3.797 million square miles. How big is Australia?
Oceania is a region made up of thousands of islands throughout the Central and South Pacific. It includes Australia, the smallest continent in terms of total land area.
Africa, the second-largest continent, is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is divided in half almost equally by the Equator.
Greenland (840,000 square miles [2,175,000 square km]), the largest island, is composed of the same materials as the adjacent North American continent, from which it is separated by a shallow and narrow sea.
Europe is the only continent without a desert, setting it apart from others. Africa has the vast Sahara Desert, Asia boasts the Gobi Desert, and even Antarctica is a desert due to its low precipitation. Australia, the smallest continent, includes several deserts like the Outback.
1. South Sudan. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after years of civil war, but violence continues to ravage the world's newest country. Civil War erupted in South Sudan in 2013 and continues today, as political leaders from different ethnic groups vie for power.
