Continent Continent A continent is one of several very large landmasses of the world. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, they are: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Geologically, the continents largely correspond to areas of continental crust that are found on the continental plates. However, some areas of continental crust are regions covered with water not usually included in the list of continents. Zealandia is one such area (see submerged continents below). Islands are frequently grouped with
Australia (continent) in urban centres. West Papua, a province of Indonesia, is home to an estimated 44 uncontacted tribal groups. Australia, the largest landmass in the continent, is highly urbanised, and has the world's 13th-largest economy with the second-highest human development index globally. Australia also has the world's 9th largest immigrant population. The first settlers of Australia, New Guinea, and the large islands just to the east arrived between 50,000 and 30,000 years ago. Archaeological terminology for this region has changed repeatedly. Before the 1970s, the single Pleistocene landmass was called "Australasia", derived from the Latin "australis", meaning "southern", although this word