| Abstract from DBPedia | Eurasia (/jʊəˈreɪʒə/, also UK: /-ʃə/) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago and the Russian Far East to the east. The continental landmass is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Africa to the west, the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and by Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Indian Ocean to the south. The division between Europe and Asia as two continents is a historical social construct, as many of their borders are over land; thus, in some parts of the world, Eurasia is recognized as the largest of the six, five, or four continents on Earth. In geology, Eurasia is often considered as a single rigid megablock. However, the rigidity of Eurasia is debated based on paleomagnetic data. Eurasia covers around 55 million square kilometres (21 million square miles), or around 36.2% of the Earth's total land area. It is also home to the largest country in the world, Russia. The landmass contains well over 5 billion people, equating to approximately 70% of the human population. Humans first settled in Eurasia between 60,000 and 125,000 years ago. Some major islands, including Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, and Sri Lanka, and parts of Japan, the Philippines, and most of Indonesia, are often included in the popular definition of Eurasia, despite being separate from the contiguous landmass. According to some geographers, physiographically, Eurasia is a single continent. The concepts of Europe and Asia as distinct continents date back to antiquity, but their borders are geologically arbitrary and have historically been subjected to occasional change. Eurasia is connected to Africa at the Suez Canal, and Eurasia is sometimes combined with Africa to make the largest contiguous landmass on Earth, called Afro-Eurasia. Due to the vast landmass and differences in latitude, Eurasia exhibits all types of climates under the Köppen classification, including the harshest types of hot and cold temperatures, high and low precipitation, and various types of ecosystems.ユーラシア（Eurasia）は、アジア州とヨーロッパ州を一続きの大陸（ユーラシア大陸）と考えたときの呼称。Europe（Europa） と Asia を合成したかばん語で造語である。 ユーラシアは本来、大地形区分名であり、地形学的には太平洋の列島群を除いた大陸地域を指す。他方、地質学的構造や生物相からは、大西洋側のイギリス諸島、太平洋側のフィリピン諸島、インドネシア諸島など周辺の縁海部も含まれる。 地球上最大の陸域である。アフリカ大陸ともスエズ地峡で地続きとなっている。 (Source: http://dbpedia.org/resource/Eurasia) |
