- published: 25 Feb 2009
- views: 11077178
Eurasia is a geographical continent. It refers to the uninterrupted landmasses with their associated islands and regions, surrounded by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, along the Sinai Peninsula, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the east.
Physiographically, it is a single continent; the concepts of Europe and Asia as distinct continents date back to antiquity and their borders are geologically arbitrary. Eurasia, in turn, is part of the yet larger landmass of Afro-Eurasia, whereby Eurasia is joined to Africa at the Suez Canal.
Eurasia is inhabited by almost 5 billion people, more than 72.5% of the world's population, 60% in Asia and 12.5% in Europe.
Eurasia was the host of many modern civilizations, including those based in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.
Jared Diamond, in his book Guns, Germs and Steel, credits Eurasia's dominance in world history to the unique east-west extent of Eurasia and its climate zones, and the availability of Eurasian animals and plants suitable for domestication. He included North Africa in his definition of Eurasia, due to it having a similar climate and peoples.