It is known from the school geography course that Australia is the mainland. The largest island is Greenland, the area of this land is 2166068 square kilometers. Looking at a significant gap in size, we can draw definite conclusions. But there are other factors because of which it is customary to judge in this way.
Australia is considered a separate mainland for many reasons, and the main ones should be considered in a separate order.
How many continents are there?
It would seem that the question of how many continents exist can be answered unambiguously. However, even to this question there is no general answer, common for all countries and peoples. As an example, you can consider the Wikipedia pages devoted to this issue - the Russian and English versions.
The Russian version will tell about six continents, among which North America and Africa, Antarctica, South America, Eurasia, Australia are noted. The English version will present seven continents, since Eurasia will be divided into Asia and Europe. But Australia will remain a separate mainland anyway. Why is there such a unanimous opinion?
Features of Australia as a Mainland
The mainland is a large land area, which is washed by water from all sides and is isolated. It differs from the island primarily in size, but besides this, there are other factors. So, Australia can be distinguished for geological reasons - it lies on a separate, own lithospheric plate.This plate is called - Australian. Australia also has its own unique flora and fauna, which has no analogues on the whole planet. This land was separated early enough from others, which allowed evolution to go its own way.
The first primitive mammals were preserved here - the egg-laying echidna and the platypus, the kangaroo, which give birth to their cubs so helpless that they are forced to move into a bag and grow to the nipple in order to turn from an embryo into a viable cub. In the rest of the world, these creatures became extinct long ago, giving way to more advanced mammals, capable of more fully carrying and feeding their cubs.
Interesting fact: Australia has many amazing, unique representatives of the flora and fauna that exist only here. This is a bottle tree, eucalyptus trees, wombats, platypuses, and a host of other creatures and plants. The appearance of other species introduced by humans caused great damage to endemic creatures - for example, the dominance of rabbits, which were not originally here, led to the verge of death of many local rodents.
Australian culture and its isolation
It is also worth noting the original culture of Australia, and 22 million people living on its territory. Despite the fact that the population, besides the indigenous, has European roots, it has formed its own customs and principles, lives by its own laws. Even the local language is slightly different from English itself. The self-esteem of the locals also always played a big role.They feel like a separate people, isolated from the whole world. Even other maps are used here - Antarctica and Australia are in the upper part of the world, and all other continents are at the bottom. Inverted cards of this kind are generally accepted here.
Geological past
In the distant past, there was only one continent on the planet from which all modern continents were formed. It was Pangea, which broke up into Gondwana with Laurasia. Further movement of tectonic plates and continents together with them led to the formation of new continents, which were formed during the decay of a single land. Laurasia began to divide into Eurasia and North America, Gondwana also became the basis for South America and Africa, Antarctica, Australia also came from it. And then the process led to the fact that Australia was on the far periphery, removed from all other continents, which allowed to preserve a special flora and fauna, which has no analogues anywhere.
The inability to exchange flora and fauna, a kind of isolation made it possible for the first primitive mammals and other creatures to survive in this amazing world. The continent’s privacy was broken only by people who managed to settle here too - the first local inhabitants, who are the indigenous people, were here thanks to a chain of islands - it is assumed that migration occurred through them, even at the dawn of the development of navigation. Then, in the process of colonization, Europeans also appeared.
Australia is an original continent, a separate continent and a separate country, and today no one doubts that this is not an island.
