Where are the extreme points of Eurasia

The largest continent on the planet - Eurasia - occupies a little more than a third of the entire land, about 54 million square meters. Km. Moreover, Asia accounts for the largest part, about 4/5, and only 1/5 - for Europe. The continent itself is in the Northern Hemisphere, although some of the islands belonging to the mainland are in the southern half of the globe.

Eurasia unites Europe and Asia - two parts of the world, the border between them on the territory of Russia lies along the Ural mountains, on their eastern side. This continent is the only one on the planets E, which is washed by all the oceans: in the north by the Arctic, in the Indian in the south, in the west by the Atlantic and by the Pacific in the east. The length of Eurasia in length from west to east is about 16 thousand kilometers, and from north to south - twice less, 8 thousand kilometers.

The extreme points of Eurasia: the southern - Cape Piai, the northern - Cape Chelyuskin, the western point - Cape Roca, and the eastern - Cape Dezhnev.

The mastery of the mainland in ancient times was begun by civilizations living on the territory of Africa, with the aim of establishing trade relations with the peoples living north of them. A little later, somewhere in the III century BC, the first trade route inside the continent was formed, which passed through the Middle East, Europe, China, India. In turn, the raids of the Normans helped to master the new territory of the continent. The main territorial discoveries were made in the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. Russian expeditions of the twentieth century helped to correctly describe the position of the continent with the help of a coordinate system. It was at this time that the extreme points of Eurasia were identified.

In the north, the Eurasian continent enters the Arctic Circle, not reaching the North Pole by about 10 ⁰ . It was here, from the cape Chelyuskin (77 ° 34'N), located on the Taimyr Peninsula, the continent originates. The cape was discovered by navigator Semyon Chelyuskin in 1741 during a geographic expedition to the far north, which was equipped for an inventory of the northern coast of the Taimyr Peninsula.

Cape Chelyuskin is quite exalted and stony, covered with snow and ice. Visited him in 1878, the study Arctic Council N. Nordenskiöld built a lighthouse on piles of stones from a floating forest. Now here are signs that symbolize the edge of the earth: the wooden pole of S. Chelyuskin, the hurium, built from slate plates R. Amundsen in honor of N. Nordenskiöld's expedition, and the quartz stone giant. At present, residential buildings and scientific pavilions are built on the promontory. Here operates the polar hydrometeorological station "Cape Chelyuskin", where up to 10 people spend the winter. Previously, the most northerly airfield was located on the headland, from which now only the helipad has remained.

Calling the extreme points of Eurasia, I must say that the continent enters the Southern Hemisphere a little more than 10 °, so Cape Piai is the southern edge of the continent (1 ° 56'S), the cape is in Malaysia, in the national park of the country Tanjung Piai: In this place there is a globe - a memorable sign of the southern tip of the continent.

The greater part of Eurasia is in the eastern part of the globe, hence, the eastern extreme points lie on Cape Dezhnev (169 ° 64'E). Named after the name of its discoverer, Cape Dezhnev was opened in 1648. Dezhnev wrote that he is a naked mountain massif, steeply coming down and covered only with a "blanket" of fog, over which the clouds were driven by airflows.

Now on the rocky shore stands a wooden commemorative cross, which is installed in honor of Russian sailors in the year 350-anniversary of the voyage of the expedition Dezhnev. Another monument demonstrates the symbolic connection between Asia and America. Near the lighthouse on a high pedestal is the third monument - a bronze bust of Dezhnev, a man with an open and courageous face.

Enumerating the extreme points of Eurasia, let's call the westernmost part of the continent - Cape Roca, located on the territory of Portugal (38 ° 47'W). The cape is a rock towering above the level of the Atlantic Ocean at 140 meters. The coordinates of this extreme eastern point of the continent are carved on a stone stele. There is also a lighthouse, which attracts so many travelers.