# Landmass

A landmass, or land mass, is a large region or area of land that is in one piece and not noticeably broken up by oceans. The term is often used to refer to lands surrounded by an ocean or sea, such as a continent or a large island. In the field of geology, a landmass is a defined section of continental crust extending above sea level.
Continents are often thought of as distinct landmasses and may include any islands that are part of the associated continental shelf. When multiple continents form a single contiguous land connection, the connected continents may be viewed as a single landmass. Earth's largest landmasses are (starting with largest):
* Afro-Eurasia (main landmass of the geoscheme region of the same name and its continental parts Africa and Eurasia - or Europe and Asia; the center of Earth's land hemisphere, comprising more than half of Earth's landmass)
* Americas (main landmass of the geo-region of the same name and its continental parts North and South America; comprising most of the landmass of the Western Hemisphere)
* Antarctica (main landmass of the geo-region and continent of the same name)
* Mainland Australia (main landmass of the geo-region Oceania, its sub-region Australasia, the continent Australia and the country Australia)

## Continental landmasses

Continental landmasses are not usually classified as islands despite being completely surrounded by water. However, because the definition of continent varies between geographers, the Americas are sometimes defined as two separate continents while mainland Australia is sometimes defined as an island as well as a continent. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this list, mainland Australia along with the other major landmasses have been listed as continental landmasses for comparison. The figures are approximations and are for the four major continental landmasses only. The artificial Panama and Suez canals are disregarded, as they are not natural waters that separate the continents.
| Rank | Continental landmass | Area | Area | Nation(s) | Notes |
| Rank | Continental landmass | (km$^2$) | (sq mi) | Nation(s) | Notes |
| 1 | Afro-Eurasia | 79,810,726 | 30,815,094 | 126 countries 6 de facto states | 48 countries on mainland Africa and 78 countries on mainland Eurasia (38 countries on continental Asia and 40 countries on continental Europe). Two states on mainland Africa and four states on mainland Eurasia (two states on continental Asia and two states on continental Europe). |
| 2 | Americas | 37,699,623 | 14,555,906 | 22 countries French Guiana | Ten countries on mainland North America and twelve countries on mainland South America. An overseas department and region of France, located on mainland South America. |
| 3 | Antarctica | 12,272,800 | 4,738,600 | None | Seven countries have made eight territorial claims. All territorial claims in Antarctica are in abeyance under the Antarctic Treaty System. Antarctica is a special case, for if its ice is considered not as land, but as water, it is not a single landmass, but several landmasses of much smaller area, since the ice-bedrock boundary is below sea level in many regions of the continent. If its ice cover were to be lifted, some rocks that are currently below sea level would rise as the weight of the ice would be removed, although this would in part be counteracted, and in some areas of the continent overtaken, by eustatic rises in sea level. |
| 4 | Australia | 7,591,608 | 2,931,136 | Australia | Mainland Australia is more than three times the size of Greenland, the largest island. Australia is sometimes dubbed "The Island Continent" or "Earth's largest island, but its smallest continent". |