You may have heard of Pangea, the supercontinent that formed hundreds of millions of years ago that split up to form our current continents. But did you know that scientists can model what the Earth will look like 100 million years from now? They predict that most of the continents will rejoin near the North Pole and form a new supercontinent called Amasia (from the Americas and Asia). Yes, East and West will meet, even if none of us are around to see it happen. You can read more about Amasia here and see a video. According to the CNN article, the Ring of Fire will play a role in the formation of Amasia, though other processes deep in the Earth will also be factors. Amasia won't just stay near the North Pole; it's predicted to drift down toward the equator.
How do you think human history would have been different if we'd evolved on a supercontinent instead of spreading onto several? I think there'd be less cultural diversity. There would have also been fewer opportunities for colonization. Would we have a global government, or would we have gotten into even more wars than we did? This sounds like it would make for a great alternate history novel, but you'd have to go back to the very beginning of humanity and work out the divergent path.
3 comments:
I think it would be cool if our continents were arranged differently. Maybe that's because the same ole same ole has been the status quo for so long lol.
Wow, very interesting. I'm actually glad we dont live on such a continent. I'd hate to think of the mono-culture that might exist in that situation.
That would be a fascinating story idea!
I agree--if there had been one continent, people would probably be interacting so much that there weren't distinct cultures. I would also assume there would be more emphasis on ground travel and much less air/water transportation.
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