Continent Close-Ups

Europe is the sixth-largest of the world’s seven continents.  Twenty-eight of its 45 nations belong to the European Union, an alliance  that promotes free trade and travel among its members.

Europe is in the grip of a refugee crisis. (A refugee is someone who has left his or her home to seek protection in another country, often because of war or poverty.) Since 2015, Europe has taken in millions of refugees, mostly from the Middle East and Africa. But increasingly, European countries are refusing to let in any more refugees. Many Europeans believe that refugees are a burden on their society—and that some may be terrorists. Some politicians have used that fear to stir up anti-immigrant movements across the continent. 

A recent survey of 10 European nations shows that a majority of people there support taking in refugees. This is true even where governments are trying to keep more refugees from entering their countries. According to the findings by the Pew Research Center, more than 80 percent of adults in Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden believe that refugees should be given shelter. A majority of the population in Greece and Italy, the countries where most of the refugees have arrived by sea, also supports allowing them in.

Sweden has taken in tens of thousands of refugees. Although some people there are angry about the government’s handling of the crisis, many others want to help the newcomers. Some Swedish companies are finding ways to aid refugees using technology. For example, the free Welcome app matches refugees with native Swedes who help them adjust. And the websites My Life and Just Arrived connect refugees with job opportunities.

Africa is the world’s second-largest continent in both land area and population. It is widely recognized as the birthplace of all humans and their ancestors, who began to appear there some 4 million years ago.

Large parts of Africa are suffering from the loss of fertile land. Years of drought have turned much land that was once suitable for growing crops into desert. The United Nations estimates that Africa loses millions of acres of cropland a year this way. Experts warn that rising temperatures—a part of climate change—are making cropland disappear faster. That trend threatens the food supply of millions of Africans.

At first, experts had a big idea to restore Africa’s greenery. They wanted to plant a “green wall” of trees across the continent. But many trees in remote places died. Now people are trying a smaller-scale approach. Experts are educating local farmers on land maintenance and focusing on traditional techniques, such as capturing scarce rainwater. So far, these efforts are succeeding. In Niger, farmers have grown 200 million new trees. In Senegal, 10 million acres of cropland have been restored.

Asia, the largest continent in area and population, covers about one-third of Earth’s land surface. Oceania is a region in the Pacific Ocean that includes Australia, the world’s smallest continent.

Aboriginal Australians, the continent’s native people, have long been treated as second-class citizens—or worse. The white settlers who began arriving in the 18th century drove many of them off their land and onto reservations. Then, in the 20th century, the government forcibly separated many Aboriginal children from their parents. Like American Indians, Aboriginal people suffer from widespread discrimination and high rates of poverty.

There is growing awareness about the mistreatment of Aboriginal people. The Australian government officially apologized to its native people a decade ago. This year, the police commissioner of Western Australia publicly expressed shame that authorities have caused Aboriginal people “immeasurable suffering.” But important steps have been taken to create respect for Aboriginal culture and history. These include National Reconciliation Week, a time when Australians are encouraged to learn more about Aboriginal people.

Clinton Pryor was fed up with the conditions his fellow Aboriginals were living under. In protest, he walked across Australia from the west coast to the capital, Canberra, near the east coast. His 3,600-mile journey, which began in September 2016, took a year and wore out eight pairs of shoes. It also won the world’s attention. Today, Pryor is determined to keep walking—or do whatever else it takes—to win justice for Aboriginal people.

The Middle East is a region, not a continent. Located mostly in Asia, it also includes parts of Africa (Egypt) and Europe (part of Turkey). The Middle East is the birthplace of three of the world’s major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Conflicts among Middle Eastern nations have created many of the world’s refugees.

Women’s rights are severely restricted in Saudi Arabia, a conservative Islamic kingdom. Women need the permission of a male guardian to travel, get married, or sign a contract. They are forbidden to interact with men in restaurants and were long banned from participating in athletics. Until recently, it was the only country in the world where women were not allowed to drive.

Women in Saudi Arabia have now gained some freedoms, thanks to King Salman’s attempts to modernize the country. Last June, women finally got the right to drive. This past September, the nightly news in Saudi Arabia was anchored by a woman for the first time. Saudi women have been allowed to compete in recent Olympic Games, and female students can now participate in physical education classes.

North America is dominated by Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The third-largest continent also contains the region of Central America—between Mexico and South America—and the island nations of the Caribbean Sea.

The use of opioids (a group of highly addictive drugs) is on the rise in the U.S. and Canada. Many people become addicted to prescription pain medications that contain opioids and end up overdosing on the drugs. (Other people turn to illegal drugs when their prescriptions run out.) In 2017, about 72,000 Americans died from an opioid overdose. President Donald Trump has declared the situation a national health emergency.

In the U.S., several states have had success at reducing the number of opioid-related deaths. They’ve done it largely by targeting at-risk individuals. Vermont and Wyoming, for example, seek to steer patients away from taking opioid pain pills in the first place by providing safer, less-addictive medication and physical therapy. Massachusetts pairs addicts with recovery coaches—people who have struggled with drugs themselves—to help them kick the habit.

In just a decade, Rob and Diane Perez lost 13 of their restaurant employees to drug overdoses (half of them opioid-related). The Kentucky couple decided to do something about it. They opened DV8 Kitchen, a restaurant in Lexington that hires only people recovering from drug addiction. Workers receive services to help them stay off drugs while also learning valuable skills. Experts see the success of DV8 Kitchen as a model for other businesses that want to help people in recovery.

South America is the world’s fourth-largest continent. Most people speak Spanish or Portuguese, which traces back to the continent’s major European colonizers. The Amazon rainforest extends through Brazil and seven other countries.

At 2.3 million square miles, the Amazon rainforest is one of the world’s most important ecosystems. Called “the lungs of the planet,” the Amazon’s trees absorb much of Earth’s carbon dioxide and help keep the planet’s temperature stable. But those trees are at risk from illegal logging and other threats. (Since 1970, an area more than twice the size of Germany has been cleared.) Scientists believe that the loss of those trees has increased global warming.

Just a few decades ago, the Amazon seemed like it might be a lost cause. But Brazil’s government and international groups have fought to save it. They created the Amazon Region Protected Areas program, which has safeguarded large parts of Brazil’s section of the rainforest. Other programs have helped farmers and indigenous people use the Amazon’s natural resources in ways that do not cause environmental damage. While the battle is far from over, it’s also far from hopeless.

Topher White wanted to stop illegal logging in the Amazon. But he couldn’t be the eyes and ears of an entire rainforest. Instead, he decided to use old cell phones. The phones are refashioned and attached to trees in the rainforest. They can then detect the activity of chain saws and trucks around the clock, from up to a mile away. When one of the phones picks up suspicious sounds, it automatically alerts authorities.