Key facts on the topic “Australia”


    Australia is the smallest continent in the world, entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. The southern tropic crosses the continent almost in the middle. Australia is remote from other continents by the expanses of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, which explains the uniqueness of its nature. Australia’s shoreline is indented a little. Australia was opened by the Dutch in the early 17th century, but carefully concealed its discovery. The continent was reopened in the late 18th century. The British annexed his lands to his colonial empire. At the heart of the continent is the ancient Australian platform – a fragment of the former mainland of Gondwana. Along the east coast stretches the ancient folding belt, formed in the Paleozoic era. In connection with the structure of the earth’s crust, plain forms of relief predominate in Australia – the West Australian plateau and the Central Lowland. Only in the east there are low mountains – the Great Dividing Range with
    the highest point of the mainland of Kosciusko. In Australia there are significant reserves of very many minerals. A variety of metal ores are of particular importance. Australia is the driest continent of the planet. In the greater continent, the dry tropical climate predominates, dominated by the continental tropical air masses. In the north of the continent, a subequatorial climate was formed, and in the south – a subtropical one. This is due to the change in pressure areas, types of air masses, the trade winds and the western winds of temperate latitudes. The internal waters of Australia are unevenly distributed. Rivers and lakes often dry up. The lakes are salty. Lack of surface water partially compensate for underground, which are almost the only source of water supply in Central and Western Australia. The peculiarity of the organic world of Australia is due to the fact that the continent has been isolated from other continents for a long time. Australia is the mainland of marsupials, oviparous mammals and eucalyptus. The zones of deserts, semi-deserts and savannas occupy most of the continent, which is due
    to its geographical location, climate and relief features. The settlement of Australia began 40 thousand years ago. Europeans appeared on the mainland in the second half of the XVIII century. The modern population consists mainly of European immigrants and their descendants. Aborigines account for less than 1% of the total population. The Ukrainian diaspora in Australia has 32 thousand people who retain the language and customs of their ethnic homeland. Australia is the only state on the mainland. It belongs to the developed countries of the world. The country has large reserves of various minerals. Here the mining and processing industries, agriculture, in particular sheep breeding, are well developed. Australia exports from the country minerals, wool, meat, leather, butter and cheese, wheat, cane sugar, fruit.

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Key facts on the topic “Australia”