Earth history · an approximate reconstruction

Before the continents split apart

About 230 million years ago
One landmass Pangaea
Ocean Panthalassa, with Tethys to the east

About 230 million years ago the land that is now separate continents was joined in a single landmass called Pangaea. This illustration shows their approximate arrangement, with modern continent names added so each region can be recognised.

The map

The world before the breakup

Select the map to open it at full size, or download the PNG for teaching, printing or slides.

Approximate Pangaea reconstruction: Africa at the center, South America to its west, North America and Europe to the north, Asia northeast, and India, Antarctica and Australia to the south and southeast. Panthalassa surrounds the supercontinent and Tethys lies to the east. — Illustrated reconstruction, about 230 million years ago. Ancient coastlines and positions are approximate; modern continent names are shown for reference. This is an AI-generated educational illustration, not a precise geological reconstruction.

View full-size map Download PNG

The illustration is a teaching aid, not a survey. It carries no coordinates, no scale and no boundary data, and it is not a substitute for a published geological reconstruction.

What the evidence shows

How we know the continents were once joined

One supercontinent

Land that now forms separate continents was joined together in Pangaea.

A gradual breakup

USGS describes the breakup beginning roughly 225–200 million years ago. Plate motion eventually produced today’s arrangement.

How we know

Matching fossils, rocks and geological structures on separated continents provide evidence of their former connections.

Please note

What this page is, and what it is not

An approximate illustration

The map is a teaching illustration of an approximate arrangement, not a survey. Ancient coastlines and positions are approximate, and the drawing carries no coordinates, scale or boundary data.

Not a USGS product

The illustration was generated for AGAPE FOUNDATION INC. The USGS publications cited below are the research behind the accompanying facts; the USGS did not produce, review or approve this illustration.

Not the Continental Divide

This page is about deep time — the single landmass that existed before the continents separated. The Continental Divide is a different subject: the ridge along the Americas that separates the watersheds draining to the Pacific from those draining to the Atlantic. Pangaea is not the Continental Divide, and nothing here claims otherwise.

Research sources: USGS: Where did dinosaurs live? · USGS: Historical perspective · USGS: Before the breakup of Pangaea