Continent

A continent (or landmass) is the largest geographical subdivision of a planet or world. Continents, which can actually be parts of larger continents, are broken down into regions or zones, but some break them down into groups of regions or zones called subcontinents.

Azeroth's geography

The earliest information about landmasses is brief. A huge war between the Titans and the Old Gods "ripped Azeroth into new shapes".

At the time of the War of the Ancients, 10,000 years ago, Azeroth had one singular continent called Kalimdor. The Sundering broke apart this landmass into various continents and islands. Currently, the ancient landmass known as Kalimdor would be called a supercontinent since all the land was once a part of it.

The number of continents has grown and shrunk as time has gone by. This is due to the discovery of new lands, the importance of those lands, and maybe politics. As of Cataclysm, there were three large continents in the game: the Eastern Kingdoms (formed of three subcontinents) in the east, Kalimdor (formed of three subcontinents) in the west, and Northrend in the north. These continents are bordered by the Great Sea which seem to occupy the whole of the planet. As of the Mists of Pandaria expansion, the continent of Pandaria was revealed as part of Azeroth to the south of the Maelstrom. As a part of the Legion expansion, the Broken Isles were revealed (south of Howling Fjord, Northrend, and east of the Maelstrom) as essentially a separate continent.

Azeroth's continents

• Broken Isles
• Eastern Kingdoms
  • Lordaeron
    • Sometimes, Quel'Thalas
  • Khaz Modan
  • Azeroth
• Kalimdor
  • Northern Kalimdor
    • Sometimes, Teldrassil
  • Central Kalimdor
  • Southern Kalimdor
• Northrend
• Pandaria
  • Isle of Giants (north of Kun-Lai Summit?)
  • Isle of the Thunder King (north of Townlong Steppes?)

Azeroth's "subcontinents"

• Quel'Thalas (part of Lordaeron)
• Teldrassil (described as an island, a mid-sized island, an island continent or a giant tree)

Other important landmasses

This section concerns content exclusive to Cataclysm.

• Kezan

The Undermine

The Undermine was already in the early World of Warcraft Betas,^{[citation needed]} but not as a city on an island, but as a continent south of Kalimdor, but there was only water there and nothing else.

The Undermine might be added as a new continent later on. According to lore, the Undermine is under the island of Kezan.

Miscellaneous landmasses

• The Maelstrom (remnants of the central ancient Kalimdor supercontinent)
• Ominous island
• South Seas (contains many islands)
• Tol Barad (sometimes considered part of the Eastern Kingdoms)
• Vashj'ir (submerged landmass with some small islands above the water)
• Isle of Giants (northern coast of Kun-Lai Summit)
• Isle of Thunder (northeast Pandaria)
• Timeless Isle (southwest Pandaria)
• Zandalari Isle (supposedly north of Pandaria; NYI)

Outland's continents

This section concerns content exclusive to The Burning Crusade.

Outland does not have continents in the traditional sense. Outland is itself a single continent that represents the remnants of what was once Draenor. Draenor may have had more than one continent before it was shattered, but these land masses have names lost to the mists of history.

The Elemental Plane's continents

The Elemental Plane has one continent: Deepholm.

The Firelands might be considered a subcontinent.

Vashj'ir has been associated with the Abyssal Maw.

The Emerald Dream's continents

This section concerns content exclusive to Legion.

This section's content needs citations, references, or sources. Reason: RPG is not a good ref.

The Emerald Dream and Azeroth "are quasi-duplicates of each other".