Pangaea was the supercontinent that later broke apart to form the broad arrangement of today’s continents.
It assembled during the late Paleozoic Era, reaching near-completion about 335 million years ago as older continental blocks, including Gondwana, Euramerica, and Siberia, came together. Pangaea was surrounded by the vast superocean Panthalassa, with the Tethys seas along parts of its eastern margin.
The landmass began fragmenting around 200 million years ago, near the end of the Triassic and beginning of the Jurassic periods. Its northern portion became Laurasia, while its southern portion remained Gondwana for a time. Subsequent rifting and seafloor spreading eventually opened the Atlantic Ocean and separated Africa, the Americas, Europe, Asia, India, Australia, and Antarctica into their modern positions.
Rodinia and Pannotia are common mix-ups because they were also ancient supercontinents. They existed earlier, however; Pangaea is the most recent and best-understood supercontinent, making it the canonical answer to this quiz question. The name comes from Greek roots meaning “all Earth.”