Pangaea was the supercontinent that united nearly all present-day landmasses.
Pangaea formed during the late Paleozoic Era and began breaking apart during the early Mesozoic Era. Geological evidence indicates that it brought together most of Earth’s continental crust, surrounded by a vast global ocean called Panthalassa. The name comes from Greek roots meaning “all Earth.”
The German meteorologist and geophysicist Alfred Wegener proposed the idea of continental drift in 1912 and used the fit of coastlines, matching fossils, and related rocks as evidence. His ideas were initially controversial because he could not explain a convincing mechanism for continental movement. Plate tectonics later supplied that mechanism.
Pangaea was not Earth’s only supercontinent. Earlier examples include Rodinia, while Gondwana and Laurasia were major continental groupings associated with the breakup of Pangaea. The modern continents continue to move a few centimetres per year as tectonic plates shift, so future supercontinents are possible over geological timescales.