For a long stretch of Earth’s history, the continents were not separated by wide oceans. They were joined into a single landmass known as Pangaea. It formed slowly, through collisions that took place over tens of millions of years. There was no clear starting moment. Land simply kept drifting together until separation was no longer the norm.
Pangaea existed long before humans, mammals, or even flowering plants. In geological terms, it was stable for a while, but it was never meant to last. Once the continents were locked together, the planet worked differently. Huge areas of land lay far from the ocean. Rain struggled to reach the interior. Temperatures swung more sharply between seasons. Some regions baked. Others froze.
