When the theory of plate tectonics was developed around 1960, geologists began to reconstruct the movements and positions of the continents in the past. This appeared relatively easy until about 250 million years back, when all continents were united in what is called the "supercontinent" Pangaea. Before that time, reconstructions cannot rely on apparent similarities in coastlines or ages of oceanic crust, but instead solely rely on geologic observations and, more importantly, on paleomagnetic data.

Throughout the history of the Earth, there have been times when the continental mass came together to form a supercontinent, followed by the break-up of the supercontinent and new continents moving apart again. This repetition of tectonic events is called a Wilson cycle. The further back in time, the scarcer and harder to interpret the data get. It is at least clear that, about 1000 to 830 million years ago, most continental mass was united in the supercontinent Rodinia. It is very probable Rodinia was not the first supercontinent and a number of early Proterozoic supercontinents have been proposed. This means plate tectonic processes similar to today's must have been active during the Proterozoic. 

After the break-up of Rodinia about 800 million years ago, it is possible the continents joined again around 550 million years ago. The hypothetical supercontinent is sometimes referred to as Pannotia or Vendia. The evidence for it is a phase of continental collision known as the Pan-African orogeny, which joined the continental masses of current-day Africa, South-America, Antarctica and Australia. It is very likely however, that the assemblage of continental masses was not complete, since a continent called Laurentia (roughly equal to current-day North America) had already started breaking off around 610 million years ago. It is at least certain that by the end of the Proterozoic eon, most of the continental mass lay united in a position around the south pole.

संस्कृती
Rodinia and other supercontinents
अलीकडील घटना
Cenozoic era