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A topological space is connected if it is not the union of two disjoint nonempty open sets, or equivalently has no nontrivial subset that is both an open set and a closed set.

Let $K_x$ be the union of all connected subspaces containing $x$. A union of connected subsets with a common point is connected: if a separation of a topological space existed, every member containing $x$ would lie wholly in the same side. Hence $K_x$ is connected and contains every connected subspace through $x$, so it is the connected component of $x$.

If $K_x\cap K_y\ne \varnothing$, their union is connected and maximality gives $K_x=K_y$. Otherwise they are disjoint. Since every $x$ belongs to $K_x$, the connected components partition $X$.

Suppose for contradiction that the continuous image of a connected space $Y=f(X)$ is disconnected. Then there are disjoint nonempty sets $U,V$, open in the subspace topology on $Y$, with $Y=U\cup V$. By continuity, $f^{-1}(U)$ and $f^{-1}(V)$ are disjoint open subsets of $X$; by surjectivity both are nonempty, and their union is $X$. This is a separation of a topological space of $X$, contradicting that $X$ is a connected space. Hence $Y$ is connected.