How many continents are there?

[BPSCG]

I don't believe they ever actually explained why N. Am. and S. Am. were two continents and I believe my personal reasoning was because Panama was so small.

They're two continents for the same reason that Africa and Asia (separated only by 50 miles of the Sinai Peninsula at its narrowest point) are two continents.

And that reason is.... uhrmmm...

 

[Art Vandelay]

Re: Re: Re: How many continents are there?

Everything is an island if you think about it...

If there were a planet in which 90% of the surface is land, and the rest is water, would that be an island? I guess technically it would be surrounded by water.

And actually, if you look at Europe and Asia, there is a line from the Mediterranean to the Artic Ocean that's about half water: Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Aral Sea, etc.

 

[Meffy]

They're two continents for the same reason that Africa and Asia (separated only by 50 miles of the Sinai Peninsula at its narrowest point) are two continents.

And that reason is.... uhrmmm...

... because if Uri Geller were to rub the narrowest part of either the Sinai or Panama between his fingertips, the continents would break apart.

Obvious, isn't it? :-}

Meffy

 

[Gestahl]

Another kink...

Here is another kink... India is described as a subcontinent. The CIA world fact book inconsistently calls Europe both a continent and a subcontinent. I would veer toward the latter name, since the only division between them is the Ural mountains.

 

[Correa Neto]

Points to ponder-

- New Zealand, as well as Sumatra, Java, Japan, and Cuba (in other word, islands within island arcs - island arcs are built where two oceanic plates collide and one dips beneath the other, causing magmatism and deformation) are made by continental crust (composed by rocks rich in Si, Al, K and Na, such as granites and andesites). But they are not continents...

- Tectonic plates do divide continents. Look at the map shown by Matabiri- please note smaller plates are not shown!

-South America was separated from North America before the formation of the land bridge by a process similar to the formation of an island arc.

I bet the labelling of a land mass as a continent is a bit arbitrary.

 

[fishbob]

Everything is an island if you think about it...

Then stop thinking about it.


There were 7 arbitrarily designated continents long before anybody figured out plate tectonics. So plates have nothing to do with this issue. My guess is that early world maps showed 7 big lumps of land and a bunch of islands (I said, stop thinking about it), and now all 6 billion humans have this inaccurate bit of information stuck somewhere in each of their 6 billion brains.

 

[Gestahl]

Inspired by an SC thread, I present your "You should have learned this in third grade, dummy" thread:

Ok, North America and South America are seperate because they're on different tectonic plates.

So what's the deal with Europe and Asia? Do we really have six continents (N. America, S. America, Africa, Australia, Antartica, Eurasia) or the standard seven?

We have 7, because we have this insatiable need to have seven of everything, 7 seas, 7 virtues and sins, 7 levels of heaven, and 7 wonders of the world. ;-).

 

[Soapy Sam]

One.

 

[popsy]

Re: Re: Re: How many continents are there?

Everything is an island if you think about it...

No *man* is an island....

John Donne

 

[TragicMonkey]

Under the new rules to be adopted in 2006, a continent will only retain official continent status if it has a band named after it. So Asia and Europe will each qualify.

North and South America can qualify as one continent if they fill in the Panama Canal.

Africa is disqualified because of that Toto song.

As for Antarctica, my boss just informed me that it's not a continent "because it floats". I can't think of a reply to that.

 

[LostAngeles]

Under the new rules to be adopted in 2006, a continent will only retain official continent status if it has a band named after it. So Asia and Europe will each qualify.

North and South America can qualify as one continent if they fill in the Panama Canal.

Africa is disqualified because of that Toto song.

As for Antarctica, my boss just informed me that it's not a continent "because it floats". I can't think of a reply to that.

Two words that'll help: Mountains and Shoggoths.

This seems to be a very undecided "fact" even in google results. I figured I'd look up the definition of "continent". Ignoring the "pee" results and scrolling down:

2. One of the grand divisions of land on the globe; the main land; specifically (Phys. Geog.), a large body of land differing from an island, not merely in its size, but in its structure, which is that of a large basin bordered by mountain chains; as, the continent of North America.

Note: The continents are now usually regarded as six in number: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. But other large bodies of land are also reffered to as continents; as, the Antarctic continent; the continent of Greenland. Europe, Asia, and Africa are often grouped together as the Eastern Continent, and North and South America as the Western Continent.

To which I say, "... Ah, crap."

 

[Sindai]

Re: Re: How many continents are there?

We have 7, because we have this insatiable need to have seven of everything, 7 seas, 7 virtues and sins, 7 levels of heaven, and 7 wonders of the world. ;-).

I think this is a good point. We should have seven continents because seven is a lucky number. Changing the number is just asking for The Day After Tomorrow! (The movie, not the book.)

 

[TeaBag420]

As for Antarctica, my boss just informed me that it's not a continent "because it floats". I can't think of a reply to that.

Why don't you explain that, unlike the Arctic, it doesn't float?

 

[belinda]

I remember when I was in school I was taught (or picked up) that Australia was the smallest continent, the third largest island, the sixth largest country (although if you count the Aus territory in Antartica it is larger that the US) and had a very small population for our land mass. Sheesh New York (almost) has a larger population than our entire country.

I remember when I was older I was told that Australia wasn't an island - we were too large. Although the person who told me that couldn't tell me who decided what made an island.

 

[TeaBag420]

I remember when I was in school I was taught (or picked up) that Australia was the smallest continent, the third largest island, the sixth largest country (although if you count the Aus territory in Antartica it is larger that the US) ....

Including Alaska?

 

[Sindai]

Including Alaska?

And the US's Antarctic territory. It's been a while sine I saw a map of Antarctica but I thought the US had a pretty huge chunk too.

 

[glee]

The word "continent" simply doesn't mean "a sufficiently large body of land surrounded by water." It means one of the accepted large bodies of land, which in most of the English speaking world is a list of seven bodies. You can't reason about the meanings of words as though they were defined logically, since, put simply, they aren't.

Absolutely.

And feel free to ask similar questions about the country where I reside.

Do you know the difference between the UK, Great Britain and England?

Taking the UK and Eire together:

- how many international soccer teams are there?
- how many international rugby teams are there?
- how many international athletic teams are there?
- how many international cricket teams are there?

 

[TeaBag420]

And the US's Antarctic territory. It's been a while sine I saw a map of Antarctica but I thought the US had a pretty huge chunk too.

None on the map I looked at last night. What's the total square mileage of Australia and the territory Australia made a deferred claim to in the Antarctic Treaty? I could't find it.

 

[belinda]

Australia's land area is approx 7,686,850 km2 what that is in Imperial I have no idea.....as for Antartic Territory . I haven't been able to find a size for that though. Remember this is just something I remember being taught...I was also told that the only (?) country that didn't recognise the land claim was the US

 

[TeaBag420]

Australia's land area is approx 7,686,850 km2 what that is in Imperial I have no idea.....as for Antartic Territory . I haven't been able to find a size for that though. Remember this is just something I remember being taught...I was also told that the only (?) country that didn't recognise the land claim was the US

U.S. has a land area of 9,631,418 sq.km. about half the size of Russia; about three-tenths the size of Africa; about half the size of South America (or slightly larger than Brazil); slightly larger than China; about two and a half times the size of Western Europe; world's third-largest country by size (after Russia and Canada) and by population (after China and India).

20 of 27 Antarctic consultative nations have made no claims to Antarctic territory (although Russia and the US have reserved the right to do so) and do not recognize the claims of the other nations.

I learned something from this, as I didn't realize anyone made claims in Antarctica.

But, the size of the Australian claim doesn't appear to make up the difference... it would have to be almost two million sq. km., one-seventh of the total area of 14 million sq.km.