OK, so _how _ many continents do we have, again?

Post by **Mogul** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:18 am

When I was in grade school, I was taught that we have seven continents. The term "Eurasia" was used occasionally to talk about those two lands being connected. But here they are.

North America
South America
Europe
Asia
Africa
Australia
Antarctica

Duh, right? Well, also when I was grade school, teachers would bring up the idea that there are actually fewer than seven continents because of things like "Eurasia." I haven't thought about it much since.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was either watching something in tv or reading something on the interweb and someone, without missing a beat, referenced the term "all five continents." I was like, "Oh, they finally made up their minds about it." I wondered though. Now, at GGL.com, they're launching the V-Sports All Stars voting thing to choose who will fight it out at E3 this year and all of that, and I noticed they were placing Russians in the European category.

Considering Russia is technically part of Asia, I thought that to be weird, and it brought up the old question again -- how many continents do we have?

Is there a definite answer everyone should agree on by now? A concensus at least?

Post by **Canis** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:20 am

AAAIIIEEE!!!!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!! :icon28:

Post by **LeonardoP** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:22 am

you're right, either 7 or 6 (north and south america as one)

http://geography.miningco.com/library/f ... inents.htm

Post by **^misantropia^** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:40 am

Six, since Antartica rests on it's own continental plate. See also this Wikipedia entry.

EDIT: Europe and Asia are on the Eurasian plate.

Post by **inphlict** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:52 am

Almost all major cities in Russia are in Europe so that why they probally did that. Russia is huge but 99% is forests and lakes..

Post by **MaCaBr3** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:55 am

how about Micronesia

Post by **Mogul** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 3:19 am

inphlict wrote:Almost all major cities in Russia are in Europe so that why they probally did that. Russia is huge but 99% is forests and lakes..

I don't understand. Can you elaborate a little more on this?

Post by **duffman91** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 4:22 am

I have seen it be correctly deemed 5 or 7 in the 3 countries I've lived in(chile, brazil, US)

seven: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antartica (Americans like this)

five: America, Europe, Oceania(Asia), Africa, Australia (no antartica because it is uninhabited)

The reason for the differences has to do with each language's definition of "continent".

US English has continent being just a large body of mass. Where my Spanish dictionary says a continent is a large body of inhabited land.

Fun fact: the 5 rings in the olympic flag is symbolic of the 5 continents.

Post by **Fender** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 4:38 am

If you want to get technical, India should really count. The Indian (sub-)continent is slamming in to the Asian continent.

Post by **Scourge** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 5:31 am

I was always taught that it was 7. But never really understood why they count Europe and Asia as two because they are pretty much the same landmass. Greenland could be considered a continent as it's about the same size as Australia.

Post by **Dukester** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 5:38 am

scourge34 wrote:I was always taught that it was 7. But never really understood why they count Europe and Asia as two because they are pretty much the same landmass. Greenland could be considered a continent as it's about the same size as Australia.

me too.
never considered the greenland thing, but the 7 continents is what I was taught.

Post by **Scourge** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 5:40 am

Dukester wrote:
scourge34 wrote:I was always taught that it was 7. But never really understood why they count Europe and Asia as two because they are pretty much the same landmass. Greenland could be considered a continent as it's about the same size as Australia.
me too.
never considered the greenland thing, but the 7 continents is what I was taught.

I never really considered it either until just now when I was looking at a world map. If they are going to say Antarctica is a continent then surely Grennland should be.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 5:44 am

i figured Antarctica's NOT considered a continent because it's not populated? Greenland. pffft.

Post by **Scourge** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 5:51 am

+JuggerNaut+ wrote:i figured Antarctica's NOT considered a continent because it's not populated? Greenland. pffft.

I was going by the just being a land mass theory. Ok, there's not very many people in Greenland, but it <i>is</i> populated.

Actually it has less than half the poplulation of the city I live in. Must be a dreary place.

Post by **Scourge** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 6:21 am

Exactly what I was thinking. How many people to be considered populated?

Post by **Transient** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:14 am

Should only be one.

Post by **Grudge** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:16 am

Pangea

Post by **Scourge** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:18 am

Grudge wrote:Pangea

The one continent!!

Post by **Mogul** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:32 am

I'm still waiting on an explaination about some of Russia's cities actually being in Europe.

Post by **Grudge** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:35 am

Russia west of the Urals belongs to Europe, yes.

(blue is Europe)

[lvlshot]http://home1.stofanet.dk/rorschak/russia.gif[/lvlshot]

Post by **Mogul** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:39 am

Wow, that's amazing. So Moscow is actually in Europe?

Post by **Grudge** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:43 am

Post by **chiQ** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 9:53 am

duffman91 wrote:no antartica because it is uninhabited

Antarctica is populated. There are one to twenty thousand people living there, depending time of year.

Post by **SplishSplash** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 10:43 am

Mogul wrote:Wow, that's amazing. So Moscow is actually in Europe?

You must be American.

Post by **duffman91** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 8:52 pm

chiQ wrote:
duffman91 wrote:no antartica because it is uninhabited
Antarctica is populated. There are one to twenty thousand people living there, depending time of year.

You're taking the term literally. Inhabited continents have/had a native people.

Antartica is also a huge territory. There is no country associated with it.