Hello bobyarwood,
The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines a continent as:
“A continuous mass of land”
“One of the six or seven great divisions of land on the globe”
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
http://www.m-w.com
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A continent (from the Latin "continere" for "to hold together") is a
large continuous mass of land in the planet Earth.
“There is no single standard for what defines a continent, and
therefore various cultures and sciences have different lists of what
are considered to be continents. In general, a continent must be large
in area, consist of non-submerged land, and have geologically
significant borders.”
Wikipedia
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent
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The definition of a continent is rather arbitrary.
“In some parts of the world students are taught that there are only
six continents, as they combine North America and South America into
one continent called Americas. Other experts use only six continents
by combining Europe and Asia into a continent called Eurasia.”
World Atlas
http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/contnent.htm
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Six or Seven Continents?
“According to tradition most people speak of seven continents on the
planet. However, geologically there are six large distinct land masses
on the earth so many geographers and scientists refer to six. Those
who consider there to be seven continents refer to a separate Europe
and Asia (divided at the Ural Mountains in western Russia) while those
who prefer six continents refer to the joined land mass (and single
tectonic plate) as Eurasia.
About.com: Geography
http://geography.about.com/library/misc/blcont.htm
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Europe and Asia are treated as separate continents for historical
rather than geographic reasons.
“Due to the cultural differences between Asia and Europe, the
historical tradition is to consider them separate continents.
The dividing line between Europe and Asia is traditionally placed
along the Ural Mountains.”
Wikipedia
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasia
“Unlike the other continents, Europe does not constitute a distinct
and separate body of land but is part of the same landmass as Asia.
Europe and Asia are treated as separate continents for historical
rather than geographic reasons. Europe is complex and diverse in
physical, economic, historical, political, and social makeup.”
Buzzle
http://www.buzzle.com/chapters/education-and-higher-learning_colleges-and-universities_domestic-and-international_europe.asp
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Cecil Adams at The Straight Dope explains the reason that Europe and
Asia are regarded as two continents:
“What we have here is a carryover from the ancient Greeks, who used
the terms Asia, Europe, and Africa to designate regions rather than
continents. (The term continent, in the sense of "a major landmass
mostly surrounded by water," originated in 17th-century England.)
Nowadays, people in the know refer to Europe as "the western
peninsular appendage of the Eurasian landmass,"
The Straight Dope
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_166a.html
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Why are Europe and Asia considered separate continents?
“By the middle ages, Africa was often being included as a continent
separate from Europe or Asia, and writers of that time considered
inhabitants of the various continents the descendants of Noah's sons;
Asia was occupied by Semites, Africa by Hamites, and Europe by
Japhethites.”
The Straight Dope
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/meurasia.html
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Cultural Differences:
“Due to the cultural differences between Asia and Europe, the
historical tradition is to consider them separate continents.”
(..)
“The earth sciences, with a more precise definition of continent, more
frequently consider Eurasia to be a continent in and of itself. ..
Eurasia can be geographically defined by subtracting Africa from the
great land mass of Africa-Eurasia. The dividing line between Europe
and Asia is traditionally placed along the Ural Mountains.”
http://www.4reference.net/encyclopedias/wikipedia/Eurasia.html
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“A look at the globe shows that the definition is fairly arbitrary.
Asia and Europe are not separated by water, they look like one huge
continent (Eurasia, as it is often called). Well, for many purposes
(cultural, linguistic, historical...) they are separate continents.”
Jim Loy: The Continents
http://www.jimloy.com/geology/continen.htm
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According to InfoPlease political considerations have often overridden
geographical facts when it came to naming continents.
“Political considerations have often overridden geographical facts
when it came to naming continents. Geographically, Europe, including
the British Isles, is a large western peninsula of the continent of
Asia; and many geographers, when referring to Europe and Asia, speak
of the Eurasian continent. But traditionally, Europe is counted as a
separate continent, with the Ural and the Caucasus mountains forming
the line of demarcation between Europe and Asia.”
InfoPlease
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001745.html
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Here is an excerpt taken from The Myth Of Continents: A Critique Of
Metageography
Martin W. Lewis And Karen E. Wigen.
Berkeley: University Of California Press
“For example, the distinction between Europe and Asia has had many
uses throughout history, including different sides of the Aegean Sea,
the Catholic and Orthodox realms, Christendom and the Muslim world.
Ostensibly "clear cut" boundaries such as the Urals, which separate
European and Asian Russia, reflect changing political interests,
particularly the desire to naturalize certain distinctions in the name
of imperial expansion. Thus "Europe" as a separate region was largely
a construct essential to the emerging hegemony of European culture and
power. Similarly, as Edward Said has so powerfully shown, the Orient
was also a construct of the overheated fantasies of the West. "Asia"
has steadily migrated in Europe's eyes, from northwestern Turkey to
the Muslim world, to the East-West divide of the Cold War, to the Far
East of the Pacific Rim, in the process giving rise to terms such as
the Middle East and South Asia as they were spun off from the broader
conception of the Orient.
THE MYTH OF CONTINENTS: A CRITIQUE OF METAGEOGRAPHY.
http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v1/4/7.htm
An opinion taken from a Stanford University mailing list:
“As for the Europe/Asia question, I have two comments. First, the
concept of continents was invented in the ancient world, at the
eastern end of the Mediterranean. They considered Europe and Asia to
be separate continents because as far as they knew they were separated
by the Dardanelles and the Bosporus. They were only vaguely if at all
aware that the two were connected in the barbarian lands north of the
Black Sea.”
Stanford University Mailing List
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1998/11/msg00173.html
History and Custom
“To summarize, the definition of continent is vague enough that what
is and is not considered to be a continent is largely determined by
history and custom. It ends up being a mix of continuous land masses,
continental plates, and size, so whether there are five or seven
continents just depends on how you want to divide up the Earth. As an
aside, note that the division between Europe and Asia can't be
justified by either the continuous land mass or the continental plates
idea; it's just a cultural consensus.”
MadSci Network: Science History
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/aug2001/998945712.Sh.r.html
Search Criteria:
Europe and Asia “separate continents”
Eurasia
I hope this helps.
Best Regards,
Bobbie7 |
