# Europe a Continent ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817 "2008-08-13T04:22:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817/21 "2008-08-14T04:20:23Z")
[QUOTE=The Flying Dutchman] Who first decided Europe was a continent and when? [/quote] The ancient Greeks, mainly. But it was based on a totally different concept of continent than what we have today. The original three continents just recognized three segments of the shores of the Mediterranean: Europe from the Straits of Gibralter to the entrance to the Black Sea; Asia from the Black Sea to the Red Sea; and Africa from the Black Sea to the Straits of Gibralter. The fact that Europe met Asia on the far side of the Black Sea was irrelevant. > [@](#): > > What is the criteria that allows Europe to be a continent and India just a subcontinent, None, really. Europe is only considered a separate continent as a historical artifact of the way the continents were first defined. There is no logical basis to it at all. It’s boundaries are also arbitrary. If we are speaking of geographically defined continents rather than historically defined ones, Europe and Asia are a single continent, Eurasia. > [@](#): > > What is the criteria that allows Australia to be a continent but not Greenland. Also pretty much arbitrary. Australia could just as well be considered the largest island as the smallest continent. As has been stated by others, the definition of continents also varies culturally. I can verify that, in Latin America, the Americas are considered to count as a single continent (with three subdivisions, North, Central, and South). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817/22 "2008-08-14T04:36:56Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] Australia could just as well be considered the largest island as the smallest continent. [/QUOTE] However, to expand on this a little, there is some rationale for the dividing line to be between Australia and Greenland, rather than between Antarctica and Australia, since there is a much larger gap between Australia and Greenland than there is between Antarctica and Australia. Eurasia 21,200,000 sq mi Africa 11,700,000 sq mi = 55% of Eurasia North America 9,400,000 sq mi = 80% of Africa South America = 6,900,000 sq mi = 73% of North America Antarctica = 5,400,000 sq mi = 78% of South America Australia = 3,000,000 sq mi = 55% of Antarctica Greenland = 840,000 sq mi = 28% of Australia So each continent is at least half the size of the next larger continent; but Greenland is less than a third the size of Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817/23 "2008-08-14T16:00:08Z")
Or, you could go on the basis of [tectonic plates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Plates_tect2_en.svg), which more or less line up with the traditional continents. Greenland is part of the N. American Plate, and Australia has its own. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817/24 "2008-08-14T16:55:16Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] As a national border, why not? Makes as much sense as splitting Europe from Asia. [/QUOTE] No it doesn’t. If you read the links provided above, you’ll see there’s a lot more than a national border involved in considering Europe and Asia as different continents. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817/25 "2008-08-14T17:03:09Z")
And this, my dear people, is why we can’t even begin to decide who gets to apply to the EU and to a much lesser extent, UEFA (the FIFA of Europe). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817/26 "2008-08-14T18:38:23Z")
[QUOTE=clairobscur] I checked the French version on wikipedia that stated that the 6 continent model (with America being one, as opposed to the 6 continent model with America being two and Eurasia one) was the most common in eastern Europe and Latin America. [/QUOTE] My wife says that they taught “America” as one continent growing up back in Peru. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817/27 "2008-08-14T18:44:23Z")
[QUOTE=clairobscur] I also made a quick search in Spanish (there’s no other language I know and could check) and it turned the same result : [this map](http://www.kalipedia.com/geografia-general/tema/graficos-mapa-continentes-oceanos.html?x1=20070417klpgeogra_6.Ees&x=20070417klpgeogra_12.Kes) with only one American continent and the mention : Existen seis continentes (grandes extensiones de tierras emergidas): Asia, África, Europa, América, Oceanía y la Antártida; (There are 6 continents […] : Asia, Africa, Europe, \*\* America \*\*, Oceania y Antarctic) [/QUOTE] > [@Colibri](#): > > I can verify that, in Latin America, the Americas are considered to count as a single continent (with three subdivisions, North, Central, and South). Wow. I had never heard this. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817/28 "2008-08-14T19:24:30Z")
Aren’t the five rings on the Olympic flag each supposed to represent an inhabited continent? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817/29 "2008-08-14T19:33:34Z")
I think I’m going to go around referring to ‘the European subcontinent’ from now on. Why do we just say ‘the Indian subcontinent’? It sounds like something of a putdown. [QUOTE=WormTheRed] And this, my dear people, is why we can’t even begin to decide who gets to apply to the EU and to a much lesser extent, UEFA (the FIFA of Europe). [/QUOTE] Well, since St. Pierre et Miqelon and French Guiana are considered part of the French state and use the euro, and are undoubtedly in the Americas, a precedent has been set. Next step: Canada to join the EU! ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817/30 "2008-08-14T19:45:38Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] I think I’m going to go around referring to ‘the European subcontinent’ from now on. Why do we just say ‘the Indian subcontinent’? It sounds like something of a putdown. Well, since St. Pierre et Miqelon and French Guiana are considered part of the French state and use the euro, and are undoubtedly in the Americas, a precedent has been set. Next step: Canada to join the EU! [/QUOTE] Canada, if it were to apply, would probably get in before Turkey - so be my guests 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817/31 "2008-08-14T19:51:57Z")
[QUOTE=Tom Tildrum] Aren’t the five rings on the Olympic flag each supposed to represent an inhabited continent? [/QUOTE] Yes, counting the Americas as a single continent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/europe-a-continent/459817.md?page=1)