# How many continents are there, and what are they? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 30, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865 "2012-07-30T15:55:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/21 "2012-07-30T17:57:12Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > How many would you like there to be? I do the tempting here. > [@turtledove\_river](#): > > FIVE: America (North and South), Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. I knew I was forgetting something. > [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > I go for the Civilization definition of Continent I don’t know what that means. > [@turtledove\_river](#): > > FIVE: America (North and South), Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. How are the Americas a single continent, but Eurasia two? > [@Sunspace](#): > > Alright, I’ll bite. 😃 > > NZ is clearly the protrusion into our airspace of a vast [del]hyperdimensional[/del] submarine continent named [Zealandia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealandia_%28continent%29), which broke off from Australia and sank. So Zealandia not only has hobbits, but also primeval chthonic monstrosities. And you don’t want to piss them off, because first they’ll appear all cute, and then wham! They’ll turn your brain inside out. > > Also, NZ is situated on continental crust. > > So I think there’s a good argument for New Zealand being a continent. > > Please, can I go now? I’d like my brain back. I have use for your brain. Well, actually just your hippocampi, but removing just those would raise my costs by 5%. This entire thread was just a ploy to get you to post so I could get a lock on your position. Don’t bother running; the tracer’s already been implanted and the nanites have been launched. ---
**Author:** ![turtledove\_river](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@turtledove\_river](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turtledove_river)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/22 "2012-07-30T18:21:47Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > There is a new one. How can you justify America being one but Europe, Asia, and Africa being three separate ones? Both Americas put together _look_ like one continent. Europe, Asia and Africa together is just too big and shapeless. I’m not saying I’m an expert on this.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/23 "2012-07-30T18:42:08Z")
What’s this Oceania crap? I don’t see how you can be both a continent and an ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/24 "2012-07-30T18:48:23Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > What’s this Oceania crap? I don’t see how you can be both a continent and an ocean. From the Wikipedia article on continents: [ [QUOTE=what did I just say] The terms _Oceania_ or _Australasia_ are sometimes substituted for _Australia_ to denote a continent encompassing the Australian mainland and various islands of the Pacific Ocean not part of other continents. For example, the _Atlas of Canada_ names Oceania,[13] as does the model taught in Italy, Greece[19] and in Latin America, Spain and Portugal. [/QUOTE] ]([Continent - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Number_of_continents)) ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/25 "2012-07-30T18:57:27Z")
Six. Cultural differences don’t split land masses into two. Greenland and New Zealand are the Plutos of land masses, eliminated for continenthood by internationally-agreed standards determined arbitrarily by me. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/26 "2012-07-30T19:05:01Z")
I voted “seven”, but I can also make an argument for 8, with the Indian subcontinent being its own thang. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/27 "2012-07-30T19:13:49Z")
> [@Esox\_Lucius](#): > > Six. Cultural differences don’t split land masses into two. Greenland and New Zealand are the Plutos of land masses, eliminated for continenthood by internationally-agreed standards determined arbitrarily by me. Fool of a – :: checks list :: Never mind, I seem to have used them all. Greenland is eliminated from continent-hood because it is physiographically part of North America; that is, the land composing it is part of the [North American Plate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Plate), just as Great Britain is part of the Eurasian Plate. Incidentally, South America is not part of the North American Plate, and India is not part of the Eurasian Plate. SA’s connection to NA and India’s to the rest of Asia is more tenuous than it appears. Somebody call \*\*Sunspace \*\*back. > [@MrDibble](#): > > I voted “seven”, but I can also make an argument for 8, with the Indian subcontinent being its own thang. I thought about including that as an option but it’s always best to leave a viable option out of polls. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/28 "2012-07-30T19:17:26Z")
> [@Esox\_Lucius](#): > > Six. Cultural differences don’t split land masses into two. Greenland and New Zealand are the Plutos of land masses, eliminated for continenthood by internationally-agreed standards determined arbitrarily by me. maybe we should be distinct between cultural continents and geological continents? ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/29 "2012-07-30T19:28:59Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > maybe we should be distinct between cultural continents and geological continents? Certainly, cultural convention is the only category where a separate continent for Europe is at all justified. I struggle to see a definition that would keep the Americas together that wouldn’t also make Africa part of Eurasia. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/30 "2012-07-30T19:31:26Z")
I like **Sunspace**. I was going to ask for his brain back, but it occurs to me he doesn’t \*really[/] need it. **Sunspace** , here’s a piece of my putative middle slice cheesecake. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/31 "2012-07-30T19:38:54Z")
I voted for seven and six (Eurasia) because while there are conventionally seven continents, there isn’t any geographical reason for Europe and Asia to be separate continents ([they are part of the same plate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plates_tect2_en.svg)). Actually, if you used that as a definition of continents, the Middle East would be a continent, as would the Philippines and the Caribbean islands south of Cuba, and part of California wouldn’t be part of North America ([Cecil covered this before](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1466/why-are-europe-and-asia-considered-separate-continents)). ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/32 "2012-07-30T21:39:47Z")
I voted 7, because traditionally Europe and Asia were two continents and Asia is too big by itself already anyway. Greenland only looks big because of projections on anything but a oblate spheroid globe. \ I’m okay considering Oceania to include Australia and New Zealand plus other small islands on that plate. Speaking of plates, no pie for me, white chocolate is an abomination to me and all right thinking peoples. Also, anything half the size of Connecticut is not going to be a continent, even if Pluto was still a planet. And what about **sunspace** ’s brain? So far as Zoey Deschanel-model comfortbots, I’ll be in my bunk. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/33 "2012-07-30T21:50:59Z")
> [@Satchmo](#): > > I voted 7, because traditionally Europe and Asia were two continents and Asia is too big by itself already anyway. Greenland only looks big because of projections on anything but a oblate spheroid globe. \ I’m okay considering Oceania to include Australia and New Zealand plus other small islands on that plate. Speaking of plates, no pie for me, white chocolate is an abomination to me and all right thinking peoples. Also, anything half the size of Connecticut is not going to be a continent, even if Pluto was still a planet. And what about **sunspace** ’s brain? > > So far as Zoey Deschanel-model comfortbots, I’ll be in my bunk. :: smacks **Satchmo** with wet trout :: I said _comfortbots_, not _hookerbots_. Hookerbots have sex with you; comfortbots do not. Comfortbots bring you meals when you’re hungry, massage your back and feet when you’re achy, sing sweet songs to you to cheer you up when you’re sad, and brutally murder your enemies with their bare hands when you need your enemies brutally murdered by hand. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/34 "2012-07-30T22:32:47Z")
There is only one continent, and Pangaea is its name-o. All kneel before Zod, Lord of Pangaea, the one true continent to rule them all. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/35 "2012-07-30T22:39:38Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > There is only one continent, and Pangaea is its name-o. All kneel before Zod, Lord of Pangaea, the one true continent to rule them all. Speaking of Zod … Why do you say these things, when you know I will kill you for it? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/36 "2012-07-30T23:01:32Z")
You guys are all arguing past the point. What does it matter, honestly, that water happens to arbitrarily cover some land and not other? The real continent count should be the tectonic plates! There are 15 major tecnotic plates, and I say each one should be called a continent. But let’s compromise, shall we? Let’s toss out all the tiny ones, and the ones that are mostly/completely covered with water. Thus, a proper list of continents gives us: North America (actually contains a chunk of Asia) South America Antarctica Africa Arabia (Mostly Saudi Arabia and adjoining countries) India (not just the country, some surrounding stuff too) Eurasia Australia (contains most of New Zealand) (POSSIBLY) Caribbean Plate [mostly underwater] The other part of New Zealand is on the Pacific Plate which is all islands and water… so let’s give it its own continent too. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/37 "2012-07-30T23:04:55Z")
Divisions, divisions, divisions! When will you _jumped up primates with nuclear weapons_ learn? All continents are one. One with the world! One with the cosmos! And the trees and the butterflies and the … oooh look, shiny. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/38 "2012-07-30T23:07:00Z")
B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, X, Z, and usually W and Y. 21 ---
**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:** [July 30, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/39 "2012-07-30T23:07:19Z")
:: glub :: :: splutter :: Why is it always _tentacles?!!_ :: shudder :: _ahem_ Sorry about that. I’m happy to report that both I and my brain are fine. Re: Oceania… I was always under the impression that Oceania was a catchall for “everything that isn’t already on another continent, and is therefore a mid-oceanic island”, rather than being a defined area itself. Am I wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865/40 "2012-07-30T23:13:31Z")
Maybe we could let Pluto be a continent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-continents-are-there-and-what-are-they/629865.md?page=3)