3 ms·

The continents are defined geologically and not by amount of blue around them on a map.

• 0xffff2 4y ago
  North and South America are on different tectonic plates, while Europe and most of Asia are on a single plate. If anything, the geological definition of continents seems to support separate Americas and a unified Eurasia.
  • panxyh 4y ago
    I stand corrected then. Always assumed that the Ural lied on border of two plates.
  • TylerE 4y ago
    The best argument for separating the Americas is probably the existence of the Darien Gap. I’m not sure there is more inhospitable route in a populated area anywhere in the world.
  • deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  • Beldin 4y ago
    And to acknowledge India as a separate continent.
• eesmith 4y ago
  The continents are defined geographically and culturally, not geologically. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent points out how they "are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria" and lists "several ways of distinguishing the continents", with the 7-continent model, two different 6-continent models. It also mentions the "four-continent model consisting of Afro-Eurasia, America, Antarctica, and Australia", as well as how there were only three discrete landmasses present during the Pleistocene ice ages, when the Bering Strait was instead land. You can see the cultural influence in: > In the English-speaking countries, geographers often use the term Oceania to denote a geographical region which includes most of the island countries and territories in the Pacific Ocean, as well as the continent of Australia. > In some non-English-speaking countries, such as China, Poland, and Russia, Oceania is considered a proper continent because their equivalent word for "continent" has a rather different meaning which can be interpreted as "a major division of land including islands" (leaning towards a region) rather than "land associated with a large landmass" (leaning towards a landmass). They are not defined by geology nor continental plates. For one, the word and current use is far older than our first glimmers of understanding plate tectonics. https://www.etymonline.com/word/continent https://www.etymonline.com/word/continent says the meaning in the 1550s was "continuous tract of land" and by the 1610s became "one of the large land masses of the globe". FWIW, the North American plate includes some of the continent of Asia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Plate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Plate