How many Continents are there on Earth?

Question

Ok, stupid question right? Of course there are 7; North and South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and Antarctica, obvious. I was at a party last night where for some reason this question came up, and some people swore there were like 3 continents on Earth; North and South America were counted as one because it's one huge land mass (even though the isthmus of Panama is very thin), Asia and Europe were again counted as one continent because it's one huge land mass, and Australia was the third. Surprisingly Antarctica didn't even count as a continent because people don't even live there! Some people even believed that the poles are attached? You explain that one to me. If you go on youtube there are literally dozens, if not hundreds of people with the same argument.

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I happen to have a degree in Earth Science and Geology, but aren't continents divided into their given parts because of plate tectonics? That's the whole fundamental basis of continents.

Answer 1

Seven.

Answer 2

7

Answer 3

Se7eN  CoNTiNeNTs :-

They are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.

"Continents are understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, ideally separated by expanses of water."However, many of the seven most commonly recognized continents are identified by convention rather than adherence to the ideal criterion that each be a discrete landmass, separated by water from others. Likewise, the criterion that each be a continuous landmass is often disregarded by the inclusion of the continental shelf and oceanic islands. The Earth's major landmasses are washed upon by a single, continuous World Ocean, which is divided into a number of principal oceanic components by the continents and various geographic criteria.

To FinD ouT MoRe, Go HeRe :-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continents

^_^

Answer 4

Atlas, only.

Answer 5

Officially, there are seven continents.

These continents together form four landmasses:  the two large landmasses of America and Afro-Eurasia, and the two smaller landmasses of Australia and Antarctica.

Continents are generally separated from each other by oceans or extensions of oceans, and are the largest of land areas.  All islands are comparatively smaller than continents, so the division between continents and islands is usually not contested.

Although continents are generally related to tectonic plates, tectonic plates do not define a continent.  A good example is  that the Eurasian plate has two continents on it, whereas Asia sits on all or parts of four tectonic plates (Eurasian, North American, Indo-Australian, Arabian).  Some tectonic plates have no continents on them at all (Pacific, Nazca, Cocos, Scotia, Juan de Fuca, and Philippine).

There is no actual definition of a continent.  What we consider continents has been generally accepted over time, and the seven continents were defined centuries before plate tectonics was ever even hypothesized.

As for the videos on YouTube,... well, you cannot believe everything you see on the Internet, especially when geographic illiteracy is rampant these days.

Answer 6

Hi

They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, but seven areas are commonly regarded as continents – they are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.

Plate tectonics is the geological process and study of the movement, collision and division of continents, earlier known as continental drift.

The term "the Continent" (capitalized), used predominantly in the European isles and peninsulas, such as the British Isles, Sardinia, Sicily and the Scandinavian Peninsula, means mainland Europe, although it can also mean Asia when said in Japan

The seven-continent model is usually taught in Western Europe, Northern Europe, Central Europe, Southeastern Europe, China and most English-speaking countries. The six-continent combined-Eurasia model is preferred by the geographic community, Russia, Eastern Europe, and Japan. The six-continent combined-America model is taught in Latin America, Iran and some parts of Europe including Iberian Peninsula and Greece. This model may be taught to include only the five inhabited continents (excluding Antarctica) — as depicted in the Olympic logo.

The names Oceania or Australasia are sometimes used in place of Australia. For example, the Atlas of Canada names Oceania, as does the model taught in Latin America and Iberia

Answer 7

Uhmm I've actually never learned how the continents are divided, but it does make sense that they'd be divided by plate tectonics.

I don't know why people would come up with their own theory as to 3 continents when the rest of the world clearly believes that there are 7, though.

Oh well, there's 7 scientifically, no matter what they say.

Answer 8

the fact is that there are 7, that's written in the textbooks

Answer 9

there are 7 continents

Answer 10

There are actually 7 continents, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antartica, Europe and Oceania(Australia).

Antartica is still considered as a continent because it's a large mass of land! In identifying continents, you DO NOT look at the people who live there, you should look at the size of the land. So Antartica is still a continent.

For more info about continents:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent

Answer 11

I agree with your friends, there are seven continents but Asia, Europe, and Africa are a giant island. North and South America are another giant island, same with Australia and Antarctica, so I would say that there are four even though that there are seven.

Answer 12

Technically if people argued that North and Southpole is attached, then basicaly Earth has only ONE continent since all of earth's land mass are attached to the earth. Thus the Earth is the one true continent. Same concept, if our sea level is depleted, then we will only have on continent. And northpole generally cannot be counted as a continent since it's technically just frozen sea.