Why are Europe and Asia considered different continents?

Question

Shouldn't the people who live there be...Eurasians?

Answer 1

they are actually on the same tectonic plate

http://media.maps.com/magellan/images/te...

and continents are not determine by who lives there and what kind of culture they represent.

thats actually a good question..

Answer 2

It's not the superior and visible land mass that makes them continents, it's the tectonic plates underneath them.

Answer 3

because there is already a big difference in topography from Europe to Asia. people are different and the cultures are different.

Answer 4

It really should be called Eurasia they are both on the Eurasian plate.  It's true that cultures and people are very different, but really that does not define a continent and by that logic the middle east should be a continent as well.  I have heard that the people who named the continents were European and "made up" the continent to distinguish themselves from the rest of Eurasia(an act of ethnocentrism).

I hope this explains why

Answer 5

they are in different crustal locations if u observe closely on the map. this is the easiset answer i can give for a person who wants to understaand the answer clearly

Answer 6

because the white people (europeans) who named the continents didn't want to acknowledge that they shared a landmass with the asians on the other side of it.

also, because eurasia is HUGE.  they didnt have satellite photos or airplane travel when the continents were named.  the fact that europe and asia are considered separate continents now is largely the result of history.  working geographers nowadays consider it to be one continent.  except human geographers, who don't pay attention to topography... they care more about culture and history.