History of Oceanography Reading Introduction to the World Ocean Chapter 1

Very large landmass identified past convention

A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified past convention rather than whatsoever strict criteria, up to vii geographical regions are unremarkably regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in expanse to smallest, these seven regions are: Asia, Africa, North America, Southward America, Antarctica, Europe, and Commonwealth of australia.^[one] Variations with fewer continents may merge some of these, for example some systems include Afro-Eurasia, America or Eurasia as single continents. Zealandia, a largely submerged mass of continental crust, has also been described as a continent.

Oceanic islands are ofttimes grouped with a nearby continent to divide all the world'south country into geographical regions. Nether this scheme, most of the island countries and territories in the Pacific Ocean are grouped together with the continent of Australia to form a geographical region chosen Oceania.

In geology, a continent is divers as "ane of Globe's major landmasses, including both dry out state and continental shelves".^[2] The geological continents represent to half-dozen large areas of continental chaff that are plant on the tectonic plates, simply exclude small continental fragments such as Madagascar that are generally referred to every bit microcontinents. Continental crust is only known to exist on Earth.^[3]

Definitions and application [edit]

By convention, continents "are understood to be big, continuous, discrete masses of state, ideally separated by expanses of water".^[4] In modern schemes with five or more than recognised continents, at least ane pair of continents is joined by country in some way. The criterion "large" leads to arbitrary classification: Greenland, with a surface area of two,166,086 square kilometres (836,330 sq mi), is only considered the world's largest island, while Australia, at seven,617,930 foursquare kilometres (ii,941,300 sq mi), is deemed the smallest continent.

World's major landmasses all have coasts on a single, continuous World Ocean, which is divided into a number of primary oceanic components by the continents and various geographic criteria.^{[5] [6]}

Extent [edit]

The most restricted significant of continent is that of a continuous^{[vii] [ non-tertiary source needed ]} area of land or mainland, with the coastline and any land boundaries forming the edge of the continent. In this sense, the term continental Europe (sometimes referred to in Britain as "the Continent") is used to refer to mainland Europe, excluding islands such equally United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, Iceland, Republic of ireland, and Malta while the term continent of Australia may refer to the mainland of Australia, excluding New Guinea, Tasmania, and other nearby islands. Similarly, the continental United States refers to the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia and may include Alaska in the northwest of the continent (the 2 beingness separated by Canada), while excluding Hawaii in the Pacific Body of water.

From the perspective of geology or physical geography, continent may be extended beyond the confines of continuous dry country to include the shallow, submerged adjacent area (the continental shelf)^[eight] and the islands on the shelf (continental islands), as they are structurally part of the continent.^[nine]

From this perspective, the edge of the continental shelf is the true edge of the continent, every bit shorelines vary with changes in sea level.^[10] In this sense the islands of Great Britain and Ireland are part of Europe, while Australia and the isle of New Republic of guinea together grade a continent.

Map of island countries: these states are ofttimes grouped geographically with a neighbouring continental landmass

As a cultural construct, the concept of a continent may go beyond the continental shelf to include oceanic islands and continental fragments. In this way, Republic of iceland is considered function of Europe and Madagascar function of Africa. Extrapolating the concept to its extreme, some geographers group the Australian continental plate with other islands in the Pacific into one "quasi-continent" called Oceania. This divides the entire land surface of Earth into continents or quasi-continents.^[xi]

Separation [edit]

The benchmark that each continent is a detached landmass is commonly relaxed due to historical conventions and practical employ. Of the seven most globally recognized continents, simply Antarctica and Australia are completely separated from other continents by the ocean. Several continents are defined not as absolutely distinct bodies but as "more or less discrete masses of land".^[12] Asia and Africa are joined by the Isthmus of Suez, and Northward and South America by the Isthmus of Panama. In both cases, at that place is no complete separation of these landmasses by water (disregarding the Suez Culvert and Panama Canal, which are both narrow and shallow, equally well equally human-made). Both of these isthmuses are very narrow compared to the bulk of the landmasses they unite.

Due north America and Southward America are treated as dissever continents in the seven-continent model. However, they may also exist viewed every bit a single continent known as America. This viewpoint was common in the Us until Globe War II, and remains prevalent in some Asian half dozen-continent models.^[13] The single American continent model remains the more than common view in France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italia, Malta, Portugal, Espana, and Latin American countries.

The criterion of a discrete landmass is completely overlooked if the continuous landmass of Eurasia is classified as 2 separate continents (Europe and Asia). Physiographically, Europe and the Indian subcontinent are peninsulas of the Eurasian landmass. All the same, Europe is widely considered a continent with its comparatively large state area of 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi), while the Indian subcontinent, with less than half that area, is considered a subcontinent. The alternative view—in geology and geography—that Eurasia is a single continent results in a six-continent view of the world. Some view separation of Eurasia into Asia and Europe as a residuum of Eurocentrism: "In physical, cultural and historical diversity, China and Republic of india are comparable to the entire European landmass, not to a single European state. [...]."^[14] Notwithstanding, for historical and cultural reasons, the view of Europe every bit a separate continent continues in several categorizations.

If continents are defined strictly as discrete landmasses, embracing all the contiguous land of a body, and so Africa, Asia, and Europe form a unmarried continent which may exist referred to as Afro-Eurasia.^[15] Combined with the consolidation of the Americas, this would produce a four-continent model consisting of Afro-Eurasia, America, Antarctica and Australia.

When sea levels were lower during the Pleistocene ice ages, greater areas of continental shelf were exposed equally dry land, forming land bridges between Tasmania and the Australian mainland. At those times Australia and New Republic of guinea were a single, continuous continent.^[xvi] Likewise, the Americas and Afro-Eurasia were joined by the Bering Land Span. Other islands, such as U.k., were joined to the mainlands of their continents. At that time, there were but three discrete landmasses: Afro-Eurasia-America, Antarctica, and Australia-New Guinea.

Number [edit]

There are several ways of distinguishing the continents:

Models

Colour-coded map showing the various continents. Similar shades showroom areas that may be consolidated or subdivided. Number Continents Sources Four continents Afro-Eurasia (the "Old World") America (the "New Earth") Antarctica Australia [fifteen] [17] [18] [xix] [xx] [21] [22] [23] [24] 5 continents  Africa  Eurasia  America  Antarctica  Commonwealth of australia [25] [26] [27] [28] Six continents  Africa  Asia  Europe  America  Antarctica  Australia [29]  Africa  Eurasia  Northward America  S America  Antarctica  Australia [30] [31] Seven continents  Africa  Asia  Europe  North America  South America  Antarctica  Commonwealth of australia [30] [ non-tertiary source needed ] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36]

• The seven-continent model is usually taught in most English language-speaking countries including the United States, United Kingdom,^[37] and Australia,^[38] and also in China, India, Pakistan, People's republic of bangladesh, the Philippines, and parts of Western Europe.
• The six-continent combined-Eurasia model is by and large used in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Nippon.
• The vi-continent combined-America model is taught in countries that speak Romance languages, it is likewise often used in Suriname, Republic of guyana, Belize, Hellenic republic,^[29] and Indonesia.
• The Olympic flag'southward^[39] v rings correspond the five inhabited continents of the combined-America model, which excludes Antarctica.

As previously mentioned, some geographers use the proper noun Oceania for a region including most of the island countries and territories in the Pacific Ocean as well as the continent of Australia.

Area and population [edit]

The following table provides areas given by Encyclopædia Britannica for each continent in accordance with the seven-continent model, including Australia along with Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia as part of Oceania. It also provides populations of continents according to 2018 estimates past the Un Statistics Division based on the UN geoscheme, which includes all of Russia (i.due east., including Siberia) as part of Europe, but all of Republic of azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Republic of kazakhstan, and Turkey (i.e., including East Thrace) as function of Asia.

Other divisions [edit]

Supercontinents [edit]

Reconstruction of the supercontinent Pangaea approximately 200 million years ago.

Apart from the current continents, the scope and significant of the term continent includes past geological ones. Supercontinents, largely in show earlier in the geological record, are landmasses that comprise more than one craton or continental cadre. These have included Laurasia, Gondwana, Vaalbara, Kenorland, Columbia, Rodinia, and Pangaea. Over time, these supercontinents broke autonomously into large land masses which formed the present continents.

Subcontinents [edit]

Certain parts of continents are recognized as subcontinents, particularly the large peninsulas separated from the master continental landmass by geographical features. The almost widely recognized example is the Indian subcontinent.^[l] The Arabian Peninsula, the Southern Cone of Southward America, and Alaska in Due north America might be considered further examples.^[fifty]

In many of these cases, the "subcontinents" concerned are on different tectonic plates from the rest of the continent, providing a geological justification for the terminology.^[51] Greenland, more often than not reckoned equally the earth'due south largest island on the northeastern periphery of the North American Plate, is sometimes referred to as a subcontinent.^{[52] [53]} This is a significant difference from the more than conventional view of a subcontinent as comprising a very large peninsula on the fringe of a continent.^[fifty]

Where the Americas are viewed as a unmarried continent (America), it is divided into two subcontinents (North America and South America)^{[54] [55] [56]} or 3 (with Key America existence the tertiary).^{[57] [58]} When Eurasia is regarded as a unmarried continent, Europe is treated as a subcontinent.^[50]

Submerged continents [edit]

Some areas of continental crust are largely covered past the ocean and may be considered submerged continents. Notable examples are Zealandia, emerging from the ocean primarily in New Zealand and New Caledonia,^{[59] [ non-tertiary source needed ]} and the about completely submerged Kerguelen Plateau in the southern Indian Ocean.^[60]

Microcontinents [edit]

Some islands lie on sections of continental crust that have rifted and drifted apart from a principal continental landmass. While not considered continents because of their relatively pocket-sized size, they may be considered microcontinents. Madagascar, the largest example, is usually considered an isle of Africa, but its divergent evolution has caused it to be referred to as "the eighth continent" from a biological perspective.^[61]

History of the concept [edit]

The Ancient Greek geographer Strabo belongings a globe showing Europa and Asia

Early on concepts of the Old World continents [edit]

The term "continent" translates Greek ἤπειρος , properly "landmass, terra firma", the proper name of Epirus and later peculiarly used of Asia (i.east. Asia Minor),^[62] The get-go distinction between continents was fabricated by ancient Greek mariners who gave the names Europe and Asia to the lands on either side of the waterways of the Aegean Ocean, the Dardanelles strait, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus strait and the Black Sea.^[63] The names were first practical just to lands near the coast and only subsequently extended to include the hinterlands.^[64] Only the division was simply carried through to the finish of navigable waterways and "... beyond that point the Hellenic geographers never succeeded in laying their finger on whatsoever inland feature in the physical landscape that could offer any convincing line for partitioning an indivisible Eurasia ..."^[63]

Ancient Greek thinkers afterwards debated whether Africa (then called Great socialist people's libyan arab jamahiriya) should exist considered office of Asia or a 3rd part of the world. Division into three parts eventually came to predominate.^[65] From the Greek viewpoint, the Aegean Sea was the center of the earth; Asia lay to the east, Europe to the north and w, and Africa to the south.^[66] The boundaries betwixt the continents were not stock-still. Early on, the Europe–Asia purlieus was taken to run from the Black Bounding main forth the Rioni River (known then as the Phasis) in Georgia. Afterwards information technology was viewed as running from the Black Sea through Kerch Strait, the Sea of Azov and along the Don River (known then every bit the Tanais) in Russia.^[67] The purlieus between Asia and Africa was generally taken to exist the Nile River. Herodotus^[68] in the 5th century BC objected to the whole of Arab republic of egypt beingness carve up betwixt Asia and Africa ("Libya") and took the boundary to lie along the western edge of Arab republic of egypt, regarding Egypt every bit part of Asia. He also questioned the sectionalisation into iii of what is actually a single landmass,^[69] a fence that continues nearly 2 and a half millennia afterward.

Eratosthenes, in the tertiary century BC, noted that some geographers divided the continents by rivers (the Nile and the Don), thus considering them "islands". Others divided the continents past isthmuses, calling the continents "peninsulas". These latter geographers gear up the border between Europe and Asia at the isthmus betwixt the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and the edge between Asia and Africa at the isthmus between the Red Sea and the oral fissure of Lake Bardawil on the Mediterranean Sea.^[seventy]

Medieval T and O map showing the three continents as domains of the sons of Noah—Asia to Sem (Shem), Europe to Iafeth (Japheth), and Africa to Cham (Ham).

Through the Roman period and the Middle Ages, a few writers took the Isthmus of Suez every bit the boundary betwixt Asia and Africa, but near writers continued to consider it the Nile or the western border of Egypt (Gibbon).^{[ commendation needed ]} In the Middle Ages, the earth was usually portrayed on T and O maps, with the T representing the waters dividing the 3 continents. By the middle of the 18th century, "the fashion of dividing Asia and Africa at the Nile, or at the Great Catabathmus [the boundary between Egypt and Great socialist people's libyan arab jamahiriya] farther w, had even and so scarcely passed away".^[71]

European inflow in the Americas [edit]

Christopher Columbus sailed beyond the Atlantic Body of water to the Due west Indies in 1492, sparking a period of European exploration of the Americas. Merely despite four voyages to the Americas, Columbus never believed he had reached a new continent—he always thought it was role of Asia.

In 1501, Amerigo Vespucci and Gonçalo Coelho attempted to canvass around what they considered the southern end of the Asian mainland into the Indian Body of water, passing through Fernando de Noronha. After reaching the coast of Brazil, they sailed a long way farther s forth the coast of S America, confirming that this was a land of continental proportions and that information technology also extended much farther south than Asia was known to.^[72] On return to Europe, an account of the voyage, called Mundus Novus ("New World"), was published under Vespucci's proper noun in 1502 or 1503,^[73] although it seems that it had additions or alterations past another writer.^[74] Regardless of who penned the words, Mundus Novus credited Vespucci with saying, "I have discovered a continent in those southern regions that is inhabited by more numerous people and animals than our Europe, or Asia or Africa",^[75] the kickoff known explicit identification of part of the Americas as a continent like the other three.

Within a few years, the proper noun "New World" began appearing as a name for Southward America on world maps, such every bit the Oliveriana (Pesaro) map of effectually 1504–1505. Maps of this time, though, withal showed North America connected to Asia and showed South America equally a dissever land.^[74]

Universalis Cosmographia, Waldseemüller's 1507 world map—the first to evidence the Americas split up from Asia

In 1507 Martin Waldseemüller published a globe map, Universalis Cosmographia, which was the first to testify North and South America as separate from Asia and surrounded by water. A modest inset map above the main map explicitly showed for the get-go fourth dimension the Americas being e of Asia and separated from Asia by an ocean, every bit opposed to just placing the Americas on the left end of the map and Asia on the right cease. In the accompanying volume Cosmographiae Introductio, Waldseemüller noted that the globe is divided into four parts, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the fourth part, which he named "America" after Amerigo Vespucci's first name.^[76] On the map, the word "America" was placed on part of Due south America.

The word continent [edit]

From the 16th century the English noun continent was derived from the term continent land, pregnant continuous or continued land^[77] and translated from the Latin terra continens.^[78] The noun was used to mean "a continued or continuous tract of land" or mainland.^[77] It was non applied just to very large areas of land—in the 17th century, references were fabricated to the continents (or mainlands) of Isle of Man, Ireland and Wales and in 1745 to Sumatra.^[77] The word continent was used in translating Greek and Latin writings about the three "parts" of the world, although in the original languages no give-and-take of exactly the aforementioned meaning as continent was used.^[79]

While continent was used on the one hand for relatively minor areas of continuous country, on the other hand geographers again raised Herodotus'south query about why a single large landmass should be divided into dissever continents. In the mid-17th century, Peter Heylin wrote in his Cosmographie that "A Continent is a great quantity of Land, not separated by any Sea from the residual of the World, as the whole Continent of Europe, Asia, Africa." In 1727, Ephraim Chambers wrote in his Cyclopædia, "The world is usually divided into two grand continents: the old and the new." And in his 1752 atlas, Emanuel Bowen defined a continent as "a large infinite of dry out land comprehending many countries all joined together, without whatever separation by h2o. Thus Europe, Asia, and Africa is ane neat continent, equally America is another."^[80] However, the former idea of Europe, Asia and Africa equally "parts" of the world ultimately persisted with these being regarded as split continents.

Beyond four continents [edit]

From the belatedly 18th century, some geographers started to regard North America and Southward America as two parts of the world, making 5 parts in total. Overall though, the fourfold sectionalization prevailed well into the 19th century.^[81]

Europeans discovered Australia in 1606, but for some fourth dimension it was taken every bit function of Asia. Past the late 18th century, some geographers considered it a continent in its own right, making it the sixth (or fifth for those withal taking America as a single continent).^[81] In 1813, Samuel Butler wrote of Australia as "New Holland, an immense island, which some geographers dignify with the appellation of some other continent" and the Oxford English Dictionary was just every bit equivocal some decades later.^[82] It was in the 1950s that the concept of Oceania every bit a "swell partitioning" of the world was replaced by the concept of Australia as a continent.^[83]

Antarctica was sighted in 1820 during the Offset Russian Antarctic Expedition and described as a continent by Charles Wilkes on the United States Exploring Expedition in 1838, the final continent identified, although a groovy "Antarctic" (antipodean) landmass had been predictable for millennia. An 1849 atlas labelled Antarctica as a continent but few atlases did and then until after World State of war Two.^[84]

Over fourth dimension, the western concept of dividing the world into continents spread globally, replacing conceptions in other areas of the globe. The idea of continents connected to become imbued with cultural and political meaning. In the 19th century during the Meiji period, Japanese leaders began to cocky-identify with the concept of being Asian, and renew relations with other "Asian" countries while conceiving of the idea of Asian solidarity against western countries. This conception of an Asian identity, equally well equally the idea of Asian solidarity, was later on taken up by others in the region, such every bit Republican Mainland china and Vietnam.^[85]

From the mid-19th century, atlases published in the United States more commonly treated North and S America every bit separate continents, while atlases published in Europe usually considered them ane continent. However, it was still not uncommon for American atlases to treat them as one continent up until Globe War 2.^[86] From the 1950s, most U.S. geographers divided the Americas into ii continents.^[86] With the add-on of Antarctica, this fabricated the 7-continent model. However, this division of the Americas never appealed to Latin Americans, who saw their region spanning an América as a single landmass, and at that place the formulation of six continents remains dominant, equally it does in scattered other countries.^{[ citation needed ]}

Some geographers regard Europe and Asia together as a unmarried continent, dubbed Eurasia.^[87] In this model, the world is divided into six continents, with N America and S America considered separate continents.

Geology [edit]

Geologists use the term continent in a different manner from geographers. In geology, a continent is defined by continental crust, which is a platform of metamorphic and igneous rock, largely of granitic limerick. Continental crust is less dense and much thicker than oceanic crust, which causes it to "bladder" higher than oceanic crust on the dense underlying mantle. This explains why the continents form high platforms surrounded by deep ocean basins.^{[88] [89]}

Some geologists restrict the term 'continent' to portions of the crust built around stable regions chosen cratons. Cratons have largely been unaffected past mountain-building events (orogenies) since the Precambrian. A craton typically consists of a continental shield surrounded by a continental platform. The shield is a region where ancient crystalline basement stone (typically i.5 to 3.viii billion years one-time) is widely exposed at the surface. The platform surrounding the shield is likewise composed of ancient basement rock, but with a cover of younger sedimentary rock.^[90] The continents are accretionary crustal "rafts" that, unlike the denser basaltic crust of the ocean basins, are not subjected to destruction through the plate tectonic process of subduction. This accounts for the bang-up age of the rocks comprising the continental cratons.^[91]

The margins of geologic continents are either passive or agile. An active margin is characterised past mountain building, either through a continent-on continent collision or a subduction zone. Continents grow by accreting lighter volcanic island chains and microcontinents forth these agile margins, forming orogens. At a passive margin, the continental crust is stretched thin by extension to grade a continental shelf, which tapers off with a gradual slope covered in sediment, connecting it directly to the oceanic crust beyond. Most passive margins somewhen transition into active margins: where the oceanic plate becomes also heavy due to cooling, it disconnects from the continental chaff, and starts subducting beneath information technology, forming a new subduction zone.^[92]

Principal tectonic plates of the continents and the floor of the oceans

There are many microcontinents, or continental fragments, that are built of continental chaff but practise not incorporate a craton. Some of these are fragments of Gondwana or other aboriginal cratonic continents: Zealandia,^[93] which includes New Zealand and New Caledonia; Madagascar; the northern Mascarene Plateau, which includes the Republic of seychelles. Other islands, such equally several in the Caribbean Sea, are composed largely of granitic rock as well, but all continents contain both granitic and basaltic chaff, and in that location is no articulate purlieus every bit to which islands would be considered microcontinents under such a definition. The Kerguelen Plateau, for example, is largely volcanic, merely is associated with the breakup of Gondwanaland and is considered a microcontinent,^{[94] [95]} whereas volcanic Republic of iceland and Hawaii are non. The British Isles, Sri Lanka, Kalimantan, and Newfoundland were on the margins of the Laurasian continent—only separated from the main continental landmass by inland seas flooding its margins.

The movement of plates has caused the continual formation and breakup of continents, and occasionally supercontinents, in a process called the Wilson Cycle. The supercontinent Columbia or Nuna formed during a period of ii.0–i.8 billion years agone and broke upwardly almost one.v–1.three billion years ago.^{[96] [97]} The supercontinent Rodinia is thought to have formed virtually ane billion years ago and to have embodied most or all of Globe's continents, and broken up into eight continents around 600 million years ago. The eight continents later reassembled into some other supercontinent called Pangaea; Pangaea bankrupt upwardly into Laurasia (which became North America and Eurasia) and Gondwana (which became the remaining continents).^[98]

Highest and everyman points [edit]

The following table lists the seven continents with their highest and lowest points on land, sorted in decreasing highest points.

Continent	Highest betoken	Elevation		Country or territory containing highest signal	Lowest signal	Elevation		Land or territory containing everyman point
		(metres)	(feet)			(metres)	(feet)
Asia	Mount Everest	8,848	29,029	Red china and Nepal	Dead Sea	−427	−ane,401	Israel, Jordan, and Palestine
South America	Aconcagua	half dozen,960	22,830	Argentina	Laguna del Carbón	−105	−344	Argentina
North America	Denali	6,198	xx,335	U.s.a.	Death Valley†	−86	−282	U.s.
Africa	Mountain Kilimanjaro	5,895	nineteen,341	Tanzania	Lake Assal	−155	−509	Djibouti
Europe	Mountain Elbrus	v,642	xviii,510	Russia	Caspian Sea	−28	−92	Republic of azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia
Antarctica	Vinson Massif	4,892	16,050	None	Deep Lake, Vestfold Hills†	−50	−160	None††
Australia	Puncak Jaya	iv,884	sixteen,024	Indonesia (Papua)	Lake Eyre	−15	−49	Australia

^† The everyman exposed points are given for North America and Antarctica. The lowest non-submarine boulder elevations in these continents are the trough beneath Jakobshavn Glacier, at −1,512 metres (−4,961 ft)^[99] and Bentley Subglacial Trench, at −2,540 metres (−eight,330 ft), but these are covered by kilometres of ice.

^†† Claimed past Australia as a part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, merely this merits is not widely recognised by the international community.

Some sources list the Kuma–Manych Depression (a remnant of the Paratethys) as the geological border between Europe and Asia.^{[100] [ not-third source needed ] [101]} This would place the Caucasus outside of Europe, thus making Mont Blanc (tiptop 4810 m) in the Graian Alps the highest point in Europe – the lowest indicate would still be the shore of the Caspian Sea.

See besides [edit]

• Boundaries between the continents of Earth
• Dvipa
• Forgotten continent
• Listing of continent name etymologies
• Listing of continents and continental subregions past population
• List of sovereign states and dependent territories past continent
• List of transcontinental countries
• Lists of cities
• Mainland Australia
• Subregion

References [edit]

1. ^ "Continents: What is a Continent?". National Geographic. 20 September 2011. "Most people recognize seven continents—Asia, Africa, Due north America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Commonwealth of australia, from largest to smallest—although sometimes Asia and Europe are considered a single continent, Eurasia."
2. ^ Neuendorf, K.K.E.; Mehl, Jr., J.P.; Jackson, J.A. (editors) (2005). Glossary of Geology (5th ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: American Geological Institute. p. 139. ISBN978-0922152896.
3. ^ Choi, Charles Q. (16 July 2015). "Did Aboriginal Mars Have Continents?". Space.com . Retrieved 6 December 2020.
4. ^ Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents (1997), p. 21.
5. ^ "Bounding main". answers.com. 2006. Archived from the original on three March 2007. Retrieved 20 Feb 2007.
6. ^ "Distribution of land and water on the planet Archived 31 May 2008 at the Wayback Automobile." Un Atlas of the Oceans Archived 15 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine (2004). Retrieved 20 February 2007.
7. ^ "continent n. five. a." (1989) Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition. Oxford University Press; "continent¹ n." (2006) The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th edition revised. (Ed.) Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press; "continent^ane north." (2005) The New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd edition. (Ed.) Erin McKean. Oxford University Press; "continent [2, due north] 4 a" (1996) Webster'due south 3rd New International Dictionary, Unabridged. ProQuest Information and Learning; "continent" (2007) Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved fourteen January 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
8. ^ "continent [ii, n] 6" (1996) Webster's Third New International Lexicon, Entire. ProQuest Information and Learning. "a big segment of the world'southward outer beat out including a terrestrial continent and the next continental shelf"
9. ^ Monkhouse, F. J.; Pocket-size, John (1978). A Dictionary of the Natural Surround. London: Edward Arnold. pp. 67–68. structurally it includes shallowly submerged adjacent areas (continental shelf) and neighbouring islands
10. ^ Ollier, Cliff D. (1996). Planet Globe. In Ian Douglas (Ed.), Companion Encyclopedia of Geography: The Surroundings and Humankind. London: Routledge, p. 30. "Sea waters extend onto continental rocks at continental shelves, and the true edges of the continents are the steeper continental slopes. The actual shorelines are rather accidental, depending on the meridian of body of water-level on the sloping shelves."
11. ^ Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents (1997), p. forty: "The joining of Commonwealth of australia with various Pacific islands to form the quasi continent of Oceania ... "
12. ^ Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents (1997), p. 35.
13. ^ Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents (1997), Chapter 1: "While it might seem surprising to find North and Southward America yet joined into a single continent in a book published in the United states in 1937, such a notion remained fairly common until Earth War II. [...] By the 1950s, withal, virtually all American geographers had come to insist that the visually distinct landmasses of Northward and South America deserved separate designations."
14. ^ Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents (1997), pp. 104–123.
15. ^ ^{a b} R.W. McColl, ed. (2005). "continents". Encyclopedia of World Geography. Vol. 1. Facts on File, Inc. p. 215. ISBN978-0-8160-7229-3 . Retrieved 26 June 2012. And since Africa and Asia are continued at the Suez Peninsula, Europe, Africa, and Asia are sometimes combined as Afro-Eurasia or Eurafrasia.
16. ^ Chopping, Richard; Blewett, Richard; Kennett, Brian (2018). The Australian Continent. Canberra: ANU Press. p. 4. doi:10.22459/air conditioning.08.2018. ISBN978-1-76046-247-five. S2CID 135195553.
17. ^ [ane] "iv Continents This would probably be the correct subdivision if we adopted a strict definition of continents, ideally divers as big landmasses separated by h2o. Furthermore, we should consider "separated" just what is naturally separated, excluding therefore the separations resulting from the artificially made Panama Canal (which separates North and Due south America) and Suez Canal (which separates Africa from Eurasia). Under this model, the four continents of the world are: Afro-Eurasia (or Eurafrasia), America, and Australia (not Oceania, which combines Australia with smaller countries in the Pacific Sea which are separated by water), and Antarctica. An alternative 4-continent model, introduced at the beginning of the 20th century, included Europe, Asia, Africa, and America."^worldometers
18. ^ [ii] "If you count Europe and Asia equally one continent (often known as Eurasia), then there are six continents. Some people also count North America and S America as ane continent (chosen simply America), since the two state masses are separated merely by the human-made Panama Canal. This would allow for a model with only five continents."^wonderopolis
19. ^ Strobel, Christoph (11 February 2015). The Global Atlantic: 1400 to 1900. Routledge. pp. xiii–. ISBN978-one-317-52552-3.
20. ^ Manual of Mod Geography: two. William Blackwood. 1870. pp. 18–.
21. ^ Dunn, Ross E.; Mitchell, Laura J.; Ward, Kerry (23 August 2016). The New Earth History: A Field Guide for Teachers and Researchers. Univ of California Printing. pp. 232–. ISBN978-0-520-28989-5.
22. ^ Chatterjee, Sankar (xiii March 2015). The Rise of Birds: 225 Million Years of Evolution. JHU Press. pp. 204–. ISBN978-i-4214-1614-4.
23. ^ Mackay, Alexander (1861). Transmission of Modern Geography: Mathematical, Concrete, and Political : on a New Programme : Embracing a Consummate Development of the River Systems of the Earth. W. Blackwood and Sons. pp. 15–.
24. ^ D. Grand. Kermack (9 March 2013). The Evolution of Mammalian Characters. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 141–. ISBN978-one-4684-7817-four.
25. ^ [3] "In some textbooks, North and South America are combined into "America" and/or Europe and Asia are combined into "Eurasia", for a grant total of 6 or fifty-fifty 5."^scienceline
26. ^ Martin W. Lewis and Kären E. Wigen, The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography (Berkeley and Los Angeles: Academy of California Printing, 1997)^Wigen
27. ^ [iv] "5 Continents This model adopts the criteria of both the six-continent models, resulting in the post-obit 5 continents: Africa, Eurasia, America, Oceania (or Commonwealth of australia), and Antarctica. An alternative five-continent model is the one adopted, among others, by the Olympic Charter, which excludes Antarctica as uninhabited and lists the following v: Africa, Europe, Asia, America, and Oceania (or Commonwealth of australia)."^{worldometers2}
28. ^ [v] "There are even geographical views that prefer the presence of both a Eurasian as well as one American continent. These geographers therefore contend that there should only be 5 continents."^{universetoday}
29. ^ ^{a b} [6] Older/previous official Greek Paedagogical Institute sixth grade Geography textbook (at the Wayback Machine), five+i continents combined-America model; Pankosmios Enyklopaidikos Atlas, CIL Hellas Publications, ISBN 84-407-0470-4, p. xxx, five+i combined-America continents model; Neos Eikonographemenos Geographikos Atlas, Siola-Alexiou, 6 continents combined-America model; Lexico tes Hellenikes Glossas, Papyros Publications, ISBN 978-960-6715-47-1, lemma continent (epeiros), 5 continents model; Lexico Triantaphyllide online lexicon, Greek Language Centre (Kentro Hellenikes Glossas), lemma continent (epeiros), six continents combined-America model; Lexico tes Neas Hellenikes Glossas, Thousand.Babiniotes, Kentro Lexikologias (Legicology Middle) LTD Publications, ISBN 960-86190-1-seven, lemma continent (epeiros), half-dozen continents combined-America model
30. ^ ^{a b} "Continent". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
31. ^ "Continent Archived 2 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine". The Columbia Encyclopedia Archived 5 February 2002 at the Wayback Auto . 2001. New York: Columbia University Press - Bartleby.
32. ^ World, National Geographic - Xpeditions Atlas. 2006. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.
33. ^ The Earth - Continents Archived 21 Feb 2006 at the Wayback Auto, Atlas of Canada
34. ^ The New Oxford Dictionary of English. 2001. New York: Oxford University Press.
35. ^ "Continent Archived 31 October 2009 at WebCite". MSN Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006.. 31 October 2009.
36. ^ "Continent". McArthur, Tom, ed. 1992. The Oxford Companion to the English Linguistic communication. New York: Oxford University Press; p. 260.
37. ^ "National curriculum in England: geography programmes of written report". UK Department for Education.
38. ^ "F-10 Curriculum Geograph". Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authorization. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014.
39. ^ "Preamble" (PDF). Olympic Lease. International Olympic Committee. 17 July 2020. p. 10. Retrieved 3 August 2021. the five interlaced rings, which represent the marriage of the 5 continents
40. ^ "Asia". Encyclopædia Britannica. 16 Nov 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
41. ^ "Africa". Encyclopædia Britannica. thirty Oct 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
42. ^ "North America". Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 February 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
43. ^ "S America". Encyclopædia Britannica. vii February 2021. Retrieved twenty July 2021.
44. ^ "Antarctica". Encyclopædia Britannica. 10 March 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
45. ^ "Europe". Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 November 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
46. ^ "Australia". Encyclopædia Britannica. xix July 2021. Retrieved twenty July 2021.
47. ^ "Oceania". Encyclopædia Britannica. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
48. ^ ""World Population prospects – Population division"". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 9 Nov 2019.
49. ^ ""Overall total population" – World Population Prospects: The 2019 Revision" (xslx). population.united nations.org (custom information acquired via website). United Nations Department of Economical and Social Affairs, Population Segmentation. Retrieved 9 Nov 2019.
50. ^ ^{a b c d} Baldwin, James A. (2014), "Continents", in R.West. McColl (ed.), Encyclopedia of Globe Geography, Infobase Publishing, pp. 214–216, ISBN978-0-8160-7229-three
51. ^ Molnar, Peter (2015), Plate Tectonics: A Very Brusk Introduction, OUP Oxford, ISBN978-0-19-104396-iii
    • p. 98: Thus, nosotros tin calculate past positions of the Indian Plate, with the Indian Subcontinent as its passenger, with respect to the Eurasian Plate.
    • p. 116: The Arabian Subcontinent afterwards, approximately 35 million years agone, collided with southern Eurasia to form the Zagros Mountains of southwestern Islamic republic of iran.
52. ^ Nares Strait and the migrate of Greenland: a conflict in plate tectonics, Museum Tusculanum Printing, 1982, pp. 32–, ISBN978-87-635-1150-six
53. ^ Farmer, G. Thomas; Cook, John (2013), Climatic change Scientific discipline: A Modern Synthesis: Volume ane - The Physical Climate, Springer Scientific discipline & Business Media, pp. 281–, ISBN978-94-007-5757-eight
54. ^ Gallay, Alan (2015), Colonial Wars of Due north America, 1512–1763 (Routledge Revivals): An Encyclopedia, Routledge, pp. 204–, ISBN978-1-317-48719-7
55. ^ Innes, John 50.; Haron, Abu Hassan (2000), Air Pollution and the Forests of Developing and Chop-chop Industrializing Regions, CABI, pp. 36–, ISBN978-0-85199-932-6
56. ^ Vivares, Dr Ernesto (2014). Exploring the New S American Regionalism (NSAR). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. forty–. ISBN978-ane-4094-6961-two.
57. ^ Leonard, Thomas M. (2005), Encyclopedia of the Developing Earth, Psychology Press, pp. 1637–, ISBN978-ane-57958-388-0
58. ^ In Ibero-America, North America usually designates a region (subcontinente in Spanish) of the Americas containing Canada, the United states, and United mexican states, and often Greenland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Bermuda; the country span of Central America is by and large considered a subregion of Due north America.Norteamérica (Mexican version) Archived 30 January 2009 at the Wayback Car/(Spaniard version) Archived 29 Jan 2009 at the Wayback Car. Encarta Online Encyclopedia.. 31 October 2009.
59. ^ Rafferty, John P. "A Tale of Ii Submerged Continents". Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved 26 December 2020.
60. ^ Cassimaly, Khalil a (5 March 2013). "The Violent History Of Mauritia: Birth, Oblivion, Renaissance | Labcoat Life | Learn Science at Scitable". world wide web.nature.com . Retrieved 31 December 2020.
61. ^ Hillstrom, Kevin; Collier Hillstrom, Laurie (2003). Africa and the Centre East: a continental overview of environmental issues. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. fifty. ISBN978-1-57607-688-0.
62. ^ Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (1940), southward.v. ἤπειρος. The English noun was introduced in the mid-16th century, shortened from continent country (15th century), adapted from Latin terra continens "continuous landmass".
63. ^ ^{a b} Toynbee, Arnold J. (1954). A Study of History. London: Oxford University Press, v. 8, pp. 711–712.
64. ^ Tozer, H. F. (1897). A History of Ancient Geography. Cambridge: University Press. p. 69.
65. ^ Tozer, H. F. (1897). A History of Ancient Geography. Cambridge: University Press. p. 67.
66. ^ Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents (1997), pp. 21–22.
67. ^ Tozer, H. F. (1897). A History of Aboriginal Geography. Cambridge: University Press. p. 68.
68. ^ Herodotus. Translated by George Rawlinson (2000). The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus [7]. Ames, Iowa: Omphaloskepsis, book two, p. 18. Archived 19 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
69. ^ Herodotus. Translated by George Rawlinson (2000). The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 Baronial 2006. Retrieved eight Feb 2016. {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link). Ames, Iowa: Omphaloskepsis, book 4, p. 38. "I cannot conceive why three names ... should always have been given to a tract which is in reality one,"
70. ^ Strabo. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones (1917). Geography.[8] Harvard University Press, book ane, ch. 4.[nine]
71. ^ Goddard, Farley Brewer (1884). "Researches in the Cyrenaica". The American Journal of Philology, 5 (1) p. 38.
72. ^ O'Gorman, Edmundo (1961). The Invention of America. Indiana Academy Press. pp. 106–112.
73. ^ Formisano, Luciano (Ed.) (1992). Letters from a New Earth: Amerigo Vespucci's Discovery of America. New York: Marsilio, pp. 20–xxi. ISBN 0-941419-62-2.
74. ^ ^{a b} Zerubavel, Eviatar (2003). Terra Cognita: The Mental Discovery of America. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, pp. 77–79. ISBN 0-7658-0987-7.
75. ^ Formisano, Luciano (Ed.) (1992). Messages from a New World: Amerigo Vespucci's Discovery of America. New York: Marsilio, p. 45. ISBN 0-941419-62-ii.
76. ^ Zerubavel, Eviatar (2003). Terra Cognita: The Mental Discovery of America. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, pp. fourscore–82. ISBN 0-7658-0987-seven.
77. ^ ^{a b c} "continent n." (1989) Oxford English Lexicon, second edition. Oxford Academy Press.
78. ^ "continent¹ n." (2006) The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th edition revised. (Ed.) Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press.
79. ^ Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents (1997), p. 29.
80. ^ Bowen, Emanuel. (1752). A Complete Atlas, or Singled-out View of the Known World. London, p. iii.
81. ^ ^{a b} Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents (1997), p. 30
82. ^ "continent n. 5. a." (1989) Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition. Oxford University Printing. "the great isle of Australia is sometimes reckoned as some other [continent]"
83. ^ Lewis & Wigen, The Myth of Continents (1997), p. 32: "...the 1950s... was also the period when... Oceania as a "great partition" was replaced by Commonwealth of australia as a continent along with a series of isolated and continentally attached islands. [Footnote 78: When Southeast Asia was conceptualized every bit a earth region during World War Ii..., Indonesia and the Philippines were perforce added to Asia, which reduced the extent of Oceania, leading to a reconceptualization of Commonwealth of australia as a continent in its own correct. This maneuver is credible in postwar atlases]"
84. ^ Lewis, Martin West.; Wigen, Kären E. (1997). The Myth of Continents: a Critique of Metageography. Berkeley: Academy of California Printing. ISBN978-0-520-20743-ane.
85. ^ Mitani, Hiroshi (Fall 2006). "The Concept of Asia: From Geography to Credo". New Perspectives on Turkey. 35: 21–34. doi:x.1017/S0896634600004465. S2CID 130570425.
86. ^ ^{a b} Lewis, Martin W.; Wigen, Kären E. (1997). The Myth of Continents: a Critique of Metageography . Berkeley: University of California Printing. p. 32. ISBN978-0-520-20742-4.
87. ^ Some geographers list only six continents, combining Europe and Asia into Eurasia. In parts of the globe, students learn that there are simply five continents: Eurasia, Commonwealth of australia, Africa, Antarctica, and the Americas. "How many continents are there?". National Geographic Social club. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
88. ^ Levin, Harold L. (2010). The world through fourth dimension (9th ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley. pp. 173–174. ISBN9780470387740.
89. ^ Glossary of geology. Klaus One thousand. E. Neuendorf, James P. Mehl, Julia A. Jackson, American Geological Found (5th edition revised ed.). Alexandria, Va. 2011. p. 139. ISBN978-1-68015-178-7. OCLC 894898557. {{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
90. ^ Levin 2010, p. 83.
91. ^ Levin 2010, p. 194.
92. ^ Grotzinger, John P. (2014). "10". Agreement Earth. Thomas H. Jordan (7t ed.). New York. ISBN978-1-4641-3874-4. OCLC 884299180.
93. ^ Mortimer, N.; Campbell, H.J.; Tulloch, A.J.; Rex, P.R.; Stagpoole, Five.M.; Forest, R.A.; Rattenbury, 1000.S.; Sutherland, R.; Adams, C.J.; Collot, J.; Seton, Grand. (2017). "Zealandia: Earth's Hidden Continent". GSA Today. 27 (3): 27–35. doi:10.1130/GSATG321A.i.
94. ^ "UT Austin scientist plays major rule in study of underwater "micro-continent"". Utexas.edu. Archived from the original on three Nov 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
95. ^ "Sci/Tech | 'Lost continent' discovered". BBC News. 27 May 1999. Retrieved 26 Baronial 2012.
96. ^ Zhao, Guochun; Cawood, Peter A.; Wilde, Simon A.; Sun, M. (Nov 2002). "Review of global 2.1–one.8 Ga orogens: implications for a pre-Rodinia supercontinent". Earth-Scientific discipline Reviews. 59 (1): 125–162. Bibcode:2002ESRv...59..125Z. doi:x.1016/S0012-8252(02)00073-9.
97. ^ Zhao, Guochun; Sunday, 1000.; Wilde, Simon A.; Li, S.Z. (November 2004). "A Paleo-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent: assembly, growth and breakup". World-Scientific discipline Reviews. 67 (ane): 91–123. Bibcode:2004ESRv...67...91Z. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2004.02.003.
98. ^ Grotzinger, John P. (2014). Understanding Globe. Thomas H. Jordan (vii ed.). New York. ISBN978-1-4641-3874-4. OCLC 884299180.
99. ^ Plummer, Joel. Jakobshavn Bed Elevation Archived 27 June 2010 at the Wayback Car, Center for the Remote Sensing of the Ice Sheets, Dept of Geography, University of Kansas.
100. ^ "'Kuma-Manych Depression'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online". Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Retrieved 3 Dec 2015.
101. ^ "iii. The continent - Extent and boundaries". Europe's Environment - The Dobris Assessment. European Environmental Agency. 2011.

Bibliography [edit]

• Lewis, Martin Due west.; Wigen, Kären East. (1997). The Myth of Continents: a Critique of Metageography. Berkeley: University of California Printing. ISBN978-0-520-20743-1.

External links [edit]

• "What are continents?" YouTube video by CGP Gray
• "Continent". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
• Lost continent revealed in new reconstruction of geologic history

adamsonfivereclums.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent

Share this post