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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2009 20:34:48 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 23, 2009 20:59:03 GMT
Really?
If asked, I would have blurted out "South America!", but I'm frequently wrong about stuff like that.
Whatever, that is ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING. I can't wait to really devote some time to reading it. The pictures of the "ice flowers" alone is worth the price of admission.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 13, 2009 7:24:15 GMT
Without checking Jack's link I'd say Antarctica is one of the 6 continents.
After checking Jack's link I'd still say so.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2009 14:30:05 GMT
According to the French, there are only five continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America. Everything else is an island to them.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 14, 2009 15:56:14 GMT
Why are Europe and Asia not considered ONE continent? After all, there is no geographical separation between them, unlike the Isthmus of Panama separating the Americas...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2009 16:42:59 GMT
My guess would be because two totally different civilizations developed at each extremity of the Eurasian continent and back whenever they decided what continents are, they just couldn't accept that such different things could be on the same continent.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 14, 2009 17:15:18 GMT
Pretty weak argument, K2.
They are one land mass. Isn't part of the definition of continent a "land mass"?
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Post by fumobici on Oct 14, 2009 18:34:35 GMT
I'd lump Antarctica in with NZ. I mean, why not?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2009 18:44:36 GMT
Pretty weak argument, K2. They are one land mass. Isn't part of the definition of continent a "land mass"? Obviously. But their satellites weren't very adequate back then and often they sailed all the way around the world to discover the other side of the same landmass. |
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Post by Kimby on Oct 14, 2009 22:09:48 GMT
I think they also couldn't imagine sharing a continent with people who looked so different from themselves and were so "other".
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2009 5:42:11 GMT
It would be interesting to know the ancient Chinese and Japanese take on continents.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 17, 2009 5:18:24 GMT
North and south America are one landmass  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2009 5:57:19 GMT
Even though the French and the Americans made a little snip through Panama? By the same token, Africa and Eurasia were part of the same landmass as well until they were separated by the Suez Canal.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 17, 2009 16:17:02 GMT
North and south America are one landmass While technically this may be true, there is a very obvious logical break between the two continents, especially when compared to Europe and Asia, which by the way botanists usually combine and refer to as "Eurasia" which is where most of the worst weeds in America come from. I'd vote with the botanists. |
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Post by Kimby on Oct 17, 2009 16:18:47 GMT
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Post by fumobici on Oct 17, 2009 16:40:37 GMT
Then there are some English who will swear up and down they are not a part of Europe, maps be damned ;D
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2009 18:22:10 GMT
According to the French, there are only five continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America. Everything else is an island to them. When I went to school the five continents were: Europe, Asia, America (North & South), Africa, Oceania. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2009 19:34:04 GMT
Oceania is about the same as Atlantis in terms of real life.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 17, 2009 20:08:13 GMT
So, like ............ New Zealand doesn't really exist?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2009 20:09:25 GMT
Does it look like a continent to you? Or even the Australian island?
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 17, 2009 20:17:18 GMT
No, but for reference it's handy to have a name for that whole clump of stuff. I simply felt that "Atlantis" was a tad harsh.  |
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Post by gringalais on Oct 18, 2009 0:51:49 GMT
According to the French, there are only five continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America. Everything else is an island to them. And here North and South America are considered one continent. Before the Panama Canal, they were attached. |
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 15:28:48 GMT
So, gringa, do they consider Europe and Asia two separate "continents" in Chile?
A bit inconsistent, if that's the case, don't you think?
Perhaps the viewpoint is that all of N and S America is what was formerly called "The New World". Whereas the old world was already compartmentalized to its residents' satisfaction when the new world was "discovered".
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 15:38:08 GMT
I do like the concept of "Oceania" as a major geographical area, but it just does not jibe with the idea of a continent being a major land mass.
Perhaps it is the word "continent" that we should abandon and replace it with something like "zone".
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 18, 2009 15:51:32 GMT
If you think of it as a land mass with only the high peaks sticking up out of the ocean, does that help?
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Post by Kimby on Oct 18, 2009 15:59:02 GMT
Then wouldn't all of earth be one land mass? Hence one continent. Pangaea returns!  (note that it's Eurasia, not Europe and Asia on this map) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea |
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 18, 2009 22:31:13 GMT
I say we call them "global divisions".
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 23:00:31 GMT
Rendezvous in about a million years after the next continental drift to see how things are. With global warming, there might just be a few islands left.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 19, 2009 3:19:40 GMT
The cabinet of the Maldives is holding an underwater cabinet meeting, using scuba gear, to make a statement before the climate control meetings in Copenhagen this fall. They are 7 feet above sea level and will be the first country to disappear.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 20, 2009 6:08:58 GMT
The canals are man made.
Sure there are gradual botanical and faunical changes but they really are gradual.
By the same token, there is a huge and sudden change in the fauna on this and that side of the Wallace line, right through eastern Indonesia. Nobody would say there's a continental divide there.
What about geologically, is there a divide between north and south America?
I'd agree Oceania is not a continent.
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