Talk:continent

Contiguous
At present the "contiguous landmass" definition does not match the examples. There must be at least one additional definition. For example, North America is defined as a continent which includes Cuba, but Cuba is not contiguous with the rest of North America. There are many other cases, such as Europe and the United Kingdom. Then there is the most glaring inconsistency of the inclusion of Oceania - I wonder what possible definition of continent includes Oceania. Nurg 22:36, 18 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Different cultures have different definitions for continent. Many cultures require a significant human population to be a continent, which leave Antarctica out. Many cultures consider a large area linked by culture and related language to be worthy of being a continent, hence Oceania. The division of the world into continents is very subjective and there is no universally recognized division. The U.S. counts seven continents, including Antarctica. Most of the world counts only five continents, which is why the symbol of the Olympics has five rings. —Stephen 15:02, 19 November 2006 (UTC)


 * It is very subjective the way people often do it (e.g. calling Europe a continent, calling Oceania a continent or excluding New Guinea from the Australian continent) but needn't be so. It is possible to give a geographic definition which is perfectly objective based on plate techtonics.  Jimp 04:43, 11 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Stephen
 * the article does not contain a definition like "a large area linked by culture and related language".
 * Oceania has a large diversity of cultures and unrelated languages.
 * Oceania is not a hyponym of the definition which is given. Nurg 04:26, 10 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Just because an article does not contain a definition does not mean that the definition doesn’t exist, it only means that nobody has written it there. If you read American books on the matter of continents and what makes a continent, that is what you will find. If you read Soviet and Russian books about it, the definition is different. It is possible to divide the world into as many or as few continents as we like. The fact of the matter is, and the reality is, that some countries such as the U.S. divide it into seven continents, none being called Oceania (because Oceania does not fit the American definition of a continent), while many other countries, including those of South America and Europe, divide it into five continents, one of which is Oceania as previously described. Your wish to apply your logic to the matter is your private business and has nothing to do with reality. —Stephen 08:03, 10 February 2010 (UTC)