Professor fails US student over Australia being a Country

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The idea of continents predates the discovery of plate tectonics by a few millennia, so the criteria for what is and isn't a continent tends to be a bit loose, but generally comes down to a contiguous area of land where you can travel from any part to any other part without crossing the sea, separated from other contiguous areas of land by large bodies of water. So it's more to do with coastlines than with plates.

This means that, depending on how you apply the criteria and convention, there are four, five, six, or seven continents.

Four continents — Africa-Asia-Europe, North-and-South-America, Antarctica, Australia
The is probably the strictest by definition, but not widely used.

Five continents — Africa, Asia-Europe, North-and-South-America, Antarctica, Australia
Africa is traditionally spit off as a separate continent because the idea of continents was created by Europeans and, for them, Africa was clearly separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea. Also the link between Africa and Asia is only a small isthmus.

Six continents — Africa, Asia-Europe, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia
The Americas get split in two, following the same logic as separating Africa; the link between the two is only an small isthmus. This tends to be the continent model taught in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Japan.

A different Six continents — Africa, Asia, Europe, North-and-South-America, Antarctica, Australia
Europe is separated from Asia along the line of the Ural mountains. This doesn't make any sense according to any definition, but reflects the fact Europe was long considered a separate continent from Asia. This is the model taught in France (and former colonies), Italy, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Greece, and Latin America.

Seven continents — Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia
This is the model taught in English-speaking countries, including the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, as well as China, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines.

A continent is also supposed to be large, with Australia being the classic border case, being either the world's largest island or the world's smallest continent, depending on the whims of the geographer. These days it's usually considered as the smallest continent.

By this definition, the country of Australia covers the entirety of the continent of Australia, and most Aussies tend to treat the two as synonymous. It's often taught here in Australia, that Australia is the only country in the world to have a continent to itself.

Back in my day, there was only one continent, and we liked it that way dagnabbit!



You new-fangled mammals think you are so fancy with your fur and your upright posture. Back in my day, we had to crawl towards the sun if we wanted to keep warm ... and we liked it that way!



There were no birds either! Who invented birds anyway? Why do those crazy diapsids think they're so hot? God gave land to the vertebrates. Flying is for bugs!

#makePangaeagreatagain

Using plate tectonics to define continents does have some interesting effects:

India, the Arabian peninsula, The Caribbean, and the Philippines all become separate continents.

We have a number of sunken or submerged continents (plates with no major land masses above water, only some islands): the Pacific Plate, the Nazca plate west of South America, the Scotia plate at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Cocos plate west of Central America.

Also, Greenland and the eastern part of Siberia would be part of North America.

As far as I know, though, only geologists use plate tectonics in this way.