Continental shifts - mike's web log/comments

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May 27, 2005 | Continental shifts | 5582 hit(s)

Last week my Spanish teacher sent me a query about continents, which led me to ask among my non-US-raised colleagues what they'd been taught about continents. How many and which? These are the replies I got back:

(Ghana) We were thought in school in Ghana that there are seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America.
(India) I remember learning that there are 7 Continents.
(India) 7 - Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, N.America, S.America. I've never heard or known otherwise, so I'm curious about what the cultural differences are....
(Canada) I grew up in Canada, and in our geography classes we were taught that the continents are: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America. Even as a child though I was never satisfied with this. Asia and Europe seem to be the same land mass to me.
(China) Europe-Asian, North American, South American, North Pole, Africa, and South Pole.
(Germany) "Europa, Asien, Afrika, Australien und Amerika!" It even rhymes in German ... :-)
(Italy) 5 continents (the rings in the Olympic flag). Ciao :-)
(France) Europe, North and South Americas, Asia and Africa. A few teachers consider Europe and Asia as one continent, Eurasia, and some others add Oceania.
(France) It was 5 in France. The America’s were one, and we didn’t count Antarctica. We used the name Oceania for Australia and its smaller neighbors. I always found it random that Europe and Asia were counted separately...
(Morocco) 5 - That what I studied all my life. And that why we have five circles in the olympic games symbol.

Interesting, eh? One difference is in whether N and S America are considered separate continents. In Spanish-speaking countries they are not; elsewhere they are. Antarctica and Australia seem to be wildcards. As several people noted, separating Europe and Asia is arbitrary, which I think perfectly illustrates how the definition of "continent" is political, not necessarily geographical. There are further interesting questions to explore here about why some countries like five and others like seven; such a distinction seems to suggest something about history. Something for another time, perhaps.

alice 27 Jun 05 - 10:48 AM

I think this is very interesting. I am from México and we learned 5 continents: Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and America. I never knew somewhere atarctica was a continent and that the americas were divided.

Mia 30 Jul 07 - 12:10 PM

So interesting! Even people from the same country, I found the knowledge is different. I am from China, my generation,70's, was taught there are 5 continents: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and America. Also, we were told there is another one: Antarctica. but that doesn't count because nobody lives there permanently.

blabbinit 14 Mar 08 - 9:21 AM

I was having a discussion with a friend from South America and we realized that we thought that there are a different number of continents. That is what spurred me to do research regarding what people from different countries think about this. Very nice blog. Thanks.