Talk:Continent

Centralized discussion on oceania as a continent

Let's use Talk:Oceania (continent), please. fgnievinski (talk) 03:26, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

Oceania

Is Oceania a continet? 180.249.200.170 (talk) 03:11, 13 March 2022 (UTC)

Depends on which system you are using. In the one I was taught, it isn't.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 20:50, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

In English the continent is Australia and the islands of the Pacific which are included within the geographical description called Oceania are not considered part of the Australian continent. Mostly because they are not continental by any description. Andrewgprout (talk) 22:23, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

In some non-English-speaking countries, yes. Since both Asia and Europe (which are parts of the same landmass) have been classified as separate continents, I see no reason why Oceania, a region comprises one landmass (Australia-New Guinea), one submerged landmass (Zealandia), and three large island groups (Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia), wouldn't be considered a continent. 2001:8003:9008:1301:14DC:3024:190E:8638 (talk) 13:58, 30 April 2022 (UTC)

This is simply not true. New Zealand is not part of the Australian continent, for example, and nor are Fiji, Samoa, the Cook Islands, etc. The colour-coded map at the top of the article is entirely wrong in this respect.Newzild (talk) 04:24, 16 September 2022 (UTC)

Information in the "Number" section does not say a word about Oceania, neither explains why it is shown grey on the color map. JSoos (talk) 10:05, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

I propose we switch the map from saying Australia to Oceania. 165.234.101.98 (talk) 14:44, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

Oceania isn’t a continent. It’s a region. The colour-coded animated map incorrectly shows Oceania as part of Australia. Newzild (talk) 22:40, 5 November 2023 (UTC)

Australasia was the original proposed name for the continent of Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea. There are maps that use the term still, but Wikipedia's Oceania usage has caused many to recognise that as the continent name instead.

Maybe a note saying that the continent in the Asia Pacific region has multiple names is warranted? 2A04:4A43:8DDF:FC32:E9A4:F5A1:B11E:E076 (talk) 22:19, 11 November 2023 (UTC)

Did your geography class in England teach you that New Zealand is a part of a continent called Australasia? I always thought Australasia is just a subregion of Oceania. 2001:8003:9100:2C01:8D5:B620:D6B2:B901 (talk) 10:23, 26 November 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 21 May 2023

The sentence "In some non-English-speaking countries, such as China, Poland, and Russia, Oceania is considered a proper continent..." is factually wrong. At least in post-Soviet countries Oceania has never been considered a continent.

First, I know that as a person educated in a post-Soviet country. The continents we studied in school were Eurasia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica and Australia. There is also a distinct concept called "parts of the world" that lists Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Antarctica and Australia, the latter sometimes being called "Australia and Oceania". That may have led the author of the sentence to believe that Russian "part of the world" concept is also Russian '"equivalent word for "continent"' which is not.

Second, it contadicts something clearly stated earlier in the same article, which clearly enumerates continents in the "six-continent combined-Eurasia" model not listing Oceania among them.

Third, you may check the corresponding pages in Russian: here Oceania is described as a "collective name for a vast collection of islands and atolls in...the Pacific Ocean" - and Polish: here Oceania is referred to as a "collective name of the islands of the Pacific Ocean".

At the same time, the very name of the corresponding Chinese page: "Oceania island region" suggests a continent called "Oceania" isn't a thing in China either.

Fourth, the second half of the said sentence "...their equivalent word for "continent" has a rather different meaning which can be interpreted as "a major division of land including islands" (leaning towards a region) rather than "land associated with a large landmass" (leaning towards a landmass)" is dubious to say the least, because it contradicts the preamble of this very article that states "A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria.".

Therefore I request the complete removal of the said sentence as totally factually wrong . 2A0C:5A81:E10C:E00:3DA3:E3E0:BD65:76D4 (talk) 16:49, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made.

I agree that there are contradictions and the claims in the article are unsourced (I just added {{citation needed}} tags, but foreign language Wikipedia pages are circular and not reliable sources. voorts (talk/contributions) 20:13, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

• Comment I am Chinese. I can confirm that Oceania is considered a proper continent in China. The Chinese article you have quoted is a direct translation of the German article, it doesn't represent the Chinese definition, it represents the German definition instead.

The thing is, continent in English is confusing. Similar to what you said about the Russian language, in Chinese, we also have two words for "continent", one is called "大洲" (Da Zhou), another one called "大陆" (Da Lu). "大洲" (Da Zhou) is generally translated to "continent", but in Chinese, "大洲" (Da Zhou) has a clear definition, it means a "large land region", so islands are included. We have seven "大洲" (Da Zhous): Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania, and Antarctica.

"大陆" (Da Lu) can also be translated to "continent", but it has a different meaning, it means "mainland", and islands are excluded. We have six "大陆" (Da Lus): Eurasia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica.

In other words, we consider Oceania to be a continent (大洲/Da Zhou), we also consider Mainland Australia to be a continent (大陆/Da Lu), but we don't consider Australia (continent) (something which is smaller than Oceania but bigger than Mainland Australia) to be a continent. In fact, we don't even have a word for Australia (continent), this thing simply doesn't exist in the Chinese language. We do have a word for Australasia though, it is called "澳大拉西亚", which includes Australia (country), New Zealand, and New Guinea (including both Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea). It is considered one of the four subregions of Oceania, along with Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

If we look at the meaning of continent in English, it is very confusing, because it seems to be a "region", but somehow it also relates to a "mainland". We don't know what exactly a continent means, so we translate both "大洲" (Da Zhou) and "大陆" (Da Lu) to "continent". 2001:8003:9100:2C01:8D5:B620:D6B2:B901 (talk) 09:30, 26 November 2023 (UTC)

Continent models

The approach that separates Europe and Asia while combining North and South America is also taught in (at least) Germany (if not other Germanic-language countries).```15:33, 29 September 2023 (UTC) 199.127.133.181 (talk) 15:33, 29 September 2023 (UTC)

• Source? 2001:8003:9100:2C01:8D5:B620:D6B2:B901 (talk) 08:44, 26 November 2023 (UTC)

Oceania/Australia map problem

Animated, colour-coded map showing some continents and the region of Oceania (purple), which includes the continent of Australia. Depending on the convention and model, some continents may be consolidated or subdivided.

I know Australia (continent) is considered a continent in major English-speaking countries (Five Eyes) while in some non-English-speaking countries, Oceania is considered to be a continent instead, but the map we use is confusing. The map shows the region of Oceania under the name "Australia". If we adopt the definition used by major English-speaking countries, shouldn't New Zealand and other Pacific Islands be represented by another colour (e.g. grey)? 2001:8003:9100:2C01:8D5:B620:D6B2:B901 (talk) 08:42, 26 November 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 December 2023

The “Area and population” section of this article has all the areas quite precise e.g Asia’s land area is listed as precisely 44,614,000 square kilometres and Africa’s exactly 30,365,000, as opposed to being rounded. The only exception to this is Europe, which for some reason is listed as “10,000,000” in km2, and therefore 3,900,000 in square miles. Per Europe’s article, Europe is 10,180,000 square kilometres or, in square miles, 3,930,000. Why is Europe randomly rounded down in size while the others aren’t? Oceania is listed as precisely as the ones (8,510,926). I therefore ask for Europe’s land area in the table in the “Area and population” section of this article to be changed to 10,180,000 km2 and 3,930,000 sq mi, in line with the others.

Thank you 2A00:23C6:95CE:B401:E1C7:EEB3:AD96:2A9 (talk) 21:25, 23 December 2023 (UTC)

A map illustrating various definitions of the boundaries between Europe and Asia

Have you read the intro of this section? It says:

"The following table provides areas given by Encyclopædia Britannica for each continent in accordance with the seven-continent model, including Australasia along with Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia as parts of Oceania."

All area figures are directly from the Encyclopædia Britannica. For some reason, it gives a rough figure for the area of Europe, but more precise figures for all other continents. My guess is because there is a dispute in regard to the exact location of the Asia-Europe border.

The Encyclopædia Britannica has always used Line A as the Asia-Europe border, but Lines B & F are the one used by most sources these days. Therefore, in order to not complicate things, the Encyclopædia Britannica just states that the area of Europe is approx. 10,000,000 sq km. 203.46.37.2 (talk) 03:45, 27 December 2023 (UTC)