Talk:Continent

Centralized discussion on oceania as a continent

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

Semi-protected edit request on 2 May 2024

Oceania is not a continent, Australia is. Otherwise Australia will also be the largest island and not greenland cause it is no longer a continent 61.69.210.204 (talk) 12:58, 2 May 2024 (UTC)

Not done:. This is already covered by the article in its current state. Also, keep in mind that these requests should mention a specific change you want made. (E.g. "in alinea X, I want Y changed to Z). --Licks-rocks (talk) 13:31, 2 May 2024 (UTC)

Australia is a redundant term for Oceania, which only geographically ignorant people refer to when talking about MY continent. Australia is recognized as a country, and as you will see most reputable sites around the internet, or history books will refer to us as Oceania, not Australia. 1800's were the 1800's. It's 2024. Get with the program my friend.

If you want to call Oceania Australia, we might as well call North and South America Canada. Doesn't sound right, not sit well with anyone from the X amount of countries involved. KiwiPepega (talk) 01:25, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

We aren't calling Oceania Australia. The continent of Australia doesn't include New Zealand or the dozens of islands of the Pacific. It includes only mainland Australia, the island of Tasmania, the island of New Guinea, and any other islands that might be on the continental shelf surrounding these. NZ and the island countries of the Pacific are not part of any continent. Unless you include Zealandia as the continent for NZ. But, as most of it is submerged, it is rarely mentioned. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 12:27, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

The term Australia as a continent is outdated in modern geography and even in conversation... Historically Australia referred only to the landmass itself and some surrounding islands like you said.

Oceania includes not only Australia and New Guinea but also New Zealand, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Melanesiaas well as the vast number of Pacific islands. This is about recognizing that the Pacific islands, New Zealand, and other territories.

You're basically saying New Zealand and the Pacific islands are not part of any continent, or to include them under Australia, is pretty ignorant with the geographic realities of 2024. The term Oceania reflects these modern reality we live in. Australia part of this, it's not the only country and/or landmass. Geographic terms evolve and the use of'Oceania is much more accepted by all of us here than simply referring to Australia as the continent which is, extremely dated. Most modernized websites will call us Oceania, including and not limited to major gaming companies, Steam, Facebook surveys list us as Oceania, heck even https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceania has got it right with that it's generally considered THE continent, as anyone I know both here in NZ and Australian friends say the same thing. KiwiPepega (talk) 13:10, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

"major gaming companies, Steam, Facebook surveys" Am I really supposed to be impressed by these? --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 13:25, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

Not on it's own merits, and it's not about what "Khajidha" is impressed about either, it's about what it is, and that is the continent in which my people, and my neighbouring countries people refer to THEIR continent as. It's akin to me calling Mexico any country in NA or SA, or England as Europe. Pretty stupid right?

They were included to give what is called a broader reference, comparing peas and elephants, HUGE difference between the two but hey, if they sing the same similarities it must be so.

Australia is a country and unless you are living under a rock in Gibraltar (that's a British territory if you don't know). Even your American (I assume with the arguments your putting up), your visa office calls us Oceania. Everything that is modern, does so. We are living in 2024, not 1924.

You are referring to tectonic plates, not what is considered a modern day continent. If not, then the world should recognize Zealandia as stupid as that sounds, since no country is not part of a continent which is what you are trying to say here. I'm pretty sure my country with all it's glory is very much alive and well, as are all the others apparently non existent according to what you consider a continent, from 1924. KiwiPepega (talk) 13:44, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

1) "You are referring to tectonic plates, not what is considered a modern day continent". Citation needed. 2) "no country is not part of a continent". Citation needed. 3) The US State Department divides the world into regions, not continents. NZ is in the "East Asia and the Pacific" region. See: https://www.state.gov/countries-and-areas-list/ --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 14:09, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

Zealandia

Zealandia Is The 8th Continent, So Why Is It Not On Here????? 2601:98B:8203:AC40:51BA:5871:7E2D:28DE (talk) 22:31, 1 July 2024 (UTC)

Zealandia is a mostly submerged chunk of continental crust, its exposed portion is relatively small. To consider it a continent in the mainstream meaning of that term stretches the concept to, and probably beyond, its limits. However, Zealandia is mentioned in the article in the sections on submerged continents, geological continents, and microcontinents/continental fragments. This seems to be an appropriate level of inclusion of the topic. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 12:05, 2 July 2024 (UTC)

COMMENT Zealandia is a physical continent. A physical continent is a large piece of unbroken continental crust, including both its exposed and submerged parts (i.e. the ocean is ignored). A physical continent is a true continent, it should be larger than Greenland, the world's largest island.

There are only four such true continents on Earth:

1. Africa-Eurasia-America
2. Antarctica
3. Australia-New Guinea
4. Zealandia

However, these true continents have not been recognized by the mainstream society. The mainstream society prefers to divide the world into seven major parts (regions) based on various and sometimes confusing criteria and named them the "continents". 120.16.66.177 (talk) 08:11, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

I think this distinction between the cultural and the geological definitions should be described in the page. The geological definition of a continent has four criteria: high elevation relative to the ocean floor; a wide range of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks rich in silica; a crust thicker than the surrounding oceanic crust, and finally well-defined limits around a large enough area. Suturn (talk) 07:27, 31 October 2024 (UTC)

Yes, I agree with you completely. 2001:8003:9100:2C01:599E:5D57:7985:5A6E (talk) 02:38, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

You have confused continental crust with continental shelf. If undersea continental shelves and their associated islands are considered to be parts of a continent, then your four-continent model is correct. However, according to this article, if you consider a huge piece of unbroken continental crust, including both its exposed and submerged parts, to be a continent, then there are actually only two continents in the world:

1. Africa-Eurasia-America-Australia-New Guinea-Zealandia (a.k.a. the World Continent)
2. Antarctica 2001:8003:9100:2C01:4596:9966:BC0C:D351 (talk) 12:41, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 30 August 2024

Change Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia to Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Oceania 67.167.255.119 (talk) 02:11, 30 August 2024 (UTC)

 Not done: See explanation in article. CMD (talk) 02:33, 30 August 2024 (UTC)

3 continents?

After discussing a possible geophysical definition of continents via their underlying continental shelves, there is the following unsourced sentence: "In this sense the islands of Great Britain and Ireland are part of Europe, while Australia and the island of New Guinea together form a continent." I am tempted to add: this would also effectively make most of the land on earth part of one continent, since Asia and North America share a continuous continental shelf across and around the Bering Sea; only Antarctica and Australia-New Guinea have separate continental shelves larger than that of Greenland, while other continental shelves (e.g., New Zealand) are much smaller, so if we retain the standard that the relevant landmasses be larger than Greenland, there would only be three continents.

I fear this would be independent research; but the quoted sentence also seems to be an unsourced claim (though a highly reasonable inference which illustrates the suggestion from the previous sourced sentence). My suggested addition would further illustrate the vagaries and indeterminacies of continent definitions, but I'm not sure how important that is, so I just throw it out here for discussion.ScottForschler (talk) 18:03, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

This article references academic arguments that there are three or even just one continent, so you could reference that article as a source. (It is also used as a source in the Wikipedia article, in fact.) Mipadi (talk) 19:39, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

Interesting article. I like Paul's comment:

Paul

Huntington, WV Oct. 30

All these arguments make clear that a "continent", at least in ordinary parlance, is primarily a social or cultural concept, not a geological one, and that attempts to force a precise geological definition on it *will not* and *should not* affect the social or cultural use of the word—or the number of continents people mean when they use the word. The concept of "continents" arose from the division of the world into three distinct regions by the Greek geographers: Europe, Africa, and Asia. The division was based on what made sense to them, and the modern cultural concept follows from that, because culturally it still makes sense. That doesn't mean that there should be no general geological criteria for distinguishing continental crust from ocean crust, or that scientists shouldn't use the word "continent" to describe a discrete land mass—or a collection of associated land masses, including nearby islands that may or may not be physically connected by a continuous bridge of continental crust. Different definitions of "continent" may be suitable for different scientific uses—for instance grouping by proximity, geologic similarity, or biological diversity. The absurdity arises when you try to force a word that has multiple meanings in multiple and distinguishable contexts to have *just one definition*. Sometimes you just have to accept that words, like life, can be messy, and you need to be clear about which definition you're using and why.

I reckon we should reserve "continent" as a geologic term and redefine the cultural meaning of "continent" as "geographical region". Oceania is a geographical region, Asia is a geographical region, Europe is a geographical region, Eurasia is also a geographical region.

By the way, this source only contains the academic arguments that there are as few as two, and as many as nine continents in the world. It doesn't state anything about a one-continent model. 2001:8003:9100:2C01:4596:9966:BC0C:D351 (talk) 02:18, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

You don't need to add this paragraph since the 3-continent model is already covered in the article:

"When sea levels were lower during the Pleistocene ice ages, greater areas of the continental shelf were exposed as dry land, forming land bridges between Tasmania and the Australian mainland. At those times, Australia and New Guinea were a single, continuous continent known as Sahul. Likewise, Afro-Eurasia and the Americas were joined by the Bering Land Bridge. Other islands, such as Great Britain, were joined to the mainlands of their continents. At that time, there were just three discrete landmasses in the world: Africa-Eurasia-America, Antarctica, and Australia-New Guinea (Sahul)."

However, you are welcome to add the two-continent model and the nine-continent model as per Mipadi's source. 2001:8003:9100:2C01:4596:9966:BC0C:D351 (talk) 06:34, 12 December 2024 (UTC)