5, 6 or 7 continents

I know there are a lot of foreigners in this page. I was debating today with my husband and I will love to hear your input.

When I was a kid growing in Panama we learned in school that there were 5 continents.

America, Asia, Africa, Europa and Oceania, we never divided America as North America and South America, and I believe we learned about Antartica but they were only 5 continents. My husband couldn't believe me that they taught us like that in school. So we decided to Google it and we found out that in several countries they teach this in the same way they do it in mine, well at least when I was in school so many years ago. Maybe they have changed it now but this it what I've recall.

This is no a debate about which is the correct answer, it is most out of curiosity to know if is indeed true that other countries teach this differently than the US.

https://www.saberespractico.com/geografia/cuantos-continentes-hay/

I was taught that Asia and Europe are 2 different continents, but now I think that's silly.

Eurasia, Africa, North America, South America, Antartica, Australia are the 6 continents in my mind, but I could be wrong.  

Had no idea there are polls on this forum, that's pretty dang cool!

There are 7 continents (or at least that how my school thought me haha)

Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia (&Oceania)

fyi (to nobody in particular) - a lot of people don't consider Australia or Antartica to be continents, some consider all of Africa/Europe/Asia to be a single continent, and North/South America to be a single continent. So to some people there are only 2 continents. Just sayin'...

Yes, they haven't agreed on how many. Here in the United States, kids in schools are taught that there are 7. But I know that in many parts of the world they teach 6 or 5 or maybe 2

Please add in your comment where in the world you learned this.

leosmith wrote:

fyi (to nobody in particular) - a lot of people don't consider Australia or Antartica to be continents, some consider all of Africa/Europe/Asia to be a single continent, and North/South America to be a single continent. So to some people there are only 2 continents. Just sayin'...

I literally never heard of the Africa/Europe/Asia thing.

I mean...i heard of the word Euroasia, but I never heard (or connected the dots) that there are people that see Africa/Europe/Asia as one continent.

dragonsky wrote:

I literally never heard of the Africa/Europe/Asia thing.

Afro-Eurasia

We were also taught growing up that there were seven continents. There really isn't an international standard for this, as far as I can tell. But if I had to choose, I'd go with six: Antarctica and the five habitable continents of Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Australia.

Seriously, though. I don't see why Europe and Asia still have to be separate. The ancient Greeks divided the world they knew into three continents, Africa, Europe and Asia, so I guess people followed that tradition for a long time, but unless you're looking at geopolitical divides, there's no reason to separate Europe and Asia anymore.

There's actually a book about this: Karen Wigan and Martin Lewis' Myth of the Continents (https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520207431/the-myth-of-continents). 

The continents as we know it now (5, 6, 7, 1 million) all broke apart from this giant landmass Pangea, so at the end of the day, our current understanding of "continents" is a bit of a construct. (sorry, read the book years ago, and don't remember much of it)

Phillip.Laplana wrote:

We were also taught growing up that there were seven continents. There really isn't an international standard for this, as far as I can tell. But if I had to choose, I'd go with six: Antarctica and the five habitable continents of Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Australia.


Seriously, though. I don't see why Europe and Asia still have to be separate. The ancient Greeks divided the world they knew into three continents, Africa, Europe and Asia, so I guess people followed that tradition for a long time, but unless you're looking at geopolitical divides, there's no reason to separate Europe and Asia anymore.

Cause the people that live on those continents look and act different. The way of living, the culture, the looks, the languages...everytihng is different between Europe and Asia and I see no reason why EUrope and Asia would be seen as one continent.

dragonsky wrote:

Phillip.Laplana wrote:

We were also taught growing up that there were seven continents. There really isn't an international standard for this, as far as I can tell. But if I had to choose, I'd go with six: Antarctica and the five habitable continents of Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Australia.


Seriously, though. I don't see why Europe and Asia still have to be separate. The ancient Greeks divided the world they knew into three continents, Africa, Europe and Asia, so I guess people followed that tradition for a long time, but unless you're looking at geopolitical divides, there's no reason to separate Europe and Asia anymore.

Cause the people that live on those continents look and act different. The way of living, the culture, the looks, the languages...everytihng is different between Europe and Asia and I see no reason why EUrope and Asia would be seen as one continent.

Ah, well, if you really believe that then I won't try to change your mind.

dragonsky wrote:

Cause the people that live on those continents look and act different. The way of living, the culture, the looks, the languages...everytihng is different between Europe and Asia and I see no reason why EUrope and Asia would be seen as one continent.

Continents are defined by geography, not culture. Otherwise we'd have hundreds of continents, and the US and Canada would be part of the great continent of Euromerika.