Talk:Continent

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

I notice that the table here does not include a five-continent model with Africa, Asia, Europe, America and Australia (but no Antarctica). This model is or was pretty widely taught in Europe and South America and is sourced at the Spanish, French, German &c wikis. Is there any objection to adding it here? —  AjaxSmack  20:07, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

It's not a separate model, it's just the 6-continent model with Antarctica left out because there's no people there and nothing much to talk about. When I was in school in the US we didn't consider our classes to be using a 6 continent model instead of a 7 continent one simply because we didn't spend any time covering Antarctica. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 20:36, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

It's not about the time covered in a class. The model specifically excludes Antarctica. —  AjaxSmack  02:09, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

I'm reasonably sure the other language wikis likely copied this one, which included it with a bit of SYNTH/OR. The es.wiki still includes this, as it states that this is the continental model used by the Olympics and the UN, when it's pretty obvious that neither is using it as a fully developed "continental model" in a geographical sense, but rather as a way to sort out their member countries. CMD (talk) 09:29, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

​As I note below, continents are not only a construct of physical geography or Europe would not be one. There are cultural factors as well. —  AjaxSmack  03:44, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

They're entirely cultural, but we don't have a source saying Antarctica is not a continent in a particular cultural frame. CMD (talk) 09:42, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

Dude, you are basically talking about the "Olympic Rings" model. Just as CMD has said, it is a model used by the International Olympic Committee to group their member states. It simply means that there are five inhabited continents in the world while the uninhabited one is ignored, but we all know that a big chunk of landmass near the South Pole exists. Unless you can provide a reliable source which clearly states that the model widely taught in Europe and South America is treating Antarctica as a huge island instead of a continent, I won't support your proposal. 2001:8003:9060:601:49B5:9FB:94BE:DF96 (talk) 13:22, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

Dude, a continent is not only a construct of physical geography. Excluding Antarctica due to lack of population is perfectly normal in large swaths of the world. As you say, it's the model used by the IOC and it's used by the UN. And I have other sources, several of which are already used in the interwiki articles. In the meantime, take a quick glance at these results to get an idea of how widespread this five-continent model is:

• https://www.google.com/search?q=%22los+cinco+continentes%22&udm=2
• https://www.google.com/search?q=%22les+cinq+continents%22&udm=2

—  AjaxSmack  03:44, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

Those aren't continental models. They are organizational schemes for those organizations' internal workings. A continental scheme is a description of the entire world. It cannot just exclude huge chunks of land. It must state that such land is a continent, is a part of a larger continent, or is an island to small to count as a continent.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 14:56, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

Well, according to your link, the United Nations actually uses a mixture of six- and seven-continent models, not a five-continent model. The have assigned the M49 codes 010 to Antarctica, 019 to the Americas, 003 to North America, and 005 to South America. Furthermore, they have used the term "Geographic Regions" instead of "Continents" to describe these areas. Clearly, the UN doesn't want to give other people an impression that "Aha, this is how the United Nations divides the world into continents." It is a prime example of "strategic ambiguity". 2001:8003:9027:DF01:C91A:3B30:6FD4:15FD (talk) 02:35, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

Link: https://www.earth.com/news/claim-earth-has-six-continents-not-seven-north-america-europe-connected/

According to the linked article above, Europe and North America are actually parts of a single continent. Should we add this model to the table of continents? 1.159.162.251 (talk) 01:35, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

The researchers claim to have discovered a new entity that they term "Rifted Oceanic Magmatic Plateau (ROMP)". My Google Scholar search returned only 2 search hits for such a plateau type. This seems to still be WP:FRINGE at the moment. It seems that other geologists haven't even got to the stage of supporting it or opposing it yet. The findings still need evaluation by other scientists. In summary, it seems far too soon and still too niche for it to be included in Wikipedia. Also, I think that the researcher's claim that the findings are "the Earth Science equivalent of finding the Lost City of Atlantis" does no favours for the credibility of the studies. GeoWriter (talk) 15:17, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

How about Icelandia? Should we include it as one of the geological continents, just like Zealandia?

Source:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9736939/Geology-Sunken-continent-Icelandia-stretch-231-000-square-miles-Greenland-Europe.html 2001:8003:9027:DF01:B529:BC5E:7EDD:A512 (talk) 07:31, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

Only with much better sourcing. CMD (talk) 07:52, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

Interestingly, enough while the page list the square feet and the kilometers of each continent from biggest the smallest when you look at many maps, most have a misrepresentation of the accurate sizes. The United States appears extremely larger than it actually is and of course Africa is extremely much smaller when it is the second largest continent. When are we gonna start even taking into account this blatant racism and Eurocentrism and the colonial ties to any maps and start erasing these old maps; the same way we know now that Christopher Columbus did not discover America Africa is much larger. Who benefits from this inaccuracy? 2603:7000:3F00:1E8:38C1:5DAF:2B62:8291 (talk) 15:51, 4 October 2025 (UTC)

It's just an accident of 3D geometry and where the continents are located with respect to the axis of Earth's rotation. The Mercator projection was widely adopted because of its benefits for marine navigation. Distortion of areas is an unavoidable consequence of wanting to be able to follow a fixed bearing. Johnuniq (talk) 03:32, 5 October 2025 (UTC)

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Add the amount of contents a little higher up to see Ponderdev (talk) 15:08, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want made. Please detail the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. The number of continents in the world under varying definitions is already discussed in the first paragraph. Day Creature (talk) 16:03, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

yea i realized after, sorry Ponderdev (talk) 09:28, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

This article portrays the biased viewpoint that every culture views Australia as a continent when it doesn't. The United Nations and Olympics don't even recognize the existence of an Australian continent! ~2026-91490-9 (talk) 06:52, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

It most assuredly does not. There are multiple places where the article mentions that some continental models see Australia only as a part of the continent of Oceania. What the article does do is emphasize the model where Australia is considered a continent. This is appropriate because this is the standard usage in Anglophone countries and, thus, on this website. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 15:42, 11 February 2026 (UTC)