A couple of months ago I was talking with one of my co-workers who is from Argentina and the subject of continents came up. Oscar said there were only 6 continents in the world. I thought he had lost his mind. Didn't he know there are seven?? North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica. Right?
Well, we were both correct, at least as far as popular global teachings go. Apparently in some parts of the world it is taught that there are only 6 continents. In Latin America, the North and South Americas are just one continent (America). In places like Russia, there are 6 continents as well, but it is from combining Europe and Asia (Eurasia). In some circles, there are only 5 or even only 4 continents.
So that got me thinking: what makes a continent? Different dictionaries vary slightly in their definitions, but it comes down to being a very large land mass, typically separated by water.
As a geologist, I think that the continents should follow the plates on which they move, as in plate tectonics. If you look at a map of plate boundaries, you'll see that indeed the largest land masses that are listed in the 7-continents school do in fact correspond to the largest plates. There are smaller ones here and there (i.e.: my favorite - the Juan de Fuca plate), but the large land masses - continents - are on their corresponding plates. Because of this, I'm going to have to stick with the 7-continent system. Plate tectonics is what drives so much of what happens in our world today: earthquakes, volcanoes, formation of mountain ranges, how heat flows through the Earth's interior, the creation of new earth, and so much more. A continent isn't something political or social - it's geological.
