Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

If You Get My Continental Drift

Your Mattness:

Who decides what are continents? Why is Greenland not a continent? It is bigger than the island/continent of Australia and has more people than Antarctica. How can Europe and Asia be one continent? Where is the dividing line? Where does Central America fit in?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- We Must Know, San Diego

If you've got the spare time, you guys can decide what a continent is. The field's wide open. Look up the word in the dictionary, ask geologists or geographers, and all you get are weasel words-- something about a continent being a big body of land, larger than an island, surrounded by water. But don't ask 'em how big an island is because they don't have a good answer for that either. In desperation, I imagine, a spokesman for the Association of America Geographers suggested that a continent is like love. You know it when you see it, but no one can really describe it adequately. "Continent" is a useful catch-all word in certain situations but has no clear scientific meaning.

The ancient Greeks, who first dreamed up the concept, recognized three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa. Today we consider the Ural Mountains in Russia the dividing line between Europe and Asia (though some consider the whole area the Eurasian continent). But the Greeks separated Europe from Asia using cultural as much as geographic guidelines. And that's where most of our present confusion starts. For example, North, South, and Central America make up a single land mass but are generally considered two continents. That's a decision based on history and culture. And of course you can put Central America wherever you want, since there's no single definition of North or South America.

You can call Australia a continent if you like but many geographers say it's just a very big island. And if you can't take any more of these wishy-washy answers, I'll tell you definitively that Greenland is only about one third the size of Australia. You've been looking at too many Mercator-projection maps, which tend to exaggerate the size of things near the poles. Check it out on a globe.

Hot activity for geographers has been devising computer-useful definitions for relational concepts like "near," "far," "north," and "south." I was assured that once they had the compass points pinned down they'd get right on a definition for "continent" and give me a call. Don't wait up.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Celebrate Holi, Borrego Springs Music Festival

Events March 23-March 27, 2024
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Stinkfoot Orchestra conjures Zappa at Winstons

His music is a blend of technical excellence and not-so-subtle humor

Your Mattness:

Who decides what are continents? Why is Greenland not a continent? It is bigger than the island/continent of Australia and has more people than Antarctica. How can Europe and Asia be one continent? Where is the dividing line? Where does Central America fit in?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- We Must Know, San Diego

If you've got the spare time, you guys can decide what a continent is. The field's wide open. Look up the word in the dictionary, ask geologists or geographers, and all you get are weasel words-- something about a continent being a big body of land, larger than an island, surrounded by water. But don't ask 'em how big an island is because they don't have a good answer for that either. In desperation, I imagine, a spokesman for the Association of America Geographers suggested that a continent is like love. You know it when you see it, but no one can really describe it adequately. "Continent" is a useful catch-all word in certain situations but has no clear scientific meaning.

The ancient Greeks, who first dreamed up the concept, recognized three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa. Today we consider the Ural Mountains in Russia the dividing line between Europe and Asia (though some consider the whole area the Eurasian continent). But the Greeks separated Europe from Asia using cultural as much as geographic guidelines. And that's where most of our present confusion starts. For example, North, South, and Central America make up a single land mass but are generally considered two continents. That's a decision based on history and culture. And of course you can put Central America wherever you want, since there's no single definition of North or South America.

You can call Australia a continent if you like but many geographers say it's just a very big island. And if you can't take any more of these wishy-washy answers, I'll tell you definitively that Greenland is only about one third the size of Australia. You've been looking at too many Mercator-projection maps, which tend to exaggerate the size of things near the poles. Check it out on a globe.

Hot activity for geographers has been devising computer-useful definitions for relational concepts like "near," "far," "north," and "south." I was assured that once they had the compass points pinned down they'd get right on a definition for "continent" and give me a call. Don't wait up.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Hip-hop artist Don Elway makes movies for his music

Not Ordinary EP tells a story of life on the streets
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Stinkfoot Orchestra conjures Zappa at Winstons

His music is a blend of technical excellence and not-so-subtle humor
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.