How Many Continents Are There?

Life of Riley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
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Continents seem simple, but there is actual some debate over the number of different continents there are. This video overviews the different models that group our land masses into continents!
Hope you enjoy it,
Justin

[@ThisisBarris]

Wait, the rings of the Olympic Games represent the continents? God, I feel so dumb now... Another great video Justin!

[@JustinLearnsThings]

Good eye! They came up with the rings in 1912. The creator combined the America’s into one: “The rings are five interlocking rings, coloured blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field, known as the "Olympic rings". The symbol was originally designed in 1912 by de Coubertin.[5] He appears to have intended the rings to represent the five continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and America.[6] According to Coubertin, the colours of the rings together with the white of the background included the colours composing every competing nation's flag at the time.”

[@JustinLearnsThings]

Good eye! They came up with the rings in 1912. The creator combined the America’s into one: “The rings are five interlocking rings, coloured blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field, known as the "Olympic rings". The symbol was originally designed in 1912 by de Coubertin.[5] He appears to have intended the rings to represent the five continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and America.[6] According to Coubertin, the colours of the rings together with the white of the background included the colours composing every competing nation's flag at the time.”

[@howtheydiditandwhypodcast]

Excellent Video, informative for kids and adults!

[@jobe1011]

Really good videos! Keep it up! :)

[@CaskTheology]

Brilliant stuff Justin. :)

[@JustinLearnsThings]

Thanks!!

[@BlueFox098]

Nice video, keep up the good work =D

[@JustinLearnsThings]

Thanks!

[@GummieI]

Another issue with the original definition is also what is the size of "large" one could argue maybe, that Greenland might be big enough to be its own continent too?

[@drbadassx11]

Greenland is actually quite tiny. Countries closer to the poles are distorted and look larger on a map than what they really are.

[@GummieI]

@@drbadassx11 While you are right that greenland looks bigger than it is, I still wouldn't call it tiny, it is the worlds biggest Island. And also why I said it could be argued "only". its size is close to about half the size of Europe, or about 1/3rd the size of Australia

[@drbadassx11]

@@GummieI you're right, its still rather big but I still think its too small to be considered its own continent. It's roughly the same size as the democratic Republic of the Congo but there is no global consensus when it comes to geography so to each their own.

[@GummieI]

@@drbadassx11 Yeah my point was exactly that it used a very arbitrary "large" in the first definition, but where does the line go for something being large, and well greenland was just the best I could thing to demonstrate it really

[@drbadassx11]

@@GummieI I wish there was a better way to define a continent so that there could be a global consensus on it but I doubt that will ever happen. I see your point though, hell, might as well make the entire arctic a continent at this point.

[@nietzschescodes]

How, where and why Europe and Asia are divided? I was hoping to see the answer here.

[@JustinLearnsThings]

That could probably be a good future video in itself! I'll add it to my list!

[@A.Mayflower127]

What about this Devision: 5 Continents, Multiple Regions based on Population and Culture America (which can be split into North America, South America, and the Caribbean) Eurasia (which can be split into India/South Asia, Arabia/The Middle East, East Asia, South-East Asia, Central Asia, Europe, and The Arctic [which also includes parts of North America]) Africa (which the Northern part is part of Arabia/The Middle East) Oceania (which could be divided into Australia, Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia but given its small population, shouldn’t) And Antarctica

[@evamamani9026]

5 continents: Asia America Africa Europe Oceania in the Olympic Games and the United Nations, made up of 193 countries in the world and created in the United States, Francisco

[@Xonkr]

The nine continents of earth: - Eurasia (Europe and Russia) - South Asia (Oriental Asia) - The Middle east (Muslim Asia) - Africa - North America - South America - Australasia (Australia, New Zealand) - Oceania (All small islands) - Antartica (I separated these by lifestyle and culture, for example: Russia and The middle east are very different to South Asia) and that is why i divided up Earth into my 9 continent map.

[@Seroxm13]

11 continents* The Caribbean (all small islands in America) Central America (which would include Mexico) North America would only be USA & Canada. Or 10 continents. All Latin American + Caribbean islands as 1.

[@davepatton7932]

I always learned in school that there 7

[@JBSutherland1]

No there are eight continents

[@liyamcervantes1586]

Theres Actually 8 Continents These Are The 8 Continents Asia South America North America Europe Antartica Australia And The 8th Zealandia

[@mandalortemaan7510]

If Antarctica gets to be a continent, why can't Greenland

[@vicktrixx]

Is It Just Me Or Does This Guy Sound Like Smart Banana?

[@TTVBEETOGAMING]

Lol tanks

[@j304lang]

No there is 8 zelandia

[@tombeegeeeye5765]

The continents of north and south American are too different to be consider the same continent. The flora and fauna of the two regions have different evolutionary histories. The connection in Panama is relatively recent, Geologically the two were on opposites ends of Pangea. No one can make a serious argument that North and South America are one continent.

[@JustinLearnsThings]

Really great points thank you! The geological argument is definitely a good point on how we decide the divisions of each continent

[@guilhermeluiz9513]

Should be a single continent, if you wanna consider Flora and Fauna than you should separate Africa because South Africa and Egypt are pretty different from each other in those points, and even in the North and South America division there are really big difference do you think the Flora and Fauna are the same in Costa Rica and Canada? Panama canal is man-made is not natural so is not an argument to separate it. Geologically a part of Russia was connected to USA during Pangea and these 2 countries aren't in the same continent are they? You have no serious argument that North and South America should be separated.

[@felipe_randolfo]

Hello, the fact that America is considered a continent does not mean that the existence of North and South America is denied, they are considered parts within it. Perhaps in the future they will be separated by continental drift, but right now they are connected in one. The fact that they have different climates or species does not make them 2, for example Asia, it has sub-arctic climate in Siberia and jungle in Thailand. And although it is true that they are in different tectonic plates, they are not entirely reliable, since North America would include parts of Russia and Japan, and in no continental model they are considered North American, or Arbia and India would be considered continents, something that does not happen either. In each existing continental model, each continent has its own name, or name combination (Afro-Eurasia) but they are never called North, South, East, West + the name of the continent. Also, the vast majority of countries (20 out of 35) and the vast majority of the population (642 million out of 964 million) in the American continent consider it one, not two.

[@tombeegeeeye5765]

@@felipe_randolfo what s the point of even naming continent if it means nothing. why not just 4 America Australia, Antarctica and the AfEuAs continent. The two Americas ore two separate continents. The earn that distinctions in multiple ways Which I have mentioned.

[@felipe_randolfo]

@@tombeegeeeye5765 Hi: I am fully aware that there are several continental models, I watched this video, but you said that there are no serious arguments to say that America is a single continent, I already showed you that there are, I will summarize them: Facts: 1.- It is an uninterrupted mass of land (the Panama Canal does not count because it is man-made). 2.-A diverse climate is not sufficient reason to define a continent, since only one can have several climates (Africa: jungles / deserts). 3.- The tectonic plates provide an important argument, but not definitive, since they will include land masses very well separated from each other (Asia and America) as continents or they will separate united land masses (such as the Arabian Peninsula and India of Asia (or Eurasia)). 4.- The vast majority of countries in America and the vast majority of the people who live there consider it one, not 2. 5.- The continent was already called America long before the United States of America existed (approximately 200 years). Personal opinion: As I have seen, the model of 7 continents that is used mainly in English-speaking countries, mainly the United States of America, shows and promotes the idea that the continent is actually 2 (North America and South America (together The Americas)) ignoring the aforementioned points, so that their country (USA) is the only America. If you are interested, you can read these links: www.loc.gov/wiseguide/aug03/america.html www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/196796.pdf It is very likely that when consulting references in English language they will show as "The Americas" given their U.S. origin.

[@gutterpheonix]

You are wrong there are seven continents

[@isabelabinatti3191]

If North America is a continent, why the country is Called United State of America and not United States of NORTH America?

[@andrewalmada]

@@isabelabinatti3191 because they are a country called America🇺🇸 in the continent of North America. Just as there can be a country called Europe in the continent of Europe.

[@huichinfinity]

No, there are 5 if you are from US maybe at school teach you wrong on purpose

[@andrewalmada]

@@huichinfinity They teach it like that because the USA recognizes North America and South America as two separate continents. There isn’t a right or wrong way to define a continent. Only Latino countries, Spain, and France recognize North and South America as one continent.

[@guilhermeluiz9513]

@@andrewalmada Give me a good example to why it should be separated. And America is not the name of your country, America is a continent it has been like this since it was "discovered" USA invented that piece of shit that is the 7 continent model after WW2 just to do what you like the most that is exclude people from other countries.