On Thu, 9 Sep 2004 18:53:29 +0200, Jens Ropers ropers@ropersonline.com wrote:
In Europe, we were taught in school that Australia ''was'' a continent. Thus:
North America South America Europe Africa Asia Australia Antarctica
So that's 7 continents -- which, incidentally, is the number of Olympic rings (they represent the 7 continents).
<snip>
It was actually quite a surprise to me to see that there appear to be different definitions in the U.S. I thought the above was universal and I had never heard of "Austalasia". Then again, in the end of the day it's a matter of arbitrary definition isn't it?
Two things: first, I am also European - English, to be precise - and whether or not I was taught it in school, I have always thought of "Australasia" or "Oceania" being the pseudo-continent that contains Australia, that being an island and not big enough to "count" on its own.
Secondly, there are only 5 olympic rings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Rings suggests that the Americas are considered one (personally, I'd 'merge' Eurasia more readily than the Americas, but I guess there's politics as well as geography at stake); and, presumably, nobody can come to the olympics from Antarctica, but that's alright because they can always represent the nations whose citizenship they hold (there being no sovereign states in Antarctica, AFAIK).
Luckily, [[Continent]] already appears to have the gist of this info. :)
Yep, there's a pretty good break-down of different ways of dividing things there. :D