On Thu, 9 Sep 2004 18:53:29 +0200, Jens Ropers <ropers(a)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
--
Rowan Collins BSc
[IMSoP]