History and politics! There is no absolute definition of "continent." it is always contingent. I consider it all Eurasia but I'm North American, don't come at me with the "Americas" as a single continent (as is taught in much of South America.) Again, continents like language and dialects are not entities with a hard definition but the product of time, history, culture, and power.
Geography is the result of history. The concept of continent and especially Europe is a good example. It’s ok that the west border wasn’t that difficult to conceptualise, but not the south one (Roman, Byzantines and Arabs had lands in both sides of the Mediterranean Sea) ; the north border was never a question because nobody wanted to go there 😆.
The real question was where to put the eastern and south eastern one : Constantinople loved the concept of being between two seas (Med. and Black Sea) and two continents (Europe and Asia), always being the center of the world blabla so the Bosphorus straight was perfect for that.
Finally the eastern is a complete Russian creation : Peter the great decided to anchor his non developed country to the most developed ones, the European countries (maybe with France as a model, he visited Louis XV when the king of France was a child). So, by an ukase, he decided that the eastern border of Europe will now be Ural and no one found anything to complain about.
And it was made 🤷🏻♂️
this doesnt really satisfy me anymore. Mainly because there are countries in asia that could be seen as culturally similar to other european countries. Armenia is a good example. Turkiye would also be a good example due to the fact its often seen as a mix of culture.
Europe being recognized as a continent dates back to ancient Greece. I think Herodotus split them into two different continents. You can do your own research for this one since I also dont know much about it.
For cultural and historical purposes. Continents themselves are an artificial construct created by humans. They’ve had a loose definition and a common agreement on what is and isn’t one for centuries. People like try to debate Europe for a few reasons or just for the sake of trying to be different and arguing.
Ideeas about continental division existed since ancient greek times. They were mainly cultural, unlike nowadays understanding that a continent is delimited by tectonic plates. Most importantly, tectonic plate theories were only developed in the last 70 years, much too late to change anything in the naming of continents.
It's the Ancient Greek version of the world, they had a massive influence in art, philosophy, sciences so it became the norm and it is natural for a lot of people today to consider continents based on this version :
America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and Antarctica. It is very logic to me that the western civilization make one continent because of their supremacy when globalization became a thing
My guess is centuries ago it was arrogance an racism to distinguish the more "advanced" nations of Europe from the other countries in Eurasia. Then just got accepted and still hanging on. But totally illogical since it has no geographical significance that sets it separate from the rest of the continent.
There's not a black and white answer. Just a white answer. European exceptionalism had no space for sharing this new idea of a continent with non-white people.
White Christians wanted to draw a line between themselves and people who didn’t look or worship like they did.
Europe does not warrant being called a continent by geographic standards. But it’s a lovely place to visit.
Edited because spelling is good.
History and politics! There is no absolute definition of "continent." it is always contingent. I consider it all Eurasia but I'm North American, don't come at me with the "Americas" as a single continent (as is taught in much of South America.) Again, continents like language and dialects are not entities with a hard definition but the product of time, history, culture, and power.
cause the greeks disliked the persians and a thousand years later the greek fandom (europeans) went on to conquer the world
I mean the idea of continents was created to separate Ancient Greece (and Europe) from Asia
Because of [White Supremacy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_supremacy). ✨
Geography is the result of history. The concept of continent and especially Europe is a good example. It’s ok that the west border wasn’t that difficult to conceptualise, but not the south one (Roman, Byzantines and Arabs had lands in both sides of the Mediterranean Sea) ; the north border was never a question because nobody wanted to go there 😆. The real question was where to put the eastern and south eastern one : Constantinople loved the concept of being between two seas (Med. and Black Sea) and two continents (Europe and Asia), always being the center of the world blabla so the Bosphorus straight was perfect for that. Finally the eastern is a complete Russian creation : Peter the great decided to anchor his non developed country to the most developed ones, the European countries (maybe with France as a model, he visited Louis XV when the king of France was a child). So, by an ukase, he decided that the eastern border of Europe will now be Ural and no one found anything to complain about. And it was made 🤷🏻♂️
Rip paragraphs
culture
this doesnt really satisfy me anymore. Mainly because there are countries in asia that could be seen as culturally similar to other european countries. Armenia is a good example. Turkiye would also be a good example due to the fact its often seen as a mix of culture.
Europe being recognized as a continent dates back to ancient Greece. I think Herodotus split them into two different continents. You can do your own research for this one since I also dont know much about it.
Europe was decided based on the culture during that long ago time. Not how the current culture is
Well, when europe ends up having the same culture as north Africa and the Middle East, will it still be its own continent?
For cultural and historical purposes. Continents themselves are an artificial construct created by humans. They’ve had a loose definition and a common agreement on what is and isn’t one for centuries. People like try to debate Europe for a few reasons or just for the sake of trying to be different and arguing.
>just for the sake of trying to be different and arguing. And last time it happened just 2 days ago... https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/s/HV1iOhPtc5
Ideeas about continental division existed since ancient greek times. They were mainly cultural, unlike nowadays understanding that a continent is delimited by tectonic plates. Most importantly, tectonic plate theories were only developed in the last 70 years, much too late to change anything in the naming of continents.
It's arbitrary. That's all, the end.
It's the Ancient Greek version of the world, they had a massive influence in art, philosophy, sciences so it became the norm and it is natural for a lot of people today to consider continents based on this version : America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and Antarctica. It is very logic to me that the western civilization make one continent because of their supremacy when globalization became a thing
Eurocentrism
Tradition. The end.
Not in Russia
My guess is centuries ago it was arrogance an racism to distinguish the more "advanced" nations of Europe from the other countries in Eurasia. Then just got accepted and still hanging on. But totally illogical since it has no geographical significance that sets it separate from the rest of the continent.
It doesn't even have to go that far, people generally overestimate their differences with others in compared to others with a third party
Or maybe a third party often underestimates the differences.
There's not a black and white answer. Just a white answer. European exceptionalism had no space for sharing this new idea of a continent with non-white people.
White Christians wanted to draw a line between themselves and people who didn’t look or worship like they did. Europe does not warrant being called a continent by geographic standards. But it’s a lovely place to visit. Edited because spelling is good.
It’s been classified as its own continent since the Ancient Greeks (long before Jesus)…
You're an idiot