Talk:Continent

Centralized discussion on oceania as a continent

Let's use Talk:Oceania (continent), please. fgnievinski (talk) 03:26, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

Eurocentric Representation of Continent Sizes

Interestingly, enough while the page list the square feet and the kilometers of each continent from biggest the smallest when you look at many maps, most have a misrepresentation of the accurate sizes. The United States appears extremely larger than it actually is and of course Africa is extremely much smaller when it is the second largest continent. When are we gonna start even taking into account this blatant racism and Eurocentrism and the colonial ties to any maps and start erasing these old maps; the same way we know now that Christopher Columbus did not discover America Africa is much larger. Who benefits from this inaccuracy? 2603:7000:3F00:1E8:38C1:5DAF:2B62:8291 (talk) 15:51, 4 October 2025 (UTC)

It's just an accident of 3D geometry and where the continents are located with respect to the axis of Earth's rotation. The Mercator projection was widely adopted because of its benefits for marine navigation. Distortion of areas is an unavoidable consequence of wanting to be able to follow a fixed bearing. Johnuniq (talk) 03:32, 5 October 2025 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 19 January 2026

Add the amount of contents a little higher up to see Ponderdev (talk) 15:08, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want made. Please detail the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. The number of continents in the world under varying definitions is already discussed in the first paragraph. Day Creature (talk) 16:03, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

yea i realized after, sorry Ponderdev (talk) 09:28, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

Australia is regarded as an island in Latin America, not a continent

This article portrays the biased viewpoint that every culture views Australia as a continent when it doesn't. The United Nations and Olympics don't even recognize the existence of an Australian continent! ~2026-91490-9 (talk) 06:52, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

It most assuredly does not. There are multiple places where the article mentions that some continental models see Australia only as a part of the continent of Oceania. What the article does do is emphasize the model where Australia is considered a continent. This is appropriate because this is the standard usage in Anglophone countries and, thus, on this website. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 15:42, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

It is the standard usage in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. It might not be the standard usage in all Anglophone countries though. There are 88 English-speaking countries in the world, most of them are African or Asian countries. There is no evidence all of them are teaching their students that Australia is a continent instead of Oceania or Australasia. ~2026-19607-35 (talk) 02:51, 29 March 2026 (UTC)

There are people in English-speaking countries that see Oceania as a continent. Zictor23 (talk) 08:31, 7 August 2026 (UTC)

Island or continental mainland? They are different things. ~2026-19607-35 (talk) 02:22, 29 March 2026 (UTC)

Another 7-continent model

I just want to point out that Taiwan teaches its students a different type of 7-continent model: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Northern America, and Oceania.

In their model, Northern America (including Canada, Greenland, and the United States) and Latin America and the Caribbean (including Central America, South America, and the Caribbean) have been classified as different continents instead of North America and South America. The Mexico-United States border has been adopted as the continental boundary instead of the Darien Gap or the Panama Canal.

In addition, they have adopted a 3-ocean model: Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean.

In their model, the Arctic Ocean has been classified as a sea. They also do not recognise the Southern Ocean. They consider the Southern Ocean an extension of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans.

Link: https://www.ehanlin.com.tw/app/keyword/國中/地理/全球海陸分布.html ~2026-19607-35 (talk) 02:43, 29 March 2026 (UTC)

Comment Well, most countries teach seven continents, but there are really just five continents in the world:

1. Africa–Eurasia (comprising Africa, Asia, and Europe) — a.k.a. the Old World
2. América (comprising North America and South America) — a.k.a. the New World
3. Antarctica (comprising East Antarctica and West Antarctica) — 98% covered by ice
4. Australia–New Guinea (comprising Australia and New Guinea) — a.k.a. the Land Down Under
5. Zealandia (comprising New Caledonia and New Zealand) — 94% submerged ~2026-21304-14 (talk) 00:52, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

If you are counting Eurafrasia and America, Australia and Antarctica are just large islands. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 15:23, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

Are those continents or world regions? The two are different things.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 15:24, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

New-Zealandia...

I think the sentence that New Zealandia is called the 8th continent is partially misleading. If a geographer considers the four continent concept + New Zealandia to be the continents, then the latter is the fifth, not the eighth. That should be rephrased, but I'm not sure how. Kennin (talk) 17:08, 18 July 2026 (UTC)

I took a stab at it. I just changed "called the eight continent" to "identified as a continent". I also moved it into the same parapgraph as the Oceania discussion, to hopefully clarify that Zealandia as a continent is incompatible with Oceania as a continent (since they overlap). Justin Kunimune (talk) 11:24, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

Area and population table

@Kenama5847478, it's incorrect to label that row in the area and population table as "Australia" because the numbers that are currently there are the area and population of Oceania (which is bigger than the area and population of Australia). We could update the numbers to be for just Australia instead, but then they wouldn't add to 100%, which I think would be confusing. Justin Kunimune (talk) 00:26, 14 September 2026 (UTC)

it literally said Australia (continent) KNM5847478 (talk) 01:04, 14 September 2026 (UTC)

What do you mean? The sources are for all of Oceania. CMD (talk) 01:25, 14 September 2026 (UTC)

ohhh i get it now KNM5847478 (talk) 01:30, 14 September 2026 (UTC)