How many continents are there in the world

How Many Continents Are There?

Do you count five, six, or seven continents?

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A continent is typically defined as a very large landmass, surrounded on all sides (or nearly so) by water and containing a number of nation-states. However, when it comes to the number of continents on Earth, experts don’t always agree. Depending on the criteria used, there may be five, six, or seven continents. Sounds confusing, right? Here’s how it all sorts out.

Defining a Continent

The «Glossary of Geology,» which is published by the American Geosciences Institute, defines a continent as “one of the Earth’s major landmasses, including both dry land and continental shelves.» Other characteristics of a continent include:

This last characteristic is the most controversial, according to the Geological Society of America, leading to confusion among experts as to how many continents there are. What’s more, there is no global governing body that has established a consensus definition.

How Many Continents Are There?

If you went to school in the United States, chances are you were taught that there are seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. But using the criteria defined above, many geologists say there are six continents: Africa, Antarctica, Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. In many parts of Europe, students are taught that there are only six continents, and teachers count North and South America as one continent.

Why the difference? From a geological perspective, Europe and Asia are one large landmass. Dividing them into two separate continents is more of a geopolitical consideration because Russia occupies so much of the Asian continent and historically has been politically isolated from the powers of Western Europe, such as Great Britain, Germany, and France.

Recently, some geologists have begun arguing that room should be made for a «new» continent called Zealandia. This landmass lies off the eastern coast of Australia. New Zealand and a few minor islands are the only peaks above water; the remaining 94 percent is submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean.

Other Ways to Count Landmasses

Geographers divide the planet into regions for ease of study. The Official Listing of Countries by Region divides the world into eight regions: Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, North America, Central America and the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and Australia and Oceania.

You can also divide the Earth’s major landmasses into tectonic plates, which are large slabs of solid rock. These slabs consist of both continental and oceanic crusts and are separated by fault lines. There are 15 tectonic plates in total, seven of which are roughly ten million square miles or more in size. Not surprisingly, these roughly correspond to the shapes of the continents that lie atop them.

7 continents

The seven-continent model is probably the most widely taught. There are however other ways of grouping countries into continents.

List of the seven continents

Ranked by current population

Which continent does Russia belong to?

Russia is part of both Europe and Asia. In the 7 continent model in fact, it is not always clear where to place Russia. In the map pictured above Russia is divided into two parts (European Russia and the «Asian part» of the Russian Federation) along the Ural Mountains line, from the source of the Ural River down to the Greater Caucasus from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea (following the modern definition of Europe as provided by the National Geographic Society). However, in the list of continents, we had to place Russia in one continent or the other, so we placed it in Europe, following the United Nations classification.

About 75% of the Russian population lives in the European continent. On the other hand, 75% of Russian territory is located in Asia.

Which continent does Hawaii belong to?

None. Hawaii is politically part of North America, but geographically it is not part of any continent.

Continents

Continent Definition

«Continent» derives from the Latin terra continēns [terra = “land”, continēns = present participle of the verb contineō = con ‎(“together”) + teneō ‎(“I hold”). The meaning is therefore ‎“land held together” or «connected land.»

Originally the term «continent» was applied to any area of land, of any size, not separated by water, including islands.

Concurrently, ever since the times of ancient Greek mariners and philosophers, the world was separated into «parts.» These parts were initially Europe and Asia, with the subsequent addition of Africa and, in 1507, of the Americas. Only in the late nineteenth century such parts of the earth came to be explicitly defined as continents.

Today, continents are understood to be large, continuous, distinct masses of land, ideally (but not necessarily) separated by expanses of water. No required minimum size to qualify as «large» (or «very large») has been defined, nor the requisite degree of physical separation. Continents are therefore defined by convention rather than a strict criteria. The criteria used can be of geographical, historical, cultural, anthropological, political, or even of philosophical nature.

How many continents are there?

It depends. The loose definition of continent results in numerous ways of separating the world into continents, with models ranging anywhere from 4 to 7 continents.

7 Continents

This is the most widely adopted model and it classifies the following seven continents:

Learn more about the 7 continents.

6 Continents

There are two variations of the six-continent model:

5 Continents

This model adopts the criteria of both the six-continent models, resulting in the following 5 continents: Africa, Eurasia, America, Oceania (or Australia), and Antarctica.

An alternative five-continent model is the one adopted, among others, by the Olympic Charter, which excludes Antarctica as uninhabited and lists the following five: Africa, Europe, Asia, America, and Oceania (or Australia).

4 Continents

This would probably be the correct subdivision if we adopted a strict definition of continents, ideally defined as large landmasses separated by water. Furthermore, we should consider «separated» only what is naturally separated, excluding therefore the separations resulting from the artificially made Panama Canal (which separates North and South America) and Suez Canal (which separates Africa from Eurasia).

Under this model, the four continents of the world are: Afro-Eurasia (or Eurafrasia), America, and Australia (not Oceania, which combines Australia with smaller countries in the Pacific Ocean which are separated by water), and Antarctica.

An alternative four-continent model, introduced at the beginning of the 20th centry, included Europe, Asia, Africa, and America.

Past Continent Models

Prior to the end of the 18th and 19th century, two continents were sometimes recognized: the Old (Europe, Asia, and Africa together) and the New (North and South America).

Regions instead of Continents

The United Nations Statistics Division (which we follow when reporting population statistics on this website) groups countries into macro geographical (continental) regions and geographical sub-regions rather than into continents. This system is referred to as the United Nations Geoscheme.

This classification identifies 6 regions: Asia, Africa, Europe (includes Russia), Latin America and the Caribbean (which includes South America, Central America, and the Caribbean), Northern America, and Oceania.

How Many Continents Are There? Depends Whom You Ask

By: Nathan Chandler | Updated: Mar 30, 2021

In elementary school we learn the indisputable fundamental facts of life. Two plus two equals four. The world is round. There are seven continents on Earth.

Pretty basic stuff, right? Only that last one isn’t quite as cut and dried as our first-grade teachers led us to believe.

In the United States, students learn that there are seven continents: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. And going by that standard, continents make up the vast majority of land surface area on the planet, or about 57 million square miles (148 million square kilometers).

But that’s hardly the last word on the matter. For example, in Europe, students usually learn that there are actually only six continents: Africa, America, Antarctica, Asia, Australia/Oceania, and Europe. There’s even a five-continent model, which lists Africa, Europe, Asia, America and Oceania/Australia. (That’s why there are five rings on the Olympic flag.) And some experts think four is the way to go, using as their criteria landmasses naturally separated by water, rather than manmade canals (AfroEurasia, America, Antarctica and Australia).

Heck, as recently as the 1800s, some people says there were just two continents, the Old — including Europe, Africa and Asia — and the New, which encompassed North and South America.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see why this is more complicated than it seems. Even as a child, you may have wondered how anyone would regard Asia and Europe as different continents when they are welded together in enormous expanse of land.

Let’s try to simplify.

What Makes a Continent a Continent?

Traditionally, we’ve learned that continents are enormous landmasses with clearly defined boundaries and separated by oceans.

According to a 2017 paper published in the Geological Society of America’s journal, GSA Today, «The ‘Glossary of Geology’ defines a continent as ‘one of the Earth’s major landmasses, including both dry land and continental shelves.’ It is generally agreed that continents have all the following attributes: (1) high elevation relative to regions floored by oceanic crust; (2) a broad range of siliceous igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks; (3) thicker crust and lower seismic velocity structure than oceanic crustal regions; and (4) well-defined limits around a large enough area to be considered a continent rather than a microcontinent or continental fragment. To our knowledge, the last point — how ‘major’ a piece of continental crust has to be to be called a continent — is almost never discussed.»

«Nothing, really, determines a continent, except historical convention,» says Dan Montello, a geography professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, via email. «A bit of an overstatement but mostly valid. Certain factors make a landmass more or less likely to be called a continent at various times in history, by various people, but nothing can be said to determine continentality in a completely principled, nonarbitrary way.»

Take for example, the vast country of Russia, 6.6 million square miles (17 million square kilometers). Why is it part of Europe rather than Asia? «The Ural Mountains are taken to separate Asia and Europe but only because Russians wanted their great city of Moscow to be European, so the Urals were a convenient marker for that arbitrary decision,» says Montello.

«Continents are (mostly) spatially contiguous collections of landmasses larger than countries but smaller than hemispheres; of course, continents do not necessarily fit entirely within single Earth hemispheres (and, thus, cannot be defined by ranges of latitude or longitude).»

How about plate tectonics? If certain landmasses are constrained to one of those massive shifting hulks, we can safely call it a continent? Montello says no.

«Plate tectonics has nothing to do with it historically, and it certainly could not provide a principled basis for continents now; nearly every continent includes parts of multiple plates, and continental boundaries are not, and have never been, defined by plate boundaries.»

The same goes for climate. After all, continents contain multiple climates, as evidenced by Alaska’s Arctic chill compared to Florida’s humid heat, and they’re both part of North America. Mountain ranges and continental shelves aren’t helpful, either, he says. Coastline is useless.

How about cultural links or politics?

«Neither ethnicity, race, culture, nor politics has ever defined continents, except by conventional theories that were largely mythical, such as old and fallacious ideas about correspondences between races and continents,» he says. «Politically, Hawaii is part of the U.S. but is in Oceania rather than North America; Greenland is controlled by Denmark (for now) but is considered part of the North American continent.»

Really, it may boil down to whom – and when – you ask.

«No one can say as a matter of principled fact how many continents there are, because the decisions are largely based on convention, and convention that goes in and out of fashion over time, and is still debated today,» says Montello.

He concedes that these days, many geographers would opt for a list of seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America. But he’s also certain that some of them would combine Asia and Europe into Eurasia, identify Oceania in other ways, or combine North and South America into the Americas.

«There simply is no ‘czar’ or ‘CEO’ of continents or any other ultimate authority, so it is pretentious for anyone to claim they have the authoritative answer,» says Montello.

But don’t worry, if you can’t handle that kind of definition, it’s all changing. The continents are drifting at a rate of about an inch (2.5 centimeters) per year.

America is named after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who sailed around the tip of South America in 1501. In doing so, he realized that North and South America were separate landmasses and not connected to Asia, as many people believed.

How Many Continents Are There In The World?

Posted on 04/10/2015 Written by The Guy 26 Comments

As a child at school we learn many things about life and the world. Apart from the more difficult things to prove (hence the existence of atheism and Santa Claus (oops, sorry)) we absorb and accept a lot of what we are told. It is only later in life when we see people hold a view different to ours that we start to wonder if what we’ve been told is correct. As an example I’ve found my accepted understanding as to how many continents there are to be challenged more than once. So before you read on please answer this question: “How many continents are there in the world?”

I went through the UK schooling system which is accepted as being a relatively high standard education system. Maybe not the best in the world but certainly effective enough in developing notable entrepreneurs, business and political leaders.

I recall at both junior and secondary school being taught a consistent theory in geography. Admittedly geography was never my strongest area of study and I was happy at the time not to study it any further once outside of a pre-determined programme. (I like to learn geography now because it is at the areas of interest to me, as opposed to someone else’s prescribed text.)

I recall how in secondary school we had the unique personality geography teacher Miss Champion, who spoke with a lisp. Each day we’d try to contain our immature humour as we were told to “Shut Up And Shhhit Down”. Oh how we laughed.

I also remember my proudest moment in geography class as I was the only child able to explain why it became cold overnight in the desert (think of clouds, or lack thereof).

Yet there was one underlying theme of all my geographical learnings which has caused controversy more than any other. That is to how many continents are there in the world?

I grew up understanding, without any challenge to the theory that there are 7 continents in the world.

What are the 7 continents?

I learnt that the 7 continents are: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia (or Australasia as some term it), Europe, then North America and South America.

How many continents can you see on this world map?

What is a continent?

So if this is what I’ve learnt how can we actually define a continent? Well, a continent is effectively a way of determining large stretches of land. Many of these stretches of land are separated from each other, mainly by water. So in many respects it should be fairly easy to distinguish. However with Europe and Asia being attached maybe it is not quite that simple? Also the watery divide between North and South America is hardly significant.

As part of this explanation, the idea of land mass is why Antarctica is a continent whilst the Arctic is not. The Arctic is a frozen area with water underneath.

I guess it is little wonder that my understanding of there being 7 continents is shared by numerous others. Such as Jonny Blair who is also a travel blogger. He proudly reports that he has visited all 7 continents. An enviable achievement and I’m only 1 behind you Jonny!

In fact it was this aspiration of mine which led to one of the first indicators that a way of thinking differed from mine.

On a trip home from my long term placement in the Middle East, I was sat at the family dinner table. Discussion came around to my extensive travel opportunities and where I hoped to go. The South Pole came up as an aspiration. Numerous reasons were given for my choice, it being the seventh and final continent became a prominent one.

Almost immediately, my privately educated brother (I wasn’t privately educated, I went through the State system) pulled me up on this point to mention there were only 5 continents, not 7. And so began a lively discussion to which no agreed conclusion was drawn.

Is Australia a continent?

Australia – is it a continent?

A few months later I had a similar discussion with 2 South African colleagues. One agreed with the knowledge that I’d been taught. The other remained adamant that Australia / Australasia was not a continent. Once challenged to which continent the countries of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and so on belonged to he was almost at a loss. In his mind they were either part of Asia or more likely not part of a continent at all. Hence the term Oceania is used to apply to a set of islands (French Polynesia, Hawaii, New Zealand etc) who are not deemed close enough to a larger land mass to qualify as part of that continent.

I was thrown even more when his argument led him to say that the United Kingdom was not part of Europe, in fact it wasn’t on any continent either. I reminded him of the fact that I come from the UK yet his argument wasn’t swayed.

So what of it, how many continents are there?

As I’ve explained, I am of the school of 7 continents. However I’ve discovered that some people have been taught a different theory.

Differing theories on what are the continents of the world

There are 5 continents

This theory, from what I understand includes the following:-

There are 6 continents

This is a relative new theory which you may have come across in recent times. This argues that since Europe and Asia are clearly joined land masses then they should be classified as a single continent. As a result the 6 continents are:-

I’ve also heard an argument that if tectonic plates are used we could have 9 continents.

I had a more recent discussion on this issue with some locals in Chile. For me, the most memorable thing about this conversation was not specific to identifying what are all the continents. It was more that he explained how he was often unhappy with the almost exclusive term “American” being used by those from the US. He quite rightly pointed out that he was living in the Americas, South America in fact. Since he comes from South America he has as much right to say he is an American as anyone else in that continent/s.

I think he made a fair point.

I wonder if I could use that argument the next time I see a Canadian taking offence when someone mistakes them for being an “American”?

Overall I guess I’m not that much wiser. I would have thought that in the 21 st century geographers could agree on some basic things, such as to the number of continents.

I was personally taught that there are 7 continents and little will change me from that view.

How many continents of the world do you know?

So what do you believe? How many continents are there in the world? Or at least what were you taught? Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts with me.

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im still gonna go with 7 😉

but then again, when i was growing up, there were 9 planets in our solar system. apparently now pluto isnt classified as a planet. ill never get over that.

Yes still 7 continents for me too 🙂 It sounds good to have a higher number once we’ve ticked them off.

Yes, I was a little upset about the Pluto declassification too. I know it happened a few years ago but I recently heard a radio programme talk about it. I still don’t quite grasp why it is officially no longer a planet. It won’t stop me going though if it is cost effective ha ha.

I like these kinds of discussions! Obviously you were talking to some very dense people… as UK is definitely part of Europe. I was taught that Oceania was the continent, not “Australia”. I recently had a convo about this with my South African friend who called the continent Australia. We both thought the other was INSANE! Hhaha. Then we googled it and found out we were both right.
Anyhoooo, for me it’s a big fat 7 continent vote. I always struggle with Middle East… I think it should be its own continent.
But the REAL question here is how many COUNTRIES are there in the world. I’ve had so many different answers for this one. It’s amazing how far off some people are…. I’ve talked to some who thought there were only 100. I always go with 197… Many will say it’s well over 200 but for example, I count UK as UK not as three (Scotland, England, Wales). Sorry if you count differently! Also, I consider Western Sahara part of Morocco.
Now what is your country #.

It is amazing the variety we are taught. Like you I had a lively discussion on continents with South Africans, not one but two of them. One saw things the same way I did and another completely disagreed with us. It was a long and fun conversation even though it was 14 years ago!

Like you I don’t know the official answer on the number of countries, I keep seeing various numbers. Maybe we should ask Jonny Blair of Don’t Stop Living. He has been to 100 countries and has more to go!

As for the UK, well hopefully I can clear that up for you. The UK (United Kingdom) is made up of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (4 countries in total). Great Britain is the countries of England, Wales and Scotland.

I was born and bred in England and it is a different country to Scotland.

We do however have the same central government in the UK which is from London. The countries of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have some local power making authority via local national governments/regional assemblies. However central tax decisions, defence etc are ultimately decided by the UK government. Think of it like a mini Europe. Various countries but they also have a unifying government assembly.

I was going to say think of international football teams to identify countries, so you have England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as the Republic of Ireland (not part of the UK). Yet if you look at the current Rugby Union World Cup it becomes confusing. The countries of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have combined to make one international team, Ireland.

I can understand why outsiders can get confused!

Uh oh Mr Continent Counting Guy! We can add this discussion to the list, hehe. Firstly, not sure why I excluded Northern Ireland. I’ve been there and know it’s part of the UK group.
Hmmmmmm. I’m still struggling with this one. On one side I like the idea of adding more countries to my country count but I’m still not convinced.
I see them all as very separate cultures etc but so many sources still say UK is one country. I tend to go by the UN recognized countries.
“Regarding England, Scotland and Wales, though all are widely considered individual countries, they are all still a part of the United Kingdom (UK), a recognized European country by the United Nations, United States, and others, and therefore included within the United Kingdom on our country list below.”
Many sources seem to say this so…aaahhhhh I don’t know what to believe anymore!

I can certainly see why it can get so confusing. The British Empire lives on!

England is most definitely a country. I think the fact that we have a unifying government which deals with international affairs on behalf of all 4 member countries of the United Kingdom is why it is classified as one. It is one central administration and political body for all other countries and organisations to liaise with.

You might remember that last year the country of Scotland had a vote on independence and to possibly break away from the UK. Thankfully it was unsuccessful. If you know any people from Scotland and ask them which country they come from I’m sure they will say Scotland before the UK.

I do find it odd and a little frustrating when I go through Passport Control/Immigration and I am asked for my nationality. I naturally say “English” (or inclined to Irish since I am half Irish). However the only one they accept is “British”. I guess that is because it is the administrative body they accept.

I think we have to see some grey area here. England, Scotland and Wales are most definitely countries. From a political and administrative point of view I guess the UK can be viewed as one too. I think it all comes down to which criteria you are applying.

I’m with you on the 7 continents – and quite funny that someone thought that the UK wasn’t on any continent!

You should have seen it Suze, he was 100% certain in his beliefs. I don’t remember getting a concrete answer from him when I asked how can a land mass not be part of a continent.

Yeah, that is really funny! That’s crazier than what I was saying about England/UK! Great explanation, btw, The Continent Trivia Guy!

Welcome back! ‘Hope you had a great break / time off?

There are definitely 7 continents.

Asia is a completely different continent although I do tend to say Australasia to cover the little islands surrounding the great expanse of space!

As for the UK. I always get asked about this a lot since I live in Germany and people think it’s the same country. %&!

It’s absolutely not LOL!

I tell my clients that the UK consists of 3 seperate countries and Britain has 4 countries. We’re all British as we have the same nationality and passport as do people in Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey. I’ve been to Jersey. It’s closer to France than it is to England LOL!

I remind them that in the FIFA World Cup, they are seperate although in the Olympics, we’re together. It is sometimes confusing, Yes. Sigh!

Always a pleasure to chat with you. Yes I’m back yet at a much slower pace than before. I’ll keep posting but I don’t know what the frequency will be just yet. Certainly not a guarantee of twice a week anymore – just not enough time.

Yes, us Brits tend to confuse people a bit don’t we 😉 I think you have however got your number of countries in the UK and Britain the wrong way around. Have a look at the front of your passport to see the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. I believe Britain is England, Scotland and Wales.

Ah yes, the Falklands, Gibraltar etc. The last remains of the once British Empire and still being disputed! It really shows the varied, and sometimes not so proud history our nation holds.

You’re right. That was the devil’s print.

4 Kingdoms and 1 Nationality. That’s what I actually say…!

As for the Channel Islands. What a horrible scandal!

The only reason that Europe is regarded as a continent is centuries of European arrogance.

I haven’t heard that one before Graham. How did you form that view?

There’s no geological or geographical separation with Asia at all so it was only an assumption of the importance of Europe that could justify it.

Ah I see 🙂 Thanks for the explanation Graham.

Too funny, I just recently learned of these different ideas. I’m old fashioned though so I stick with the 7 🙂 I wish I was only 1 away from seeing them all- good for you!

Thanks Cathy. I like the idea of 7, it is what I’ve been brought up with and works well for me and most of the people I associate with.

Wishing you all the best for ticking off the lucky seven.

I am from Costa Rica and we are thought in most of America(Yes we are though America is one whole land mass = 1 continent divided in north, central and south) that there are only 6 continents. I guess most of the people on that read this will agree that no one will be able to agree on how many there are.

What I really want to emphasize that in a certain way people from United States of America could call themselves Americans because the country is kind of named after the continent(What makes me think why is it called United States of America instead of United States of North America). As an example I will use Mexico, how would you call a person from Mexico? Mexican right? Well actually the oficial name is Estados Unidos Mexicanos(United States of Mexico) so if we use the same idea, we could call people from US “Americans” just simply because the Country is name after the continent.

Just sharing some of those thoughts you get through conversations with people from other cultures.

They are some great thoughts, thanks for sharing. I think you are correct in that many people will have a different view as to how many continents there are and what countries belong way. If there is ever to be a universal definition of the continents then I guess we’d need a global body such as the UN to define them.

Nice comments about Mexico too. Thank you.

Good point Carlos. I wonder why global education cannot give us one definitive answer.

Because continents aren’t “real” and don’t exist in nature. They exist only in the mind of man in his eternal quest to categorize things, some of which are, in truth, uncategorizable. Geology just does it’s thing – volcanos erupt, tectonic plates move, erosion takes place and the land changes. There is no law of nature that says those changes have to take place in continent-sized units. Part of the rocks that are in Florida are also in Morocco (they used to be joined).

So the answer is there is no “answer”. There are no continents, objectively speaking. We can choose to give certain land areas that label, but since it is largely subjective based on the criteria chosen, there still naturally be disagreements over the criteria and the conclusions from those criteria.

Very good points there Kentix, thanks for commenting.