How many continents are there?


We are commonly taught that seven continents exist – North America, South America, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. But is this answer really true? As YouTube sensation C.G.P. Grey points out in a new video, the definition of a continent isn’t consistent. In a nearly four-minute video, Grey explains (to I-guarantee-it-will-be-stuck-in-your-head kind of music) that depending on the determining factors, the number of continents could range from as few as five or four to as many as dozens.

Using the definition of “large land masses separated from others by oceans,” is problematic, Grey points out, as technically Europe and Asia aren’t separated by an ocean, North and South America are technically only “separated” by a man-made canal and Antarctica, if one is to be precise, is actually an archipelago covered by ice rather than a legitimate land mass. Very confusing.

Weigh in below – is the traditional definition of “continent” correct? Or, like the shocking discovery that Pluto is, in fact, not a planet, should our definition and childhood textbooks be revised?