Reply
Sat 8 Feb, 2014 10:12 am
When does an island become a continent? Or, are all continents or inter-continents an island, but no (or not all) islands are continents?
We define, for example, the islands of Hawaii and Japan as islands. But, is Australia an island, or is too big (so, would an island be defined in terms of physical size?)? In fact, why isn't the North and South American continents defined as one island? And, how about Pangaea? It is one big land mass surrounded by one bigger ocean...
@iGeo,
iGeo wrote:When does an island become a continent?
It's an arbitrary distinction. Every land mass greater than Greenland is a continent. Every land mass smaller than Australia is an island. Why draw the line between Greenland and Australia? No reason. It's just a convention among geographers. Geographers with a time machine wouldn't know how to apply it to the land masses of the past; geographers with a space ship wouldn't know how to apply it to alien planets.
@Thomas,
If it's an arbitrary convention (or a convention without a distinct technical definition), then one could consider contiguous inter-continents as islands. Neat!
@iGeo,
iGeo wrote:If it's an arbitrary convention (or a convention without a distinct technical definition), then one could consider contiguous inter-continents as islands. Neat!
Indeed. We could call them islands all the way up to Eurasiafrica and NorthAndSouthAmerica --- or continents all the way down to St Helena, or whatever the smallest island is. I don't think it would change anything substantive in geography.
When does an island become a continent?
When i say it does, and not a moment before!
@iGeo,
This does not help me at all. I might report you for wasting my time. I am writing an essay on when an island becomes a continent and was searching about it on the internet when I found this. I love Australia. You should not be talking about Australia when you probably do not live in Australia. You were wasting YOUR time by writing this article. Actually it is not even an article. I am going to report you to the police if you do not delete this right now.
@ros76768,
Hell yes. Report Him Now! Our time is valuable.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace