Talk:Continent

Centralized discussion on oceania as a continent

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

Oceania

Is Oceania a continet? 180.249.200.170 (talk) 03:11, 13 March 2022 (UTC)

Depends on which system you are using. In the one I was taught, it isn't.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 20:50, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

the source cited states most people call the continent "Australia", this isn't the case. The source refers to it as Oceanic (sometimes referred to as Australia). Whilst Australia may be a continental plate this is different to our naming of continents. Eg. India, Fiji and Carribbean each have a continental plate but aren't continents. Conversely, Eurasia is one plate. 77.101.134.93 (talk) 18:12, 17 April 2024 (UTC)

Did you read the actual article or just the weird blurb at the top? Because the ARTICLE says Australia. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 19:33, 17 April 2024 (UTC)

In English the continent is Australia and the islands of the Pacific which are included within the geographical description called Oceania are not considered part of the Australian continent. Mostly because they are not continental by any description. Andrewgprout (talk) 22:23, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

In some non-English-speaking countries, yes. Since both Asia and Europe (which are parts of the same landmass) have been classified as separate continents, I see no reason why Oceania, a region comprises one landmass (Australia-New Guinea), one submerged landmass (Zealandia), and three large island groups (Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia), wouldn't be considered a continent. 2001:8003:9008:1301:14DC:3024:190E:8638 (talk) 13:58, 30 April 2022 (UTC)

This is simply not true. New Zealand is not part of the Australian continent, for example, and nor are Fiji, Samoa, the Cook Islands, etc. The colour-coded map at the top of the article is entirely wrong in this respect.Newzild (talk) 04:24, 16 September 2022 (UTC)

Oceania is not a continent, it is a region. SmokeyJoe (talk) 21:12, 17 April 2024 (UTC)

Information in the "Number" section does not say a word about Oceania, neither explains why it is shown grey on the color map. JSoos (talk) 10:05, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

I propose we switch the map from saying Australia to Oceania. 165.234.101.98 (talk) 14:44, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

Oceania isn’t a continent. It’s a region. The colour-coded animated map incorrectly shows Oceania as part of Australia. Newzild (talk) 22:40, 5 November 2023 (UTC)

Australasia was the original proposed name for the continent of Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea. There are maps that use the term still, but Wikipedia's Oceania usage has caused many to recognise that as the continent name instead.

Maybe a note saying that the continent in the Asia Pacific region has multiple names is warranted? 2A04:4A43:8DDF:FC32:E9A4:F5A1:B11E:E076 (talk) 22:19, 11 November 2023 (UTC)

Did your geography class in England teach you that New Zealand is a part of a continent called Australasia? I always thought Australasia is just a subregion of Oceania. 2001:8003:9100:2C01:8D5:B620:D6B2:B901 (talk) 10:23, 26 November 2023 (UTC)

Not true. Australasia was not proposed is terms of “continent”(s).

Australasia is a simple term that means south of Asia, and it commonly meant Australia and New Zealand, with variable inclusion of New Guinea. SmokeyJoe (talk) 21:17, 17 April 2024 (UTC)

Continent models

The approach that separates Europe and Asia while combining North and South America is also taught in (at least) Germany (if not other Germanic-language countries).```15:33, 29 September 2023 (UTC) 199.127.133.181 (talk) 15:33, 29 September 2023 (UTC)

• Source? 2001:8003:9100:2C01:8D5:B620:D6B2:B901 (talk) 08:44, 26 November 2023 (UTC)

You’d really need a better source for it than “take my word for it”. Germany has many different education systems. Does that apply to all the federal states? Joe vom Titan (talk) 21:55, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 December 2023

The “Area and population” section of this article has all the areas quite precise e.g Asia’s land area is listed as precisely 44,614,000 square kilometres and Africa’s exactly 30,365,000, as opposed to being rounded. The only exception to this is Europe, which for some reason is listed as “10,000,000” in km2, and therefore 3,900,000 in square miles. Per Europe’s article, Europe is 10,180,000 square kilometres or, in square miles, 3,930,000. Why is Europe randomly rounded down in size while the others aren’t? Oceania is listed as precisely as the ones (8,510,926). I therefore ask for Europe’s land area in the table in the “Area and population” section of this article to be changed to 10,180,000 km2 and 3,930,000 sq mi, in line with the others.

Thank you 2A00:23C6:95CE:B401:E1C7:EEB3:AD96:2A9 (talk) 21:25, 23 December 2023 (UTC)

A map illustrating various definitions of the boundaries between Europe and Asia

Have you read the intro of this section? It says:

"The following table provides areas given by Encyclopædia Britannica for each continent in accordance with the seven-continent model, including Australasia along with Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia as parts of Oceania."

All area figures are directly from the Encyclopædia Britannica. For some reason, it gives a rough figure for the area of Europe, but more precise figures for all other continents. My guess is because there is a dispute in regard to the exact location of the Asia-Europe border.

The Encyclopædia Britannica has always used Line A as the Asia-Europe border, but Lines B & F are the one used by most sources these days. Therefore, in order to not complicate things, the Encyclopædia Britannica just states that the area of Europe is approx. 10,000,000 sq km.

P.S. The area of Oceania given by the Encyclopædia Britannica is also controversial, it doesn't include the area of Western New Guinea (administered by Indonesia). The area of Oceania in physical geography is approx. 8,970,000 sq km. 203.46.37.2 (talk) 03:45, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

An excellent response, thank you for clarifying 2A00:23C6:95CE:B401:DD28:C35:6D38:580F (talk) 14:00, 29 December 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 5 January 2024

Can someone change the Olympic Flag colour reasons from "Segements of the world" to "Colours represented on all the flags of the World? please? (cos it's correct). 2001:8003:6DB5:A800:68BD:F0D1:8FE9:F2BB (talk) 10:33, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

 Not done: I couldn't find the phrase you're referring to in the article. Can you say which section it is in? Liu1126 (talk) 12:35, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

Maybe it is time to replace Australia (continent) with Oceania?

Including Australia (continent) as one of the seven continents on Earth is somewhat old-fashioned. In this article, the orginal editor tries to convey the idea that "In the English-speaking countries, Australia has been recognized as a proper continent instead of Oceania". This is not true. I am currently sitting in a library, in front of me is the 2010 edition of the Times Atlas of the World. On page 4 (first page after the table of contents), it states: "The continent of Oceania comprises Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and the islands of the Pacific Ocean."

The current trend in mainstream geography is to treat continents as large geographical regions (i.e. islands are included as part of the continent) instead of large single-piece landmasses (i.e. continental mainland excluding islands). I can see more and more countries, including the English-speaking countries, include Oceania as one of the continents instead of Australia (continent), which people often confuse with the country of Australia. I reckon we should align with the mainstream by replacing Australia (continent) with Oceania. 103.228.188.122 (talk) 04:57, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

Defining what is included in Oceania seems to be as problematic as including Oceania as a continent. Some sources include e.g. Japan and the Aleutian Islands in Oceania. I think the question "what is in Oceania?" should be resolved before attempting to answer the question "is Oceania a continent?". GeoWriter (talk) 15:00, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

posted in an old chat above. This seems like the most appropriate place to put it.

The source cited states most people call the continent "Australia", this isn't the case. The source refers to it as "Oceania (sometimes referred to as Australia)". Whilst Australia may be a continental plate this is different to our naming of continents. Eg. India, Fiji and Carribbean each have a continental plate but aren't continents. Conversely, Eurasia is one plate.

Oceania encompasses a number of different plates and would therefore be more fitting if we are sticking to naming conventions rather than listing every continental plate. 77.101.134.93 (talk) 18:16, 17 April 2024 (UTC)

Looking at the actual source, there is a sort of blurb at the top of the page that says "The continents are, from largest to smallest: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Oceania (sometimes called Australia)." but the main text of the article says "A continent is one of Earth’s seven main divisions of land. The continents are, from largest to smallest: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia." --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 19:24, 17 April 2024 (UTC)

Also, the box with the images lists one slide as "Australia & Oceania" and states that "Australia is the largest landmass on the continent of Australia." --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 19:30, 17 April 2024 (UTC)