continents are political and made up
Updated 1 month, 1 week ago
As kids, we are taught that continents are large, continuous land masses surrounded by oceans.
Even kids poke holes at this notion. Why are Europe and Asia not one single continent? What is North America a continent?
Geological reasons are typically invoked, citing tectonic plaques or the movement of the continents across millennia. But none of those explanations provide a unifying criteria that arrives at any of the commonly used lists of continents.