As far as the ordering the continents goes, it seems to me that we have two options: 1) by size (current) 2) alphabetically (my revision).
Therefore, I have reordered the Continents template alphabetically.
Aren't they both more or less the same terms. Then why have two articles on them? Fine, have two articles on them but why mention both of them on this template? I think either Australasia or Oceania should be removed and replaced by the Indian subcontinent. -- Deepak| वार्ता 08:39, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
Australia is not a continent, Oceania is, I suggest the deletion of "Australia" from a list of continents. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.8.99.202 ( talk) 19:04, 24 June 2011 (UTC)
While it is true that by "definition" it is not a continenet, it is also true that by definition Iceland, Greenland, Cuba, etc are not part of their respective continents. Yet, they still appear on the maps. In the same way, Oceania is not by definition a continent however it acts as one, and is considered one by many as shown by the continent article. This is why I argue for its inclusion. 74.137.230.39 02:18, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
Kerguelen Plateau & Zealandia have recently been added in the section " Mythical and theorised continents". This is an inappropriate section for them as they are real places. If they are to remain, they need their own section called perhaps "Submerged continents". However I wonder whether there are other similar places or whether the likes of Madagascar and New Caledonia should be added too, perhaps in a section called "Submerged and fragmentary continents". These places are all now mentioned in the continent article. Nurg 09:59, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
There is currently discussion happening at Talk:Australia (continent) regarding changes to Australia (continent) and to Australia-New Guinea. In line with my proposals WRT those articles, I have produced a new draft of this template, which also includes a solution to the Kerguellen Plateau & Zealandia issue. Implementation of the draft template is dependent on what conclusion is reached at Talk:Australia (continent) so it may be well to discuss the draft there rather than here. The draft template would need a world map in the same dimensions as the others and with the Australian mainland alone coloured. Nurg 03:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
Is there a way to shorten the width of this template? It looks too long. 74.106.19.218 01:24, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
What are they??? It directs to Continent in the template.-- Redtigerxyz 12:10, 5 November 2007 (UTC)
This section should be removed from the template. They are not Continents "of the world". Each of the three listed is on a different, fictional, non-Earth planet. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.231.190.230 ( talk) 21:29, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
It would be really nice if there were maps of the supercontinents since most people are unfamiliar with them. I started to do it myself but a quick search through wikimedia shows that there really are no suitable maps there and the few that are there have some kind of strange license. Considering my own lack of knowledge about this subject, the uncertainties that probably exist about the exact shapes of the continents, and the fact that I don't have any map making software and its probably best if I just let someone who knows more about it do it. Lemmiwinks2 ( talk) 11:05, 28 August 2010 (UTC)
How about a microcontinents section for Madagascar etc? Or is it too much of an open question which they are? — kwami ( talk) 08:03, 19 October 2010 (UTC)
Why the adding link to Arabic page is not listed here and here...???. ترجمان05 ( talk) 10:59, 14 March 2011 (UTC)
My perspective is that if India or Arabia or Turkey are considered part of Eurasia or the Caribbean or either North or South America or Central America being part of a combined Americas despite floating on their own plates, then the term "continent" or "supercontinent" must not necessarily be limited by the existence of plate boundaries. During ice ages for the last few million years, Afro-Eurasia and the Americas are linked via the Bering land bridge, and there is a history of an permanent to intermittent connection between the Americas and Eurasia going much further back. Should these very large and relatively recent entities be included on the list at all?
I independently added Afro-Eurasia-America to the template under the "Geological supercontinents" section. It is undeniable that there is a common continental shelf connecting the Americas to Afro-Eurasia and that as recently as the last glacial maximum or so one could walk on dry land from the Southern Cone of South America to the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa by first traversing the Bering Land Bridge. If considered a continent, that land mass which constituted about 26 or 27% of the Earth's surface area and 85% or so of its surface area above sea level, would it not be considered a super-continent? Nanib ( talk) 01:15, 25 January 2012 (UTC)
I agree that in English we speak of "the Americas", and use "America" for the USA. My point here is different: When we say "the Americas", as when we say "the Dakotas", "the Carolinas", or "the Californias", we mean two entities with the same name taken together. That is, "the Americas" refers to two continents, North America and South America.
When, however, we refer to the New World as a single continent, it's simply the continent of America. Thus in this template, the New World should be labeled "America", not "Americas". I am in no way arguing that we should move the Americas article to the singular: in the common conception, the Americas are two continents and so the plural is appropriate. I'm not trying to establish a precedent; I'm happy with where that article is (except that I would add a "the", as we do for the Carolinas etc.) It is only in this specialized situation, that of the relatively uncommon conception of the Americas as a single continent, that we should use the singular.
A search of Google Books for "continent of Americas" from the last 20 years returns 8 hits. However, some turn out to be misreadings by the Google scanner, and some (such as Consolation of Mind) are written what might be charitably described as Indian English (the relevant paragraph of that book starts out "Man has committed more number of crimes and injustice"), and so are not relevant for standard (or American) English. What remains are 3 hits, two of them in journals. "Continent of America", on the other hand, returns over 400 hits (45 pages – this is about where GBooks maxes out these days). I haven't reviewed them all, of course, but they include a number of well-respected modern writers writing in impeccable style. Surprisingly, "continent of the Americas" also gets few hits: 63, of which only 14 check out. (Others speak of "the southern continent of the Americas" etc.; only 14 refer to the continent as a single entity, as simply "the continent of the Americas".)
It seems clear then, that when speaking of the Americas as a single continent, the common form in modern English is singular "America". — kwami ( talk) 06:48, 22 February 2013 (UTC)
PS. Adding "the" to the search, we get:
The OED, BTW, has examples of "the continent of America" but nothing for the other two. — kwami ( talk) 19:47, 22 February 2013 (UTC)
Geography Template‑class | ||||||||||||||
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As far as the ordering the continents goes, it seems to me that we have two options: 1) by size (current) 2) alphabetically (my revision).
Therefore, I have reordered the Continents template alphabetically.
Aren't they both more or less the same terms. Then why have two articles on them? Fine, have two articles on them but why mention both of them on this template? I think either Australasia or Oceania should be removed and replaced by the Indian subcontinent. -- Deepak| वार्ता 08:39, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
Australia is not a continent, Oceania is, I suggest the deletion of "Australia" from a list of continents. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.8.99.202 ( talk) 19:04, 24 June 2011 (UTC)
While it is true that by "definition" it is not a continenet, it is also true that by definition Iceland, Greenland, Cuba, etc are not part of their respective continents. Yet, they still appear on the maps. In the same way, Oceania is not by definition a continent however it acts as one, and is considered one by many as shown by the continent article. This is why I argue for its inclusion. 74.137.230.39 02:18, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
Kerguelen Plateau & Zealandia have recently been added in the section " Mythical and theorised continents". This is an inappropriate section for them as they are real places. If they are to remain, they need their own section called perhaps "Submerged continents". However I wonder whether there are other similar places or whether the likes of Madagascar and New Caledonia should be added too, perhaps in a section called "Submerged and fragmentary continents". These places are all now mentioned in the continent article. Nurg 09:59, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
There is currently discussion happening at Talk:Australia (continent) regarding changes to Australia (continent) and to Australia-New Guinea. In line with my proposals WRT those articles, I have produced a new draft of this template, which also includes a solution to the Kerguellen Plateau & Zealandia issue. Implementation of the draft template is dependent on what conclusion is reached at Talk:Australia (continent) so it may be well to discuss the draft there rather than here. The draft template would need a world map in the same dimensions as the others and with the Australian mainland alone coloured. Nurg 03:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
Is there a way to shorten the width of this template? It looks too long. 74.106.19.218 01:24, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
What are they??? It directs to Continent in the template.-- Redtigerxyz 12:10, 5 November 2007 (UTC)
This section should be removed from the template. They are not Continents "of the world". Each of the three listed is on a different, fictional, non-Earth planet. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.231.190.230 ( talk) 21:29, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
It would be really nice if there were maps of the supercontinents since most people are unfamiliar with them. I started to do it myself but a quick search through wikimedia shows that there really are no suitable maps there and the few that are there have some kind of strange license. Considering my own lack of knowledge about this subject, the uncertainties that probably exist about the exact shapes of the continents, and the fact that I don't have any map making software and its probably best if I just let someone who knows more about it do it. Lemmiwinks2 ( talk) 11:05, 28 August 2010 (UTC)
How about a microcontinents section for Madagascar etc? Or is it too much of an open question which they are? — kwami ( talk) 08:03, 19 October 2010 (UTC)
Why the adding link to Arabic page is not listed here and here...???. ترجمان05 ( talk) 10:59, 14 March 2011 (UTC)
My perspective is that if India or Arabia or Turkey are considered part of Eurasia or the Caribbean or either North or South America or Central America being part of a combined Americas despite floating on their own plates, then the term "continent" or "supercontinent" must not necessarily be limited by the existence of plate boundaries. During ice ages for the last few million years, Afro-Eurasia and the Americas are linked via the Bering land bridge, and there is a history of an permanent to intermittent connection between the Americas and Eurasia going much further back. Should these very large and relatively recent entities be included on the list at all?
I independently added Afro-Eurasia-America to the template under the "Geological supercontinents" section. It is undeniable that there is a common continental shelf connecting the Americas to Afro-Eurasia and that as recently as the last glacial maximum or so one could walk on dry land from the Southern Cone of South America to the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa by first traversing the Bering Land Bridge. If considered a continent, that land mass which constituted about 26 or 27% of the Earth's surface area and 85% or so of its surface area above sea level, would it not be considered a super-continent? Nanib ( talk) 01:15, 25 January 2012 (UTC)
I agree that in English we speak of "the Americas", and use "America" for the USA. My point here is different: When we say "the Americas", as when we say "the Dakotas", "the Carolinas", or "the Californias", we mean two entities with the same name taken together. That is, "the Americas" refers to two continents, North America and South America.
When, however, we refer to the New World as a single continent, it's simply the continent of America. Thus in this template, the New World should be labeled "America", not "Americas". I am in no way arguing that we should move the Americas article to the singular: in the common conception, the Americas are two continents and so the plural is appropriate. I'm not trying to establish a precedent; I'm happy with where that article is (except that I would add a "the", as we do for the Carolinas etc.) It is only in this specialized situation, that of the relatively uncommon conception of the Americas as a single continent, that we should use the singular.
A search of Google Books for "continent of Americas" from the last 20 years returns 8 hits. However, some turn out to be misreadings by the Google scanner, and some (such as Consolation of Mind) are written what might be charitably described as Indian English (the relevant paragraph of that book starts out "Man has committed more number of crimes and injustice"), and so are not relevant for standard (or American) English. What remains are 3 hits, two of them in journals. "Continent of America", on the other hand, returns over 400 hits (45 pages – this is about where GBooks maxes out these days). I haven't reviewed them all, of course, but they include a number of well-respected modern writers writing in impeccable style. Surprisingly, "continent of the Americas" also gets few hits: 63, of which only 14 check out. (Others speak of "the southern continent of the Americas" etc.; only 14 refer to the continent as a single entity, as simply "the continent of the Americas".)
It seems clear then, that when speaking of the Americas as a single continent, the common form in modern English is singular "America". — kwami ( talk) 06:48, 22 February 2013 (UTC)
PS. Adding "the" to the search, we get:
The OED, BTW, has examples of "the continent of America" but nothing for the other two. — kwami ( talk) 19:47, 22 February 2013 (UTC)