Why are there still 7 continents?

My first introduction to how ludicrous this all is was as a child encountering people who seriously called people who live on the same tectonic plate as us, who used to be directly connected to us with a land bridge only a few 10kA ago, and who have no continental slope or suchlike between us, "the continent".

If you thought that the Map Men were the only people challenging the Anglophones on this, with so much YouTube educational content in English rather parrotting the 7 continents dogma, be prepared for a YouTube channel that is actually called "Well ... actually" having got there years before. (-:

* https://youtube.com/watch?v=dwPuEPjX36E

I've generally thought that the 6 continent Eurasian model made the most sense. While reading this article, I've decided to start calling Europe a or the sub-continent now.

There are a variety of definitions, and for a number of definitions my country hints at claiming an entire “continent” [1] Not actually pressing a claim diplomatically but also not dismissing the idea of a claim.

Of course there is zero chance New Zealand would ever challenge Australia or France for territory, and little chance we could ever claim economic rights.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealandia

> 6 continents (Russia/ Eastern Europe): Africa, Eurasia, Europe, North America, South America, Antartica, Australia

Should the article delete Europe from that list?

"incontinent" also has a pretty loose definition.

The list of cratons on Wikipedia includes entries for Antarctica and Australia while omitting Greenland. I couldn't find a technical definition of a craton, but to geologists a continent must contain at least one craton to qualify.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shields_and_cratons

Good question.

Probably nobody knows.

I figure it's been stable for quite a long time, and if number 8 were to show up any time soon it would be a major Earth-shaking event :)