Geography 101. (Continents)

OK so back onto Geography.
There is a big discusion in the geography community that has been going every sense some smart ass Geography student looked at the map and said.

Wait.... Europe and Asian are basically the same landmass.
Or.
Wait..... North and South America are connected by a small strip of land.
Or.
Wait..... Asia and Africa are connected by a small strip of land.

OK so the problem stems from one fact.
There is no GOOD definition of a Continent.
The most widly used is "Continents are understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, ideally separated by expanses of water."

OK so that means.
#1. Large. But large is a general term. Asia makes up 30% of the earth's landmass. So its Large by any comparison, but really just saying large is pretty slip shot.
#2.Continuous. OK so this one isn't that bad. And this is were most people throw in Asia/Africa and North/South America. The Argument is that a tiny little strip of land doesn't constitute Continuous.
#3. Discrete. So if you take Europe to a hotel and do the Nasty it wont kiss and tell.... No wait, when they say Discrete they mean apart from other 'enter word here' land masses in this case.
#4. Ideally Separated by Expanses of water. That's kind of iffy as well that's like saying a Sandwich Ideally has bread on it.. but we will let it slide.


OK so there are a number of opinions about how many continents there are, but they tun the gamut from 5 to 7.

Now what we are looking for hear is a good CONSISTENT count of Continents.

7. The first being the Seven Continents model. This is the one most westerners are taught in school. North/South America Africa, Australia, Antarctica, Europe and Asia. OK so the only trouble with this one is that Asia and Europe have NOTHING dividing them. Some people say the Ural Mountains do. But screw them, no one said anything about Mountains counting, if they did then India/California would be there own Continents.
Now the reason that Asia and Europe are separate is ~Drum Roll~ Because the Europeans and Asian's want it that way. NO REALLY that's why, because the cultures of the two land.... area's (Senses its the same landmass) Are so different they like it that way. That and if its was the same area then it would be HUGE. 36% of the earth's land mass. and holding 71% of the earth's population.

6a. aka:The smart six.
ok so the first of two counts just stats the above. That Asia and Europe are the same land mass, and should be the same Continent, in fact many people who use the 7 Continent count still use the term Eurasia (Notice that Europe is first in the name, Despite being small, having less people and being 2nd alphabetically, Course Asiope sounds dumb) the up side to this count is that it's consistent at least.

6b. aka:The crazy six.
ok so this one has the same number of Continents as the above, but this time idle is that Europe and Asia are different land masses but the America's (North and south) are the same land mass. Now i think most people right away would see the trouble, THIS is not consistent. If north and south America are the same land mass, shouldn't Africa/Asia be the same? or Europe and Asia be the same? I mean North and south america are only connected by a 70 mile wide Isthmus most of it being lake.
Africa and Asia minor. (The middle easy) are only connected by 119 mile wide Isthmus, most of it being natural river. So what that 30 miles make all the difference?

Now to be fair, this is mostly taught in South / Middle America. And most people who teach this also think North America is much smaller then it is. (As do most Americans) So there grasp of Geography is more of a Social idle and less of a Earth Science.

5. The Crazy five!
ok so this one is crazy for the same reason as above, this one is a combination of the two above. America (A combo of the north/south) Eurasia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica.
OK so again we go back to the Africa/Asia thing. Why are they separate if north and south America arent?

And Finally.

4! aka: The consistent one.
You ever see a movie were there is ONE Sane guy in the whole movie? This is that guy.
This one just takes the 5 Continent idle and makes it NOT CRAZY by saying.
"Hay is Africa is touching Asia, And Asia is touching Europe. Then.... Arent they all the same landmass?

Yes, yes it is. Afro-Eurasia aka Afrasia aka Eurafrasia aka Eurasica.
Or as i like to call it the African-Eurasia SUPER CONTINENT!
is just that idle that you must be consistent in your counting, and that anything touching anything else is the same landmass. The problem with this model is simply that this new super continent comprises 56% of the worlds landmass and 85% of the population of the planet.

The idle of Continents is to divine the worlds landmass into smaller parts so you can quickly and easily refer to places, if you say Afro-Eurasian Crisis. That's pretty general.

PS: Tectonic theory.
So people have the idle, or have posed the idle that you could just use Tectonic plates to decide how many Continents there are. But there are a couple problems with this idle, #1. Continents are older then Tectonic Drift theory. By o..... 1800 some odd years. #2. Continents are a matter of Geography, Tectonic plates are a matter of Geology. And THOSE are NOT the same subjects my friend. #3. If you did that there would be screwed up Continents.

For instant Austrailia and India are on the same plate. The middle east is on its own plate, Greece is ALMOST on its own plate, All of Eurasia is on one plate with the exception of the north easy part of Russia. The Phillippines are on there own plate, Panama as well. So you see the trouble.