Why is Europe considered a separate continent?

I was just wondering this. Europe is not separated from Asia by an ocean or anything, so why is it considered its own continent? Is it something to do with plate tectonics? Or perhaps the vast cultural differences? Both?

Europeans, who defined continental boundaries, wanted to feel special and unique instead of being lumped in with "Eurasians".

This. Our continental categories date back to colonial times, when European colonialists wanted to make a distinction between Europe and Asia, when in reality it's just one continent that should have been called Eurasia. It would be more accurate to refer to Europe as a subcontinent, just like the Indian subcontinent.

That was at the back of my mind, as well. I was assuming racial or cultural reasons was why Europe was considered separate from Asia.

It was mostly just Europeans feeling superior so they made themselves their very own continent.

No.

India is a subcontinent because it's not part of the Eurasian plate though it is part of the same landmass. The Eurasian plate is actually one of the largest, no way in hell Europe is a subcontinent.

Britain should be its own continent. We are separated from the rest of Europe by the British Ocean.

You mean the British Indian Ocean.

@br0kenrabbit said:

@Jag85 said:

It would be more accurate to refer to Europe as a subcontinent, just like the Indian subcontinent.

No.

India is a subcontinent because it's not part of the Eurasian plate though it is part of the same landmass. The Eurasian plate is actually one of the largest, no way in hell Europe is a subcontinent.

Look at those Tectonic plates along California and Japan, no wonder there are so many earthquakes there

@br0kenrabbit said:

@Jag85 said:

It would be more accurate to refer to Europe as a subcontinent, just like the Indian subcontinent.

No.

India is a subcontinent because it's not part of the Eurasian plate though it is part of the same landmass. The Eurasian plate is actually one of the largest, no way in hell Europe is a subcontinent.

I'm pretty sure India was already known as a subcontinent even before the discovery of a separate Indian plate. Nevertheless, if we go by that definition, that would make Europe just a peninsula.

is it? i have only heard it referred to as the euroasian continent. thats what i learned in school anyway: europe sits on the euroasian continent.

bloody education system letting me down again :P.

Then Africa isn't a continent either, because it's connected to Asia.

you look like your from the uk

you're not really a part of europe, not in culture and not in land

you live on island

and then you emigrated to another continent because nobody wanted you in europe

Because we're awesome :3 :3

Colonialism.

Because we decided we are.

Actually, many Brits agree with you. When we refer to mainland Europeans, we usually just call them "the Europeans", as if we subconsciously admit that we're not really part of the continent. And many in Britain even want out of the EU, with UKIP, an anti-EU party, leading the UK's EU parliament elections this year.

No, I mean the ocean between Britain and Europe.

you mean the north sea lol

Britain has more right to be its own continent than Europe does.

Are you drunk?

Anyways europe is a continent because pretty much all of the civilized world comes from europe, without europe, no South America, no North America, no Australia, no New Zealand.

But they determine a continent by the tectonic plates and also the landmass. Which makes some asian countries use the term "Euroasia" which is correct but not widely accepted.

Since when was being separated by ocean the defining factor of a continent? Africa is connected to Asia, and North America and South America are also connected to eachother.

That's a pretty fucking ironic statement of you to start with considering your "civilized world" nonsense is completely incoherent. What the **** does "civilization" have to do with the word continent, which is a geological term? That's not even getting into the incredibly ignorant idea that European-descended nations make up most of the "civilized world" when the vast majority of humans live in Asian societies.

Though thank you for demonstrating exactly the "European cartographers want to be special snowflakes and come up with arbitrary bullshit reasons and borders to make themselves special snowflakes" bullshit I was talking about in my post.

There is a difference between being connected to another landmass exclusively via a puny little isthmus (the Americas have the Panama, and Afro-Eurasia the Suez) and being connected to "another landmass" via a 3, 000 km long land border.

The funny thing is that the Brits in the thread are demonstrating a very similar attitude. After all, they want to feel separated from Europe out of a desire to be special and different, even though their logic would also imply defining Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia to be separate from Asia. The U.K. is so puny that you can fit 20 - 30 Britains into Australia, meaning it completely fails to satisfy the "large landmass" characteristic of continents.

Similarly, Europe being its own continent simply defies the convention and logic set by the other six. And so the answer to the TC's question is very simple, Europe is a continent because the people who drew the world map didn't like being lumped in with "Asians" and arbitrarily defined Europe as a continent.

It was, because it was separated from the rest of the continent by the Himalayas. They didn't know it at the time but this is due to the Australian-Indian plate pushing into the Eurasian plate. So really plate tectonics was still the reason, it just wasn't understood as so.

The first civilizations arose in Asia and Northeast Africa, not Europe.

Actually, there are many Japanese people with similar attitudes, using "Asians" to refer to mainland Asians rather than themselves, just like how there are many Brits who use "Europeans" to refer to mainland Europeans rather than themselves. It's not necessarily because of a superiority complex, but just an easy shorthand way to refer to foreigners. But then again, I haven't noticed Filipinos or Indonesians doing that, so maybe it might be a superiority complex after all?

I said Civilized world, not Civilization.

because brown people

don't forget the yellow ones, too.

Because the First Men and the Andals don't mix with Dathoraki

Europe doesn't want to be associated with the middle east.

I don't blame them.

Because Russia.

Just like Japan should be its own continent right? Brits....

Sure, if they want that. I'm sure China wouldn't mind them isolating themselves.

Anyways, the British Ocean isn't wide enough to separate Britain from Europe and if you make it wider, the British Tunnel would break.

The reason Brits want to be separated from Europe has nothing to do with the definition of a continent. A large number of brits dont agree with European political ideologies. Its got nothing to do with being a special snowflake and nothing to do with this topic whatsoever really. Im sure your well aware of this so perhaps make your point more concise next time.