Continents

Continent Definition(s): 

1. One of the six or seven great divisions of land on the globe. (source: www.merriam-webster.com )
2. "Continent" derives from the Latin terra continēns [terra = “land”, continēns = present participle of the verb contineō = con ‎(“together”) + teneō ‎(“I hold”). The meaning is therefore ‎“land held together” or "connected land."  (source: www.worldometers.info )

7 Continents (photo credit: en.wikipedia.org)

Do you remember in school when you learned about the continents? I don’t.  No really, it's like blur, but somehow I know that continents group countries in a piece of land. The number of countries as of the big 20-20, is 193 according to Worldometer. 

To those of us who were taught that there are 7 continents, we know that there is: North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Antarctica, and Australia. But there other ways to group the continents in smaller groups. Depending on where you were taught or how you believe the number of continents should be or are. For example, my parents who were born in Colombia, were taught that there were 6 continents, which to me back then was weird.

Like, I mentioned there are other ways to group continents. By using the information on my favorite website so far, Worldometer, I was able to make a table of the different groupings of continents.

7 Continents	Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia ( or Oceania), Antarctica
6 Continents	Africa, Europe, Asia, Americas, Australia ( or Oceania), Antarctica ~or~ Africa, Eurasia, North America, South America, Oceania, and Antarctica
5 Continents	Africa, Eurasia, America, Oceania (or Australia), Antarctica
4 Continents	Afro-Eurasia, America, Australia ( or Oceania), and Antarctica
2 Continents (Past Continent Models)	Old (Europe, Asia and Africa) and New (North and South America)

***Click on the continents on the '6 Continents' row for more info!***

Isn’t it cool? 

The most commonly used number continent grouping 5, 6 and 7.

As you continue to explore the continents and the countries, note that I will be using 6 continents. But I will be separating the Americas into three groups: North, Central and South America.

Thanks for reading!