Ben asks:
Why is Europe a continent, and Asia also a continent… but India is not?
considering India and Asia are two plates ramming into each other.
Apparently India is a subcontinent but that seems arbitrary.
Anyone have an idea?
my corner of nowhere particular
Ben asks:
Why is Europe a continent, and Asia also a continent… but India is not?
considering India and Asia are two plates ramming into each other.
Apparently India is a subcontinent but that seems arbitrary.
Anyone have an idea?
And why do Europe and Asia get to arbitrarily be seperate continents? In my mind, Europe and Asia are one, India is one, and you could argue for the mid-east being it’s own little continent.
I bet it has to do with something like the British were “in charge” when these things were thought of. They didn’t want india to get a its own Idea, like, hey we don’t need to be under Europe’s rule cause we are a continent. Britain wanted them under their imperial thumb and so the debased their general idea of their land by making them feel like less of a land mass.
I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that when continents were divided up, the idea of plate tectonics was a little far off. The greeks started the whole continent shenanigans vs. the plate idea wasn’t around till 1950 or something. I would research this further, but I’m lazy.
After a little research… historic continents are different form geological continents. Indeed, the continents as we’re taught in school were defined loosely by the Greek… using the Aegean as the seperation between them. Europe adopted this view and expanded it later with North/South America.
Geologists think of continents the way I thought they should be thought of… seperate shields based on plate techtonics and such things. Europe extends to the Ural mountains, Asia loses a bit of it’s eastern portion to North America, India is it’s own continent, etc.
Pretty picture:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Plates_tect2_en.svg
That being said, shouldn’t we update what we teach to reflect this more accurate view of the world?
If we do that, we’d have to start using the metric system, and nobody wants that.
Why are North America and Europe continents, and not Sander? Considering Sander usually has two large plates ramming into each other at the dinner table and the large amount of space that his body takes up.
Sander is a small planet, he has his own continents.
So Sander is a planet but not Pluto? Does that mean Sander masses more than Pluto?
Fat jokes and more fat jokes…why is Ben so bitter towards me?
Just silly reasons….
-11 years ago, while horsing around, I smushed his younger sister. RIP Jeanette.
-His girlfriend has only 9 real fingers, from that time I mistook her left thumb for a canoli.
-Thanks my discovery of a time machine in 2018, I’m actually Ben’s father.
-Once I bribed a Charter Digital Cable worker into changing all of Ben’s TV channels to WE and Telemundo.
-I convinced a college professor it was Ben who kept peeing on his car, who then kidnapped one of Ben’s dogs and mailed him back pieces of Scooter in exchange for passing test grades.
-About once a year, I steal his car and replace the entire drivetrain with parts from an old Volvo, then return it to his garage.
-I’ve eaten every one of his birthday cakes since 1989.
I think it’s about time to let this whole “grudge” thing go already, you red-haired poorsport.
Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I’ll give you a big hug later, you big softie.