Talk:Continent

CIA World Fact Book classification of Australia and Oceania

The article currently lists the CIA World Fact Book as a reference supporting the classification of Oceania as a continent. Here's what the link actually says.[1]

"Location: Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean"

Compare this to what the same source says about New Zealand.[2]

"Location: Oceania, islands in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of Australia"

It's pretty clear that what the CIA is claiming is not that Oceania is a continent but that Australia is. Specifically the CIA claims that Australia is a continent located in Oceania between between the Indian and South Pacific Oceans. I'll be moving this reference. Jimp 07:50, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Continents list

Right now there is a bit of an edit war based around the list of continents in the article. One side believes it should appear like this and the other like this (here is a diff to show the changes). Obviously this needs to be discussed rather than continuously reverting back and forth. So let us discuss here. Either way (talk) 16:28, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

My view is that the article addresses both sides pretty well. It states the generally accepted standard of seven continents, then lists those seven. The rest of the article is devoted to the controversies surrounding these different classifications. I think the article does a good job of highlighting the accepted standard and gives good details about objects that exist about each of those classifications. Either way (talk) 16:30, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

What it doesn't do is actually provide a single source for North and South America being one continent or for Europe, Asia, and Africa(!) being a single continent. Encyclopædia Britannica seems a pretty reasonable source for there being seven, what actual source stipulates five? 2602:306:38DB:C189:A511:97E3:6CA1:F95 (talk) 06:16, 25 April 2014 (UTC)