As we seen in the last video there are several different ways of thinking about how many
continents there are, with the most widespread models ranging from 5 to 7 continents. However,
in most English speaking countries, as well as other nations around the world, the 7-continent
model is taught. Using this model, the continents of the world in order of size are: Asia, Africa,
North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.
Compared to the other contents Australia is quite small, with even the tiny Europe being
1.32x bigger. Also unlike Eurasia, Africa and the Americas, Australia is unconnected
to other land masses. But despite this it is still considered a continent instead of
a massive island. Because of this the title of worlds biggest
island goes to Greenland found sitting on the opposite end of the world, and this begs
the question: Why is Australia a continent and Greenland is an island?
It turns out that there are no official conditions that each continent has to meet in order to
be considered a continent, which explains why there are so many different models of
thinking when it comes to how many continents there are.
However, there are several largely accepted factors that classify different regions of
the world as continents. These factors include historic recognition, size, tectonic independence
from other continents, unique flora and fauna, cultural uniqueness, and local belief in continental
status. Australia was discovered during the age of
sail making it seem a lot bigger than it might seem today. At the time sailing around the
island could take months of continues sailing (*a modern sail boat apparently would take
3 months nonstop) and for the Dutch and British explorers who mapped the continent this would
be comparable to sections of other continents they would have passed on the way. The British
explorers might have subconsciously compared the size of Australia to the British isles
and concluded it was a continent rather than a island.
Greenland on the other hand at the time was never explored in the same way, due to glaciers
and the harsh conditions of the region. While Australia is significantly larger than
Greenland, Greenland often appears larger on maps because of the distortion caused by
proximity to the North Pole. (*A similar effect can be observed with Alaska.)
Australia is 7,692,024 km² in size making it 3.6x the size of Greenland at 2,166,086
km². This is a considerable difference but does not seem as stark when Greenland is compared
to the second largest island New Guinea which is 2.8x smaller at 785,753 km², or when compared
to a large island like Great Britain which is 10x smaller than Greenland. 209,331 km²
Australia rests on its own tectonic plate called the Australian Plate. Greenland, on
the other hand, sits on the North American tectonic plate. Meaning it is not geologically
separate from Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
Australia certainly has its own unique flora and fauna, with native animals like kangaroos,
wombats, and Tasmanian Devils which are not found elsewhere in the world.
In contrast Greenland has fifteen unique species of plants, but its fauna, such as reindeer,
polar bears, and arctic foxes, can also be found elsewhere, such as in Canada.
Australia’s historic aboriginal culture is also quite unique. the country is also
more “Western” in ideology than most other countries in the South Pacific, making it
a unique culture in its geographic area. The locals consider themselves to live on both
an island and a continent, fulfilling the last of the criteria.
Meanwhile Greenland does have its own distinct culture, as it is considered part of the larger
North American arctic culture. Finally, Greenlanders do not, for the most part, believe that they
live on a continent. They consider themselves to be islanders.
In conclusion: these definitions of a continent are shaky at best, as for instance looking
at a map of tectonic plates, you can see that Europe sits on the Eurasian Tectonic Plate
along with most of Asia. So only cultural difference and a feeling of separateness makes
it a separate continent. Similarly, India has its own tectonic plate as well—but in
this case, a sense of similar culture and flora and fauna makes India part of Asia rather
than its own continent. (although it is sometimes defined as a sub-continent)
It seems that to be a continent, an area must fulfil most of this unofficial criteria. In
this case, Australia succeeds where Greenland does not, drawing a line between what makes
the smallest continent and the largest island.
One of the biggest differences between Australia and Greenland, other than their obvious climate
differences, is population. Australia has over 22 million inhabitants, making it the
55th most populous nation in the world. Greenland, on the other hand, has just over 57 thousand
inhabitants, making it the 205th most populous nation in the world. However, if population
determined continental status, Antarctica would not be considered a continent, either.
Australia and Greenland have quite a few features in common. People living in both countries
largely live along the coast due to nearly uninhabitable land covering each of the countries—in
Greenland, the natural barrier is an ice cap, while in Australia it’s a desert. Australia
is an island in the South Pacific, roughly 7.75 million square kilometres (about 3 million
square miles) and the sixth largest country in the world. Greenland is an island that
sits between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean. It is just over 2.16 million
square kilometres (834K square miles), making it the twelfth largest country in the world.
Greenland is the largest island after Australia—so why isn’t it considered a continent, too?