Everyone knows that Russia is in two continents; Europe and Asia, but Russia is really the
only obvious transcontinental nation, but not the only one, not by a long shot, so what
are the world's trans-continental nations?
[Intro] Okay, let's start off with criteria for what
I'm defining as a continent, because you've made it VERY CLEAR to me how important listing
criteria is!
I am going to go with a 7-continent view, N. America, S. America, Europe, Asia, Africa,
Antarctica (which we'll ignore, as most of it looks like this []) and, in order to not
have any confusion, Oceania.
Good?
If yes, great!
If no, I'm sorry, but I can't change anything now.
First, let's start with nations in Europe and Asia, obviously there's Russia, but there's
also Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan (both also landlocked), Georgia (not that Georgia), Turkey and Greece.
Azerbaijan and Georgia are almost completely in Asia, with only small parts in Europe.
Greece holds onto 4 islands off the coast of Turkey that are still considered part of
Asia, they are; Rhodes, Samos, Chios and Kastellorizo.
Nearby Turkey is mostly in Asia, but has a small bit of southeastern Europe, known as
Turkish Thrace, hosting five provinces; Edirne, Kırklareli, Tekirdağ, Istanbul and Çanakkale
(the last two are transcontinental), in fact, their largest city, the aforementioned Istanbul
(or, depending on who you are, Constantinople, Byzantium, Nova Roma, Constantinopolis, or…
wow, this city had a lot of names!) anyway, Istanbul is widely known for being the world's
only metropolis in two continents, as it straddles both sides of the Bosphorus, which, along
with the Dardanelles, separate Anatolia from Europe (it's important to know that it's not
the only transcontinental settlement, just the only major metropolis).
Lastly, Kazakhstan is also partly in Europe, as the border is on the Caucasus mountains,
and the Ural mountains, which is how Kazakhstan is partly in Europe.
Next, let's move onto Asia and Africa.
If you look closely, you'll see that Egypt is partly in Asia (yes, the Middle East is
in Asia, is it really that hard to understand?!), via the Sinai peninsula, separated from Africa
in one way or another.
Egypt may be in Africa and Asia, but it isn't the only one, Yemen also technically spans
both continents, via Socotra, which is much closer to Somalia than Arabia.
In the Americas, Panama straddles the border between the Americas, making it in two continents,
unless you speak their language.
Venezuela also holds onto Isla de Aves, which is technically in the N. American part of
the Caribbean.
Technically speaking Indonesia is in two continents; Asia and Oceania, a chain of islands in the
South Pacific stretching from Australia to Hawaii, which also technically means that
the US is in two continents, actually three, as it also holds some islands in Alaska that
are much closer to Asia than N. America.
East Timor is only in one continent; Asia, or Oceania?
Actually, that's disputed, as there is no one set line between Asia
and Oceania, which leaves East Timor in the crossfire of the dispute.
France, Denmark, the UK and the Netherlands (also Spain) also span multiple continents
through colonies.
Denmark still technically controls Greenland, in N. America, and the other three have numerous
island territories they've never let go of, like Réunion, Saint Martin, Aruba, Montserrat,
French Guiana, etc.
Iceland is also technically in two continents, again, Europe and N. America, well, sort of,
it's just like East Timor.
Iceland is situated on the fault line between the Eurasian and North American plates, but
it is much closer to Greenland (400 km) than mainland Europe (1,000 km), but it's closer
to Europe than mainland N. America (2,000 km), yet still considered Europe, and it has
a European-dominated culture, but then again so does most of the rest of the Americas (sorry,
native Americans).
What?
Continents are confusing!
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See you on Wednesday, and stay positive!