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A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single landmass or a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of Asia or Europe. Due to this, the number of continents varies; up to seven or as few as four geographical regions ...
Vespucci, following his four voyages exploring the coastlines of Venezuela and Brazil, first developed the idea that the newly discovered western land was in fact a continent. The German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller created the earliest known map showing the name America, which he applied to the South American continent only.
The four continents, plus Australia, added later.. Europeans in the 16th century divided the world into four continents: Africa, America, Asia, and Europe. [1] Each of the four continents was seen to represent its quadrant of the world—Africa in the south, America in the west, Asia in the east, and Europe in the north.
(Definitions of "continents" are a physical and cultural construct dating back centuries, long before the advent or even knowledge of plate tectonics; thus, defining a "continent" falls into the realm of physical and cultural geography (i.e. geopolitics), while continental plate definitions fall under plate tectonics in the realm of geology.)
It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, [2] [3] – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by some, simply as the Continent. [4] When Eurasia is regarded as a single continent, Europe is treated both as a continent and subcontinent .
In contemporary English, North and South America are generally considered separate continents, and taken together are called the Americas in the plural. When conceived as a unitary continent, the form is generally the continent of America in the singular.
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The Americas are recognized in the English-speaking world to include two separate continents: North America and South America. In parts of Europe and Latin America, America is considered to be a single continent, within which North and South America are regions. [2]