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[-] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

In which Asia's and Africa's claim to "continent" status looks suddenly shaky, and Europe's completely laughable.

[-] mech@feddit.org 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If Africa was the same continent as Asia, it should be easy to walk across.
But you literally can't. The only connections are a freeway bridge (currently closed), a railway bridge, a road tunnel and ferries. And geologically, an ocean is in the process of opening up in between.

As for Europe, it doesn't even have its own continental plate.
It's less of a continent than India.

[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 3 points 18 hours ago

India is only not often counted as a continent because it decided to bum rush Asia, creating work for generations of sherpas dragging half-dead white men up excitingly tall mountains in the process.

[-] Successful_Try543@feddit.org 2 points 21 hours ago

If Africa was the same continent as Asia, it should be easy to walk across.

They literally had to dig the Suez channel to separate both.

[-] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

geologically, an ocean is in the process of opening up in between

Hardly. Africa is converging with Europe and the Med is being crushed. It's only moving away from Arabia.

[-] mech@feddit.org 3 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Maybe the oceanbuilding process between Africa and Asia stopped after I finished my MSc in Geoscience 10 years ago, but I doubt it.

It’s only moving away from Arabia.

Never said it would move away from anything else.

[-] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

stopped after I finished my MSc in Geoscience

This snarky argument from authority is redundant given that the facts are extremely easy to understand and outlined in the Wikipedia article I cited.

The biggest gap between Africa and Eurasia (PS; we agree that Europe is not a continent) is the Mediterranean sea, and it is getting smaller. That does seem relevant.

[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 2 points 19 hours ago

The Red Sea is what’s becoming an ocean, technically speaking.

this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2026
169 points (97.7% liked)

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