Australia- a country or continent?
Ken Leung
I think the continent is identified as "Oceania", including Tasmania and NZ.
Nevertheless, American schools identify the continent as "Australia" which I
think is plain wrong.
<address....@web.site www.mantra.com/jyotish (Dr. Jai Maharaj)> wrote
in message news:English-00k...@news.mantra.com...
> In article <UTRV6.11957$gg2.1...@news1.mts.net>,
> Bun Mui <BunM...@hotmail.com> posted:
> > Is Australia- a country or continent?
> > Or both? Comments? Bun Mui
>
> It's an underall.
>
> Jai Maharaj
> http://www.mantra.com/jai
> Om Shanti
Mike Oliver
>
> return to the original question...
>
> I think the continent is identified as "Oceania", including Tasmania and NZ.
That makes no sense at all. New Zealand is something like 1000 miles from
the coast of Australia; it can't possibly be a continental island.
John W Hall
wrote:
Perhaps, with all that beer they are reputed to drink, "incontinent"?
Odysseus
> >
> > I think the continent is identified as "Oceania", including Tasmania and NZ.
>
> That makes no sense at all. New Zealand is something like 1000 miles from
> the coast of Australia; it can't possibly be a continental island.
I think that the "continent" of Oceania is using a sense of the word
meaning a geographic region rather than a strict geological definition.
Likewise the Caribbean islands are generally thought of as belonging to
North America despite their not being part of the continental landmass.
--Odysseus
Mike Oliver
Ah. Well then the American schools are right to refer to both country
and continent as "Australia", because that's a silly definition of
"continent". Since I suspect Tasmania *is* a continental island
(though I don't know that), it seems quite likely that the continent
and the country are almost exactly coterminous.
Steve Hayes
>That makes no sense at all. New Zealand is something like 1000 miles from
>the coast of Australia; it can't possibly be a continental island.
I thought Australia was the West Island.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/steve.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
frank
geological term. It refers to those numerous islands including the Hawaiian
islands that are scattered across the Pacific. Fuji is a part of Oceania.
People and their languages in that region are part of Oceania.
Continents:
(1) Europe
(2) Asia
(1) + (2) == Eurasian continent. It is one monolithic plate.
(3) Australia
(4) Antarctica
(5) South America
(6) North America
(7) Africa
Indian Subcontinent is so called because 60 million years ago it was a
separate island/continent positioned close to Antarctica. Then it began to
drift up north. Finally it smashed into Asia. The Himalayan mountains are a
result of this collision. If you get up to the highest peaks you will find
remnants of marine animals there. Geologically India is different from the
rest of Asia. - f
"Ken Leung" <kenl...@home.com> wrote in message
news:omfW6.94128$%i7.67...@news1.rdc1.sfba.home.com...
Odysseus
>
> Oceania is not a continent. It is more of a cultural, not strictly
> geological term. It refers to those numerous islands including the Hawaiian
> islands that are scattered across the Pacific. Fuji is a part of Oceania.
> People and their languages in that region are part of Oceania.
>
I've seen are divided into the following sections: Europe, Asia,
Oceania, Africa, North America, and South America. Antarctica is usually
found in a 'miscellaneous' section including maps of the oceans and the
polar regions.
> Indian Subcontinent is so called because 60 million years ago it was a
> separate island/continent positioned close to Antarctica. Then it began to
> drift up north. Finally it smashed into Asia. The Himalayan mountains are a
> result of this collision. If you get up to the highest peaks you will find
> remnants of marine animals there. Geologically India is different from the
> rest of Asia. - f
>
I believe that Australia and India are actually on the same tectonic
plate -- its counterclockwise rotation carried the Indian end into Asia,
while the Australian end, near or on the centre of rotation, didn't move
nearly as far.
--Odysseus
Roger Jones
"Mike Oliver" <oli...@math.ucla.edu> wrote in message
news:3B29FAB3...@math.ucla.edu...
Tasmania is most definitely a continental island. It is separated from the
Australian mainland (know to Tasmanians as the North Island) by a shallow
sea (Bass Strait) and has ancient geological units (600 my +) that continue,
without significant offset, onto the mainland. New Guinea, on the other
hand, is an island formed from volcanism following plate subduction. It is
neither truly oceanic nor continental (in a geological sense). There is no
geological continuity between Australia and New Guinea.
Many years ago in primary school we (Australian students, or the New South
Wales variety at least) were taught that the continent was Australasia and
the island (and country) was Australia (these days commonly pronounced
Stray-ya, the language of which is Strine). The word Australasia appears to
have fallen into decline and I noted a few years ago that the Australian TV
quiz show "Sale of the Century" rejected the answer Australasia as the
answer to the question "Which is the smallest continent?" in favour of
Australia.
Australia must therefore be the name of the continent as it is surely not
possible that Sale of the Century could be wrong.
Roger
There's a great deal to be said for brevity.
JB
>
> Fuji is a part of Oceania.
Is that where the film comes from? --JB
Ken Leung
> Australia
> The world's smallest continent, southeast of Asia
> between the Pacific and Indian oceans.
> - The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
That's the American way...
I found "Oceania" as a continent consists of NZ, Tasmina and all those
(including Australia) on an altas.
>
> Jai Maharaj
> http://www.mantra.com/jai
> Om Shanti
>
> In article <squW6.117$Um3....@eagle.america.net>,
> "frank" <frankvi...@hotmail.com> posted:
Ken Leung
"John W Hall" <NOTwexse...@telusplanet.net> wrote in message
news:rp2jitcu5c68gr3ig...@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 15 Jun 2001 03:33:40 GMT, "Ken Leung" <kenl...@home.com>
> wrote:
>
> Perhaps, with all that beer they are reputed to drink, "incontinent"?
Ah, that applies to the Germans, or more specifically, Bavarians :)
>
alexander dickson
Does your anti-clockwise rotation idea accommodate that?
alex
Odysseus <odysse...@yahoo.ca> wrote in message
news:3B2AB447...@yahoo.ca...
frank
accepting the rest of what you are trying to peddle. It was not a typo. It
was in fact a weird blackout a la California.
Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan, also a film and camera maker. Fiji is
a set of islands somewhere in the Pacific. Right? - f
"JB" <job...@carolina.rr.comTRIMTHISPART> wrote in message
news:3B2AB329...@carolina.rr.comTRIMTHISPART...
frank
Gondwana - a geological name for the protocontinent before it split in so
many ways.
Atlantis - claimed to have existed (by Plato)
Lemuria - from the realm of wild imagination (?)
Aaron J Dinkin
> Gondwana - a geological name for the protocontinent before it split in so
> many ways.
Are you thinking of Pangaea? Gondwanaland (named after Gondwana, which
according to the AHD at bartleby.com is a region of central India) was one
of the two halves of Pangaea after it split up. Gondwanaland was the
southern one, consisting of the landmasses that are now South America,
Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica; the northern one, consisting of
North America and Eurasia, is I believe called Laurasia.
-Aaron J. Dinkin
Dr. Whom
frank
> Are you thinking of Pangaea?
A good question. I do not know what I am thinking of anymore and even if I
am thinking at all. Sorry - f