How Did The Continents Get Their Names? 

The name Wladseemüller isn't so much wrong. The stress is on the syllable "see" and it's a bit longer. I think it's as long as the english word "to see".

There are some stuff saying that Pangaea split into today's continents without splitting into Laurasia and Gondwana(land).

There's also theories that Pangea was one of a series of supercontinents, I thought Gondwana was one.... Yes: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supercontinents Pangea was the most recent, previous to that Pannotia, and Rodinia is the oldest confirmed... but Columbia, and some others are theorized. I'm also amazed when you get into this that there are also names for the various oceans at various stages, even between Pangea and Rodinia for example. Also, if you want to have fun with more exotic geographic names, most of the craters on the moon have names, most of the brightest stars and constellations, the planets, their moons... Mars has two: Phobos and Deimos, named after the characters in Greek Mythology, namely panic/fear and terror/dread... Similar to "phobia" and "demonic" in today's language. On word I've been puzzled over is "Earth". I once was looking at a map of the whole Earth and what all the names originally meant in their original tongue (being in N America that's quite enlightening actually), and I noticed they basically gave up on giving an origin for the name "Earth." Is the name "Earth" so old that it predates all historical accounts of it's origin? Was it actually from the Proto Indo European language?

It's weird that ἀνταρκτική is pronounced antartiki because the ή is pronounced è ( or is it only in france that we pronouce it like this or is it only for ancient greek )

Name Explain why did you sensor part of the artwork? I cannot imagine that it is because it's offensive or anything. It's a freaking painting!

in bosnia as well

and France

Greece too

Anton Sollied Also in Mexico.

I'm from Canada, and I learned it as Oceania as well. Our teacher told us Australia was a somewhat informal way to refer to it, since it only takes into account of the country of Australia....

BlueMuffin oh I forgot it . 😅😂😂

BlueMuffin the planets as well... :)

thanassis 22 Greeks named everything that has no numbers to its name(newly discovered planets)

Jizldiedizl B If we consider that Romans claimed Aeneas as their ancestor(ancestor of Romulus the founder of Rome) Romans could be considered Greek(even though they may just trying to prove themselves with Greek ancestor that was a up in those times)

Jizldiedizl B I just mention their myth not reality(even though it may has some sort of true considering the hell ammount of Greek colonies)

hmmmm , can you call him something other then dipshit , says me

"To go out, to rise" in refference to the sun dying in a tornado.

Was just about to write that!!

"To go out or to rise" then die in a tornado

McGliga I think that we should *HIRE A SAMURAI* and *TAKE THE ISLANDS* for making a new continent. How do we call it? *HOW ABOUT SUNRISE LAND*

That can be done.

WOW oceans have very interesting names , funny how the pacific ocean is called pacific but its surrounded by volcanos and such , with the pacific ring of fire

Name Explain yes, make it

John Snow Its called Pacific Ocean because when Ferdinand Magellan finally got out from the tip of South America (Magellan Strait) they sailed the whole ocean without experiencing any disturbances (like Storms) ... so he called it Pacífico

The Atlantic ocean is named after the Greek god of Atlas

:3

RockismyAir , idk what accent it is, but i find it really difficult to understand...

It's just Southern English, but I have a crap voice anyway. Imagine someone with a good English accent like Benedict Cumberbatch with a mouth full of marshmallows.

Is it me, or does he pronounce the "th" as "v"?

I did not. I guess I will

I GUESS I'LL HIRE A SAMURAI

How about sunrise land too

The Skavex reichtangle gang gang

Yamato.

Me too!!

+Linguista in erba Its so refreshing to hear I pronounce something right for once :)

L'intonazione di "Amerigo Vespucci" faceva ridere però 😂

It’s kind of a misnomer to name a continent after the ocean, isn’t it?

​​​@@SaxandRelax Well, who said continent = landmass? The fact that Asia and Europe are treated as different continents while physically sharing the same landmass throws everything about continent out of the window. Furthermore, why are the Malay Archipelago and the Japanese Archipelago considered parts of Asia? These islands are much larger than the South Pacific islands and they are not physically parts of the Asian/Eurasian landmass. Why are the Caribbean islands considered parts of North America? Why is Madagascar considered a part of Africa despite being a completely sparate and geologically independent microcontinent of its own? In reality, continent = geographical region, not landmass. A lot of non-English-speaking countries are treating Oceania as a continent, and rightly so.

TheGamingHungary In Arabic countries, there is no middle name. It's just your name then your dad's then your grandfather's.

TheGamingHungary Napoleon introduced it in Europe, because almost everyone had the same name

TheGamingHungary last names are for records/ tax gathering.

+Fabio Restrepo Muñoz Indeed the same thing with trades is common in English, Baker, Carter, Cartwright, Shepherd, Smith, Wright etc. I suspect if probably came about because if there are two John's in the village distinguishing them by saying like John the Smith for the John that works as a blacksmith and John the Baker for the John with the baker shop kinda makes sense eventually just started omitting the "the". Makes sense how they would morph into family names too as trades especially the skilled trades often would run in families as fathers apprenticed their sons in the art.

Mivel magyar vagy, magyarul írom le: a vezetékneveket a családok megkülönböztetésére vezették be. Egyesek szerint Napoleon rendelte el, mások szerint az emberek maguktól és sokkal korábban jöttek rá, hogy ha vezetékneveket használnak, könnyebb dolguk lesz, például ha egy harmadik személyről beszélnek, vagy ha az egyik Józsit meg kell különböztetniük a másik Bélától. Tényszerű, hogy az első vezetékneveket foglalkozás vagy származás alapján adták, illetve választották az emberek maguknak. Ezek mára beleivódtak a nyelvhasználatba, sokszor már nem is ismerjük a szó, például a Gáspár vagy a Tímár (az első a királyi kincstár őrzője, a második bőrműves) nevek eredetét, jelentését, mivel a foglalkozások nagy része már a múlté, a helységnevek, illetve tájak elnevezését a háborúk és következményeik során erőszakkal vagy anélkül megváltoztatták, így nagy részük csak a rovásírás ismeretében felismerhető, magyarázható. A szkíták, Föld körüli vándorlásaik során a Föld majd' minden részére eljutottak, az írás és a kultúra elterjesztésével az elő-, vagy vezetéknevek adását is szokásba hozták, több-kevesebb sikerrel. Ahol a hatalom ellenállt a kultúra - és így a vezetéknevek terjedésének, ott csak jóval később került használatba. A keresztnevekről egyelőre nem írok regényt, de ha érdekel amit tudok - vagy tudni vélek - a témáról, szívesen megosztom.

Colin K That makes me so happy 😀

well not entirely flawless, you can hear his british accent.

No, it isn't (though, that's not a problem at all). :)

ναι είναι.. κάποιοι στο Γυμνάσιο που πάω δεν μιλάνε έτσι.

pretty close, sure, but not flawless

Same

Istrouma I'm Latin American and I'm really tired of all those people calling the North America and South America system American imperialism

Istrouma Geology has nothing to do with this. It is only geopolitics and in that matter, the US version won (separating south and north) because they have the geopolitical power now. if you consider tectonic plates, part of California should be in another continent, India shouldn't be part of Asia, etc. I think that we get offended mainly when you call your country "America" (and call yourselves "Americans"), and then always ad the term "South" to make distinction with the other part of the continent that we don't wanted to be related.

look nothing I've always called the United States of America the United States. When it comes to us being Americans other names like Staticans, Staters, or Statians just sound pretty stupid.

Again, this is only geopolitics, geography. Same or different plates, it doesn't matter. Using geology as an argument is very weak I think. And that "small, thin piece of land" is part of the north or south??. Mexico is included in the north? you may say yes, but it seems very arbitrary. maybe Mexico is not included because they have different language and culture? did they?. ah there is a central America?. Difficult. I'm not saying that you have to change and stop dividing the continent. It is what it is now. I'm not offended with that. At the beginning it wasn't like this, there were no division, but the global politics have change a lot since 15th century. I'm just argue about the use of tectonic plates for the division. Then I talked about another thing that annoy me is the overuse of "America" referring to the US country or the term "American" for the US citizens. I mean, they are Americans in the same way as Mexican, Canadian, Brazilian, Peruvian, and so on. Ok, they are North Americans, like Mexican or Canadian. For me is like the German started to call themselves Europeans, which is right but... I hope you got the idea. Anyway, we can not re-educate the whole world and change Americans for US citizens or "staters" or anything else, it doesn't work like that and it is unrealistic. however, it still bothers me and I don't use it... and no conflict.

Jacob Furrow it sounds stupid only because you are not use to it. In many Spanish speaker countries we use "Estadounidense" which literally means Unitedstater... And for me it sounds pretty normal. You can get use to it, but it won't change so, don't worry.

I learned “Oceana” rather than “Oceania” but I’m from Greenland so our english gets butchered lol

You are correct.Pangea comes from the Greek words ''pan''=all,everything and "gea"=Earth,land...and Pangea was a super-continent,which was consisted of all other now modern continents.So you were on point with your explaination.

Jan Alltaer Exactly right :)

yes, it's a catch all term for every land mass. So it's not a continent.

Jan Alltaer gaia is earth or something. its a made up name for thr ancient continent. That name is not an ancient name, rather its coined by scientist. so the etymology should be easy to trace and understand.

Yep

Interesting. I thought Poseidon was the greek god of the ocean

Adam Lárus Sigurðarson He is. He was the latest one. There were other sea gods before him.

MIKE PAPAS I think okeanos was a titan

MIKE PAPAS same thing though

The Atlantic ocean is called "Bahr-e-Oqiānūs" (Sea of Okeanos) in Urdu. I believe the term Oqiānūs entered Urdu as a loanword from Arabic and that Oqiānūs is the Arabic rendering of the Greek word Okeanos.

Same! Oh wait I've gotta make them first -.-

Name Explain *Cries* quality over quantity as I say. Keep it up dude!

Hellenic Nationalist Ο εθνικισμός όμως δεν είναι καλός.

κάνε λάικ μωρή λοβοτομημένη και άσε τις πολιτικές αναλύσεις για το κοινοβούλιο

Hellenic Nationalist Respect

Look behind you, it's an Ottoman!

ⵔⵓⴽⴰⵜⴽⴰⵜ Butthurted cockroach.

1337w0n And now both Greeks and Romans (Italians) are in economic crisis. What a pity

BlueMuffin we spent too much money for name

Cu ensidence?

Ευρώπη is from Greek. It means "She who is beautiful to look at" and in the myth it refers to the Phoenician princess from who the continent got her name, or it can refer to the continent directly if you want to discard the myth. The princess in question might be Phoenician, but the myth and the etymology of the name are Greek. Now, the name Asia was coined by Herodotus and Name Explain is actually wrong, it did not refer only to the western coast of Anatolia, it refered to what we call today "Middle East" and some argue it included India (and possibly Ethiopia), others say he considered India another continent. The western coast of Anatolia was, and still is, called Μικρά Ασία which means "Little Asia" or "Asia Minor" in Latin. The origin of the name Asia might be Phoenician indeed but a Greek coined the term "Asia". Now Africa I am not sure, so I won't adress it at all. The Greeks had contact with Ethiopians since at least the 7th century B.C. but I do not remember seeing the word Africa mentioned in any texts. The -ica suffix though points to Latin with Afr or Afar being of Afroasiatic origin.

Asmoh Phoecians had (and still to this day to an extent) have high DNA which stems from greater Europe.

But the division of South America and North America as continents existed since the 1600's when the Dutch Nicolaes Vischer made a map with that division. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaes_Visscher_I?wprov=sfla1

Not to romance speakers, we use north south and central as subcontinents, like indian subcontinent and etc.

The United States of America, was named that sort of like the EU, since they considered themselves separate at first but then became one nation rather than a collection of nations, so being named that was not incorrect at first but now may not be accurate now but since it's historical and the US wouldn't be able to agree on anything else will remain that way.

2x2leax yeah but the New World was named America in singular form since 1507 and it was 1 continent in the waldseemuller map.

Chief Rodrigo AZ But, my dude. It's the United States of America, and nobody is going to respond to "Stater" or "North American". We're Americans because we are the USA and we make the distinctions of North and South America to refer to the two continents we are in. Furthermore, "United States" brings up a couple issues because there are actually a few other countries with "United States" in their name. For instance, the United Mexican States. Also, calling them North Americans doesn't make sense because Canada is also in North America, but if you go to Canada and call them Americans, they will promptly disagree, possibly angrily and say "We are Canadians, not Americans like our neighbours down south". Also the Panama Canal separates North and South, and even before the Panama Canal, there was scarcely any connection landwise. North America begins in Alaska (America) and Canada and ends in Panama while South America starts in Colombia and ends in Argentina.

Thanks for naming "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" ¶:

@@Cjnw What's that?isn't that Vardar republic

+Mississippi Mapping I believe Skipio Africanous acquired that name when he conquered Africa. But my Ancient Rome knowledge isn't as good as it use to be.

Name Explain ok

Africanus was given the name "africanus" after he had conquered Africa, so carthagians were likely called Africans before africanus got his name.

Chris Grudge Timeline is way off bud...

StormFront​ What's your source, bud?

which is silly, north and south america have a very well defined border, the isthmus of Panama. Europe and Asia don't really have a defined border. And the only thing separating Africa from Asia is a canal, similar to north and south america.

Mark I know i will not change the way you think... and im not trying to... but, America its just one piece of land in the middle of 2 oceans.

If you're going to call North and South America one continent than you must do the same for Africa Asia and Europe. Treating them differently isn't logical and very pretentious and wreaks of jealousy.

@Itz Yanii people from the United States of Mexico are called Mexicans so it only makes sense to call people from the United States of America as Americans.

MultiWeb23 I would say political is north and South America but eehhh

Both are bears, both shine white, both can kill you if you happen to be close to either, same difference :P

It's always been Australia in New Zealand. Oceania is a geographic region, but not a continent.

@@charleskelsall6549 Oceania is a cooler name tho

But no one can't say nothing against Belguim if that country want to rename as Europe. Also the division of South America and North America as different continents existed since the 1600's by a map made by Nicolaes Visscher, so it's not an invention of the U.S. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaes_Visscher_I?wprov=sfla1

Not to romance speakers, we use north south and central as subcontinents, like indian subcontinent and etc Latin cultures were the first to dominate the place and this was a Germanic change, not accepted by these cultures.

Lucia Christlieb Okay buddy and I'm writing from AMERICA, you know, the country. North America and South America are separated by the Panama Canal, man. Central America is just a region in North America and the Caribbean is almost all a part of the North American Continent. And Mexico is a part of North America, albeit completely different from America. Also, my guy, some people call Australia a continent and Australia is a country (Although it is generally accepted that Oceania is the proper continent) Furthermore, you cannot compare the etymologies of America and European countries. Europe was named after a legend (as seen in the video) and initially Americans were Europeans, mostly Englishmen. However, when they declared independence, they were left with a predicament: they were no longer British, European, or anything else; they were stuck in North America, so they named themselves "The United States of America" because they are in...well...North America, we were named for our geographical location and it became a part of our culture. We are Americans and will respond to nothing else.

so, where are the bahamas and bermuda? jamaica?

It would be like the EU calling themselves Europe, which they do.

which is silly, north and south america have a very well defined border, the isthmus of Panama. Europe and Asia don't really have a defined border. And the only thing separating Africa from Asia is a canal, similar to north and south america.

In English-speaking countries, they're considered 2 continents. Respect the language you're speaking.

1. Greek did it 2. Romans started doing that, because of Greeks 3. Stuff happened, mainly Germanic people conquering parts of Roman Empire, bringing parts of their culture to the Medditerrean (bringing closer Northern and Southern Europe) and Arab expansion happened dividing Medditerrean into two distinctive cultural blocks: Christian and Muslim, which Christian part roughly corresponed with Europe. All of that made division used by Greeks and Romans stronger in the mind of people. 4. European empires dominated the world and so their division spread. In other words: we are doing this from historical reasons. Logically speaking there no division and large chucks of "Asia" has at lest as much cultural and historical to Europe as with other parts of Asia (or even more - Roman Empire spanned parts of what is called "Asia" and greatly influenced later empires on it, Christianity also originates from this part of the world etc.).

How does that make any sense at all? if you are going to group north and south america together, then you also have to group AfroEurasia together.

Not in English.

6

Ask anywhere else that isn't Latino/Hispanic and they'll tell you North and South America are different continents.

Lol just wait a few million years and it's goodbye Mediterranean Sea, hello pyramids. Africa is currently colliding with Eurasia. I will praise your awesome power if you can literally stop it. :P

We're literally connected to Asia, and Asia to Africa. We've never been alone.

All come from roman gods i believe

Capone yes,except Earth and Uranus ...Uranus was a greek god...

Capone akll the planets got their name from the GREEK Gods! "Roman" Gods are actually the Latin name of the Greek Gods! Jupiter = Zeus, Mercury = Hermes etc..

it is renamed. and there are 6 continents. europe, africa, america, asia antarctica and oceania

You learn correctly.

John Aarson incorrectly* Autocorrect. Am I right? Yes. Yes I am.

It's the name of a country and continent. Oceania is a region which can include Australia, but Oceania is not a continent. If you turn on the satellite view on Google Maps you'll be able to see where the continental crust is, and what lies on each one, while also seeing that Oceania itself is no continent.

Australia is both a country and a continent.

Ngareta de la Rosa IT'S AUSTRALIA

Its australia

lol, American idiots, repeating what the guy just said. Only in the UK and the U.S. Oceania is Australia, but in the rest of the world, it is not.

Bob Mendoza Heck, I'm from the UK and I've been calling it Oceania for ages! I didn't even know people called the continent "Australia" lol

Australia and Oceania are not the same thing. Oceania is a region whereas Australia is a continent.

Californian Mapping it's pronounced correctly in the video - sincerely, Australia

Californian Mapping California comes from the queen of The mythical amazons Califia. Also, Baja California is best California

From Mexicans

The continent of Australia is defined by it's continental shelf. The rest of the South Pacific are not part of this continental shelf.

TarriPup Iceland is part of Europe but it not in the Continental shelf. Madagascar is part of Africa but like Iceland is not part of the Continental shelf. The Australian Continent is dumb. I'm Polish and in Polish translated in to English the Continent is called "Australia and Oceania" so we Polish did not know what to call it so that happen.

You would be more talking in a geopolitical sense, rather than an actual physical continent, then. Hawaii is part of the United States, which is part of North America, but Hawaii is not part of North America... Again though, Oceania is a geopolitical region, not an actual continent. But Australia is grouped with the rest of Oceania all the same. How is the Australian Continent "dumb"?

TarriPup It is dumb because I like New Zealand (I like New Zealand because I like the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies also I now someone that is from New Zealand) and it not part of the Continent but Zealandia is under water not above it also it's easier to think of 7 then 8. It sees I have to call it two continents not one continent in the south Pacific ocean. Yeah that is my opinion that it is Oceania because it includes everything in that location on the map. I am a semi-Geographer but I prefer being called a Cartographer (studer of maps) because I do not this for living but for a hobbly.

Lol if only the universe made things easier... xD Speaking of Lord of the Rings, I have been to the top of Mordor... well, the mountain depicted as Mordor, it's called Mt Ngauruhoe. xD I actually got a photo of it again last summer. :P Though it might be easier to imagine that Zealandia doesn't count because it's underwater doesn't change the fact, really... I mean, it would be like trying to say a ship isn't a ship because it sunk or something. :P As for Australia, might as well give them something... I mean, we tend to beat them at other stuff, lol... especially Rugby. xD From what I understand, I'm guessing you find it easier to group them together in a geopolitical sense? As for maps, I used to be OBSESSED with maps when I was 8. :P

Both are accepted spellings depending on who you talk to. :) The Greek word is Πανγαία (transliteration: ~Pangaia) so I suppose the "ae" spelling comes from the "αί". I guess someone came along and thought that was a bit silly so they simplified it to "e".

Nick Teale The correct spelling is Παγγαία. It is indeed παν + γαία, but ν+γ=γγ. In Latin the Greek diphthong αι was transliterated as ae. In English many of these aes have been simplified to es and that's why you see alternative spellings in some Greek words.

Tom Raptile Oh yeah thanks :) Bilingual brain just did a reverse transliteration instead of thinking of the words separately. You also see the word Πανγαία around in other uses (brands, organisations, etc.) so it didn't feel strange to write. You're right through. Παγγαία it is.

But not Australia.

Because they're two separate continents.

It was, unti Lt. Col.Oliver North liberated North America from the continent ¶:

Iván Tejeda for most of the last 4 billion years north and south america have very different historys, different evolution, different geology and were in totally different parts of the world. From a geology point of view they are 2 continents. Politically they form one.

If you read this... The Malay Archipelago is part of Asia 😐

I guess nations like New Zealand, Papua New Guina, Solomon Islands, etc. don't belong to any continent then.

Australia is both a country and a continent

which is silly, north and south america have a very well defined border, the isthmus of Panama. Europe and Asia don't really have a defined border. And the only thing separating Africa from Asia is a canal, similar to north and south america.

Mark Quinton there is not an official way of classifying a continent. Asia for exemple has lots of tectonic plates and shares 1 with europe and another with north America. But America in singular form was the original name for the New world since 1507 so it remains like that in pretty much every language exept English.

Not in English

No. Split happened because of Greeks that just used "Asia" as basically "East". And well, people in those regions which were called that didn't look much different than Greeks themselves. Remember that Greeks mostly were knowing Medditerrean Sea, so they didn't know that much about what is east of Indus. Than Romans adopted it, because of course Romans would adopt everything from Greeks. Than Europeans countries started using Roman system because of course. Than some European countries dominated the world and spread it globally.

Molten Magma Films Different tectonic plates

The same reason why South and North America are different continents

Are islands their own continents since they are separate landmasses?

Itz Yanii they are one of the criteria for dividing continents, but I was wrong anyway, Europe and Asia share the Eurasian tectonic plate

Australia is both a country and a continent

Polo Apple Oceania is a region, while Australia is a continent

Oceania is not a continent. The continent is Australia.

América is not an English word. So it is nothing in English.

I don't think so (but it's possible). There used to be a Berber tribe with that name, and there's also the word Ifri meaning cave so we're not very sure but it most likely has something to do with Berbers.

Inès ibn Hazem est un historien de l'époque andalou bien avant Ibn Khaldoun, c'est sa version.. D'autre dit que Africa vient de Ifri un nom berbère, sache que africa est l'ancien nom de la Tunisie