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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   2670 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 16, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Hot take: "Europe" is only a separate continent because geographers have a very eurocentric view in drawing the lines. Every other continent has a pretty clear separation from its neighbors by sea or at least small isthmus. "Eurasia" makes more sense from the map.

Not Eurocentric; Med-centric. This one goes back to Ancient Greece, and when you're a maritime civilisation in the Mediterranean there are three big lumps of land of relatively-similar coastline around it: Europe, Africa, and (West) Asia. From the Med's point of view, Europe and Asia are separate, because of the Turkish Straits; it's only if you know/care about the far shore of the Black Sea that they seem connected.

EDIT: It's dubious how much relevance this has to history, but it should be noted that there have been times within human habitation that the Caspian Sea has become connected to the Black Sea. There may be again, if we melt the Antarctic Ice Sheet. With the Caspian connected to the Black, and thus the Med, Europe starts looking considerably more like its own thing.

Tired: Europe is a continent

Wired: Europe is not a continent

Inspired: Europe is a continent, and so is India

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