The Great Continental Divide

Quick reminder - Argentina is the southern most country in South America, below Brazil in the east and bordering Chile to the west and Bolivia and Paraguay to the north and east again. South America, refers to the continent of South America, right? Actually, no... you see, it depends.

After hanging out one night at The Shamrock Pub in Recoleta last week, the continental dividing issue reared its ugly head in casual conversation with a couple of local porteñas asking me where I was from.

Geography Pop Quiz: How many continents are there? But wait... for all of you people up there in North America that just answered SEVEN, we, you're fellow Americans down here in SOUTH America classify Argentina as part of just - America. Argentines are taught that there are FIVE continents NOT including Antarctica.

The online dictionary.com site (Random House Unabridged, 2006) gives this definition of continent - "one of the main landmasses of the globe, usually reckoned as seven in number (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica)."

Several variations and definitions on how to define and count the continents exist. The best resource I've found is this excellent wikipedia article, saying that there are three models, five, six and SEVEN continents in the world.

One of my biggest shifts in perspective after having lived outside of the United States for over a year now is that I'm beginning to feel much more like a citizen of the world as opposed to my country of nationality - USA. Nationality in the 21st century has to be seen globally - perceptively speaking - IMHO.

And what's up with Europe getting classified as a continent when the land mass continues into Asia? Again, it depends on your perspective, whether you're a geographer and see India as a separate continent, a plate tectonics expert looking beyond the visible land mass or grew up in Latin America which considers itself simply as American.

And what does it mean to be an American? Down here in South America, we feel just as American as those who think that being American means people from the United States only, surely a bit limited in perspective, no? Sure, we've all probably thought about this at one point or another on some trip somewhere (ie - is Central America part of North or South America)?

But when it comes up in the context of dividing continents for Argentines, they get very upset when I merely communicate that we in the U.S. learn there are SEVEN continents. They immediately and quite obviously perturbed answer back - "NO, you Yankee's can't go dividing up America. We're the SAME as you!" You see how this gets complicated? Also, in Spanish, the correct term for someone that is from the United States is Estado Unidense, literally a citizen from the United States. And there lies the dichotomy - there is no equivalent word in English - we just say American.

* - the photos above were both taken at the Valle de la Luna National Park in the North of Argentina on a trip with Dave and Mei last year.