• The continent has always been a method of dividing the planet into regions.
• It is obvious that Africa, Australia, and Antarctica are, for the most part, separate and distinct continents.
• The continents that come into question are North and South America and Europe and Asia.
• Nearly all of Eurasia sits upon the Eurasian Plate, one of several large plates that cover our planet.
• The Ural Mountains have long been the unofficial dividing line between Europe and Asia.
• This 1500-mile-long chain is hardly a barrier geologically or geographically.
• The highest peak of the Ural Mountains is 6,217 feet (1,895 meters), far shorter than the peaks of the Alps in Europe or the Caucasus Mountains in southern Russia.
• Eurasia's Extension:
< from the Atlantic Ocean in the west [ countries - Portugal and Spain in the west (and perhaps Ireland, Iceland, and Great Britain as well) >
to
< Russia's easternmost point, at the Bering Strait between the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean in the east.>
< Eurasia's northern frontier- countries- Russia, Finland, and Norway bordering the Arctic Ocean in the north.>
< Eurasia's southern boundaries are the
Mediterranean Sea, Africa, and the Indian Ocean- countries - Spain, Israel, Yemen, India, and continental Malaysia>
< Eurasia also commonly includes island countries associated with the Eurasian continent such as Sicily, Crete, Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Japan, Philippines, island Malaysia, and perhaps even Indonesia>
• As of 2012, there are 93 independent countries in Eurasia.
< This includes all 48 countries of Europe (including the island countries of Cyprus, Iceland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom), 17 countries of the Middle East, 27 countries of Asia (including Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, and Taiwan), and one new country now often associated with Oceania - East Timor.>
• Thus, nearly half of the world's 196 independent countries are in Eurasia.
• As of 2012, the population of Eurasia is nearly five billion, about 71% of the planet's population.
<This includes about 4.2 billion people in Asia and 740 million people in Europe, as those subregions of Eurasia are commonly understood>
• The capital cities are: Beijing, Moscow, London, and Brussels.
Beijing is the capital of Eurasia's most populous country, China.
