Why is Europe considered a separate continent? What are its boundaries?
138453
The above answer is correct: it has more to do with geology.  Also, Europe invented the map, so they got to do whatever they wanted with it.  The boundaries of Europe extend from Portugal north to Iceland, then around the Scandinavian countries to the Ural Mountians in Russia, south and west around the boundaries of Ukraine to Istanbul, Turkey, and back.
377429
It is a divergent plate boundary found running down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Hence the name "Mid Atlantic Ridge".\n\nThis is where two lithospheric plates are moving apart from each other.\n\nWhere they spread apart, new continental crust is being created. It is said that the US & the UK move about 1 - 2 inches apart every year. The US is getting further from Europe all the time!
371393
It consists of the kingdoms of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark; Finland and Iceland are usually considered part of Scandinavia. Physiographically, Denmark belongs to the North European Plain rather than to the geologically distinct Scandinavian peninsula (which is part of the ancient Baltic Shield), occupied by Norway and Sweden. Sometimes the word "Norden" is applied to the five countries because it avoids the physiographic and cultural limitations of the word Scandinavia
1098363
For starters, and this is an incomplete answer, but the Eurocentric perspective does not see Europe as a western peninsula of Asia, but actually as its own continent.  Europe is it's own continent according to the Eurocentric perspective.  \n\nBasing its world-view on Platonic essentialism, there is something "European" about Europe and its peoples, animals, climate, etc, so that there must be something "Asian" about Asia's people, animals, climate, etc.\n\nActually, it's all pretty much the same.  Europeans are really Asians, but at around 1450, they were the most backwards region of the planet--they were the furthest from the great Asian empires of the time.  So they had to rally around their religion, Christianity, and become "superior" by virtue of their belief in Christ.\n\nLater, they believed themselves superior because of their race, intellect, rationality, peaceful nature--all the stuff that makes them see themselves as the pinnacle of humanity.\n\nAsians see Europeans as pink, hairy barbarians.  OK, maybe I'm overgeneralizing a bit, but Asians see themselves as a more ancient people, and not really "asians" at all.  There are Chinese, Koreans, Thai, Indians, Sikh, Japanese, Khmer, Pilipino (no "h"), Samoan, etc., each with a vast (if untold) history.  Each radically different from each other as German is to French, but still having religious and cultural roots.\n\nSo, where did the term come from?  From Europeans, of course.\nIn the Platonic world view, rocks are rocks because of their "rockness."  In the Socratic worldview, rocks are rocks because of their relationship to papers and scissors, for example, because of their connections to other things.\n\nNot all rocks are the same or course.  Diamonds are much more expensive compared to ordinary pebbles, but not because of their "diamondness," (the Platonic/essentialist view) but rather because it's related to market demand, war in the Congo, sellers and resellers each trying to make a buck, TV commercials, weddings and so on (the Socratic-Hegelian/dialectical worldview).\n\nSo it goes that Asians are Asians, but this really doesn't make us understand Asians, but makes an easy definition to "Europeans" and around 1450 and the coming rise of Europe, the Europeans needed to figure things out the quick and easy way.  They were going from bottom of the barrel in civilization, to masters of the universe, for good and bad.\n\nSo if you see the world from an essentialist perspective, then Europe (or Asia) is the center of the world, and everything else revolves around it.  If you see the world from the dialectical perspective, then you see the world as related to each other.  Europe would not be Europe without Asia, and vice-versa.  Each needs the other, the way diamonds need middlemen to become valuable.\n\nWhen it comes to economic integration, IJapan, India and China, to a certain degree are fostering cooperation over competition, because of the need to compete with Europe over markets and create new markets.  In other words, if India and China do good with each other, Chinese people will buy Indian products rather than European products.  This fosters an Asia-first perspective.\n\nTo read more--a tough but good read, read "The Myth of Continents" by Martin W. Lewis and Karen Wigen.
959143
Europe, Asia and Africa
1070937
USA:\n9,631,418 km²\n3,718,711 sq mi  \n\nEurope:\n10,390,000 km²\n4,010,000 sq mi\n\nI guess if you subtract GB from Europe, it will still be larger than USA\n\np/s: nem0nem, the area of europe that you gave is not continental europe but the total area of political boundary of countries in europe. sontinental europe means the size of europe itself, and is stated in wikipedia as 4,010,000 sq mi.nevertheless, I'm not quite sure whether the questions asks continental USA as in continental north america or just the USA.but anyways, the real answer to the question is:\n"Continental Europe is slightly larger than USA, but Continental North America is larger than Continental Europe."
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US:     298,444,215 (estimate, July 2006)\nEU:     456,953,258 (estimate, July 2006)\nEurope: 525,009,790 (estimate, July 2006)\n\nNote that the EU is not quite the same as Europe, hence the different figure.  You need to add in the non-EU states and dependencies, which are: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, Croatia, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Iceland, Isle of Man, Lichtenstein, Macedonia, Monaco, Norway, Romania, San Marino, Serbia & Montenegro, Switzerland and Vatican City.\n\nArguably, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and parts of Turkey are geographically European as well, but they're not politically at the moment so I haven't included them.
140217
Turkey straddles the Geo-political divide between Europe and Asia.  The Dardenelle and Bosporus Straits divide the continents, and sovereign parts of Turkey sit on both sides of each strait.
274873
Another homework question.....how about looking in your book?  You don't provide a time frame or what PART of EUROPE to which you are referring.  You can get assistance if you direct your question more narrowly.
334456
Australia was considered a continent long before tectonic plates were known, and before anyone had any appreciation of different flora and fauna-remember, it was considered a continent prior to any real investigations into the interior of Africa or S America.  The islands of Madagascar and New Guinea also have unique ecosystems, but are not considered continents.  The decision to call Australia a continent rests completely on the opinion of mapmakers at the time, based on size only.  There are no set rules as to what is considered a continent, ocean, bay, gulf, sea, lake, etc-Just human arbitrary decision.
793338
Australia is smaller in land area.\n\n(Europe is the world's second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering about 10,400,000 square kilometres (4,010,000 sq mi) or 2.0% of the Earth's surface. The only continent smaller than Europe is Australia. \n\nArea of Australiya:\n - Total 7,741,220 km² (6th)\n              2,988,888 sq mi
1166808
You already have the answer: geographically they are clearly one continent. So you can't receive a geographical answer unless you were wrong. But you refuse to receive any answer that is social or political. So you won't find the answer.\nJust in case: in many countries it is called "the Eurasian continent".
1163699
The continents we have now were mostly fused along their lower parts to each other in the distant past of Earth.\nOver millions of years they broke away and drifted apart. \nThe so called blunt part is that continent's ancient shores while the sharp part is a distant reminder of where they separeted.
436828
I was also taught that there were 7:\n\nNorth America, South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Antarctica, Australia.\n\nI was a student in American schools. I have also heard of the "Eurasia" concept of combining Europe and Asia.  In truth Europe and Asia are ONE continent but because of cultural and physical reasons (meaning Race), early Europeans who first listed the continents wanted to distinguish themselves from Asians and declared Europe a separate continent.
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This may help you:\nhttp://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/europe/eu1550large.GIF\n\nThat is a map of Europe from 1550.  That lists 32 different divisions.  That is not an exact number though, it may depend on the exact year and what exactly you are considering to be "Europe."
475593
There are 7 continents. \nThey are:\n1. Asia\n2. North America\n3. South America\n4. Europe\n5. Africa\n6. Antarctica\n7. Oceania (formerly called australia)
338240
Europe and latin America are not two homogenous blocs.\nEurope is also divided in a northern Germanic and protestant land and a southern latin and catholic land in the mediterranean lands.\n\nSo latin America has huges differences with northern Europe (economic, religious, racial, linguistically), but much less with southern Europe (same religion, similar languages and partly same ethnic composition) (but still differences of economic level and amerindian/african influences in Lat Am)