Dear Andy
The grown-up answer to your question is answered in Martin
Lewis and Karen Wigen's _The Myth of Continents: A Critique of
Metageography_ (published by California UP, 1997). If my memory
serves me correctly, they argue that we can attribute our current
continental taxonomy to the Greek mariners and, later, their
philosophers.
Yours helpfully
Simon
> I hope that CGFers can help me with a question I was recently asked by a
> friend who is writing a book about Geography for 5-8 year olds. What are the
> continents of the world ?
> Maybe there's a simple answer ? Maybe there's a whole history of debate out
> there. Can any body help? Two sorts of answers please. First, the 'grown up'
> one.
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Dr Simon Naylor
School of Geography, Oxford University
Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TB.
Phone: 01865 271947 Fax: 01865 271929
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