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A continent (from the Latin "continere" for "to hold together") is a large continuous mass of land on the planet Earth.

There is no single standard for what defines a continent, and therefore various cultures and sciences have different lists of what are considered to be continents. In general, a continent must be large in area, consist of non-submerged land, and have geologically significant borders. While some consider that there are as few as four or five continents, the most commonly used counts are six or seven.

Two of the largest disagreements in listing continents are whether Europe and Asia should be considered separately or combined into Eurasia, and whether North America and South America should be considered separately or combined into America. A few geographers have also suggested grouping Europe, Asia, and Africa into a continent of Eurafrasia (see Africa-Eurasia).

The seven continent model is taught in parts of Western Europe and North America, while the six continent (combined Eurasia) model is also taught in North America and is the primary continent model used in scientific contexts. The six continent (combined Americas) model is commonly taught in Europe and South America. The five continent model is normally taught in the United Kingdom and Mexico. The continents of the "five continents" model (as shown by the five Olympic Games flag rings) are speculated to be the five permamently populated continents (viewing Antarctica as only temporarily populated, and all the Americas as one).

Continents are sometimes conceptually combined to make " supercontinentA supercontinent is a mass of land comprising more than one continent. Since the definition of continent is arbitrary, the definition of supercontinent is also arbitrary (as is the definition of a subcontinent), but the term refers to a landmass containins" or subdivided to make " subcontinentA subcontinent is a large part of a continent. There is no agreement on what constitutes a subcontinent. Generally, however, a subcontinent is split from the rest of a continent by something like a mountain range, or by tectonic plates. India, Pakistan, as". These terms are even less precisely defined than "continent" itself.

Islands are usually considered to "belong" to the continent they are closest to, and hence the British IslesThe British Isles is a traditional term used to identify the group of islands off the northwest coast of Europe consisting of Great Britain, Ireland and the many smaller adjacent islands. These islands form an archipelago of more than 6,000 islands off th are considered to be a part of Europe. Sometimes AustralasiaAustralasia is the area that includes Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the many smaller islands in the vicinity, most of which are the eastern part of Indonesia. The name was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres austr or " OceaniaFor the fictional superstate in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four see Oceania (fiction . Oceania is a name used for varying groups of islands of the Pacific Ocean. In its narrow usage it refers to Polynesia (including New Zealand), Melanesia (inc" is used to refer collectively to AustraliaAustralia is the sixth-largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in the region of Australasia. Australia includes the island of Tasmania, which is an Australian State. Its neighbouring count and the Pacific islands. Both terms, however, have fairly precise meanings.

When "The Continent" is referred to without clarification by a speaker of British EnglishBritish English (or UK English (en-GB according to RFC 3066) is a collective term for the forms of English spoken in the British Isles. In particular, when used by other English speakers, it often refers to the written Standard English and the pronunciati, it is usually presumed to mean Continental Europe, i.e. Europe, explicitly excluding Great Britain and Ireland. Similarly, when the term "the Subcontinent" is used, it is presumed to refer to India.

See also List of countries by continent, Satellite Images of Continents.