>>>>>>>>>>>Are you saying they were all wrong in basing these classifications on whole continents?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>I find continents an inexact location system. Sorry.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Whole geography is inexact, but we make do with what we have. The sufficiently large pieces of land were named as continents some (20?) centuries ago, imaginary lines were drawn, and it's a given that the whole world adheres to these names. Strictly speaking, there should be only four continents - Eurasiafrica (because they are connected by land), America (North and South connected), Australia and Antarctica. But, as I said, lines were drawn and remained so in the eyes of the whole world.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>What continent is Mexico on?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>North American. IIRC, the division line is the Panama Canal or thereabouts.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I seem to recall the phrase Central America.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>My gosh, go back to school.... :o) Continents, subcontinents, regions....
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>There' a challenge in there (somewhere) I'm trying to think of a country thats not on a continent. I think all the little mid ocean islands are owned by someone.
>>>>>
>>>>>Guam, maybe? It is supposedly a U.S. territory but please tell me what continent Guam is on.
>>>>
>>>>Like I said little islands owned by someone else are not countries. Also if you look at google maps you can see guam is on the same continental landmass as Japan. So i guess its part of asia.
>>>>
>>>>Iceland may be the sovereign country which is not part of a continent
>>>
>>>Iceland is a part of Europe.
>>
>>politically yes, geographically no.
>
>I thought there was some international agreement or decree or something which defined which continent every country belonged to. It's funny, though, because the Norwegian meaning of a continent is "part of the world", and includes both land and water. But the English meaning of a continent is only the land, or am I wrong?

Continent isn't a precise term so you can be right and wrong.

I usually go with

From the perspective of geology or physical geography, continent may be extended beyond the confines of continuous dry land to include the shallow, submerged adjacent area (the continental shelf)[7]