Continent with other islands in the Pacific into one continent called Oceania. This divides the entire land surface of Earth into continents or quasi-continents. The ideal criterion that each continent is a discrete landmass is commonly relaxed due to historical conventions. Of the seven most globally recognized continents, only Antarctica and Australia are completely separated from other continents by the ocean. Several continents are defined not as absolutely distinct bodies but as ""more or less" discrete masses of land". Asia and Africa are joined by the Isthmus of Suez, and North and South America by the Isthmus of Panama. In both
Continent a neighbouring continent to divide all the world's land into geopolitical regions. Under this scheme, most of the island countries and territories in the Pacific Ocean are grouped together with the continent of Australia to form a geopolitical region called "Oceania". By convention, "continents are understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, ideally separated by expanses of water." Several of the seven conventionally recognized continents are not discrete landmasses separated completely by water. The criterion "large" leads to arbitrary classification: Greenland, with a surface area of is considered the world's largest island, while Australia, at is deemed the