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 smallest continent. Earth's major landmasses all have coasts on a single, continuous World Ocean, which is divided into a number of principal oceanic components by the continents and various geographic criteria. The most restricted meaning of "continent" is that of a continuous area of land or mainland, with the coastline and any land boundaries forming the edge of the continent. In this sense the term "continental Europe" (sometimes referred to in Britain as "the Continent") is used to refer to mainland Europe, excluding islands such as Great Britain, Ireland, Malta and Iceland, and the term "continent of Australia" may refer