Australia, Island or Continent?

Question

Why is Australia called a continent and not an Island?
how does one classify it

Answer 1

It is generally considered a continent by most geographers. Here are two reasons:
1) Sheer size. If you were to call it an island, the next largest "island" would be greenland, which is quite a bit smaller. Is this then sort of arbitrary, well, yeah.
2) Geologic structure. Not only does Australia have a tectonic plate separate from it's nearest landmass (therefore moving independently from the nearby landmasses as they all drift), but it's thickness is also typical of continental regions around the world. It also has its own "shield", an extensive, rocky area found in a usually central area of continents that is a basic part of the typical structure of a continent. Greenland has a shield, but it is coextensive with the Canadian Shield of North America.

Really, it doesn't matter, of course. A rose by any other name...

Answer 2

At the beginning, it is thought there was only one supercontinent which is called Pangea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea). Hundreds of million years ago, Pangea broke off into several pieces which were to become the present continents. It is my understanding that geologists use to call continents what are the original pieces of Pangea. Australia is believed to be one of these original pieces of land, although it itself broke off and separated from the Antarctic continent about 35-40 million years ago. Note that this division is quite arbitrary, since it is obvious that Europe is NOT a continent per se, but is part of the Eurasian continent. Australia then is seen as a continent, although New Zealand for example which separated from Australia a while ago should be considered a part of this same continent.

Answer 3

Australia is a stand alone island-continent. Australasia sometimes known as Oceania, is another thing entirely. Australia’s mainland is the largest island and the smallest continent. It lies between 10° and 39° South latitude. The highest is Mount Kosciuszko, and it is 2228 meters. Australia is the second driest continent, Antarctica being the first driest continent. Its interior has one of the lowest rainfalls in the world. Australasia is a term variably used to describe a region of Oceania – namely Australia, New Zealand, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Answer 4

Australia is the only island-continent in the world. Its also the smallest continent and the only one-country-continent in the world. Pretty unique hey

Answer 5

Its an island! Australasia is the continent and is a term variably used to describe a region of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes (1756). He derived it from the Latin for "south of Asia" and differentiated the area from Polynesia (to the east) and the southeast Pacific (Magellanica). It is also distinct from Micronesia (to the northeast).

Answer 6

Australia and NZ together are classified as a continent

Answer 7

It iis a continent because it is part of the Indo-Australian Tectonic Place. It just happens that the plate is above water to form the Australian continent.

Answer 8

Biologically it is a continent because of the number of unique life forms it has. It is an island because it is surrounded by sea.

Answer 9

australia counts as main land so its not an island, and it makes up most of the pacific continent, along with new zealand and all the island in the south pacific.
if you wanted to class astralia as an island you'd have to count all of eurasia and africa as one and north+sout america as another

Answer 10

It depends on who does the definition
For many years geography books listed it as the worlds largest island. Today many sources call it a continent.
You have to decide the criteria within whichever definition that you use.