• irate944@piefed.social
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    21 days ago

    Iirc we have the ancient greeks to thank for the current distinction. They named Europe the region north of greece, and Asia the region west of Anatolia, and then eventually decided that their actual boundary should be the middle of the black sea

      • irate944@piefed.social
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        21 days ago

        That would be eventually. But back then, Europe and Asia weren’t continents, they were names of undetermined regions that were north or east of them respectively.

        I don’t know when or who decided “you know what? This whole region? It’s a continent, and let’s call it Europe” (maybe the Romans? Or even the Greeks?).

    • socsa@piefed.social
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      20 days ago

      I’m pretty sure China calling itself “central county” probably plays some role as well.