The idea of dividing the world into huge geographical regions originated in Ancient Greece. Strabo and others called the lands west of the Aegean Sea Europe, the lands east of the Aegean Sea Asia, and the lands south of Greece, mainly Egypt, Africa (actually Libya, but there was a name swap). Roman expansion spread this idea throughout Europe and nearby regions. During the Age of Exploration, Amerigo Vespucci named the huge lands west of Europe to be America. Later on, Australia and Antarctica were discovered. Peter the Great designated the Ural Mountains as the eastern boundary of Europe.
In the 1900s, Plate Tectonics were discovered and they don't neatly match up with Earth's idea of continents. The Ancient Greek view of the world also isn't helpful from a pure political view because there are major sociopolitical differences between countries of the same continent & countries from different continents that are very similar. I'm proposing that the idea of continents is split into two ideas, geology and politics. Geological map of Earth will be restricted to plate tectonics, mountain ranges, rivers, physical features, etc. and feature no borders. The political map of Earth will be purely based on international borders and cultural realms.
North America should be split into two political macro-regions: Anglo-America and North Latin America. Anglo-America would include USA, Canada, Belize, the Bahamas, and English-speaking Caribbean islands. North Latin America would include all Spanish-Speaking countries/territories north of Colombia. South America would be unchanged, but it could be renamed to South Latin America.
Europe would be split into two macro-regions, Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Western Europe would include every European country west of Croatia (not including it). Eastern Europe would include the rest of Europe.
Modern-day North Africa, West Asia, and the Caucasus will be combined into one macro-region known as Mashriq. Sub-Saharan Africa will be one large macro-region. The South Asia subcontinent will be renamed to Bharat. Southeast Asian macro-region will be called Nusantara. East Asian macro-region will be called Dongfang.Central Asia and Siberia will be known as Turkestan. Oceania macro-region will keep its name.
This way, people from South Asia and East Asia won't be collectively referred to as Asians despite all of their differences. Berbers and Egyptians will also be part of the same region as Arabians, who they have much closer ties to as opposed to the Congolese. There will no longer be any debates on whether Mexico is North American or Central American, or if Australia is an island or a continent. It never made sense to me anyway that Europe was its own continent, but Arabia and India didn't get to be continents despite the major geographical and cultural uniqueness there.
In the 1900s, Plate Tectonics were discovered and they don't neatly match up with Earth's idea of continents. The Ancient Greek view of the world also isn't helpful from a pure political view because there are major sociopolitical differences between countries of the same continent & countries from different continents that are very similar. I'm proposing that the idea of continents is split into two ideas, geology and politics. Geological map of Earth will be restricted to plate tectonics, mountain ranges, rivers, physical features, etc. and feature no borders. The political map of Earth will be purely based on international borders and cultural realms.
North America should be split into two political macro-regions: Anglo-America and North Latin America. Anglo-America would include USA, Canada, Belize, the Bahamas, and English-speaking Caribbean islands. North Latin America would include all Spanish-Speaking countries/territories north of Colombia. South America would be unchanged, but it could be renamed to South Latin America.
Europe would be split into two macro-regions, Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Western Europe would include every European country west of Croatia (not including it). Eastern Europe would include the rest of Europe.
Modern-day North Africa, West Asia, and the Caucasus will be combined into one macro-region known as Mashriq. Sub-Saharan Africa will be one large macro-region. The South Asia subcontinent will be renamed to Bharat. Southeast Asian macro-region will be called Nusantara. East Asian macro-region will be called Dongfang.Central Asia and Siberia will be known as Turkestan. Oceania macro-region will keep its name.
This way, people from South Asia and East Asia won't be collectively referred to as Asians despite all of their differences. Berbers and Egyptians will also be part of the same region as Arabians, who they have much closer ties to as opposed to the Congolese. There will no longer be any debates on whether Mexico is North American or Central American, or if Australia is an island or a continent. It never made sense to me anyway that Europe was its own continent, but Arabia and India didn't get to be continents despite the major geographical and cultural uniqueness there.
