What Is Eurasia? Is Eurasia a Continent?

Oftentimes, geography is not as clear cut as we’d like it to be. The borders of Europe and Asia are not properly defined, and even the idea that these are two separate continents can be debated. Because of this, some people use the term “Eurasia” instead. Eurasia is defined as the landmass containing both Europe and Asia.

Is Eurasia a Continent?

So is Eurasia itself a continent? Well, it turns out “continent” is a remarkably subjective term. You could land anywhere between five and eight continents, depending on which way you’d prefer to define the word.

While one could argue Eurasia fits the definition of a continent from a geological standpoint, it’s hard to ignore history and standard convention. Most people do not consider Eurasia to be its own distinct continent, and it’s rarely listed as one of the continents of the world. Eurasia is almost universally split into the smaller continents of Europe and Asia, and has been throughout much of history.

For further reading, check out What Is a Continent?

Transcontinental Countries

Because of the way Eurasia is split, many countries located on the landmass are considered “transcontinental.” Transcontinental countries are simply nations that span two or more continents.

Of course, any list of transcontinental countries is also subjective. Since there is no agreed upon definition of a continent, determining the exact borders of continents can be very hard. And this is especially true if you’re using culture and convention as your guidelines.

Our definition of transcontinental countries mostly relies on an understanding of Asia and Europe as separate continents. Countries in Eurasia, like Turkey and Russia, are considered transcontinental under that definition.

For more, check out What Continent is Russia In? and Is Turkey in Europe or Asia?

Cultural, Political, Historical Factors

We touched on this earlier, but conventionally and politically, Europe and Asia are usually considered separate regions. The ancient Greeks considered them two separate lands, Sporcle geography quizzes generally do, and there are notable cultural and political differences in each. In fact, it was actually George Orwell who contributed to the rise of the term “Eurasia.” In his novel 1984, the geopolitical factions were named Eurasia, Eastasia, and Oceania.

However, there are some real life political and economic alliances that unite Europe and Asia. The Eurasian Economic Union consists of eastern European and northern Asian countries. The countries of Europe and Asia meet ever two years at the appropriately named Asia–Europe Meeting as well.

Countries of Eurasia

The countries of Eurasia are necessarily the countries of Europe and the countries of Asia:

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