How Many Continents? Where Border Countries Belong
Updated November 10, 2026
The most widely taught model has seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America. Some schools teach six, by joining the Americas or by joining Europe and Asia. A handful of countries lie on two continents and have to be placed in one for counting.
The models
| Model | Continents | Where it is common |
|---|---|---|
| Seven | Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America | English-speaking countries, China, India |
| Six, Americas joined | Africa, America, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, Oceania | Latin America and parts of southern Europe |
| Six, Eurasia joined | Africa, Antarctica, Eurasia, North America, Oceania, South America | Russia and parts of eastern Europe |
This site uses the seven-continent model, with Central America and the Caribbean counted as part of North America.
Countries on two continents
| Country | Spans | Placed in |
|---|---|---|
| Russia | Europe and Asia | Europe |
| Turkey | Europe and Asia | Asia |
| Kazakhstan | Europe and Asia | Asia |
| Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan | The Caucasus, between Europe and Asia | Asia |
| Cyprus | Geographically in Asia, politically European | Europe |
| Egypt | Africa and Asia (Sinai) | Africa |
| Indonesia | Asia and Oceania (Papua) | Asia |
| Panama | North and South America | North America |
These placements follow the regional grouping of the country dataset the site uses. They decide which continent total a country adds to; they are not a claim about culture or politics.
Counting continents visited
A continent counts as visited when you have marked at least one country in it. This has an awkward consequence for border countries: a weekend in Istanbul gives you Asia on this map, and a trip to Moscow gives you Europe, even if you think of them the other way round. If that bothers you, treat the continent number as approximate and look at the per-continent bars instead.
Is Oceania the same as Australia?
Australia is the continental landmass. Oceania is the region that includes Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific island states. For counting countries, Oceania is the useful grouping, because it gives the 14 UN members of the Pacific a home.
Where the lines are usually drawn
- Europe and Asia: along the Ural Mountains and the Ural River to the Caspian Sea, then the Caucasus, the Black Sea and the Bosporus.
- Africa and Asia: at the Suez Canal, which leaves the Sinai Peninsula in Asia.
- North and South America: at the border between Panama and Colombia.
- Asia and Oceania: usually on the island of New Guinea, at the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
These are conventions, not physical facts. Europe and Asia are one landmass, and geologists often treat them as a single continent, Eurasia.
Territories far from their country
Some places sit on a different continent from the country they belong to. French Guiana is in South America and is part of France. The Canary Islands lie off the coast of Africa and are part of Spain. Hawaii is in the Pacific and is a state of the United States. On this map such places are coloured with their country and add to that country's continent. Territories with their own ISO code, such as Greenland, which is in North America and belongs to Denmark, are listed separately when you choose the rule that includes territories.
Try it on your own map
Questions and answers
- Is Central America a continent?
- No. Central America is a region of North America that runs from Guatemala and Belize to Panama.
- Which continent has the most countries?
- Africa, with 54 UN member states. Asia has 46 and Europe 44 under the grouping used here.
- Does visiting Antarctica count as a continent?
- Yes. Antarctica is one of the seven continents. It is not a country, but you can mark it on the map, and it then counts toward continents visited.