Why isn't Greenland considered a continent?

[Bulldog Force]

Looking at Greenland, it's way bigger than America. It's huge. You can probably squeeze 2 USAs in there. So why isn't it considered to be a continent? Is it something political?

http://imageshack.us

 

[AlwaysGreen]

It's all about the great grasshopper war of 1762.

 

[gUt]

USA isn't a continent either

 

[Bulldog Force]

... my apologies, North America. Australia is a continent, Greenland is bigger. OR is Greenland part of a continent?

 

[gUt]

I think that map distorts the size of Greenland too.

 

[simmo1]

Greenland is not bigger than the USA or Australia, have a look at a globe.

 

[gUt]

Australia is much bigger than Greenland mang.

Greenland = 2,166,086 km2

Australia = 7,617,930 km2

 

[Mr Angry]

It is part of the Continent that is North America. Greenland is smaller than Canada which is part of the same Continent.

It is part of Demark politically.

 

[Mr Angry]

There is also some suggestion it could in fact be three islands with the massive ice sheet that covers the majority of Greenland, hiding this.

 

[Bulldog Force]

That's what I can't figure out, why half the island is green and the other half is the normal white colour.

 

[Bastard Squad]

The Mercator projection map portrays Greenland as larger than Australia; in actuality, Australia is more than three and a half times larger than Greenland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection

It exagerates areas closer to the poles at the expense of areas closer to the equator. It's usually bias twards the northern hemisphere too, which is why the equator appears 2/3s of the way down on your map when it should be in the middle.

 

[joshie]

LOL@iceland

 

[muzby]

The Mercator projection map portrays Greenland as larger than Australia; in actuality, Australia is more than three and a half times larger than Greenland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection

It exagerates areas closer to the poles at the expense of areas closer to the equator. It's usually bias twards the northern hemisphere too, which is why the equator appears 2/3s of the way down on your map when it should be in the middle.

i like this idea... if we can squeeze greenland into the centre of australia, the balance of ice + desert would mean we could actualy have a chance at having a good population in central australia.

my only request to the 10,000 erikson air crane pilots that will be required to make this happen is to maybe position it a little further to the right..

that way greenland squashes adelaide..

i hate adelaide.

 

[Mr Angry]

The green parts of that map are National parks.

Greenland has the worlds largest National park.

 

[gUt]

Do we get to try before we buy? If not satisfied just send your subcontinent back to this address...

 

[Mr Angry]

If the ice sheet of greenland did melt, the sea level would rise 7m.

Not saying it is, pointing out how much ice there is there.

 

[muzby]

If the ice sheet of greenland did melt, the sea level would rise 7m.

Not saying it is, pointing out how much ice there is there.

that's fine.. if it does melt, the theory of water displacement says that we can just organise to have all the boats in the world removed from the ocean & this should fix it.

 

[Parra]

West Wing fans will know about the Peters projection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall–Peters_projection

"The Mercator projection increasingly inflates the sizes of regions according to their distance from the equator. This inflation results, for example, in a representation of Greenland that is larger than Africa, whereas in reality Africa is 14 times as large. Since much of the technologically underdeveloped world lies near the equator, these countries appear smaller on a Mercator, and therefore, according to Peters, seem less significant. On Peters's projection, by contrast, areas of equal size on the globe are also equally sized on the map. By using his "new" projection, poorer, less powerful nations could be restored to their rightful proportions."

 

[gUt]

Plus all the whales, they take up a lot of room. We can put them in our dams and rivers and wait for the ocean levels to drop again and then put them back.

 

[dogslife]

Population of Greenland: 56,000
Population of Wagga Wagga: 58,000

Let's make Wagga it's own continent too