The actual size of Australia, in comparison to Europe

How come I learned at school that Australia was the world's largest island and the smallest continent?
That doesn't fit with that map. Are you sure it's kosher?

Damn. I've done it again.
Why am I such a sceptic?
 

Ask any of the ladies here and they'll tell you - size isn't everything.

aust-usa-map.jpg

If this is accurate we look like we'd have roughly the same amount of area ...
 
Well I'm getting more confused about it. I thought it was only 2,000 miles across, 3,000 kilometres but couldn't argue.
Just found this:

screenCapture 01.08.13 7-41-21.jpg

....so if we're only 2,000miles across and the States is 3,000 how come they appear the same on Phil's map?

I remember from school OZ is roughly 3 million square miles in area but geeeze, I'm not sure of anything any more. :dispirited:
 
Diwundrin said:
... I remember from school OZ is roughly 3 million square miles in area but geeeze, I'm not sure of anything any more. :dispirited:
Click to expand...

Yeah, a quick check seems to show that in terms of area Australia is about 25% smaller, and as for furthest point-to-point you can see that Oz ends around our Washington D.C., and we have a bit more width going out to the tip of Maine.

Oz is 4,000 km (2,485 miles) at its widest point, whereas we're 5,472 km (3,400 miles) at ours.

Now if you want to compare populations, it seems to be your 23 million or so to our 314 million ...
 
My understanding is that the area of Australia is roughly the same as that of continental USA (not including Alaska?)
Looking at world maps is misleading because the northern hemisphere appears larger in the Mercator projection. You need to look at a globe for a more realistic comparison.

And yes Phil, the Wide Brown Land is very empty once you travel away from the coast.
 
Warrigal said:
My understanding is that the area of Australia is roughly the same as that of continental USA (not including Alaska?)
Looking at world maps is misleading because the northern hemisphere appears larger in the Mercator projection. You need to look at a globe for a more realistic comparison.

And yes Phil, the Wide Brown Land is very empty once you travel away from the coast.
Click to expand...
.:playful:
 
Continent refers to the land mass, not the countries...

A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with up to seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.[SUP][1][/SUP]
Strangely though, Europe and Asia are lumped together when they actually make up only one continent...

9,826,675 km²
United States of America, Area

7,692,024 km²
Australia, Area

six_continents.gif
 

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  • Continental_models-Australia.gif
    Continental_models-Australia.gif
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I wanted to delete the Giff but couldn't find any way of doing it...strange...
If you want to be strict about it...there are really only 4 continents...the Americas are joined as is Africa and Europe/Asia...disregarding the canals...
 
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