Why is Antarctica not an island, when it is not connected to any above-sea landmass and Australia is considered to be an island (continent)? Thank you
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there are continental landmasses and there are islands. the definition varies depending on who you ask, but, very generally, landmasses are big, connected pieces of land surrounded by oceans, that lie on top of the same distinct piece of continental crust (think of it like the foundation of the continents). islands are smaller, and don’t lie on top of a distinct continental crust, instead, they share that piece of crust with many more islands. think of japan, with it’s many islands, they sure can be thought about distinct landmasses, but they all lie on top of the same piece of continental crust.
antarctica lies on top of it’s own piece of continental crust, and so does australia, so it’s generally not considered to be an island. except that sometimes it is, because the definitions are fuzzy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_by_area
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