The seven continents of Earth, as per standard projection used on Alexandria
The term continent originates from ancient Greeks which distinguished between lands of Europe and Asia on the either said of the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. The third continent was Afrika (originally Libya) which did not include the ancient civilization of Egypt (lumping it with Asia). The three names would soon identify three major landmasses and the concept was carried over to the Roman culture and thus Europan. During the Still Ages, the concept evolved into the T and O maps with T being the waters (Mediterranean, Nile and Tanais rivers) dividing the Earth.
Europa - the name Europa comes from the Greek Εὐρώπη and Latin Europa. In Greek mythology Europa was the beautiful daughter of a Phoenikian king which was seduced by Zeus in a form of a white bull, later giving birth to three sons, Minos, Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon.
Afrika - the name Afrika comes from the Roman Africa Terra, a name which may have been derived from a number of origins including Phoenikan afar (dust), Greek ἀφρίκη (without cold) or Latin aprica (sunny). The name was originally used only for a part of Libya, but grew to encompass the entire continent with Roman conquests and later geographic discoveries.
Asia - the name Asia originated from the ancient name for the peninsula opposite present-day Hellade. Originally just a name for the east bank of the Aegean Sea, it grew to encompass anything east and constitutes the largest continent. The most likely origin is from the ancient confederation of cities Assuva conquered by Hitites.
Hesperia - the name Hesperia was given to the new continent per the Greek mythological land at the edge of the ocean, where Hesperides tend a blissful garden over the world ocean. This was originally one of the proposed names for the new continent, including Occidentalia, Atlantis, Transatlantia and Georgia. Eventually, as the Conflicts of Heritage crystalized, the Hellenic camp cosmographers 1 used the name Hesperia, while the Latin cosmographers used the name Occidentalia. In the second century BNE, 2 the Universal Ecumenographia united the two dueling traditions into a single solution.
Occidentalia - the name Occidentalia was given to the new continent discovered by the Portucalese according to the latin word for the west (occidentem, western sky). The name expanded to Occidentalia Borealis (Hesperia) and Occidentalia Australis (Occidentalia) with papal support but was not used in countries following the Hellenic camp of thought. The name was later widely adopted as a standard for the continent south of Hesperia with the advent of the Universal Ecumenographia in second century BNE.
Antipodia - the name Antipodia comes from the Greek ἀντίποδες (opposite). The continent originally had many different names due to near-simultaneous discovery by three different explorers who failed to recognize it as one large continent, mistaking it for one of many Oriental islands. The name became standard once Theodore Stathadler of Cambridge published his book on the "final discovery of the balancing continent."
Contrarsus - the name Contrarsus is derived from Latin camp terminology for land opposite north (contra - opposite, ursus - bear, abandoned name for Ultima Thule). For a long time it was unclear if there is a seventh continent, owing to the confusion over Ultima Thule and many frozen islands, as well as not fitting in previously widely accepted concept of three continents of the old and three continents of the new. Contrarsus remained mostly unexplored until the first century BNE.
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1 Cosmography is ATL equivalent of geography, although the area identified with OTL geography later subdivides into ecumenography.
2 BNE=Before New Era.
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