We consider Indonesia to be in Asia and Papua New Guinea to be in Oceania, which splits the island in half. You may consider this to be arbitrary, but consider that the boundary between Europe and Asia is equally arbitrary.
Let's make clear that my upper comment was posted before those on the Oceania quiz. Sorry if I seem aggressive, but I really can't understand why you say that... The boundary between Europe and Asia is a bit artificial, still it's based on physical elements : Sea of Marmara and its straits, Black Sea, Caucasus, Ural. Seriously, New Guinea is generally considered as being part of Oceania. It is Indonesia that straddles two continents...
I agree with Arp. The divide between Asia and Oceania/Australasia sits within the the political entity of Indonesian. The island of New Guinea is on the Sahul tectonic plate with Australia and is not part of Asia.
The border between Asia and Oceania could be drawn in a lot of places, many proposals have good supporting arguments. (Personally, I would draw it even further west so Timor would also be in Oceania.) In cases like this, I'd recommend following the global consensus, just for the sake of neutrality and to not start arguments. There will always be those people in the comments complaining about it. Anyway, it's just 1 out of the 24 questions and quiz takers who are prepared for stuff like this will get it anyway.
In my mind, islands aren't part of continents, unless inland. Continents are land masses. Islands are separate land masses. I could accept a definition based on continental shelf geography. But not political. And I don;t understand, really, why Asia and Europe are two continents, other than politically. But not by physical geography.
I think that the thing called Oceania is normally a collection of places where Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian people are indigenous. The complicating factor is Indonesia, the eastern portion of which would thus qualify as part of Oceania. If Indonesia were split on such a line, I don't think there would be much debate about how to categorize the island of Timor (East Timor is usually categorized as part of Asia) or the island of New Guinea - they'd both be part of the Melanesian, and thus Oceanic, region.
I am coming late in this debate but again Arp is right. Considering New Guinea as part of Asia because it is in part occupied by Indonesia would be equivalent to consider the Balkans part of Asia because Turkey covers a part of it; or Sinai part of Africa because it is Egyptian. When you talk about islands you refer to physical geography, not political geography. In any encyclopedia and you will find that New Guinea is part of Oceania and different sub-continental georgaphical areas. Indonesia is a country with land on two continents. Sorry Quizmaster but there is nothing arbitrary in there, your suggestion is simply geographically wrong. This really needs to be fixed, pleaaaase!
Sulps is correct. I didn't make up this continent boundary and I'm not going to arbitrarily change it no matter how many people comment. It doesn't matter. The important thing is to be consistent, which we are.
Maybe consider looking at the Wallace line, and remaking quizzes to align with that? It divides Indonesia along where Afro-Eurasian animals and Australian animals meet at their farthest reaches, but don't mix. While I agree consistency is important, the world seems to be moving towards this as the divide between Asia and Oceania.
I'd have to agree with everyone else here. I know that continents are arbitrarily defined, but the UN, Wikipedia, and many other online sources suggest that the Indonesian side of New Guinea is Oceanian.
Even ignoring geography, from a cultural and ethnic perspective, the people of Indonesian New Guinea seem to have more in common with the people of Papua New Guinea than with the people of Sumatra and Java. If culturally, ethnically, and geographically Indonesian New Guinea is part of Oceania, why shouldn't that trump political boundaries?
QM, the thing is that the general accepted border between Oceania and Asia actually includes all of New Guinea as Oceania. Also the tectonic boundary (The same reason Greenland is North American.) Puts all of New Guinea on the Australian plate in some pictures, and in others puts more of the Indonesian side on the Australian plate, with the rest divided between the Sunda and Pacific plates. New Guinea is also part of Melanesia, which is part of Oceania. Anyway just my personal opinion, and any data that's represented gives it's own bias.
From the Wikipedia article on Asia: "New Guinea, to the east of the islands, being wholly part of Oceania". Can clearly be seen in the map on the top of the article. QM is being irrational and stubborn, New Guinea being in Oceania is the standard definition that is almost always used, and it's the one that should be used here if Jetpunk wants to reflect accepted conventions. Continent boundaries, arbitrary though they may be (though this one has some basis in tectonics), always lie along geographical lines and never along political ones. Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Panama also lie on two continents.
Panama isnt on 2 continents. The canal is man made and had it been built in Nicaragua instead, Costa rica and Panama wouldn't count as South America. If you look at a map a small bit of Colombia stems out away from the mainland but not the otherway round
Without taking sides on this one (I can see merit in both arguments) I'll observe it's yet another situation with two different, but both "right", answers that the jetpunk experience has revealed to me. So many gray areas in geography. The next time I take an Indonesia quiz I'll glance to see whether Arp2600 or Quizmaster has set it before answering accordingly :)
For the "Lowest Elevation" question I thought you wanted a number! Since I thought "this lake" was referring to the prior question (Caspian) I would have gotten it wrong anyway.
That's what I was guessing as well...kept trying basic numbers, sometimes with an 'm' for metres! I even though - "This can't be right anyway, the shore of the Dead Sea must be lower"...especially ridiculous since I live 40km from it.
I stupidly tried red sea before realizing my mistake... (but before I realized that I was confused and started trying weird things haha specific names for the shoreline)
Just wondering if the Caspian Sea counts as a lake. Wouldn't it count as a SEA? If not, please make that clue a bit clearer. Perhaps put "Biggest lake/sea" as the clue. Thanks.
5.5 million years ago, due to tectonic uplift, the Caspian Sea got landlocked. That is how it now falls under the category of "lakes", being the largest in the world.
It's a lake - it's totally cut off from any other seas or oceans, so it meets the definitions of a lake. The name might be a little misleading, but once learned it's never forgotten! (there is also the Aral Sea, which is a lot smaller than the Caspian Sea, even at its natural size decades ago, but is still a lake and still has the word "sea" in its name)
To clarify - I did know the highest mountains and their range, Eastern Russia, the rivers at the dawn of civilisation and the lowest place, but not one of the islands by name, the longest river, the lakes.
For my entire time...For my ENTIRE time here on JetPunk I thought when people said "the above" they were talking about some continental spiritual god or something. I JUST found out they are talking about the answer above the current highlighted box
I don't know if this would qualify as nitpicking, but K2 is in the Karakoram Range, so you might want to consider changing the wording for the mountain range question to refer primarily to the single tallest mountain. I suppose it could also be possible that I'm missing some common understanding that the Karakoram is not an independent range.
The islands were the toughest part. Finally figured out it was the Indonesian ones. Couldn't spell Sulawesi, so typed Celebes, was happy that is was accepted.
Did this quiz without reading it specifically being Asian answers and getting miffed that Baffin Island or Lake Superior didn't make any of the answers.. then going and looking up Baffin Island's square Km's compared to Honshu just to make sure I was right..then coming back to complain how dumb this quiz is and realizing I was the dupe all along.
Not at all. It's shared by Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Te debate is whether it is Indonesia that has an Oceanian part on the island of New Guinea or New Guinea which is split between Asia (Indonesian part) and Oceania (Papua New Guinea, which is an Oceanian country).
how is it in Europe. Its closer to the Asian mainland being much closer to Asian Turkey, Israel, Lebanon and even egypt. Culturally and politically its European but so is Israel and nobody says Israel is european
Huanghe is what the Chinese call the Yangtze and should be recognized as an answer, also Qomolangma is what the Tibetans call Mount Everest and therefore should also be accepted as an alternative answer.
It's a lake. the reason its called a sea is because it used to have a connection the black sea which has connections to the rest of the world but now its sealed off therefore making it a lake
It was last connected 11 million years ago, so it wouldn't be that. When the Romans found it, they concluded that it was large and salty and called it a day, naming it after a local tribe. I guess the name stuck.
Even ignoring geography, from a cultural and ethnic perspective, the people of Indonesian New Guinea seem to have more in common with the people of Papua New Guinea than with the people of Sumatra and Java. If culturally, ethnically, and geographically Indonesian New Guinea is part of Oceania, why shouldn't that trump political boundaries?
Did this quiz without reading it specifically being Asian answers and getting miffed that Baffin Island or Lake Superior didn't make any of the answers.. then going and looking up Baffin Island's square Km's compared to Honshu just to make sure I was right..then coming back to complain how dumb this quiz is and realizing I was the dupe all along.
(that should spark it off :)