Subject: Re: Sv: Sv: [BoundaryPoint] gcebe
Date: Aug 21, 2000 @ 22:27
Author: Emil Boasson (Emil Boasson <eb3@...>)
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> > These include the Westernmost European but not continental, Iceland
>
> Anyone want to argue that is (at least some of it) is in North
> America? More interestingly, anyone want to tell me what Europe
> is in the first place? (in other words, if I give you a
> geocordinate, can you tell me if its on the continent of
> Europe?) :-)

This stirs up the Icelanders national pride. Usually we would like to keep
our feet in two boats, as the Chines say. One one occasion we sense we are
Europeans, just like a large proportion of the North American white
population. On another occasion we like to be the first western country.
Discovered or by some accounts found (who ever lost it) by European monks
from Ireland and later by the Swedes and then by Norwegian who hated the
kings taxes. Then on the other hand we want to be the nation that found or
discovered America, first Greenland and then after mistaken navigation the
lands of Canada and USA. So if we found what was never lost we can not be
Americans. Now the Plate Tectonics comes to our help. The western and
Northern part being part of the Amrican Plate and the Eastern and Southern
part being part of the European Plate. I can now take you to a place in
Iceland where you can keep one foot on the European boat and one on the
American. Still the western most part of the European plate is further to
the west than the point in Ireland near Dingle Bay they designate as
Europe's westernmost part. Actually the Easternmost part of Iceland is
further to the west than the westernmost part of Ireland. If we include
the American part of Iceland the interesting fact is that the place name
for the westernmost part of Iceland has the name Patrek from the Irish St.
Patrick.

From the Icelanders point of view Iceland is not the most Easterly point of
the Americas. That would be Alaska.

Emil