On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 18:14:57 -0600, you wrote:

>
>While the NGS has often furnished its maps of Europe and Asia with a green line
>separating the two, I have never seen them do the same for the two Americas or
>for Asia and Africa.
>
>I would suggest that the COPA political boundary is an unacceptable limit
>between the Americas for at least the following reasons:
>
>1. Were there not two Americas prior to the 1903 independence of Panamá from
>Colombia?
>
>2. Nowhere does the NGS's Europe-Asia boundary follow a political boundary.
>
>I would, rather, suggest the narrowest part of the isthmus. That would be even
>with the Golfo de San Blas.
>
>However, an excellent argument can be made that the continental limit should be
>across the lowest part of the cordillera that runs the length of the isthmus.
>That is, indeed, where the Americas would become two separate land masses if sea
>level were to rise sufficiently. (This thinking is influenced by the actual
>experience at the Bering Strait between Asia and North America at the end of the
>most recent ice age, and perhaps at the Strait of Gibraltar, the Dardanelles,
>and the Bosporus at various times in prehistory.) This lowest part of Panamá is
>the approximate location of the canal.
>
>Between Asia and Africa, both the narrowest and lowest parts of the Isthmus of
>Suez are the approximate location of the canal there.
>
>So, we can add Panamá and Egypt to Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and
>Turkey in the list of countries with continuous intercontinental sovereignty.

I would suggest the middle of the Panama Canal as the effective
boundary now. (Interesting tidbit -- Construction of the Panama Canal
was completed 70 Years ago yesterday).

I went to Panama about a year ago and made a complete transit of the
Canal. During the transit, I took the attached picture. It is the
crossing of the Continental Divide while in the middle of the Canal -
so I am at the intersection of the border between N/S America and the
border between the Atlantic/Pacific Sides of the Americas. The picture
is of the South American part of the Continental Divide. More photos
of Panama can be found at www.andrewpatton.com/panama

-Andrew

--
Andrew T. Patton (andrew@AndrewPatton.com)
Travelogues and Photos at http://www.AndrewPatton.com - Latest Entry: Panama