How was the modern geographic boundary between Europe and Asia decided?

Question

Wikipedia puts the boundary as: > The modern definition of Europe delimits it from Asia at the Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles-Sea of Marmora-Bosporus, the Black Sea, along the watershed of the Greater Caucasus, the northwestern portion of the Caspian Sea and along the Ural River and Ural Mountains, as both mapped and listed in many atlases including that of the National Geographic Society and as described in the World Factbook. However, there is no cite for this and I can't seem to find definitive information. What group, or individual, put forward this as the boundary between Europe and Asia? I know that this boundary has changed a lot historically so I'm curious as to the most current boundary, assuming Wikipedia is correct.

Answer 1

Wikipedia is partly correct in its geographic description. As is the case with many national, subcontinental (in the case of the Indian subcontinent), regional, U.S. state, city, and even island borderlines: bodies of water, mountains, deltas, and plateaus can each serve as official borders between geographic locations of all types worldwide.

When zooming in on the borderline(s) between the European and Asian continents: in addition to the different geographic locations mentioned by Wikipedia, the nations of Turkey and Russia (formerly the U.S.S.R./Soviet Union) serve as the intercontinental borderlines between Europe and Asia.

I hope this helps to provide some further insight into your inquiry!

Answer 2

Essentially, it was - like so many other things - established by the founders of Western Civilization, the Ancient Greeks. The Greeks drew a strong distinction between their civilization and those to the east, particularly the Empire of the Persians. It was primarily a case of 'Us and Them', with the Persians viewed as 'The Other' who embodied everything that the Greeks weren't.

The land of the 'Other' began in Asia Minor (Anatolia, the lion's share of Turkey today), even though the western coast of Asia Minor - Ionia - was inhabited by Greek city states. Thus, to the Greeks, Asia began across the Dardanelles and the Hellespont.