When were the worlds seven continents first named?
EUROPE: “In Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus in bull form and taken to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to Minos. For Homer, Europa was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece and by 500 BC its meaning was extended to lands to the north.” AFRICA: “The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra “land of the Afri” (plural, or “Afer” singular) for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia. The origin of Afer may either come from: the Phoenician `afar, dust; the Afri, a tribepossibly Berberwho dwelt in North Africa in the Carthage area; the Greek word aphrike, meaning without cold (see also List of traditional Greek place names); or the Latin word aprica, meaning sunny. The historian Leo Africanus (1495-1554) attributed the origin to the Greek word phrike
