yes, early christian maps, followed the thoughts of many of the early peoples of the mediterrain. (just look at that word.. the sea in the middle of the earth!) and had Jerusalam as the center point of the map, and included lands to the east and north and south.. so the northern coast of africa would be included..
I don't think the romans thought them selves living in a different 'continent' than the egyptians, or the galatians (turks) or the palistinians.. Their world, as did the early christan world, centered Mediterrian sea, and while they recognized different 'peoples' (and the burber of north africa are not the same 'people' as the arabs, or as europians,) and different lands, and different languages.. i think they also shared a unity of this world.. (and yes, they knew of other lands, and other peoples.. and while they were distant, they were part of a whole.)
i don't know exactly when (1600's?) center of european 'thought' moved north and into england, spain france and germany...and these people began to look outward (one could say actually in 1492, when the 'moors'-- with there eastern connections and dominence of spice routes moved out of spain, and spain began to look for new routes to the spices that they had become accustome to..)
Or you could say it was with the rise of islamic culture, that threatened christianity.. (and resulted in crusades, and turf wars) But the centers of thought, moved away from a mediterranian focus, and into a 'european' focus. Europe as a continent is just another political way to 'codify' this view of 'other'
i have mentioned, this idea of politics overriding geography, before.. i live in queens. that is part of NYC, not part of Long Island. If you look at a map, you might be tempted to say, 'Queens (and Brooklyn) are counties on Long Island.. You live on Long Island.' You would be wrong!
Long Island starts at the queens/nassua boundry. Queens in not part of Long Island. Don't let the geography confuse you! Politics is more important than mere geography.
subcontinent
