List of transcontinental countries

Map of the Darién Gap at the border between Colombia and Panama

The conventional boundary between North America and South America is at some point on the Colombia–Panama border, with the most common demarcation in atlases and other sources following the Darién Mountains watershed where the Isthmus of Panama meets the South American continent (see Darién Gap). This area encompasses a large watershed, forest and mountains in the northern portion of Colombia's Chocó Department and Panama's Darién Province.

Some geographers use the Panama Canal as the boundary between North America and South America.

  African land part of Egypt

  Asian land part of Egypt

  The rest of Africa

  The rest of Asia

The modern convention for the land boundary between Asia and Africa runs along the Isthmus of Suez and the Suez Canal in Egypt. The border continues through the Gulf of Suez, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. In antiquity, Egypt had been considered part of Asia, with the Catabathmus Magnus escarpment taken as the boundary with Africa (Libya).

• Two of 27 governorates of Egypt lie entirely on the Asian Sinai Peninsula and two are transcontinental: Ismailia Governorate is nearly equally divided by the Suez Canal, and Suez Governorate, which is coterminous with the "transcontinental city" of Suez, has a small portion east of the Canal.

• After the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, Israel briefly became a transcontinental country as it occupied territory on the African side of the Suez Canal, in addition to the entirety of Sinai. The land was returned in 1975 per the Sinai Interim Agreement.

Conventions used for the boundary between Europe and Asia during the 18th and 19th centuries. The red line shows the most common modern convention, in use since c. 1850.

  Europe

  Asia

  historically placed in either continent

The conventional Europe-Asia boundary was subject to considerable variation during the 18th and 19th centuries, indicated anywhere between the Don River and the Caucasus to the south or the Ural Mountains to the east. Since the later 19th century, the Caucasus–Urals boundary has become almost universally accepted. According to this now-standard convention, the boundary follows the Aegean Sea, the Turkish Straits, 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 to the Arctic Ocean.[7][8]

According to this convention, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia have territory both in Europe and in Asia.

• The Russian Federation includes substantial territory in Northern Asia, historically incorporated into the Tsardom of Russia in the 17th century. European Russia has a population of around 110 million, which is about 78% of the country's total population, though more than 75% of Russia's territory is in Asia.
• The territory of the Republic of Turkey is predominantly in Asia, with European Turkey (East Thrace) accounting for about 11 million people, or some 14% of the country's population. The territory of Turkey is a remnant of that of the Ottoman Empire, which had replaced the transcontinental Byzantine Empire with the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Turkish city Istanbul (ancient Constantinople) lies on both sides of the Bosporus, making it a "transcontinental city".
• Kazakhstan's physical, cultural, and geographic characteristics are Central Asian,[9] but its West Kazakhstan and Atyrau provinces extend on either side of the Ural River,[10] placing a population of less than one million (out of 15 million) geographically in Europe.
• Azerbaijan's Qusar, Shabran, Siazan, Khachmaz and Quba districts are north of the Greater Caucasus watershed and thus geographically in Europe, placing a population of about half a million (or ca. 5% of the country's total population) in Europe.
• Georgia's Kazbegi Municipality, Khevsureti and Tusheti districts are north of the Greater Caucasus watershed and thus geographically in Europe, placing around 5% of the country's total territory in Europe according to the common modern definition.

• Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and Trinidad and Tobago: The sea islands division of South America and North America is complicated. All Caribbean islands are often labeled as North American, but the Kingdom of the Netherlands countries of Aruba and Curaçao and the Dutch special municipality of Bonaire lie on the continental shelf of South America, and can be considered South American as well. What complicates it even further is that the islands of Trinidad and Tobago lie on two continental shelves. The southern half of Trinidad lies on the South American plate, and the northern half of Trinidad, and the island of Tobago, lie on the Caribbean plate. All these islands have closer cultural ties with North America.

• Colombia: Mainland Colombia is located within northern South America (see explanation in "The Americas", under "Contiguous boundary" above) and the Malpelo Island in the Pacific Ocean is also associated with South America, but the nation also controls the San Andrés and Providencia archipelago, 640 kilometres (400 mi) WNW of Colombia's Caribbean coast, in North America.

• Venezuela: Mainland Venezuela is in South America, but Isla Aves is geographically North American. Isla Aves is one of the federal dependencies of Venezuela which are under the administration of the Ministry of Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace. Excluding the geographically North American Isla Aves, the remaining islands of the federal dependencies of Venezuela are islands situated in the Caribbean Sea on the continental shelf of South America, north of the Venezuelan mainland, akin to the location of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and Trinidad and Tobago. Similarly, the islands of Nueva Esparta state (Margarita Island, Coche Island, and Cubagua) are also situated in the Caribbean Sea just to the North of the Venezuela mainland coastline.

North American Caribbean islands belonging to South American countries:

San Andrés and Providencia, Colombia

South American Caribbean islands:

Aruba	Curaçao
Bonaire	Trinidad and Tobago

• Greece: The territory of Greece includes a number of islands just off the coast of Asia Minor, such as Rhodes, Kos, Samos, Chios, Lesbos, Kastellorizo, Strongyli Megistis, and Ro.

• Greenland: Greenland is a country within the Kingdom of Denmark, fully located on the North American tectonic plate and close to the mainland, and is considered to be geographically part of North America. Although it is politically associated with Europe and internationally represented by a European country (including in the Council of Europe), it is autonomous. Historically and ethnically, its native population is of North American tradition, although it also shares cultural links with other native peoples bordering the Arctic Sea in Northern Europe and Asia (today in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia), as well as in North America (Alaska in the U.S., Northwest Territories, Nunavut and northern parts of Quebec and Labrador in Canada). Greenland was part of Danish territory and within the territory of the European Union, but voted for more autonomy and is now excluded from the EU.

• The Netherlands: Though most of the Kingdom of the Netherlands' land-mass is in Europe, it also includes six island territories in the Lesser Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea: the Dutch Caribbean. Within the Lesser Antilles archipelago, three territories are in the Leeward Islands group (considered part of the continent of North America) and three in the Leeward Antilles group (on the South American continental shelf). Since the dissolution of the Dutch Antilles in 2010, the sovereign Kingdom of the Netherlands has been administratively divided into four non-sovereign constituent "countries": Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and The Netherlands — the last of which includes the islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (collectively known as the BES islands or the Caribbean Netherlands) as "special municipalities", making it a non-sovereign transcontinental country within the kingdom.

• France: Metropolitan France is in Europe, while the five Overseas Departments and six Overseas Collectivities are in other continents or geographic regions. Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélemy, and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon are in North America, French Guiana is in South America, Mayotte and Réunion are in Africa, and New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna are in Oceania. These Overseas Departments and Collectivities are integral parts of France, as are the uninhabited Clipperton Island in North America and French Southern and Antarctic Lands which include Scattered Islands in Africa, St. Paul and Amsterdam islands on the Australian Plate, and Kerguelen Islands, Crozet Island and Adélie Land in Antarctic. French sovereignty claim on Adélie Land is in abeyance under the Antarctic Treaty System.

• United Kingdom: The United Kingdom, located in Western Europe, has 3 crown dependencies (Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey) and 1 British Overseas Territories (Gibraltar) located in Europe. The territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands are located in North America. The Falkland Islands as well as the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are located in South America, but straddle the bounds of Antarctica. The Pitcairn Islands are located in Oceania. Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha are located in Africa. Akrotiri and Dhekelia and the British Indian Ocean Territory are located in Asia. British Antarctic Territory is located in Antarctica. Therefore, the United Kingdom is the only country to have territory on each continent.

• Italy: Italy has a number of small islands south of Sicily which, geographically can be considered part of the African continent, due to their proximity to Tunisia. The closest land to Pantelleria and the Pelagie Islands (Lampedusa, Linosa and Lampione) is Tunisia on the African mainland. Nevertheless, Pantelleria and Linosa are considered part of Europe, Lampedusa and Lampione part of Africa.
• Portugal: Continental Portugal is in Europe, while the archipelago of Madeira, an Autonomous Regions of Portugal (including Porto Santo Island, the Desertas Islands and the Savage Islands), is associated with Africa. If we consider that the Azores autonomous region of Portugal has two islands (Flores and Corvo) that are part of North American tectonic plate (see Europe and North America section above), Portugal would be a transcontinental country geologically except for the fact these plates are not defined as continents.
• Spain: Although its mainland is in Europe, Spain has territory including two provinces and two autonomous cities in Africa. Close to 5% of Spain's population live on the African continent. Territories include the Canary Islands in the Atlantic, the cities of Ceuta and Melilla on mainland North Africa and its Plazas de soberanía close to those cities that are geographically part of Africa. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla are three of the 19 autonomous communities and cities that form Spain, while the Plazas de Soberanía are under different military status. The African Mediterranean island of Isla de Alborán belongs to the transcontinental city of Almería and the transcontinental province of Almería.

• Yemen: Although mainland Yemen is in the southern Arabian Peninsula and thus part of Asia, and its Hanish Islands and Perim in the Red Sea are associated with Asia, Yemen's national territory extends to the archipelago of Socotra, which lies east of the horn of Somalia[11] and is much closer to Africa than to Asia.[12]

• Australia: The Commonwealth of Australia consists of its namesake continent and island possessions associated with Oceania, Asia, and Antarctica. Its Indian Ocean island possessions of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are associated with Asia. The majority of Australia's Asian island residents have Asian ancestry and are Muslim or Buddhist.
• The Malay Archipelago which lies on the border of Melanesia and Southeast Asia. Depending on the interpretation of the border, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea can be considered transcontinental countries and East Timor, Brunei and Singapore can be on either side. Papua New Guinea anthropologically is a part of Melanesia and is sometimes included in the Malay Archipelago. It is an observer in the ASEAN and has contemplated full membership.[13]
• Japan's Izu islands, Ogasawara islands, and Minami Torishima are occasionally considered Oceanian.

• United States: While the territory of the United States lies overwhelmingly in North America, it includes the state of Hawaii in Oceania as well as other Oceanian island possessions and Alaskan islands on Northeast Asia's continental shelf.

• Chile is mostly on the South American mainland and includes the Oceanian islands of Easter Island and Sala y Gómez Island. Those and the outlying South American Juan Fernández Islands and Desventuradas Islands are part of the Valparaíso Region.
• Ecuador contains the Galapagos islands, which, depending on the definition, either lie in South America or as a part of the Oceanian islands.

Seven nations claim portions (some overlapping)[note 1] of the continent of Antarctica: Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, France and Norway. Some, including Argentina and Chile, consider the Antarctic land they claim to be integral parts of their national territory. However, none of these claims are recognized by other states.[note 2] Since 1961, the Antarctic Treaty System has held in abeyance land claims south of 60°S latitude, including Antarctica’s ice shelves and Antarctic islands.

Eight nations have Antarctic or sub-Antarctic island possessions that are north of 60°S latitude but south of the Antarctic Convergence, which are recognized by international law:[note 3] New Zealand, France, Chile, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Norway and United Kingdom.