The continental trap: ¿are we forgetting about the importance of the Eurasian space?

Abstract

The present essay reflects about the arbitrariness of the cartography considering the
concrete case: the model of the five continents. In this model, Eurasia is divided in two, in a
decision based especially on political-identitarian considerations. However, as it is considered
a unique land mass, there exists a territorial continuity between Europe and Asia, making it
possible to think of a unique continent. To deal with this question, this study takes the
theoretical framework of both decolonial/postcolonial studies and that of the Critical
Geography. One of the referents of the last theory coined the expression of territorial trap to
refer to “the thinking and acting as if the world was entirely built by States which exercise
their power on blocks of space and in this way, they are constituted as the only geographical,
political referent of the world politics” (Agnew, 2005, p.284). In this line, the objectives were,
following a qualitative methodology, putting forward the concept of “continental trap” to
account for the ideological character of the penta-continental model and exploring the
geopolitical potential of understanding the Eurasian space as a unit.