[khankipara]

Geologists and physical geographers no longer consider Europe and Asia to be separate continents. It is either defined in terms of geological landmasses (physical geography) or tectonic plates (geology). In the former case, Europe is a western peninsula of Eurasia or the Africa-Eurasia landmass. In the latter, Europe and Asia are parts of the Eurasian plate, which excludes the Arabian and Indian tectonic plates.

In human geography, there are two schools of thought. One school follows historical convention and treats Europe and Asia as different continents, categorizing Europe, East Asia (the Orient), South Asia (British India), and the Middle East (Arabia and Persia) as specific regions for more detailed analysis. The other schools equate the word "continent" in terms of geographical region when referring to Europe, and use the term "region" to describe Asia in terms of physical geography. It is becoming increasingly common to substitute the term "region" for "continent" because in linguistic terms, "continent" implies a distinct landmass.

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[Tanada]

Way back when I was in school the Ural mountain chain was considered evidence that Asia and Europe were indeed two separate continents that had collided much as India collided with South Asia.

Somewhere along the line the thinking changed but I never got a clear picture of when and why, could you expand on this question?

[Jotapay]

This is completely trivial except for people who write textbooks and make maps. Bean counters at their finest. GET A REAL JOB!