I wrote,

... The Columbia Encyclopedia's article on Asia says, "The conventional boundary with Europe--which may be said geographically to be a peninsula of the Eurasian land mass--lies approximately along the Ural mts., the Ural river, and the Caspian Sea. Thus defined, Asia, including Ceylon but excluding the islands of Japan, ...". I didn't find any reference books that place Ceylon in Europe.

I'm sorry, my mind was wandering. The Encyclopedia does say Ceylon, which is irrelevant to the thread. It doesn't mention Cyprus at all. In the last sentence, I meant to write Cyprus instead of Ceylon. Yours, Gwillim Law