Antoine Leca <Antoine.Leca@renault.fr> writes:

Paul Eggert wrote:

...

I don't know of any current official dividing line between Europe and Asia [...] Geographically, Cyprus is clearly in Asia, and this has long been recognized.

Sorry Paul: you are not consistent. Either you do not know of a dividing line (as I do not, hence I do not comment on the issue). Or you do know that "Cyprus is clearly in Asia", which in fact means that you know of some line.

What I was trying to say (perhaps infelicitously) is that the geographic dividing line is fuzzy in places (e.g. are the Mugadzhar mountains in Europe or in Asia?) but Cyprus is pretty clearly on the Asian side. Here's a quote that states things fairly accurately, I think: Geographically, Cyprus is considered to be a part of West Asia (this Mediterranean island is much closer to the mainland of Asia than to that of Europe). However, due to cultural, demographic, and historical reasons, it is often considered as a part of Europe. http://www.ozemail.com.au/~natinfo/asia3-2.htm#cyprus However, after some more research I agree that the point is disputable. In particular, the Encyclopedia Britannica flatly says that Cyprus is part of Europe. See <http://www.britannica.com/seo/e/europe/>.

The problem with Cyprus is that, at least as he said, Yiango was unable to find Cyprus TZ because it cannot found it under Europe/Nicosia.

Yes, that's perhaps the best practical argument for putting it under Europe. I guess you have talked me into adding something like this: # Classically, Cyprus belongs to Asia; e.g. see Herodotus, Histories, I.72. # However, for various reasons many users expect to find it under Europe. Link Asia/Nicosia Europe/Nicosia