Although we often think about geographical continents as fixed natural entities, they are in fact also the product of imaginative construction.  The most recent example of this process is the emergence of the continental concept of "Eurasia."  This brief essay considers the historical origins of the Eurasia idea in the geological sciences of the 19thcentury, its development in 20th-century theories of global geo-strategy as well as ideologies of Russian national identity, and its eventual international "breakthrough" into public discourses with the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.  It discusses some of the different ways Eurasia is represented today in terms of its boundaries and essential characteristics, and finally offers a series of arguments for the usefulness of "Eurasian Studies" as a platform for university research and teaching.