Hello Moin,
The map shape objects which represent items from the shape file have properties which can be used to change their appearance. The set of the appearance properties is the same as standard Silverlight Shape object has. You can use MapShapeReader.PreviewReadCompleted event to loop through the map shapes and set appearance depends on the continent name. For example:
You can put any FrameworkElement over the map and catch events on it. You can find samples here:
http://demos.telerik.com/silverlight/#Map/DataBinding
http://demos.telerik.com/silverlight/#Map/HotSpot
Greetings,
Andrey Murzov
the Telerik team