Europe

Europe (IPA: /ˈjəːɹəp/, /ˈjuɹəp/) is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast.^[1] Europe is washed upon to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, and to the southeast by the Black Sea and the waterways connecting it to the Mediterranean. Yet, the borders for Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are somewhat arbitrary, as the term continent can refer to a cultural and political distinction or a physiographic one. This article is primarily about the first, although it necessarily references the second.

Europe is the world's second-smallest continent by surface area, covering about 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi) or 2% of the Earth's surface and about 6.8% of its land area. Of Europe's approximately 50 states, Russia is the largest by both area and population, while the Vatican City is the smallest. Europe is the third most populous continent after Asia and Africa, with a population of 731 million or about 11% of the world's population; however, according to the United Nations (medium estimate), Europe's share may fall to about 7% in 2050.^[2]

Modern Western Europe is the birthplace of Western culture. European (particularly Western European) nations played a predominant role in global affairs from the 16th century onwards, especially after the beginning of colonialism. Between the 17th and 20th centuries, European nations controlled at various times the Americas, most of Africa, Australasia and large portions of Asia. Demographic changes and the two World Wars led to a decline in European dominance in world affairs by the mid-20th century as the United States and Soviet Union took prominence. During the Cold War Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the West and the Warsaw Pact in the East. European integration led to the formation of the Council of Europe and the European Union in Western Europe, both of which have been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Europe
Area	10,180,000 km² (3,930,000 sq mi)o[›]
Population	731,000,000o[›]
Density	70/km² (181/sq mi)
Countries	ca. 50
Demonym	European
Language families	Indo-European Finno-Ugric Altaic Basque Semitic North Caucasian
Largest Cities	Istanbul, Moscow, London, Paris, Madrid, Saint Petersburg, Berlin, Rome, Athens, Kiev
Time Zones	UTC (Iceland) to UTC+5 (Russia, MSK+2)

Geography and extent

Satellite image of Caucasus Mountains, Black Sea (l.) and Caspian Sea (r.)

Physiographically, Europe is the northwestern constituent of the larger landmass known as Eurasia, or Afro-Eurasia: Asia occupies the eastern bulk of this continuous landmass and all share a common continental shelf. Europe's eastern frontier is now commonly delineated by the Ural Mountains in Russia.^[1] The first century AD geographer Strabo, took the River Don "Tanais" to be the boundary to the Black Sea^[96], as did early Judaic sources. The southeast boundary with Asia is not universally defined. Most commonly the Ural or, alternatively, the Emba River serve as possible boundaries. The boundary continues to the Caspian Sea, the crest of the Caucasus Mountains or, alternatively, the Kura River in the Caucasus, and on to the Black Sea; the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, the Dardanelles, and the Aegean Sea conclude the Asian boundary. The Mediterranean Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa. The western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean; Iceland, though nearer to Greenland (North America) than mainland Europe, is generally included in Europe.

Because of sociopolitical and cultural differences, there are various descriptions of Europe's boundary; in some sources, some territories are not included in Europe, while other sources include them. For instance, geographers from Russia and other post-Soviet states generally include the Urals in Europe while including Caucasia in Asia. Similarly, numerous geographers^[who?] consider Azerbaijan's and Armenia's southern borders with Iran and Turkey's southern and eastern borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran as the boundary between Asia and Europe because of political and cultural reasons.^{[citation needed]} In the same way, despite being close to Asia and Africa, the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and Malta are considered part of Europe and currently form part of the EU.

Dr. Krishna Ram stated: "But for the fact that a civilization which for five centuries dominated, colonised and subjugated the rest of the world originated there, no one would have considered Europe a separate continent. There is no objective physical reason why Europe should be a full-fledged "continent" while the Indian sub continent is that, a "sub-continent". If it had been India which had given birth to the world-dominating culture, probably it would have been India which also arrogated to itself the distinction of being an entire "continent" all in itself. The Himalayas, after all, are a bit higher than the Urals"^[97].

Physical geography

Relief map of Europe

Land relief in Europe shows great variation within relatively small areas. The southern regions, however, are more mountainous, while moving north the terrain descends from the high Alps, Pyrenees and Carpathians, through hilly uplands, into broad, low northern plains, which are vast in the east. This extended lowland is known as the Great European Plain, and at its heart lies the North German Plain. An arc of uplands also exists along the north-western seaboard, which begins in the western parts of the islands of Britain and Ireland, and then continues along the mountainous, fjord-cut, spine of Norway.

This description is simplified. Sub-regions such as the Iberian Peninsula and the Italian Peninsula contain their own complex features, as does mainland Central Europe itself, where the relief contains many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate the general trend. Sub-regions like Iceland, Britain and Ireland are special cases. The former is a land unto itself in the northern ocean which is counted as part of Europe, while the latter are upland areas that were once joined to the mainland until rising sea levels cut them off.

Climate

Biomes of Europe:
tundra alpine tundra taiga montane forest
temperate broadleaf forest mediterranean forest temperate steppe dry steppe

The Gulf Stream is orange and yellow in this thermal image of the Atlantic.

Europe lies mainly in the temperate climate zones, being subjected to prevailing westerlies.

The climate is milder in comparison to other areas of the same latitude around the globe due to the influence of the Gulf Stream.^[98] The Gulf Stream is nicknamed "Europe's central heating", because it makes Europe's climate warmer and wetter than it would otherwise be. The Gulf Stream not only carries warm water to Europe's coast but also warms up the prevailing westerly winds that blow across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean.

Therefore the average temperature throughout the year of Naples is 16 °C (60.8 °F), while it is only 12 °C (53.6 °F) in New York City which is almost on the same latitude. Berlin, Germany; Calgary, Canada; and Irkutsk, in the Asian part of Russia, lie on around the same latitude; January temperatures in Berlin average around 8 °C (15 °F) higher than those in Calgary, and they are almost 22 °C (40 °F) higher than average temperatures in Irkutsk.^[98]

Geology

The Geology of Europe is hugely varied and complex, and gives rise to the wide variety of landscapes found across the continent, from the Scottish Highlands to the rolling plains of Hungary.^[99]

Europe's most significant feature is the dichotomy between highland and mountainous Southern Europe and a vast, partially underwater, northern plain ranging from England in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east. These two halves are separated by the mountain chains of the Pyrenees and Alps/Carpathians. The northern plains are delimited in the west by the Scandinavian Mountains and the mountainous parts of the British Isles. Major shallow water bodies submerging parts of the northern plains are the Celtic Sea, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea complex and Barents Sea.

The northern plain contains the old geological continent of Baltica, and so may be regarded geologically as the "main continent", while peripheral highlands and mountainous regions in the south and west constitute fragments from various other geological continents. Most of the older geology of Western Europe existed as part of the ancient microcontinent Avalonia.

Geological history

The geological history of Europe traces back to the formation of the Baltic Shield (Fennoscandia) and the Sarmatian craton, both around 2.25 billion years ago, followed by the Volgo-Uralia shield, the three together leading to the East European craton (≈ Baltica) which became a part of the supercontinent Columbia. Around 1.1 billion years ago, Baltica and Arctica (as part of the Laurentia block) became joined to Rodinia, later resplitting around 550 million years ago to reform as Baltica. Around 440 million years ago Euramerica was formed from Baltica and Laurentia; a further joining with Gondwana then leading to the formation of Pangea. Around 190 million years ago, Gondwana and Laurasia split apart due to the widening of the Atlantic Ocean. Finally, and very soon afterwards, Laurasia itself split up again, into Laurentia (North America) and the Eurasian continent. The land connection between the two persisted for a considerable time, via Greenland, leading to interchange of animal species. From around 50 million years ago, rising and falling sea levels have determined the actual shape of Europe, and its connections with continents such as Asia. Europe's present shape dates to the late Tertiary period about five million years ago.

Political geography

Europe according to a widely accepted definition is shown in green (countries sometimes associated with European culture in dark blue, Asian parts of European states in light blue).

Modern political map

A map of Europe with national flags (March 2009)

Regional grouping according to the UN

Regional grouping according to the CIA world factbook

European Union, its candidate countries, and other European countries^[113]

Council of Europe nations

Map showing European membership of the EU and NATO

According to different definitions, the territories may be subject to various categorisations. The table below shows the scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations,^[114] alongside the regional grouping published in the CIA factbook. The socio-geographical data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they differ, provisos are clearly indicated.

The 27 European Union member states are highly integrated economically and politically; the European Union itself forms part of the political geography of Europe.

Name of country, with flag	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2002 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Albania	28,748	3,600,523	125.2	Tirana
Andorra	468	68,403	146.2	Andorra la Vella
Armeniak[›]	29,800	3,229,900	101	Yerevan
Austria	83,858	8,169,929	97.4	Vienna
Azerbaijanl[›]	86,600	8,621,000	97	Baku
Belarus	207,600	10,335,382	49.8	Minsk
Belgium	30,510	10,274,595	336.8	Brussels
Bosnia and Herzegovina	51,129	4,448,500	77.5	Sarajevo
Bulgaria	110,910	7,621,337	68.7	Sofia
Croatia	56,542	4,437,460	77.7	Zagreb
Cypruse[›]	9,251	788,457	85	Nicosia
Czech Republic	78,866	10,256,760	130.1	Prague
Denmark	43,094	5,368,854	124.6	Copenhagen
Estonia	45,226	1,415,681	31.3	Tallinn
Finland	336,593	5,157,537	15.3	Helsinki
Franceh[›]	547,030	59,765,983	109.3	Paris
Georgia m[›]	69,700	4,661,473	64	Tbilisi
Germany	357,021	83,251,851	233.2	Berlin
Greece	131,940	10,645,343	80.7	Athens
Hungary	93,030	10,075,034	108.3	Budapest
Iceland	103,000	307,261	2.7	Reykjavík
Ireland	70,280	4,234,925	60.3	Dublin
Italy	301,230	58,751,711	191.6	Rome
Kazakhstanj[›]	2,724,900	15,217,711	5.6	Astana
Latvia	64,589	2,366,515	36.6	Riga
Liechtenstein	160	32,842	205.3	Vaduz
Lithuania	65,200	3,601,138	55.2	Vilnius
Luxembourg	2,586	448,569	173.5	Luxembourg
Macedonia	25,333	2,054,800	81.1	Skopje
Malta	316	397,499	1,257.9	Valletta
Moldovab[›]	33,843	4,434,547	131.0	Chişinău
Monaco	1.95	31,987	16,403.6	Monaco
Montenegro	13,812	616,258	44.6	Podgorica
Netherlandsi[›]	41,526	16,318,199	393.0	Amsterdam
Norway	324,220	4,525,116	14.0	Oslo
Poland	312,685	38,625,478	123.5	Warsaw
Portugalf[›]	91,568	10,409,995	110.1	Lisbon
Romania	238,391	21,698,181	91.0	Bucharest
Russiac[›]	17,075,400	142,200,000	26.8	Moscow
San Marino	61	27,730	454.6	San Marino
Serbia[115] (2002Census)	88,361	7,495,742	89.4	Belgrade
Slovakia	48,845	5,422,366	111.0	Bratislava
Slovenia	20,273	1,932,917	95.3	Ljubljana
Spain	504,851	45,061,274	89.3	Madrid
Sweden	449,964	9,090,113	19.7	Stockholm
Switzerland	41,290	7,507,000	176.8	Bern
Turkeyn[›]	783,562	70,586,256	93	Ankara
Ukraine	603,700	48,396,470	80.2	Kiev
United Kingdom	244,820	61,100,835	244.2	London
Vatican City	0.44	900	2,045.5	Vatican City
Total	10,180,000o[›]	731,000,000o[›]	70

Europe also contains several regions, enjoying broad autonomy, as well as several de facto independent countries with limited international recognition. None of them are UN members.

Name of territory, with flag	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2002 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Abkhaziar[›]	8,432	216,000	29	Sukhumi
Åland Islands (Finland)	1,552	26,008	16.8	Mariehamn
Faroe Islands (Denmark)	1,399	46,011	32.9	Tórshavn
Gibraltar (UK)	5.9	27,714	4,697.3	Gibraltar
Guernseyd[›] (UK)	78	64,587	828.0	St. Peter Port
Isle of Mand[›] (UK)	572	73,873	129.1	Douglas
Jerseyd[›] (UK)	116	89,775	773.9	Saint Helier
Kosovop[›]	10,887	2,126,708	220	Pristina
Nagorno-Karabakh	11,458	138,800	12	Stepanakert
Northern Cyprus	3,355	265,100	78	Nicosia
South Ossetiar[›]	3,900	70,000	18	Tskhinvali
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (Norway)	62,049	2,868	0.046	Longyearbyen
Transnistria	4,163	537,000	133	Tiraspol

Economy

European nations by GDP (nominal) per capita in 2006

GDP real growth rate in 2007

Main article: Economy of Europe

As a continent, the economy of Europe is currently the largest on Earth. As with other continents, Europe has a large variation of wealth among its countries. The richer states tend to be in the West, some of the Eastern economies are still emerging from the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. The European Union, an intergovernmental body composed of 27 European states, comprises the largest single economic area in the world. Currently, 15 EU countries share the euro as a common currency. Five European countries rank in the top ten of the worlds largest national economies in GDP (PPP). This includes (ranks according to the CIA): Germany (5), the UK (6), Russia (7), France (8), and Italy (10).^[116]

Pre–1945: Industrial growth

Capitalism has been dominant in the Western world since the end of feudalism.^[117] From Britain, it gradually spread throughout Europe.^[118] The Industrial Revolution started in Europe, specifically the United Kingdom in the late 18th century,^[119] and the 19th century saw Western Europe industrialise. Economies were disrupted by World War I but by the beginning of World War II they had recovered and were having to compete with the growing economic strength of the United States. World War II, again, damaged much of Europe's industries.

1945–1990: The Cold War

After World War II the economy of the UK was in a state of ruin,^[120] and continued to suffer relative economic decline in the following decades.^[121] Italy was also in a poor economic condition but regained a high level of growth by the 1950s. West Germany recovered quickly and had doubled production from pre-war levels by the 1950s.^[122] France also staged a remarkable comeback enjoying rapid growth and modernisation; later on Spain, under the leadership of Franco, also recovered, and the nation recorded huge unprecedented economic growth beginning in the 1960s in what is called the Spanish miracle.^[123] The majority of Eastern European states came under the control of the USSR and thus were members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON).^[124] The states which retained a free-market system were given a large amount of aid by the United States under the Marshall Plan.^[125] The western states moved to link their economies together, providing the basis for the EU and increasing cross border trade. This helped them to enjoy rapidly improving economies, while those states in COMECON were struggling in a large part due to the cost of the Cold War. Until 1990, the European Community was expanded from 6 founding members to 12. The emphasis placed on resurrecting the West German economy led to it overtaking the UK as Europe's largest economy.

Russia is Europe's key oil and gas supplier.^[126]

1991–2003: The rise of the EU

With the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1991 the Eastern states had to adapt to a free market system. There were varying degrees of success with Central European countries such as Poland, Hungary, and Slovenia adapting reasonably quickly, while eastern states like Ukraine and Russia taking far longer. Western Europe helped Eastern Europe by forming economic ties with them. After East and West Germany were reunited in 1990, the economy of West Germany struggled as it had to support and largely rebuild the infrastructure of East Germany. Yugoslavia lagged farthest behind as it was ravaged by war and in 2003 there were still many EU and NATO peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with only Slovenia making any real progress. By the millennium change, the EU dominated the economy of Europe comprising the five largest European economies of the time namely Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain. In 1999 12 of the 15 members of the EU joined the Eurozone replacing their former national currencies by the common euro. The three who chose to remain outside the Eurozone were: the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Sweden.