Europe is Earth's second-smallest continent after Australia but it has one-quarter of the world's population. With an area of 10.2 million km2, Europe occupies almost 1/15th of the world's total land area. It could be described as a large peninsula or as a subcontinent. It is located completely in the northern hemisphere and mainly in the eastern hemisphere. Europe's western coast is on the Atlantic Ocean.
Europe shares a landmass with Asia, known as Eurasia. Europe is divided from Asia by a series of watersheds, including the Ural River and the Caspian and Black Seas.
Europe is home to the birthplace of democracy and Western culture in the ancient civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
Europe is often described as a "peninsula of peninsulas"
A peninsula is a piece of land surrounded by water on three sides. Europe is a peninsula of the Eurasian supercontinent and is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian seas to the south.
How many countries are there in Europe?
Europe is shared by 50 countries.
By the conventional definition, there are 44 sovereign states or nations in Europe. This does not include:
Europe can be divided into seven geographic regions.
Land features
More than half of the continent’s land—including much of western and eastern Europe—consists of fairly flat, low plains. The plains stand mostly below 600 feet (180 meters) in elevation. The European Plain is one of the greatest uninterrupted expanses of plain on Earth’s surface.
Northwestern Europe has many highland areas, including parts of Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland, and Scandinavia.
Europe also has areas of central uplands and plateaus, with landscapes of rounded summits, steep slope valleys, and depressions. Examples of these areas are found in parts of Scotland, France, Spain, and the Czech Republic.
Europe's tallest mountains are found in the south. The continent's highest peaks are in the rugged Alps, which dominate south-central Europe. The Pyrenees form a high barrier between Spain and France. The mountains of Scandinavia are lower, as are the Ural Mountains, which form the continent's eastern boundary.
The highest point in Europe is Mt. Elbrus in the Caucasus Mountains. Its summit is 18,510 feet (5642 meters) above sea level and it is located in Russia.
The continent has many rivers but few large lakes. The major rivers include the Rhine, Seine, and Rhone in the west, the Po in the south, and the Danube, Elbe, Oder, Vistula, Volga, and Don in the center and east.
Europe's longest river is the Volga, which meanders 3530km (2193m) through Russia, and flows into the Caspian Sea. Two other major rivers are the Danube and the Rhine.
The lowest terrain in Europe is found in Russia at the head of the Caspian Sea. There the Caspian Depression reaches some 95 feet (29m) below sea level. The lowest points in the western part of Europe are each about 23 feet (7m) below sea level and close to the sea: Lammefjord, in Denmark, and Prins Alexander Polder, in the Netherlands.
Climate
Most of Western Europe has a moist and moderate climate, while Eastern Europe has cold winters and hot summers, especially in the southeast. The winter can be long and very cold in the far north. The countries near the Mediterranean Sea have hot, dry summers and mild winters.
There are many different climate zones in Europe. Some of the main ones are:
It is the climate found in Northwestern and Central Europe. It had mild temperatures, long growing seasons, and a lot of rain.
It is characterized by warm to hot summers and cold winters. Central-eastern Europe is classified as having a continental climate.
It takes up most of South Europe. The summer is hot and dry. The winters are mild and wet. It has no snow and there is only 3-4 inches of rain per month.
Both are extremely cold. They are found in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. There tends to be little plant life - only in the form of shrubs and mosses.
It is the higher altitudes of the Alps and Carpathians. The temperatures and precipitation vary because of wind direction, position to the sun, and altitude.
It is characterized by cool to warm summers and cool winters with frequent overcast skies. Most of Western Europe has an Oceanic climate.
Plant life
Climate and soil are the most important factors in determining the location of plants. The plants in Europe vary a lot by region.
Probably 80 to 90 percent of Europe was once covered by forest. It stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Ocean. Though over half of Europe's original forests disappeared through the centuries of deforestation. Europe's animals and plants have been profoundly affected by the presence and activities of humans like cutting down trees for agriculture and livestock grazing.
The main natural vegetation cover in Europe is 'mixed forest'.
Animal life
In many parts of Europe, large animals like woolly mammoths were hunted for game and fur, which led to their extinction.
Some of the iconic species of Europe are bison, brown bear, tree frog, shag ( long-necked bird about the size of goose), green lizard, greater spotted eagle, moose, lynx, foxes, jackals, stoats, otters, badgers, and martens. Northern Europe is home to reindeer.
Bears and wolves were once found in most parts of Europe, but deforestation and hunting caused these animals to withdraw. Today, bears are mostly found in inaccessible mountains with sufficient forest cover. Today, the brown bear lives primarily in the Balkan peninsula, Scandinavia, and Russia; wolves can be found primarily in Central and Eastern Europe and in the Balkans and a few species in some parts of Western Europe.
Lynx is the third largest predator in Europe, next to the brown bear and wolf.
Sea creatures are also an important part of European flora and fauna. The sea flora is mainly phytoplankton. Important animals that live in European seas are zooplankton, mollusks, echinoderms, different crustaceans, squids, octopuses, fish, dolphins, and whales.
Southern Europe is particularly rich in amphibian life. There are many species of frogs and toads in Europe.
Languages
There are three main Indo-European language groups:
- Romance languages derived from the Latin of the Roman Empire. The main languages of this group are Portuguese, Spanish (Castilian), French, Italian, and Romanian. It is primarily spoken in south-western Europe.
- Germanic languages derived from southern Scandinavia. Includes English, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic. They are now spoken throughout northern, northwestern, and central Europe.
- Slavic languages include Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, and Macedonian. They are spoken mainly in eastern and southeastern Europe and in Russia.
Many other languages outside the three main groups exist in Europe like the Baltic group (Latvian and Lithuanian), the Celtic group (Irish, Welsh, Cornish), Greek, Armenian, and Albanian.
Economy
Europe is largely an industrial economy. As compared to manufacturing and services, farming contributes less to the economy. Europe is a major producer of rye, oats, potatoes, and wheat. The economies of most European nations are based primarily on services such as trade, banking, tourism, shipping, and insurance. Major manufacturing industries are chemicals, appliances, textiles, drugs, machinery, and metal products. Coal, iron, copper, zinc, lead, aluminum, mercury, potash, sulfur, and titanium are the main minerals extracted in Europe.
