Geography of Europe

From Wikibooks, open books for an open world
Jump to navigation Jump to search


Europe is a continent of over 50 countries with a border that is largely undefined (defining which countries are European and which aren't is argued a lot) and with many different landscapes, climates and wildlife.

Mont Blonc (Monte Bianco), the highest mountain in western Europe

Islands of Europe[edit | edit source]

Arctic conditions in Lapland, Finland

Europe has many thousands of islands and some of these are countries (Iceland and Cyprus, for example). The largest islands are Iceland, Great Britain, Ireland (includes the country called "Ireland" and Northern Ireland which is part of the UK), Sicily, Spitsbergen and Sardinia.

North-west Europe at night, London on the left, Brussels and Amsterdam above and to the right of London, Paris below and Milan can be seen near the far-right of the picture

Mountains of Europe[edit | edit source]

In the east of the continent are the Ural mountains (click the mountain links to read the article on Wikipedia) which separate Europe from Asia. North of the Mediterranean Sea are the Alps which run through France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. In the centre and south of the continent are the Carpathian Mountains.

Climate of Europe[edit | edit source]

The far north (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia) pass through the Arctic Circle which is the area near the North Pole where temperatures can be very low. Countries to the east and inland of Europe can have very cold winters but those in the west have milder winters because of warmth from the Gulf Stream which brings hotter temperatures. Southern areas around the Mediterranean Sea can have constantly hot summers and pleasant winters.

Volcanoes and Other Natural Occurrences in Europe[edit | edit source]

Etna, Sicily, Italy erupting

Europe has 11 volcanoes. The second-highest and most famous is Etna in Sicily, Italy at 3,263 metres. It is well-known for its height, its close location to the major city of Catania and its constant eruptions over the past few years. Europe's highest volcano is Pico del Teide in the Canary Island, Spain.

Landlocked Countries[edit | edit source]

A landlocked country is a country which has no connection to a sea or ocean. Countries like Georgia and Ukraine are not landlocked because they have coastlines on the Black Sea. There are 16 landlocked countries in Europe: Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Kosovo, Czechia, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Moldova*, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Vatican City. Liechtenstein is unique in Europe because it is doubly-landlocked meaning it is both landlocked and surrounded by countries which are also landlocked, a situation it only shares with Uzbekistan which is the second country in the world surrounded only by landlocked countries (Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan). Although the state of Kosovo is placed as a landlocked countries in the Europe, the state has not obtained the country status. If the Serbian breakaway Kosovo is considered as the country, the Moldovan breakaway part Transnistria need to be recognized as another landlocked countries of the Europe. Hence, if we count only the UN recognized countries there are 15 landlocked countries in Europe, or the 17 countries along with breakaway regions.





  Wikijunior EuropeIntroEUGeoPeopleLanguageFactsQuiz edit

Andorra Belgium Denmark France Iceland Ireland Liechtenstein Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Portugal Switzerland United Kingdom Albania Bosnia Croatia Cyprus
Greece Italy Malta Monaco Montenegro San Marino Kosovo Slovenia Spain Vatican City Austria Czech Republic Estonia Finland Germany Hungary Latvia
Lithuania Macedonia Poland Serbia Slovakia Sweden Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bulgaria Georgia Kazakhstan Moldova Romania Russia Turkey Ukraine