Geography of Europe

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Europe is traditionally reckoned as one of seven continents. Physiographically, however, it is the northwestern peninsula of the larger landmass known as Eurasia (or Africa-Eurasia): Asia occupies the eastern bulk of this continuous landmass (save the Suez Canal separating Asia and Africa) and all share a common continental shelf. Europe's eastern frontier is delineated by the Ural Mountains in Russia. The south-east 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, and the Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. However, numerous geographers consider Azerbaijan's and Armenia's southern border with Iran and Turkey's southern and eastern border with Syria, Iraq and Iran as the boundary between Asia and Europe because of political and cultural reasons. 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. There is ongoing debate on where the geographical centre of Europe is. (See Transcontinental nation for a more detailed description of the boundary between Asia and Europe).

The idea of a European "continent" is not universally held. Some geographical texts refer to a Eurasian Continent, or to a European subcontinent, given that Europe is not surrounded by sea and is, in any case, much more a cultural than a geographically definable area.

The two largest of these are "mainland" Europe and Scandinavia to the north, divided from each other by the Baltic Sea. Three smaller peninsulas—Iberia, Italy and the Balkans—emerge from the southern margin of the mainland into the Mediterranean Sea, which separates Europe from Africa. Eastward, mainland Europe widens much like the mouth of a funnel, until the boundary with Asia is reached at the Ural Mountains.

Land relief in Europe shows great variation within relatively small areas. The southern regions are 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. An arc of uplands also exists along the northwestern seaboard, beginning in the western British Isles and continuing along the mountainous, fjord-cut spine of Norway.

This description is simplified. Sub-regions such as Iberia and Italy contain their own complex features, as does mainland Europe itself, where the relief contains many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate the general trend. Iceland and the British Isles 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.

The few generalizations that can be made about the relief of Europe make it less than surprising that the continent's many separate regions provided homes for many separate nations throughout history.

Contents

Main article: Geology of Europe

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.

Main article: List of rivers of Europe

Important rivers of Europe with approximate length:

  1. Volga 3,690 km
  2. Danube 2,860 km
  3. Ural 2,428 km
  4. Dnieper 2,290 km
  5. Don 1,950 km
  6. Pechora 1,809 km
  7. Kama 1,805 km
  8. Oka 1,500 km
  9. Belaya 1,430 km
  10. Dniester 1,352 km
  11. Rhine 1,320 km
  12. Elbe 1,165 km
  13. Vistula 1,047 km
  14. Tagus 1,038 km
  15. Loire 1,012 km
  16. Ebro 960 km
  17. Sava, 933 km
  18. Seine, 776 km
  19. Po, 652 km

Main article: List of lakes of Europe

Iceland, Faroe Islands, Great Britain, Ireland, Isle of Man, Rockall, the rest of the British Isles, part of the Azores, Madeira, Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Ionian Islands, Crete, Aegean Islands, Åland Islands, Gotland, Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, Jan Mayen, Canary Islands and Svalbard

Main article: List of mountain ranges of Europe

Some of Europe's major mountain ranges are:

The high mountainous areas of Europe are colder and have higher precipitation than lower areas, as is true of mountainous areas in general. Europe has less precipitation in the east than in central and western Europe. The temperature difference between summer and winter gradually increases from coastal northwest Europe to southeast inland Europe, ranging from Ireland, with a temperature difference of 15 degrees, to the area north of the Caspian Sea, with a temperature difference of 70 degrees.

Notes:

  1. Liechtenstein is doubly landlocked
  2. Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, and the Republic of Macedonia constitute a contiguous landlocked agglomeration of (eight, 8) countries in Central Europe and the Balkans, stretching from Geneva all the way to Greece
  3. Armenia and Azerbaijan make up a landlocked pair of countries
  4. All other landlocked countries (Luxembourg, Andorra, Vatican, San Marino, Belarus, Moldova, and Kazakhstan) are "standalone" landlocked countries, not bordering any other such European one (the emphasis is necessary, since Kazakhstan borders Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, thus forming a vast landlocked expanse in Central Asia)

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