 | Europe: Encyclopedia II - Europe - Territories and divisions
Europe - Territories and divisions
Europe - Political divisions
Europe
Extension over Asia of the continuous territory of a European state
Geographically in Asia, considered European for cultural and historical reasons
See also: Table of European territories and regions
The following independent states have territory in Europe:
- Albania
- Andorra
- Armenia1
- Austria
- Azerbaijan1
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Cyprus2
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Georgia1
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kazakhstan3
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia4
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia3
- San Marino
- Serbia and Montenegro5
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey6
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Vatican City
1 Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia arguably have territory in Europe north of the crest of the Caucasus.
2 Cyprus is not a part of Europe geographically but is considered to be European culturally.
3 Russia and Kazakhstan have territory in Europe west of the Ural Mountains and the Emba River.
4 The name of this state is a matter of international dispute. See Republic of Macedonia for details.
5 State union of Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro.
6 Turkey has territory in Europe west and north of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.
The European territories listed below are recognised as being culturally and geographically defined. Most have a degree of autonomy. In the list below, each territory is followed by its legal status.
- Faroe Islands (autonomous region of Denmark)
- Gibraltar (UK overseas territory)
- Guernsey (British crown dependency)
- Jersey (British crown dependency)
- Man, Isle of (British crown dependency)
- Svalbard (autonomous region of Norway)
- Jan Mayen (autonomous region of Norway)
- Akrotiri and Dhekelia (UK Sovereign Base Areas; located in Cyprus, Asia)
Note that this is not a list of all dependencies of all European countries. Dependencies located on other continents are not listed.
Following are breakaway regions of independent states. These regions have declared and de facto achieved independence, but this is not recognised de jure by their home state or by the other independent states.
- Abkhazia (from Georgia)
- South Ossetia (from Georgia)
- Transnistria (from Moldova)
- Nagorno-Karabakh (disputed by Armenia and Azerbaijan; located in Asia)
- Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (from Cyprus; located in Asia)
- Kosovo and Metohia (province of Serbia)
Notes:
- ^ Continental regions as per UN categorisations/map. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 2-6, 8-11) may be in one or both of Europe and Asia or Africa.
- ^ Armenia is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Western Asia (as per UN categorisations/map).
- ^ Azerbaijan is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for European portion only.
- ^ Cyprus is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Southern Europe; population and area figures are for de jure Greek-administered portion only.
- ^ Georgia is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for European portion only.
- ^ Kazakhstan is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe.
- ^ Netherlands population for July 2004; Amsterdam is the official capital, while The Hague is the administrative seat.
- ^ Figures for Portugal exclude the Madeira Islands, west of Morocco in Africa.
- ^ Russia is generally considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe (UN region) and Asia; population and area figures are for European portion only.
- ^ Figures for Spain exclude the Canary Islands, west of Morocco in Africa, and the exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which are on the northwest of the African continent.
- ^ Turkey is generally considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Southern Europe; population and area figures are for European portion only, including all of Istanbul.
Europe - Linguistic and cultural regions
The sub-division in several linguistic and cultural regions is much less subjective than the geographical sub-division, since they correspond to people's cultural connections. There are three main groups:
Germanic Europe, where Germanic languages are spoken. This area corresponds more or less to north-western Europe and some parts of central Europe. The main religion of the region is Protestantism, but the further south you go, you encounter more countries with a Catholic majority (particularly Austria but also Belgium). This region consists of: United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the Faroe Islands, German-speaking Switzerland, the Flemish part of Belgium, the Swedish-speaking municipalities of Finland, and the South Tyrol part of Italy.
Latin Europe, where the Romance languages are spoken. This area corresponds more or less to south-western Europe, with the exception of Romania and Moldova which are situated in Eastern Europe. The major religion is Catholicism, except in Romania and Moldova. This area consists of: Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Romania, Moldova, French-speaking Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland, and Italian and Romansh-speaking Switzerland as well.
Slavic Europe, where Slavic languages are spoken. This area corresponds, more or less, to Central and Eastern Europe. The main religions are Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism, with large Muslim populations in some parts formerly ruled by the Ottoman Empire. This area consists of: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
Outside of these three main groups we can find:
- The Celtic nations: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Cornwall (within the United Kingdom); the Isle of Man (a British Crown dependency); the Republic of Ireland; Brittany (within France). These are all nations where a Celtic language is spoken, or was spoken into modern times, and there is a degree of shared culture (see Pan Celticism). Also considered Celtic nations are both Galicia (Spain) and Asturias, (within Spain), whose own Celtic language died out several hundred years ago.
- Greece, the only country of "Hellenic Europe". In Hellenic Europe we can consider also the Greek Cypriot community. It is sometimes associated with the Latin countries, due to the geographical and cultural ties to the Mediterranean Sea, and sometimes to the Slavic-Orthodox part of Europe due to the importance of Orthodoxy in Greece.
- Ibero-Caucasian, a group that includes ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus region (both North and South). Ibero-Caucasian languages are not linked to the Indo-European languages. This group includes Georgians, Abkhaz, Chechens, Balkars, and a number of other smaller ethnic groups that reside in the Caucasus.
- Turkey, having an Altaic language not of Indo-European origin, and mainly a Muslim country, unlike the main regions' different versions of Christianity.
- Hungary, having a language related to Finnish and Estonian (not of Indo-European origin). Due to its location Hungary is normally grouped with Central or Eastern European countries.
- Finland and Estonia, whose languages are related to Hungarian. Despite this connection (not a close one), Finland and Estonia are normally associated with northern European countries (of an even farther connection).
- Armenia, although not considered as part of Europe geographically, has a language that constitutes a separate branch of Indo-European family of languages and the nation is considered to be European culturally. The Armenian language is spoken in Armenia and other European countries with Armenian communities (such as France, Greece, Belgium, Russia, Germany etc.).
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 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Territories and divisions", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
