Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia.
Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed divides of Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Bosporus Strait ( Istanbul), Dardanelles Strait ( Çanakkale),Sea of Marmara and Aegean Sea. The borders of Europe were historically defined as such: on the west by longitudes 24° east (which passes through Ireland) and 36° east (which passes through Turkey’s easternmost point); onthe north by latitude 66° north (which runs through Norway’s northernmost point); onthe east byetersburg;and finallyonthern coast ernesto de Soto Bridge at40° 43’N 34° 45’E . These latitudes form a triangle that can also be delineated with other geographical features: onthe northwest Iceland lies just southof66°N;Greenland , whichislarger than all but 15 sovereign states in total area , lies wellnorthof56°N ;on thenortheastNovaya Zemlya reaches74°9′ N ;and finallySvalbard , halfway betweenNorway ‘slatitude 61° NandNorth Pole itself , lies at78°8′ N30′ E . With this definition, Scandinavia can be seen as a peninsula of Europe.
There are several regions commonly associated with European countries:
* The British Isles – United Kingdom( Great Britain) and Ireland
* Iberian Peninsula – Spain and Portugal
* Italic Peninsula – Italy
* Balkan Peninsula – Greece , Bulgaria , Romania , Albania , Montenegro , Bosnia Herzegovina and Croatia sometimes also including Moldova
* Scandinavian Peninsula – Norway , Sweden and Finland sometimes also including Denmark & Iceland