Portal:Europe
| Main | Geography | Projects |
|
|
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It comprises the westernmost peninsulas of the continental landmass of Eurasia, and is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea, and the waterways of the Turkish Straits. Although much of this border is over land, Europe is generally accorded the status of a full continent because of its great physical size and the weight of history and tradition.
Europe covers about 10,180,000 km2 (3,930,000 sq mi), or 2% of the Earth's surface (6.8% of land area), making it the second smallest continent (using the seven-continent model). Politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states, of which Russia is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a total population of about 741 million (about 11% of the world population), as of 2018. The European climate is largely affected by warm Atlantic currents that temper winters and summers on much of the continent, even at latitudes along which the climate in Asia and North America is severe. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast.
The history of Europe concerns itself with the discovery and collection, the study, organization and presentation and the interpretation of past events and affairs of the people of Europe since the beginning of written records. During the Neolithic era and the time of the Indo-European migrations, Europe saw human inflows from east and southeast and subsequent important cultural and material exchange. The period known as classical antiquity began with the emergence of the city-states of ancient Greece. Later, the Roman Empire came to dominate the entire Mediterranean basin. The fall of the Roman Empire in AD 476 traditionally marks the start of the Middle Ages. Beginning in the 14th century a Renaissance of knowledge challenged traditional doctrines in science and theology. Simultaneously, the Protestant Reformation set up Protestant churches primarily in Germany, Scandinavia and England. After 1800, the Industrial Revolution brought prosperity to Britain and Western Europe. The main European powers set up colonies in most of the Americas and Africa, and parts of Asia. In the 20th century, World War I and World War II resulted in massive numbers of deaths. The Cold War dominated European geo-politics from 1947 to 1989. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the European countries grew together.
The culture of Europe is rooted in the art, architecture, film, different types of music, economic, literature, and philosophy that originated from the continent of Europe. European culture is largely rooted in what is often referred to as its "common cultural heritage".
The economy of Europe comprises more than 744 million people in 50 countries. The formation of the European Union (EU) and in 1999, the introduction of a unified currency, the Euro, brings participating European countries closer through the convenience of a shared currency and has led to a stronger European cash flow. The difference in wealth across Europe can be seen roughly in former Cold War divide, with some countries breaching the divide (Greece, Estonia, Portugal, Slovenia and the Czech Republic). Whilst most European states have a GDP per capita higher than the world's average and are very highly developed (Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Andorra, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany), some European economies, despite their position over the world's average in the Human Development Index, are poorer.
Featured article -
The history of Gibraltar, a small peninsula on the southern Iberian coast near the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea, spans over 2,900 years. The peninsula was a place of reverence in ancient times, and it later became "one of the most densely fortified and fought-over places in Europe", as one historian has put it. Gibraltar's location has given it an outsized role in the history of Europe. Its fortified town, established in the Middle Ages, has hosted garrisons that have fought in numerous sieges and battles over the centuries. The Rock of Gibraltar is a limestone monolith and fortress in Gibraltar that has held historical and military significance and has become a tourist attraction.
Gibraltar was first inhabited over 50,000 years ago by Neanderthals. Gibraltar's recorded history began around 950 BC, with the Phoenicians amongst the first to recognise and worship the genius loci of the place. There is also evidence that shrines to Hercules were built on the Rock of Gibraltar. The Romans named the jutting protrusion of limestone Mons Calpe, the "Hollow Mountain"; they regarded it as one of the twin Pillars of Hercules. Gibraltar became part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania following the collapse of the Roman Empire and came under Muslim Moorish rule in 711 AD. It was permanently settled for the first time by the Moors and was renamed Jebel Tariq – the Mount of Tariq, later corrupted into Gibraltar. The Christian Crown of Castile annexed it in 1309, lost it again to the Moors in 1333 and finally regained it in 1462. In 1350, King Alfonso XI and much of his Castilian Army suddenly died by the Black Death while besieging the castle; this event effectively delayed the retaking of Gibraltar for 141 years. Gibraltar became part of the unified Kingdom of Spain and remained under Spanish rule until 1704. It was captured during the War of the Spanish Succession by an Anglo-Dutch fleet in the name of Charles VI of Austria, the Habsburg contender to the Spanish throne. At the war's end, Spain ceded the territory to Britain under the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. (Full article...)
Featured location -
Dorset (/ˈdɔːrsɪt/ DOR-sit; archaically: Dorsetshire /ˈdɔːrsɪt.ʃɪər, -ʃər/ DOR-sit-sheer, -shər) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south-east, the English Channel to the south, and Devon to the west. The largest settlement is Bournemouth, and the county town is Dorchester.
The county has an area of 2,653 km2 (1,024 sq mi) and a population of 772,268. Around half of the population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation, which contains three of the county's largest settlements: Bournemouth (183,491), Poole (151,500), and Christchurch (31,372). The remainder of the county is largely rural, and its principal towns are Weymouth (53,427) and Dorchester (21,366). Dorset contains two unitary districts: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) and Dorset. The county did not historically include Bournemouth and Christchurch, which were part of Hampshire. (Full article...)
Featured portrait
 |
In the News
- 5 April 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kryvyi Rih strikes
- The Ukrainian government declares April 6 as a day of mourning following yesterday's Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine, that killed nineteen people, one of the deadliest strikes since the start of the invasion. (de Volkskrant)
- 4 April 2025 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Five people are killed, including a child, and 35 are injured in a Russian drone attack on a residential area in Novobavarskyi District of Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainska Pravda)
- A Russian ballistic missile strike on a residential area in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, kills 19 people, including nine children, and injures more than 50 others. The Russian Defence Ministry says its forces were targeting a military gathering in the city. (CNN) (BBC News) (Ukrainska Pravda) (Reuters)
- 4 April 2025 – Kočani nightclub fire
- The death toll from the fire at a nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, in March increases to 60 as a burn victim dies in the hospital. (AP)
Updated: 11:05, 6 April 2025
Categories
Featured biography -
Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 paper on the subject was published that year alongside extracts from Charles Darwin's earlier writings on the topic. It spurred Darwin to set aside the "big species book" he was drafting and to quickly write an abstract of it, which was published in 1859 as On the Origin of Species.
Wallace did extensive fieldwork, starting in the Amazon River basin. He then did fieldwork in the Malay Archipelago, where he identified the faunal divide now termed the Wallace Line, which separates the Indonesian archipelago into two distinct parts: a western portion in which the animals are largely of Asian origin, and an eastern portion where the fauna reflect Australasia. He was considered the 19th century's leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species, and is sometimes called the "father of biogeography", or more specifically of zoogeography. (Full article...)
Featured picture
 |
Related portals
.svg){kind=small}
Major Religions in Europe
Northern Europe
Western Europe
Central Europe
Eastern Europe, Balkans and Caucasus
Southern Europe
Featured panorama
 |
Topics
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikispecies
Directory of species -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
