Europe

Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiogeographic one. Physically and geologically, Europe is a subcontinent or large peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. more...

Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the south by the Mediterranean and the Caucasus. Europe's boundary to the east is vague, but has traditionally been given as the watershed for the Ural Mountains and Caspian Sea to the southeast: the Urals are considered by most to be a geographical and tectonic landmark separating Asia from Europe.

For detailed description of the Asia-Europe boundary see this article. See also Geographic criteria for EU membership.

Europe is the world's second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering around 10 390 000 square kilometres (4,010,000 sq mi) or 2.0% of the Earth's surface, and is only larger than Australia. In terms of population, it is the third-largest continent (Asia and Africa are larger) with a population of more than 705,000,000, or about 11% of the world's population.

Etymology

In Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus in bull form and taken to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to Minos. For Homer, Europé (Greek: Ευρωπη; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece, and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to lands to the north.

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