Portal:Europe

Main   Geography   Projects Germany Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. To the east and southeast, Europe is generally considered as separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways of the Turkish Straits. Yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. The primarily physiographic term "continent" as applied to Europe also incorporates cultural and political elements whose discontinuities are not always reflected by the continent's current overland boundaries. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi), or 2% of the Earth's surface (6.8% of land area). Politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a total population of about 740 million (about 11% of world population) as of 2012. The history of Europe covers the peoples inhabiting the European continent from prehistory to the present. Some of the best-known civilizations of prehistoric Europe were the Minoan and the Mycenaean, which flourished during the Bronze Age until they collapsed in a short period of time around 1200 BC. The period known as classical antiquity began with the emergence of the city-states of Ancient Greece. After ultimately checking the Persian advance in Europe through the Greco-Persian Wars in the 5th century BC, Greek influence reached its zenith under the expansive empire of Alexander the Great, spreading throughout Asia, Africa, and other parts of Europe. The Roman Empire came to dominate the entire Mediterranean basin in a vast empire based on Roman law. By 300 AD the Roman Empire was divided into the Western and Eastern empires. During the 4th and 5th centuries, the Germanic peoples of northern Europe grew in strength and repeated attacks led to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. AD 476 traditionally marks the end of the classical period and the start of the Middle Ages. The culture of Europe is rooted in the art, architecture, music, literature, and philosophy that originated from the European cultural region. European culture is largely rooted in what is often referred to as its "common cultural heritage". As a continent, the economy of Europe is currently the largest on Earth and it is the richest region as measured by assets under management with over $32.7 trillion compared to North America's $27.1 trillion in 2008. In 2009 Europe remained the wealthiest region. Its $37.1 trillion in assets under management represented one-third of the world's wealth. It was one of several regions where wealth surpassed its precrisis year-end peak. As with other continents, Europe has a large variation of wealth among its countries. The richer states tend to be in the West; some of the Central and Eastern European economies are still emerging from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the breakup of Yugoslavia. Featured article - Ireland is an island in Northwestern Europe in the north Atlantic Ocean. The island lies on the European continental shelf, part of the Eurasian Plate. The island's main geographical features include low central plains surrounded by coastal mountains. The highest peak is Carrauntoohil (Irish: Corrán Tuathail), which is 1,041 meters (3,415 ft) above sea level. The western coastline is rugged, with many islands, peninsulas, headlands and bays. The island is bisected by the River Shannon, which at 360.5 km (224 mi) with a 102.1 km (63 mi) estuary is the longest river in Ireland and flows south from County Cavan in Ulster to meet the Atlantic just south of Limerick. There are a number of sizeable lakes along Ireland's rivers, of which Lough Neagh is the largest. Politically, the island consists of the Republic of Ireland, with jurisdiction over about five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a constituent country of the United Kingdom, with jurisdiction over the remaining sixth. Located west of the island of Great Britain, it is located at approximately . It has a total area of 84,421 km2 (32,595 sq mi). It is separated from Great Britain by the Irish Sea and from mainland Europe by the Celtic Sea. Ireland forms the second largest landmass in the North-Western European Archipalegeo, together with nearby islands including Great Britain and the Isle of Man, previously known as the British Isles. (Full article...) List of Featured articles Sicilian Baroque Bal des Ardents History of Gibraltar Borscht Family of Gediminas Great Stink Palace of Queluz IFK Göteborg The Garden of Earthly Delights Vasa (ship) A History of the Birds of Europe Goldcrest European hare European Parliament European Commission Liverpool F.C. in European football 2008 World Series of Poker Europe List of European Union member states by political system European Golden Shoe List of leaders of the Soviet Union Featured location - Bath is the largest city in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. In 2011, the population was 88,859. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage site in 1987. The city became a spa with the Latin name Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis") c. 60 AD when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, although hot springs were known even before then. (Full article...) List of featured locations Shapinsay Belgrade Dorset Germany Wormshill Belarus Mendip Hills Manchester Surtsey Postman's Park St Kilda, Scotland Titchwell Marsh Istanbul Featured portrait Knut Steen (1924–2011) was a Norwegian sculptor based in Italy. Born in Oslo, Steen is best known for his work on the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts with the Danish sculptor Per Palle Storm. There is a museum dedicated to his work located in Sandefjord. Featured biography - Anne Frank smiling for her school photograph in 1941 Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (German pronunciation: [ˈanəˌliːs maˈʁiː ˈʔanə ˈfʁaŋk] (listen), Dutch: [ˈɑnəˌlis maːˈri ˈʔɑnə ˈfrɑŋk]; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945) was a German-Dutch diarist of Jewish heritage. One of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust, she gained fame posthumously with the publication of The Diary of a Young Girl (originally Het Achterhuis in Dutch; English: The Secret Annex), in which she documents her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944, during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. It is one of the world's best known books and has been the basis for several plays and films. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, Netherlands, having moved there with her family at the age of four and a half when the Nazis gained control over Germany. Born a German national, she lost her citizenship in 1941 and thus became stateless. By May 1940, the Franks were trapped in Amsterdam by the German occupation of the Netherlands. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the Franks went into hiding in some concealed rooms behind a bookcase in the building where Anne's father, Otto Frank, worked. From then until the family's arrest by the Gestapo in August 1944, she kept a diary she had received as a birthday present, and wrote in it regularly. Following their arrest, the Franks were transported to concentration camps. In October or November 1944, Anne and her sister, Margot, were transferred from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they died (probably of typhus) a few months later. They were originally estimated by the Red Cross to have died in March, with Dutch authorities setting 31 March as their official date of death, but research by the Anne Frank House in 2015 suggests it is more likely that they died in February. (Full article...) List of Featured biographies Vincent van Gogh Frédéric Chopin Honoré de Balzac Johannes Kepler Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia Anton Chekhov Queen Victoria Vesna Vulović El Greco Mary Wollstonecraft George I of Greece Pavle Đurišić James Joyce Rudolf Vrba Elizabeth Needham Fridtjof Nansen W. B. Yeats Samuel Johnson Franz Kafka Isabelle Eberhardt Josquin des Prez Gabriel Fauré David Bowie Georges Bizet Adele Spitzeder Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Johannes Kepler Niels Bohr Jürgen Ehlers Sergo Ordzhonikidze Józef Piłsudski Sophie Blanchard Peter Martyr Vermigli Huldrych Zwingli Sergo Ordzhonikidze Albert Speer Nestor Lakoba Meinhard Michael Moser Alfred Russel Wallace Hippocrates Emmy Noether Marian Rejewski Joan of Arc Bedřich Smetana Gustav Mahler Featured picture Dominosteine are sweets primarily sold during the Christmas season in Germany and Austria. The base consists of Lebkuchen, followed by a layer of sour cherry or apricot jelly and a layer of either marzipan or persipan. The dominostein is covered with a thin icing of dark chocolate. Related portals European Union Andorra Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Moldova Monaco Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Slovenia Spain Sweden Turkey Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City Featured panorama A panoramic view of Grote Werf, a community in the municipality of Waterland, located on the Marken peninsula in the Netherlands. Marken is a tourist attraction, well-known for its characteristic wooden houses. The island is connected to the mainland by a causeway and was a separate municipality until 1991, when it was merged into Waterland. Topics Associated Wikimedia

Portals

Activities Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology Random portal