Countries of Europe. Some Facts about Europe. Geohistory

Europe is the second-smallest continent, and it could be described as a large peninsula or as a subcontinent. Europe is the western portion of the Eurasian landmass and is located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere. Several larger islands belong to Europe, such as Iceland or the British Isles with the UK and Ireland.

Europe is shared by 50 countries. By the conventional definition, there are 44 sovereign states or nations in Europe. Not included are several countries namely Turkey, which occupies only a small part of East Thrace on the European Balkan Peninsula.

Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, is geographically part of Asia Minor (Middle East).

The Faroe Islands, an island group between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean are a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Greenland, which geographically belongs to North America, is as well an autonomous Danish territory.  A small piece of Western Kazakhstan is also considered to be part of Europe.

Northern Europe: Finland, Ireland, Norway, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden

Western Europe:  France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland

Eastern Europe: Belarus, Czech Republic, Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Ukraine

Southern Europe:  Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Portugal, Spain, Vatican, Albania, Andorra, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Malta, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

An estimated 747 million people live in Europe. The most populous country in Europe is the European part of Russia with a population of 110 million people, followed by Germany with 83 million citizens, and Metropolitan France with 67 million inhabitants (in 2019).