Europe is famous as being the sixth largest continent in the world. This vast peninsula covers an approximate of only 6.7 percent of the Earth's land mass. That is equivalent to two percent of the Earth's surface.
Bordering Europe are great bodies of water. To its west, there is the Atlantic Ocean. To its north, there is the Arctic Ocean. Its south is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea. Its east side is bordered by the Ural Mountains, separating it from Asia.
Geography Records
The longest river that can be found in Europe is Volga. This river is located at Russia and is 2,850 kilometers long. The highest mountain is called Elbarus, located in Russia as well, with a height of 5,642 meters. The surface of the Caspian Sea marks Europe's lowest point at 92 feet below sea level.
Seasons and Regions
Since Europe lies in the Northern Hemisphere, you can expect the continent to experience four seasons in one year: summer, spring, autumn, and winter. Summer season spans from March to May, spring from June to August, autumn from September to November, and winter December to February. There are three divisions for regions too. The regions can be classified as Easter Europe, Central Europe, and Western Europe.
Countries
All in all, Europe has 47 countries. Two of these 47 countries lie in both Asia and Europe. Namely, they are Turkey and Russia. The smallest country in the world – the Vatican City – is also found in Europe. Other countries in Europe include Albania, Austria, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Estonia, France Hungary, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Malta, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Monaco, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.
Language
Generally, Europe is predominantly speaking Indo-European languages. However, just like any other continent, there are other languages also being spoken here. These languages include Maltese, Basque, Bulgaric, Turkic, Samoyedic, and Finno-Ugric.
Religion
Roman Catholic is the chief religion in both southern and western Europe as well as the southern part of central Europe. However, places like Scandinavia, Great Britain, and some of the northern part of Europe has Protestantism as its dominant religion. Orthodox Eastern Church comes next with Muslim in small pockets at the Transcaucasia and Balkan Peninsula.
Demography
Europe houses 11 percent of the world's population, hence giving it its record of being the third most populated continent. There are eleven cities in the Europe continent with a population exceeding two million. The largest cities are namely London, Paris, and Moscow. While it might be a populated continent, its economic development makes up for that. Europe has the largest economy in the world, tagging the United Kingdom and Germany as the most economically developed countries.
Flora and Fauna
The plant population in Europe is dependent on its climatic region. Europe has both deciduous forest regions, coniferous forest regions, tundra regions, grassland regions, and Mediterranean regions, each growing their own types of flora and housing their own species of fauna. Europe is known for its animals such as brown bear, hedgehogs, foxes, deer, snakes, and wild cats.