Which countries are included in Europe on the map. sub-regions of Europe. The principle of dividing Europe into subregions. States of Eastern Europe

Europe is the smallest and at the same time the most “closed” part of the world in the world. Its nearest neighbor is Asia, and together they form the largest continent, Eurasia. But today the focus is on foreign Europe.

General information

Exist different approaches to the division of Europe into regions. Until the end of the 80s of the last century, in history and geography, the term "Western Europe" was understood as a set of independent European states that, after the end of the Second World War, continued capitalist development. There were 32 of them, and the countries of the socialist camp - Eastern Europe - served as a counterweight to them. In 1991, after the collapse of the USSR and the formation of the Commonwealth Independent States(CIS) a new concept "Foreign Europe" has appeared.

It unites 40 countries located on the territory of Europe, except for those that are part of the CIS.

Geographical position of Foreign Europe

Speaking about the physical and geographical position of Foreign Europe, it should be said that it occupies a fairly compact scale the globe territory: its total area is 5.4 million square meters. km. The island of Svalbard is the extreme point in the north, and the island of Crete is in the south. The length of the region from north to south is 5000 km, and from west to east - 3000 km. Foreign Europe is washed on three sides by the waters of the Atlantic and North arctic oceans and their seas. The coastline is very indented. Most of the territory is dominated by plains, and only about 17% is occupied by mountains. Among them, the main ones are the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Apennines, the Carpathians, the mountains on the Balkan and Scandinavian peninsulas. This region is dominated by four climatic zones, which gradually replace each other from north to south:

• arctic (Arctic islands of Europe): the maritime arctic climate “rules” here with very frosty winters and cold summers;
• subarctic (Iceland and north coast of mainland Europe): characterized by the predominance of the maritime subarctic climate type with cold, sometimes mild winters and cool summers with strong westerly winds;
• moderate (British Isles, most of mainland Europe): two types of climate are distinguished here - temperate marine and temperate continental.
• subtropical (southern Mediterranean part of Europe): typical for these latitudes, the type of climate is Mediterranean with warm winters and dry, hot summers.

Rice. 1 Regions of Foreign Europe

Regional division

Geographically, Foreign Europe is divided into four regions according to the cardinal points: Northern, Southern, Western and Eastern. However, in Lately in addition to Northern, Southern and Western Europe, new terms appeared in the everyday life of geographers - Central-Eastern and Eastern Europe. The latter just includes Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Russia - countries that are members of the CIS. How many states, and to which regions of Foreign Europe are "credited", is summarized in the following table:

Rice. 2 Modern leaders countries " big seven»

Economic development

Overseas Europe is one of the most economically developed regions in the world. Both in political terms and in the sectoral and territorial structure of the economy of the region, there is diversity and richness. If foreign Europe is presented in the form of a large four-story apartment building, then the countries with economies in transition will be at the bottom: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia. On the second and third - developed countries with market economies: Spain, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and others. However, their level of economic and social development has not yet reached the high level of leaders, which include the "neighbors" from the top floor - Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy. They account for about 70% of the total GDP. They are also members of the "Group of Seven" or "Big Seven" - an association of seven leading economically developed countries (USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan.

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The leaders of these states gather annually to discuss not only the problems of foreign Europe, but the pressing issues facing humanity: political, military (universal security, terrorism, causes of aggravation of local conflicts), social (protection of human rights, support and conditions for cooperation with developing countries) , ecological ( global warming, climate change) and economic (science and finance, market regulation, imports and exports).

Peculiarities

Among the many features of Europe abroad, it is worth noting one important thing - the presence of the "Central Axis of Development". This term refers to the Western European part with a length of 1600 km, which, in fact, is the center, the core of the Old World with the largest concentration of population (300 people per 1 km2) and the main sectors of the economy. The conditional border of the "axis" originates from Manchester, then "rushes" through Hamburg, Venice, Marseille and returns to Hamburg again, forming a banana-shaped loop. It covers a large section of Europe, including the following parts: the regions of Great Britain, the western lands of Germany, the north and south of France, Switzerland and the north of Italy.

If you look at the map of Europe, you can see that on the territory of the "Central Axis of Development" there are "world centers" - London and Paris, each of which houses about thirty headquarters of the largest corporations. In addition, it is the place where more than half of the entire industrial potential of Europe is concentrated: coal and metallurgical enterprises, general engineering, automotive, chemical industry enterprises, the latest high-tech industries, port industrial complexes and much more.

Rice. 3 Europe's “central axis of development”

What have we learned?

Features of foreign Europe - under the gun of our attention. After considering this topic in geography for grades 10 and 11, we come to the following conclusion: a relatively small area on a vast continent is one of the most successful, developed in terms of the quality of life of the population, the structure of production, the scale of economic activity and the level of technological development. Many factors contributed to this: geographical position, favorable natural conditions, the small size of countries and their close proximity, and much more.

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Only larger than Australia. Its population is also relatively small - much smaller than Asian or African. The most ancient civilizations did not develop here either.

Nevertheless, it was Europe that was called the Old World, it was here that the springs of world history were located in the last two thousand years. From here, European travelers went to the unknown lands of Asia, Africa, and America.

European culture, as a result of numerous waves of migrations and colonizations, was carried around the world and adopted on many continents. So Europe gradually became also a kind of standard for the rest of the world.

Europe washed by the waters of two oceans (the Atlantic in the west and the Arctic in the north) and their seas (the Black, Marmara, Mediterranean), the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Lies entirely within the Northern Hemisphere. Together with Asia, it makes up the single, largest continent of our planet - Eurasia.

The area of ​​Europe is 10 million km2.

From Africa Europe it is separated by the Mediterranean Sea, from Asia by the mountain ranges of the Urals and the Caucasus, and from America by the Atlantic.

relief, climate, animal world Europe is extremely diverse.

presence of the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean has a great influence on its climate. In the northwestern part of Europe, a warm and humid climate prevails. In the south - the Mediterranean with warm and dry winds, bringing good weather, which is important for the development of tourism. In the Scandinavian Peninsula and half of the eastern part of Great Britain, the climate is much colder - with harsh winds and heavy rainfall. Drier territories are found in the Iberian Peninsula and southern Russia.

In Europe, there are several large water basins - the rivers Elbe, Rhine, Laura in Western Europe, Ebro, Rhone, Po in the Mediterranean part. The Danube is the main water artery of Western Europe. The most long river Europe's Volga (3530 km) crosses almost all of Russia from north to south. Many of the rivers are connected to canals and are of great transport and energy importance.

Large and deep lakes in Europe are Ladoga (17.7 thousand km2), Onega, Chudskoye, Venern, Balaton, Geneva, Como (the deepest in Europe is 410 m deep).

In Europe, mountains occupy about 17%. The largest of them are the Alps (Mont Blanc, height up to 4,807 m), the Carpathians, the Pyrenees, the Apennines, the northern part of the B. Caucasus (Elbrus, a height of 5,642 meters), the Urals, as well as the mountains of the Scandinavian and Balkan Peninsulas. There are active volcanoes in Europe - in Iceland and the Mediterranean.

Most of Europe is covered with forests.

In Europe there are deposits of oil, natural gas, iron ore, non-ferrous metal ores, coal, etc.

Despite its small area, Europe is home to approximately 14% of the world's population - 733 million people. The population density is quite high - 68 people per 1 km2.

Europe ancient traditions, cultures, and unique architectural monuments. Who among us does not know about eiffel tower in Paris and the Palace of Versailles, the Roman Colosseum, the leaning Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Athenian Parthenon?

Europe is a great place for travel and tourism, and every traveler will find a vacation according to his abilities and for his soul.

Europe is one of the two parts of the world that make up the continent of Eurasia. However, due to a number of geographical, cultural, economic and political factors, Europe is additionally divided into subregions. As we will see later, despite the fact that the studied part of the world is relatively small, the differences between its individual sections are still significant. So, what are the sub-regions of Europe and what are their features? Let's try to answer these questions.

History of the division of Europe

Before we begin to study the sub-regions of Europe, let's delve into history to understand what the geographic zoning of this land area is based on. It should be noted that, unlike most other parts of the world, this is not a separate continent, which means that it does not have clearly defined boundaries. This circumstance led to the fact that the territory, which was included in geographical concept"Europe", in different historical periods, had different boundaries.

Even the ancient Greeks came up with the division of the mainland on which they lived. Under Asia they understood Phoenicia (present-day Lebanon) and all the territories that lie to the east of it, and under Europe - the lands to the west of this country. In the north, the Hellenes drew the border along the Tanais River (present-day Don).

For the first time, a proposal to divide Europe and Asia along the Ural Range was made in 1720. But even then the entire Caucasus, including the northern one, was attributed to Asia. Later, the border began to “slide” further south. At present, most specialists include the entire Caucasus in Europe, and they draw the border with Asia along Ural mountains and along the Emba River.

Nevertheless, there are territories that some geographers refer to one part of the world, and others to the opposite. These include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Israel and Cyprus.

In the period after the Second World War, the division of Europe along political lines into Western and Eastern was adopted. The East included camps, and the West included all the rest. After the collapse Soviet Union and the collapse of the socialist system, the former division into sub-regions of Europe has completely outlived itself. Although other types of zoning existed in more early period but now they are being used more and more.

Modern zoning of Europe

What are the sub-regions of Europe in the most relevant classification? Currently, the most commonly used division into five main parts:

• Western Europe;
• Central Europe;
• Northern Europe;
• Southern Europe;
• Eastern Europe.

In the future, we will talk about each of these parts in more detail, having studied, in turn, their grouping into geographical units of a lower level.

Regionalization of Western Europe

Currently, Western Europe includes countries such as Germany, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, Andorra, and the Netherlands. Although from a purely geographical point of view it would still be more correct to attribute Germany to the Center, economic and political factors are also taken into account when zoning. Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein are sometimes included in the same category, although they can often be found included in Central Europe. In addition, Great Britain and Ireland are sometimes included in the North.

What are the sub-regions of Western Europe? France, Monaco and Andorra stand out here in a separate group. This is due not only to the neighborhood, but also to the fact that France represents these dwarf states at the international level, including at the UN.

Great Britain and Ireland represent separately the sub-regions of Overseas Europe. Regardless of where exactly they are included, in the North or West of the continent, these countries are united together. This group of states can be called the British, or Island, sub-region. This commonality is justified not only by geographical proximity, but also by a long path of joint historical development.

Another sub-region of Western Europe is From the abbreviation it is easy to understand that this group consists of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. These are also countries of the same cultural and historical community, moreover, they are currently united in an economic union.

The last state, which is included separately in the sub-regions and countries of Foreign Europe, is Germany. However, in cases where Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria are classified as Western Europe, they are combined with Germany into one group. This is facilitated by geographical and cultural proximity, because in all these countries the majority of the population speaks German.

Areas of Central Europe

The zoning of Central Europe is the most complex. This is due to the fact that in different versions a lot of countries can be included both in this subregion and in almost all neighboring ones. Traditionally, it is customary to refer to the following countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Often Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are also included here, and sometimes even Germany. In addition, some experts refer the Baltic countries (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) to Central Europe, although most still see them as an integral part of the North.

This region can be conditionally divided into two sub-regions: East Central European (Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania) and Balkan (or Yugoslav), which includes the countries of the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia). Geographically, Romania can also be included in the last group of states, but for economic and political reasons, this country still more often belongs to the East Central European subregion.

Southern Europe

The subregions of Southern Europe can be conditionally divided into three complexes: the Pyrenees, the Apennines and the Balkans.

The first group includes Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar, which is but at the same time has the attributes of statehood. In addition, Andorra is sometimes included in the same group, although it belongs to Western Europe by other specialists.

The Apennine subregion includes all of Italy, as well as dwarf states surrounded by its territory - San Marino and the Vatican. In addition, Malta is also most often included here, since this island country is closest to

The Balkan sub-region of Southern Europe includes Bulgaria, Albania and Greece. This also includes the European part of Turkey along with Istanbul. Sometimes the island of Cyprus is also included here, due to its cultural proximity with Greece, but most geographers still consider it as part of Asia.

Division into sub-regions of Northern Europe

The sub-regions of Northern Europe also involve division into parts. This includes Fennoscandia, the Baltic states and insular Northern Europe.

Fennoscandia includes Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The last two countries are also allocated to the Scandinavian subregion proper, since they are the only ones geographically located on the peninsula of the same name.

The Baltic countries are Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Island Northern Europe is Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The Faroe Islands are a Danish possession with a certain independence.

Eastern European countries

We have studied the sub-regions of Foreign Europe, now it's time to turn to the territories that were once part of the USSR. If at times cold war Eastern Europe included all the countries of the socialist camp, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania, which are now classified as Central Europe, but now this region includes only the states of the post-Soviet space.

Conditionally sub-regions of Eastern Europe can be divided into two large groups: Slavic and Caucasian. The first group includes Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and also Moldova. Although the latter is dominated by a population not of Slavic, but of Romanesque origin, which, however, only confirms the convention of naming this group of countries.

The countries of the Caucasian group, for the most part, are not completely, but only partially located on the territory of geographical Europe. Some experts generally refer to them as Asia. These states are Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, as well as the partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Kazakhstan stands apart, its lands to the east are also Europe, but relative to the total area of ​​the country, their share is relatively small.

UN classification

In addition, there is an official UN classification of the regions of Europe. It differs from the above in that it divides the mainland not into five parts, but into four: North, West, South and East. However, this grouping cannot be called one that takes into account all the features of the development of the region.

According to the above, which we referred to as Central Europe, are divided between Western, Southern and Eastern. Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein belong to the West, and all other states, except for the countries of Yugoslavia, belong to the East. Bulgaria also belongs to Eastern Europe. The states of the former Yugoslavia are assigned to the South.

WTO classification

The World Tourism Organization has its own classification. In many ways, it resembles the UN classification. True, instead of Eastern Europe, a similar group is called Central-Eastern Europe.

The main difference from the UN classification is that the Baltic countries were transferred from the North to the group of Central and Eastern Europe, and the former Yugoslav republics from the South.

The meaning of the classifications

Of course, different classifications can in no way affect the status quo. They only allow you to order the list of states for more convenient work with it.

At the same time, one should not forget that such classifications are not eternal, since they are based not only on the geographical factor, but also on the economic and political one, which can change. In addition, generally accepted grouping criteria may change over time.

It is not easy to draw the boundaries of European sub-regions; there is no generally recognized regional division of Europe. This reflects the conditionality of regional borders in the most complex European tangle of economic, civilizational and other spatial relationships.

There are many options for the regionalization of Foreign Europe. Before the collapse of the socialist camp, it was most often divided into Western (capitalist) and Eastern (socialist). In the economic literature, it is still customary to use the term "" to denote a subregion that includes all that continued capitalist development in the post-war period. Geographers usually singled out separately, which included the Scandinavian countries, sometimes Denmark, and, and the South, where they were "listed", and. Now everything is more difficult. The name (or Central and Eastern) Europe (CEE), which unites most of the countries of the former socialist camp, comes into use. The Baltic republics are classified as both CEE countries and Northern Europe. The Republics of the former Yugoslavia, as well as, and can be attributed to both CEE and. Some geographers distinguish separately. Eastern Europe is now sometimes understood as Belarus, Russia, and even the new states of the Caucasus.

Sub-regions of Europe (according to the classification of the World Tourism Organization)

Another new factor influencing the change in approaches to the regionalization of Europe is the process of so-called federalization within the European Union. The idea of ​​the supporters of EU federalization is that the union of states is being replaced by a union of regions. Within the framework of the EU, nation-states deliberately deprive themselves of a significant part of their independence by deciding to share sovereignty with the Union. At the same time, a number of specific functions government controlled transmitted constituent parts states - lands, autonomous regions, regions. From this perspective, it no longer looks fantastic, for example, “dissolution” in a single “Franco-Germany”, obtaining the status of independent EU subjects by Catalonia, the Basque Country, Corsica or Wallonia. Will it become a reality or will it be an illusion - time will tell.

The issue of regionalization of Europe is inextricably linked with the issue of the region's external borders. The search for the most “correct” identification of Europe and its subregions has long been occupied not only by geographers, but also by geopoliticians, economists, historians, and culturologists. Views are often opposing. Thus, the well-known American geopolitician S. Huntington believes that Europe generally ends where Western Christianity is replaced by Orthodoxy and Islam. Between Europe and, in essence, an equal sign is put. In this case, for example, Greece, the cradle of European civilization, falls out of Europe. Another American scientist, L. Ferow, categorically objects to such an approach, who believes that European civilization has spread from the Atlantic to. In his opinion, only the unification of Western, Central-Eastern and Eastern Europe, including Russia, will allow United Europe to take advantage of its geopolitical advantages, relying on "the richness of its diversity."

Europe is neither a continent nor a country. Europe is a geographical part of the world, one of six: Europe, Asia, Australia, Antarctica, America, Africa. Europe and Asia - together located on the continent (or mainland) - Eurasia; Australia is both a part of the world and a continent and a state, Antarctica is a part of the world and a mainland; America is one part of the world, located on two continents - North America and South America, Africa is a part of the world and a continent. Europe is also called the Old World, the settlers from which gave rise to the New Light-America. Of the inhabited by people, Europe is the smallest in the area of ​​10180000 square km, but the most densely populated 741447158 people (2016) part of the world. Europe is divided into western and eastern - the former socialist countries and Russia. IN Western Europe the last wolf was killed in 1921, in the Alps.

The border between Europe and Asia runs along a conditional line, everything to the west of the Urals, the eastern border of the Ural mountain system - Europe, to the east - Asia, then the Ural River, the bottom of the Caspian Sea through the mouth of the Kuma River, the mouth of the Don River, Kerch Strait, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. The division of Eurasia into two parts of the world is historically conditioned and is often the subject of controversy. Europe is inhabited by the descendants of Japheth, the son of Noah, so we are the Japhetians, representing the Caucasoid race. Turkey is located in two parts of the world at once in Europe and in Asia

A country is a territory that has physical-geographical, historical, political, clearly fixed borders. More often by the term country we understand the state. Europe does not fit the definition of a country, although the European Union is located on its territory, but it is still a political, economic union, consisting of independent countries (states). Europe got its name from the name of the daughter of the Phoenician king, stolen by Zeus, who settled her on the island of Crete. At first, the Greeks called their island so, later the name spread to the entire territory of modern Europe.

We can figuratively call an object a country, for example, Wonderland, Childhood Country, but this has nothing to do with Europe.

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