| Europe
is considered to be one of the seven continents of Earth which,
in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a
physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europe's borders.
Physically and geologically, Europe is a subcontinent or a large peninsula,
forming the westernmost part of Eurasia and west of Asia. Europe is
bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic
Ocean, and to the south by the Mediterranean Sea. According to the
traditional geographic definition–to the southeast by the waterways
adjoining the Mediterranean to and including the Black Sea, and the
Caucasus Mountains (in Caucasia). Europe's eastern frontier is vague, but
has traditionally been given as the divide of the Ural Mountains and the
Caspian Sea to the southeast. The Urals are considered by most to be a
geographical and tectonic landmark separating Asia from Europe. For just a
description of the Asia-Europe boundary, please refer to our Europe and Asia sections.
You can also see Geographic criteria for EU membership. Europe is the world's
second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering about 10,390,000
square kilometres (4,010,000 sq mi) or 2.0% of the Earth's surface. The
only smaller continent is Australia. In terms of population, it is the
third-largest continent (Asia and Africa are larger) with a population of
more than 710,000,000, or about 11% of the world's population.[citation
needed] |
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