Partners in Europe

Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. Physically and geologically, Europe is the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west of Asia. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, to the southeast by the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea and the waterways connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. To the east, Europe is generally divided from Asia by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, and by the Caspian Sea.
Europe is the birthplace of Western culture. European nations played a predominant role in global affairs from the 16th century onwards, especially after the beginning of colonization. By the 17th and 18th centuries European nations controlled most of Africa, the Americas, and large portions of Asia. World War I and World War II led to a decline in European dominance in world affairs as the United States and Soviet Union took preeminence. The Cold War between those two superpowers divided Europe along the Iron Curtain. European integration led to the formation of the Council of Europe and the European Union in Western Europe, both of which have been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Europe lies mainly in the temperate climate zones, being subjected to prevailing westerlies. The climate is milder in comparison to other areas of the same latitude around the globe. This is due to the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is nicknamed "Europe's central heating", because it makes Europe's climate warmer and wetter than it would otherwise be. The Gulf Stream does not only carry warm water to Europe's coast but also warms up the prevailing westerly winds that blow across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean.
Therefore the average temperature throughout the year of Naples is 16 °C (60.8 °F), while it is only 12 °C (53.6 °F) in New York City which is almost on the same latitude. Berlin, Germany; Calgary, Canada; and Irkutsk, in the Asian part of Russia, lie at about the same latitude. But January temperatures in Berlin average about 15 °F (8 °C) higher than those in Calgary, and they are almost 40 °F (22 °C) higher than the average temperatures in Irkutsk.
European languages mostly fall within three language groups: the Romance languages, derived from the Latin language of the Roman Empire; the Germanic languages, whose ancestor language came from southern Scandinavia; and the Slavic languages. Many other languages outside the three main groups are spoken in Europe. The English language is unique among Germanic languages, having much of its vocabulary descended from Romance languages. The Celtic language group is also a distinct group like the Romance, Germanic and Slavic language groups, and though it has largely disappeared from daily use, there are still varying numbers of speakers of each of the six Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx, and Welsh, Cornish and Breton
Europe defies easy categorization, with its compact size and complex history. The following are five (loosely defined) regions in Europe:
Western Europe - Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Ireland and France;
Northern Europe - Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark;
Northern Europe is a European region in the North of the Baltic Sea.
Central Europe - Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
Central Europe comprises the countries in the center of Europe. These are not only the German-speaking countries, those former- Warsaw Pact member states that have joined the European Union, and Slovenia, another ex-communist former Yugoslav republic, now also a member of the EU. Only Switzerland and tiny Liechtenstein are not EU member states but share close economic ties. While ethnically different, the countries of Central Europe share a similar culture and history throughout the ages. Two of the most important political units in the region were the German and Austro-Hungarian empires. Ethnic conflict was a major problem for hundreds of years in Central Europe and culiminatied in the horrors of the Second World War. With the peaceful reunification of Germany and the recent expansion of the EU to encompass the former Warsaw Pact states in the region, this problem finally seems to have been solved.
Eastern Europe - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Russia and Ukraine;
Eastern Europe is the name of the region which encompasses the countries in the east of Europe. The region is not strictly defined, as some of these countries fall into more than one area - for example Transylvania being part of Romania is considered a part of Central Europe, while the rest of the country is in Eastern Europe.
Mediterranean Europe - Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and Vatican City. Mediterranean Europe is the name of the region which encompasses those countries in the South of Europe that are close to the Mediterranean Sea. They have a common climate, so they are similar in many ways: culture, food, etc. Historic cities with a clearly Mediterranean culture included many outside the region we describe ? Sudak in Ukraine, Acre in Israel, Alexandria in Egypt, and Carthage in Tunisia. Southern France, especially the French Riviera and the island of Corsica, is also very much a Mediterranean region.

Other territories: Channel Islands (United Kingdom), Faroe Islands (Denmark), Gibraltar (United Kingdom), Isle of Man (United Kingdom), Svalbard (Norway).
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