Europe is not technically a continent, but actually part of the gigantic landmass called Eurasia. It is the earth’s 6th largest continent and is separated from Asia by Russia’s Ural Mountains. Believe it or not, some of Russia is actually part of Europe, and is called European Russia. Europe is still widely referred to as a continent and contains 47 countries, making it one of the largest population clusters in the world. Eastern Europe and its countries are considered a Shatterbelt, which is an area where major problems may develop. Below is a list of all the countries along with capitals, populations, and other various details.
Countries of Europe:
Albania: Capital-Tirana (Tirane), Pop.-3,600,523
Andorra: Capital-Andorra la Vella, Pop.-71,822
Microstate on the border between France and Spain
Armenia: Capital-Yerevan, Pop.-2,971,650
Austria: Capital-Vienna, Pop.-8,199,783
Azerbaijan: Capital-Baku (Baki, Baky), Pop.-8,120,247
Belarus: Capital-Minsk, Pop.-9,724,723
Belgium: Capital-Brussels, Pop.-10,392,226
Home of the Flemish (Dutch speakers) and the Walloons (French speakers), the Eurocrats are also housed here, which is part of the European Commission.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Capital-Sarajevo, Pop.-4,552,198
Bosnia and Herzegovina is the product of the devolution (the transfer of power or authority from a central government to a local government) of Yugoslavia.
Bulgaria: Capital-Sofia, Pop.-7,332,858
Croatia: Capital-Zagreb, Pop.-4,493,312
Cyprus: Capital-Nicosia (Lefkosia), Pop.-788,457
Czech Republic: Capital-Prague, Pop.-10,228,744
Denmark: Capital-Copenhagen (primate city*), Pop.-5,468,120
Constitutes one of three Scandinavian brother nations, like Norway and Sweden, and it is a popular monarchy.
Estonia: Capital-Tallinn (primate city*), Pop.-1,315,912
Finland: Capital-Helsinki (primate city*), Pop.-5,238,460
France: Capital-Paris, Pop.-63,713,926
“All roads lead to Paris”, and literally. All interstates, roads, and highways focus on Paris.
Georgia: Capital-T’bilisi, Pop.-4,646,003
Germany: Capital-Berlin, Pop.-82,400,996
Germany is the keystone between Western and Eastern Europe. They also deal with large amounts of air pollution, as well as producing much that gets sent to other countries through the air.
Greece: Capital-Athens, Pop.-10,706,290
Home of the Olympics
Hungary: Capital-Budapest, Pop.-9,956,108
The Danube River splits the country almost in half, running almost directly down the middle of the country.
Iceland: Capital-Reykjavik, Pop.-301,931
Ireland: Capital-Dublin, Pop.-4,109,086
Italy: Capital-Rome, Pop.-58,147,733
Tuscany has been the commercial center since the 1300s, and there are different culinary traditions throughout all the regions of Italy.
Latvia: Capital-Riga, Pop.-2,259,810
Liechtenstein: Capital-Vaduz, Pop.-34,247
Lithuania: Capital-Vilnius, Pop.-3,575,439
Luxembourg: Capital-Luxembourg, Pop.-480,222
Macedonia: Capital-Skopje, Pop.-2,055,915
Malta: Capital-Valletta, Pop.-401,880
Moldova: Capital-Chisinau (Kishinev), Pop.-4,320,490
Monaco: Capital-Monaco, Pop.-32,671
Monaco is surrounded by French territory and it is a microstate (a sovereign state having a very small population or a very small land area, usually having both of these).
Montenegro: Capital-Podgorica (administrative capital), Pop.-684,736
Netherlands: Capital-Amsterdam, Pop.-16,570,613
Norway: Capital-Oslo (primate city*), Pop.-4,627,926
Norway experiences the ‘Midnight Sun’, which is where the sun never actually sets, its just gets really low on the horizon.
Poland: Capital-Warsaw, Pop.-38,518,241
Portugal: Capital-Lisbon, Pop.-10,642,836
Romania: Capital-Bucharest, Pop.-22,276,056
San Marino: Capital-San Marino, Pop.-29,615
Serbia: Capital-Belgrade, Pop.-10,150,265
Slovakia: Capital-Bratislava, Pop.-5,447,502
A new sovereignty, part of the former Czechoslovakia.
Slovenia: Capital-Ljubljana, Pop.-2,009,245
Spain: Capital-Madrid, Pop.-40,448,191
Sweden: Capital-Stockholm (primate city*), Pop.-9,031,088
The home of Alfred Nobel, who was the holder of over 350 patents, and invented dynamite.
Switzerland: Capital-Bern, Pop.-7,554,661
Ukraine: Capital-Kyiv (Kiev), Pop.-46,299,862
United Kingdom: Capital-London (primate city*), Pop.-60,776,238
Composed of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Greenwich, England is the home of the Royal Observatory which is the site of the Prime Meridian, making some locations in Europe geographically in Wº longitude.
Vatican City: officially State of the Vatican City, Pop.-around 900
A landlocked sovereign city-state existing within a walled enclave inside Rome, it is the smallest state in the world by both area and population, and is ruled by the Bishop of Rome (The Pope).
A Special Note about Russia: Part of Western Russia is considered to be part of Europe, and most of the population of Russia is in the West, including the capital city of Moscow. It is the largest country in the world with eleven time zones! The Ural Mountains are the natural border between the European and Asian parts of Russia.
*Primate Cities may contain from 20-33% of the countries total population, and it is at least twice as large as the next largest city in the country. It is also the financial, cultural, and political center of the country. Not all countries have primate cities, but those that do often depend on them greatly. Some examples in the United States are New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, which are dispersed throughout the country.
*Note: all populations are estimates as of July 2007 and are obtained from the CIA factbook. (CIA-The World Factbook)
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