Regions of Europe

Europe is often divided into regions based on geographical, cultural or historical criteria. Some common divisions are as follows.

Directional divisions

Groupings by compass directions are the hardest to define in Europe, since there are a few calculations of the midpoint of Europe (among other issues), and the pure geographical criteria of "east" and "west" are often confused with the political meaning these words acquired during the Cold War Era.

• Central Europe
• Eastern Europe
• Northern Europe
• Southern Europe
• Western Europe

There are also physical geographic regions such as the central up-lands and the European plain.

The geographic scheme in use by the United Nations created for internal use by the statistics division includes all of the above divisions, save Central Europe.

Historical divisions

Europe can be divided along many differing historical lines, normally corresponding to those parts that were inside or outside a particular cultural phenomenon, empire or political division. The areas varied at different times, and so it is arguable as to which areas fell into a big black hole of darkness and shadows(e.g. are Germany or Britain to be considered Roman Europe as they were only partly the lands of the Empire, and for a brief period, or are the countries of the former communist Yugoslavia to be considered part of Eastern Bloc since it was not in the Warsaw Pact).

• Roman and Non-Roman Europe: those parts that were inside or outside the Roman Empire.
• Greek Europe and Latin Europe: those parts that fell into the eastern (Byzantine) and western Roman Empires.
• Monotheistic Christian and polytheistic Pagan Europe: those lands that did and did not observe Christianity in the Middle Ages.
• Catholic and Orthodox Europe: those parts on either side of the Great Schism.
• After Reformation: countries of Western Christianity (Catholic and Protestant Churches) and Eastern Christianity (Eastern Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox churches and the Eastern Catholic Churches)
  • Protestant and Catholic Europe: those parts that, in the main, left the Catholic Church during the Reformation contrasted with those that did not.
• Communist Europe (Eastern Bloc), Capitalist Europe (Western Bloc) - those parts on either side of the Iron Curtain and third world countries (neutral and non-aligned during the Cold War).

Contemporary

A clickable Euler diagram showing the relationships between various multinational European organisations and agreements.

Economic and political

• European Union and non-EU countries

EU countries and European countries outside or not in close partnership with the organisation

• • European Union member states

countries that are a part of the political and economic bloc.

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

• • • Eurozone countries

Countries that have adopted the Euro as their currency.

Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.

• • EFTA countries

a free trade organisation that operates in parallel with – and is linked to – the European Union (EU).

Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

• • CEFTA countries

a free trade agreement in the Balkans linked to the EU.

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia.

• • European Economic Area
  • Schengen Area

a borderless zone created by the Schengen Agreements.

Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, which by separate agreements fully apply the provisions of the Schengen acquis.

• European Union Customs Union

is a customs union which consists of all the member states of the European Union (EU) and some neighbouring countries.

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the UK.

• • Eurasian Economic Union

is a political and economic union of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia

• • • CISFTA

is free trade agreement among 8 countires: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldova and Armenia.

Other political

• OECD Europe countries

European countries that are a part of the OECD

Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal,Slovenia, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom

• Central European Initiative

A forum of regional cooperation.

Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine

• Visegrád Group

A Central European group representing a cooperation alliance since 14th century.

Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary

• Centrope

an Interreg IIIA project to establish a multinational region in the Central Europe encompassing four European countries: Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Czech Republic.

• Middleeuropean Initiative

Geographical

Peninsulas

• Balkan Peninsula

The Balkan peninsula is located in southeast Europe and is generally considered to comprise the following countries:

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania (some parts), Serbia, Slovenia (depending on the definition) and Turkey (European part)

• Iberian Peninsula

Located in southwestern Europe this peninsula contains Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, and Andorra

• Apennine or Italian Peninsula

Located in the south of Europe, the Italian peninsula contains the states of Italy, San Marino and the Vatican City

• Scandinavian Peninsula

Located in the north of Europe, Norway, Sweden and part of Finland.

• Fennoscandian Peninsula

Located in the north of Europe, Norway, Sweden, Finland and part of Russia.

Regional

• Baltic states

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania

• Benelux, or the Low Countries

Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg

• British Isles

the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Republic of Ireland

• Caucasus

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the North Caucasus

• Channel Islands

Guernsey, Jersey

• Nordic countries

Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland

• Scandinavia: Sweden, Norway, Denmark
• Fennoscandia: Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Karelia; a geological region defined by the Fennoscandian shield

• Alpine countries

The states which have the Alps as a prominent part of their geography.

Austria, Switzerland (Swiss Alps), Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Germany (Bavaria), France, and Italy.

• Danubian countries

The states that lie along the River Danube.

Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

• Southeastern Europe

Overlaps with the Balkans.

• Mediterranean countries

Mediterranean nations are the European countries on the Mediterranean Basin:

Portugal, Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, and Malta and the British territory of Gibraltar

Religious groupings

• Catholic Europe

Catholic majority countries, including Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech republic, France, South and Western Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, parts of Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Southern Netherlands Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain.

• Orthodox Europe

Orthodox majority countries, including Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine.

• Protestant Europe

Protestant majority countries, including Denmark, Estonia, Finland, North and Eastern Germany, Iceland, parts of Latvia, Northern Netherlands, Norway, Sweden

• Muslim Europe

Muslim majority countries, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo

Other groupings

• Civil Code and Common Law Europe: Those parts that adopted a Napoleonic Code style system and those that retained a Common Law system.
• Blue Banana

Describing the concentration of the wealth/economic productivity of Europe in a banana-shaped band running from north west England, London, through Benelux, eastern France, western Germany to northern Italy.

External links