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| Europe
(yoor'up) [key], 6th largest continent, c.4,000,000
sq mi (10,360,000 sq km) including adjacent islands
(1992 est. pop. 512,000,000). It is actually a
vast peninsula of the great Eurasian land mass.
By convention, it is separated from Asia by the
Urals and the Ural River in the east; by the Caspian
Sea and the Caucasus in the southeast; and by
the Black Sea, the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara,
and the Dardanelles in the south. The Mediterranean
Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar separate it from
Africa. Europe is washed in the north by the Arctic
Ocean, and in the west by the Atlantic Ocean,
with which the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are
connected. |
| People:
Indo-European languages (see The Indo-European Family
of Languages, table) predominate in Europe; others
spoken include Basque, Maltese, and the languages
classified as Finno-Ugric, Samoyedic, Bulgaric,
and Turkic. Roman Catholicism is the chief religion
of S and W Europe and the southern part of central
Europe; Protestantism is dominant in the United
Kingdom, Scandinavia, and the northern part of Europe;
the Orthodox Eastern Church predominates in E and
SE Europe; and there are pockets of of Muslim predominance
in the Balkan Peninsula and Transcaucasia. With
the exception of the northern third of the continent,
Europe is densely populated. Eleven cities have
populations exceeding two million inhabitants; London,
Moscow, and Paris are the largest cities. |
| Economy
and Transportation: Europe is highly industrialized;
the largest industrial areas are found in W central
Europe, England, N Italy, Ukraine, and European
Russia. Agriculture, forestry (in N Europe), and
fishing (along the Atlantic coast) are also important.
Europe has a large variety of minerals; coal, iron
ore, and salt are abundant. Oil and gas are found
in E Europe and beneath the North Sea. Coal is used
to produce a significant, but declining amount of
Europe's electricity; in Norway and Sweden and in
the Alps hydroelectric plants supply a large percentage
of the power. More than 25% of Europe's electricity
is generated from nuclear power.
The transportation system
in Europe is highly developed; interconnecting
rivers and canals provide excellent inland water
transportation in central and W Europe. The Channel
Tunnel connects Great Britain to France. The countries
of Europe engage heavily in foreign trade, and
some of the world's greatest ports are found there.
Rotterdam with the huge new Europort complex,
London, Le Havre, Hamburg, Genoa, and Marseilles
are the chief ports.
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