47 Fun Facts About European Geography

Which mountain range is conventionally taken as the eastern boundary between Europe and Asia?

The Ural River and the Caspian Sea continue the line south; the highest Ural peak, Narodnaya, is only 1,894 metres.

Using the seven-continent model, where does Europe rank by area?

Europe is the second-smallest continent, ahead only of Australia; it covers about 10.2 million square kilometres, roughly 2% of the Earth's surface.

Which country is Europe's largest and most populous?

Russia is both the largest and the most populous European country: its European part alone covers about 39% of the continent's area and holds about 15% of its people.

What is the longest river in Europe?

The Volga, about 3,531 km long, is Europe's longest river and drains into the Caspian Sea; the Danube, at about 2,850 km, is second.

The Danube rises in which German region?

The Danube rises in the Black Forest at Donaueschingen, where the Brigach and Breg streams meet, and runs about 2,850 km to the Black Sea through ten countries.

How many national capitals stand on the Danube?

Four national capitals stand on the Danube: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade, more than on any other river in the world.

In which country does the Rhine rise?

The Rhine rises in Switzerland, in the canton of Graubünden near the Oberalp Pass, and reaches the North Sea through the Netherlands.

Which river is the longest in the French Republic?

The Loire, at about 1,006 km, is France's longest river, rising in the Massif Central and reaching the Atlantic near Saint-Nazaire past the famous châteaux.

The Elbe rises in the Czech Republic and enters the North Sea near which German city?

The Elbe flows through Hamburg, Germany's largest port, and reaches the North Sea at Cuxhaven about 110 km downstream; Bremen lies on the Weser, not the Elbe.

The waterfall at Schaffhausen, Switzerland, lies on which river?

The Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen, about 23 metres high and 150 metres wide, are among Europe's largest waterfalls by volume and lie downstream of Lake Constance.

Which Caucasus peak is, by the usual convention, Europe's highest mountain?

Mount Elbrus, a dormant volcano in the Caucasus, rises to 5,642 metres; Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, reaches only about 4,808 metres.

Mont Blanc sits on the border of France and which other country?

Ownership of the summit area has long been disputed between the two.

Approximately how long is the arc of the Alps?

The Alps form an arc about 1,200 km long, running from near Nice on the Mediterranean to the outskirts of Vienna, and up to roughly 200 km wide.

What is the highest peak in the Pyrenees?

Aneto, at 3,404 metres in Spain's Huesca province, is the highest peak in the Pyrenees; Monte Perdido, at 3,355 metres, ranks third behind Posets.

Which mountains are home to Europe's largest populations of brown bears, wolves and lynx?

The Carpathians hold Europe's largest populations of brown bears, wolves and lynx outside Russia, with the biggest concentration in Romania's share of the range.

Which mountain range runs along the eastern Adriatic coast through Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro?

The Dinaric Alps stretch about 645 km along the eastern Adriatic from Slovenia to Albania; their highest peak, Maja Jezercë in Albania, reaches 2,694 metres.

Where is Mount Etna, Europe's tallest active volcano?

It stands about 3,403 metres tall on the island's east coast.

Which is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean?

Sardinia, at about 24,000 square kilometres, is the Mediterranean's second-largest island after Sicily; Cyprus, the third-largest, is less than half its size.

Great Britain ranks where among the world's islands by area?

Great Britain is the world's ninth-largest island at about 209,000 square kilometres, and the largest in Europe; Honshu and Canada's Victoria Island rank just above it.

What is the regional capital of Corsica?

Ajaccio, Napoleon's birthplace on the west coast, is Corsica's regional capital; Bastia in the north-east is the island's other main town and commercial port.

Iceland sits on which geological feature?

Iceland straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart by about 2 cm a year, giving it geysers, volcanoes and frequent eruptions.

Which body of water near Saint Petersburg is the largest lake located entirely in Europe?

Lake Ladoga, about 17,700 square kilometres, is the largest lake entirely in Europe; it lies east of Saint Petersburg and drains into the Gulf of Finland through the Neva.

Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe, is in which country?

Lake Balaton lies in western Hungary's Transdanubia region; at about 592 square kilometres it is the largest freshwater lake in Central Europe.

Lake Geneva is the largest lake on the course of which river?

The Rhône enters Lake Geneva near Villeneuve and leaves it at Geneva; about 60% of the lake is Swiss and 40% French.

The Caspian Sea, on Europe's southeastern edge, is described as the world's largest what?

The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, about 371,000 square kilometres of brackish water bordered by Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan.

The Strait of Gibraltar separates Spain from which country?

The Strait of Gibraltar separates Spain from Morocco; it is about 14 km across at its narrowest and joins the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.

The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to which body of water?

The Bosporus links the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, which the Dardanelles then joins to the Aegean; at about 700 metres across it is the narrowest strait used for international shipping.

Which city sits on two continents, with about two-thirds of its people in Europe?

Istanbul straddles the Bosporus with about two-thirds of its people on the European side; as Byzantium and then Constantinople it was capital of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman empires.

Which is the largest of Europe's great peninsulas by area?

The Scandinavian Peninsula, about 750,000 square kilometres, comprises mainland Norway and Sweden plus north-western Finland; Iberia, at roughly 583,000 square kilometres, is second.

Which Spanish river forms a large delta on the Mediterranean coast south of Tarragona?

The Ebro, Spain's largest river by discharge, runs about 930 km from Cantabria to its delta south of Tarragona; the Greek name Iberia is thought to derive from it.

The Balkans take their name from a mountain range that runs across which country?

German geographer August Zeune coined the peninsula's name in 1808 after wrongly assuming the range dominated the region.

What is the smallest sovereign state in the world?

Vatican City covers about 44 hectares inside Rome and, with well under 1,000 residents, is the smallest sovereign state by both area and population; Monaco is second by area.

Which family has ruled Monaco, with brief interruptions, since 1297?

The Grimaldis have held Monaco since François Grimaldi seized its fortress in 1297 disguised as a monk; the principality is the world's second-smallest state and its most densely populated.

Which is the only European country whose neighbours are all themselves landlocked?

Liechtenstein is doubly landlocked: its only neighbours, Switzerland and Austria, have no coastline either; Uzbekistan is the only other such country in the world.

Andorra is headed by two co-princes: the Bishop of Urgell and whom?

The President of France and the Bishop of Urgell are Andorra's co-princes, a dual headship that dates from a 1278 agreement between the Count of Foix and the bishop.

Which is the highest capital city in Europe?

Andorra la Vella, at about 1,023 metres in the eastern Pyrenees, is Europe's highest capital city; Madrid, at roughly 650 metres, is the highest capital of an EU member state.

San Marino claims to be the world's oldest surviving sovereign state, founded in which year?

Tradition dates San Marino's founding to 3 September AD 301, when Saint Marinus, a stonemason from the island of Rab, settled on Monte Titano to escape Diocletian's persecution of Christians.

Roughly what share of the Netherlands lies below sea level?

About 26% of the Netherlands lies below sea level, much of it polder land reclaimed since the 14th century; roughly half the country sits less than a metre above the sea.

How high is the Vaalserberg, the highest point in the European Netherlands?

The Vaalserberg rises about 322 metres above sea level in the far south-east of Limburg; its summit is the Drielandenpunt, the tripoint of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Rotterdam holds what title among European cities?

Rotterdam is Europe's largest seaport, handling over 400 million tonnes of cargo a year; the Rhine and Meuse give it access to the Ruhr, earning the nickname Gateway to Europe.

Kaliningrad Oblast is a Russian exclave sandwiched between which two countries?

Kaliningrad Oblast lies on the Baltic between Poland to the south and Lithuania to the north and east; its capital was Königsberg, founded by the Teutonic Order in 1255, until 1946.

Roughly 35% of its country's people live within which capital's city limits?

About 140,000 of Iceland's roughly 390,000 people live within Reykjavík's city limits, about 35%; Iceland is Europe's most sparsely populated country.

Triglav, a peak shown on its national flag, is the highest mountain of which country?

Triglav, at 2,864 metres in the Julian Alps, is Slovenia's highest mountain and appears in stylised form on the national flag and coat of arms.

What is the highest point in the Ural Mountains?

Mount Narodnaya, at about 1,895 metres in the Subpolar Urals, is the range's highest point, lower than many Alpine ski resorts; Yamantau is merely the highest peak of the Southern Urals.

Which landmass lies closest to Iceland?

Greenland lies about 290 km north-west of Iceland across the Denmark Strait, nearer than the Faroe Islands at roughly 420 km or Scotland at about 800 km.

The Meseta Central, a high plateau, covers roughly what share of Spain?

The Meseta Central, a plateau averaging 600–700 metres, covers about 40% of Spain between the Cantabrian Mountains, the Sistema Ibérico and the Sierra Morena, giving Madrid its high, dry setting.

Which country became landlocked when Montenegro voted for independence in 2006?

Serbia became landlocked when Montenegro voted for independence in May 2006, taking the state union's entire Adriatic coastline with it; Bosnia kept its short coast at Neum.