Europe: countries, capitals and regions
Geography · Key Stage 2 · The School
The shape of the continent
Europe runs from the Atlantic in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east, and from the Arctic in the north to the Mediterranean in the south. Its large countries include France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland and Ukraine, with capitals Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Rome, Warsaw and Kyiv. It is a small continent by area with a great many countries in it.
Mountains, rivers and seas
The ALPS run through France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria; the Pyrenees divide Spain from France; the Scandinavian mountains run up Norway. Major rivers include the Danube, which passes through more countries than any other river in the world, the Rhine, and the Volga. The Mediterranean, Baltic, North and Black Seas shape where people settled and traded.
A country in two continents
RUSSIA is the largest country on Earth and lies in both Europe and Asia. The usual dividing line is the Ural Mountains: west of them is European Russia, where most Russians live and where Moscow sits; east is Siberia, in Asia. Turkey is divided the same way by a strait at Istanbul. Continents are agreed conventions, not lines painted on the ground.
NORWAY: in Europe, not in the EU, in NATO, in Schengen. SWITZERLAND: in Europe, not in the EU, not in NATO, in Schengen. UNITED KINGDOM: in Europe, left the EU in 2020, in NATO, never in Schengen. All three are unarguably European. The continent is geography; the memberships are politics and they change — which is why the two words are not interchangeable.