Europe
A small, intricate continent of outsized influence
Europe is among the smallest continents at roughly 10.2 million square kilometers (3.9 million square miles), yet its long, deeply indented coastline and temperate climate have given it influence far beyond its size. It is less a separate landmass than the western peninsula of Eurasia, conventionally divided from Asia along the Ural Mountains and the Caucasus. Warmed by the Atlantic and the Gulf Stream, much of it enjoys mild weather at latitudes that elsewhere turn frigid.
Its geography is fine-grained and varied: the fjorded coasts of Scandinavia, the broad North European Plain, the Alps arcing across the center, and the Mediterranean peninsulas of Iberia, Italy, and the Balkans reaching toward Africa. Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus rises to 5,642 meters (18,510 feet), the continent's highest point, while navigable rivers like the Rhine and Danube knit the interior together. Few places on the continent lie far from the sea, and that intimacy with the water shaped centuries of trade and exploration.
About 744 million people live in Europe, densely settled into a patchwork of more than forty countries packed into a relatively small space. That density, mild climate, and easy movement by river and sea helped make Europe a crucible of empires, industry, and ideas whose reach spread across the globe. Today it remains one of the most urbanized and economically integrated regions on Earth.