FIGURE 8.1 I EUROPE Stretching from Iceland in the Atlantic to The
FIGURE 8.1 I EUROPE Stretching from Iceland in the Atlantic to the Black Sea, Europe includes 40 countries, ranging in size from large states, such as France and Germany, to the microstates of Liechtenstein, Andorra, San Marino, and Monaco. Currently the population of the region is about 531 mil- lion. Europe is highly urbanized and, for the most part, relatively wealthy, par- ticularly the western portion. However, economic and social differences between eastern and western Europe remain a problem. (left) Migration re- mains one of Europe’s most troublesome issues. While some immigrates will- ingly embrace European values and culture, others prefer to remain more distant by resisting cultural and political integration. In Britain, for example, there is ongoing debate about Muslim women wearing their traditional veils. (Dave Thompson/AP Wide World Photos) 8 Europe SETTING THE BOUNDARIES The European region is small compared to the United roots. The Greeks and Romans divided their worlds into problematic. Now some geography textbooks extend States. In fact, Europe from Iceland to the Black Sea the three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa sepa- Europe to the border with Russia, which places the would fit easily into the eastern two-thirds of North rated by the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and the two countries of Ukraine and Belarus, former Soviet America. A more apt comparison would be Canada, Bosporus Strait. A northward extension of the Black Sea republics, in eastern Europe. Though an argument can as Europe, too, is a northern region. More than half was thought to separate Europe from Asia, and only in be made for that expanded definition of Europe, recent of Europe lies north of the 49th parallel, the line of the 16th century was this proven false.
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