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In terms of shape, Europe is a collection of connected peninsulas and nearby islands. The two largest peninsulas are Europe itself and Scandinavia to the north, divided from each other by the Baltic Sea. Three smaller peninsulas— Iberia, Italy, and the Balkans —emerge from the southern margin of the mainland.
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Europe shares the landmass of Eurasia with Asia, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Asia and Africa.
Europe, the westernmost portion of Eurasia, is often divided into regions and subregions based on geographical, cultural or historical factors. Since there is no universal agreement on Europe's regional composition, the placement of individual countries may vary based on criteria being used.
The term originally derives from the early fourteenth century sense of trade (in late Middle English) still often meaning "path" or "track". The Portuguese recognized the importance of the trade winds (then the volta do mar, meaning in Portuguese "turn of the sea" but also "return from the sea") in navigation in both the north and south Atlantic Ocean as early as the 15th century.
The ITCZ is visible as a band of clouds encircling Earth near the Equator. The Intertropical Convergence Zone ( ITCZ / ɪtʃ / ITCH, or ICZ ), [1] known by sailors as the doldrums [2] or the calms because of its monotonous windless weather, is the area where the northeast and the southeast trade winds converge. It encircles Earth near the ...
Prevailing winds. Winds are part of Earth's atmospheric circulation. Global surface wind vector flow lines colored by wind speed from June 1, 2011 to October 31, 2011. In meteorology, prevailing wind in a region of the Earth 's surface is a surface wind that blows predominantly from a particular direction. The dominant winds are the trends in ...
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountains, whilst its western boundary is defined in various ways. [1] Most definitions include the countries of ...
The Iberian Peninsula (IPA: / aɪ ˈ b ɪər i ə n /), [a] also known as Iberia, [b] is a peninsula in south-western Europe, defining the westernmost edge of Eurasia.Separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of Peninsular Spain [c] and Continental Portugal, comprising most of the region, as well as the tiny adjuncts of Andorra, the British ...