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Mont Blanc
4,807 m
(15,770 ft)
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Iberian
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Islands
Shetland Islands
Sicily
Sardinia
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Great
Britain
Northern
Ireland
Scotland
Wales
England
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Palermo
Valencia
Barcelona
Zaragoza Marseille
Stuttgart
Frankfurt
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Rotterdam
Hannover
Birmingham
Liverpool
Hamburg
Glasgow
Catania
Cagliari
Cosenza
Palma Bari
Porto Bilbao
A Coruña
Toulouse
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Bordeaux
Trieste
Lyon
Nantes
Innsbruck
Zürich
Salzburg
Orléans
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Strasbourg
le Havre Liège
Bonn
Cardiff
Manchester
Belfast
Odense Malmö
Edinburgh
Aalborg Jönköping
Stavanger
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Trondheim
Seville
Naples
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Milan
Munich
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LONDON
PARIS
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ROME
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PRAGUE
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BRUSSELS
MADRID
LISBON
BERLIN
AMSTERDAM
OSLO
ZAGREB
LJUBLJANA
BERN
DUBLIN
Faeroe Islands
(Denmark)
(U.K.) (Spain)
(Spain)
(U.K.)
Channel Islands
Gibraltar
MALTA
PORTUGAL
SPAIN
VATICAN
CITY
ANDORRA
FRANCE
MONACO
SAN
MARINO
BOSNIA &
HERZEGOVINA
SLOVENIA
SWITZERLAND
LIECH.
AUSTRIA
LUX.
CZECH
REPUBLIC
BELGIUM
GERMANY
NETHERLANDS
DENMARK
ICELAND
IRELAND
UNITED
KINGDOM
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A
246 People and Places
Europe is the world’s second smallest
continent with the third highest
population. The landscape ranges
from the frozen tundra and forests
of the north to the hot, dry hills of the Mediterranean
region. Vast fertile grasslands stretch between the
mountains of the Alps in the west and the Ural
Mountains in the east, which separate Europe from
Asia. Europe is a crowded continent with over
40 different countries, and conflicts in the past
century have often erupted into war. Today, the
majority of people live in cities and many enjoy
a high standard of living thanks to their countries’
abundant natural resources, successful agriculture,
and modern industries.
1 COUNCIL OF EUROPE
Institutions such as the Council of Europe, set up
in Strasbourg, France in 1949, have helped to bind
the nations of Europe together after nearly a
century of war. Other Europe-wide organizations
include the European Union (EU), which has many
different roles, and covers economic, political,
agricultural, social, and cultural matters. It is run
by the EU Commission in Brussels, Belgium.
4 THE LOUVRE, PARIS, FRANCE
The glass entrance hall to the Louvre Museum in Paris
symbolizes the old and the new in contemporary Europe.
Many of the continent’s oldest towns are now dynamic cities
that combine historic landmarks with a vibrant multicultural life.
4 GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH,
SANTORINI, GREECE
Greek Christians belong to the
Eastern Orthodox Church, a 700-
year-old branch of the Christian
community. Christianity has been
the dominant religion of Europe
for around 1,500 years. It has had
a major influence on the region’s
art, architecture, and culture.
Europe
The Louvre’s historical
buildings contain fine
paintings, sculptures,
and antiquitiesThe steel and glass
pyramid entrance
was added in the 1980s