Europe

Three countries in Europe start with the letter "I": Ireland, Italy and Iceland.

There have been many countries created by the collapse of many unions that existed in the 1960's, 1970's and early 1980's. The smallest independent union that still exists is the Vatican City.

There are five peninsulas in Europe. The Iberian Peninsula contains Spain and Portugal; the Balkan Peninsula has Albania and Greece; the Scandinavian Peninsula has Norway and Sweden; the Jutland peninsula has Denmark and Germany; and the Apennines peninsula contains San Marino and Italy.

The Ural Mountains are a natural boundary that separates Northern Asian from Northern Europe.



The longest name for a town is located in Wales and named, Llanhyfryddawelllehyn-afolybarcudprindanfygy-thiadtrienusyrhafnauole. The name means "quiet beautiful village and a historic place with a rare kit under threat from wretched blades."

The largest country in Europe is Russia, even though many people think it is included in the continent of Asia because of the country's proximity to the other Asian countries.

The four smallest countries recognized as countries are Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino, and Estonia.

The country of Poland has generated four Peace Prizes and five Nobel prizes in Literature. A total of 17 Nobel prizes have come from Poland.

The Alps mountain system runs through Austria, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, France and Slovenia. The word "Alps" simply means "mountains." The Alps are usually separated into the Western and Eastern Alps.

Paris is the largest city in Europe with a population of about 10 million. There is a lot of competition with big cities like London, Istanbul and Moscow.

One fun fact about Europe that is usually unknown is that no deserts inhabit the continent of Europe.

Most of the countries of Europe use the universal currency called the Euro. The United Kingdom still use their proprietary unit of money, the British pound. The only country in Europe not part of the European Union, which formed in 1957, is Switzerland.

In the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and Holland are the same. About one-fourth of the Netherlands is underneath the sea level. Many of the Dutch people speak one foreign language; some speak two.

he thermometer was invented in Italy and the piano was created in Italy. Another small independent state, a little larger than the Vatican City, is San Marino. Both are located in Italy.

Germany is the country that is surrounded by the most countries (nine total). The countries are Switzerland, Poland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Denmark, Czech Republic, Belgium, and Austria.

From Ireland, a scientist named John Tyndall answered the age-old question "Why is the sky blue?" The answer? A human's eyes are susceptible to the blue color, and even thought red molecules are also in the sky, the blue molecules are tossed about at a quick pace, which the eyes pick up better.

Europe received its name from a princess in Greek mythology. Europa was a Phoenician princess kidnapped by Zeus who had transformed into a white bull to take her.

Besides Germany, Austria also has German as their official language. The only country in Europe that does not have an official language named after the country is Yugoslavia. Their official language is Serbo-Croatian.

Another fun fact about Europe is that Greenland, an autonomous country, is also the world's largest island. The island is owned by the Kingdom of Denmark.