Political division and the area of Europe

Europe is part of the world that is part of the continent of Eurasia. There are 54 states on its territory, most of which have a relatively small area. This part of the world consists not only of continental countries, but also of islands. About a quarter of its territory falls on the peninsula, among which the Balkan, Scandinavian, Kolsky, Apenninsky and others.

In order to correctly determine the area of Europe, one must take into account that the border between Europe and Asia runs along the Caucasian ridge, although this division is arbitrary. Despite the fact that such countries as Armenia and Azerbaijan are difficult to assign territorially to this part of the world, they are still ranked for political and moral-ethical reasons.

Total area of Europe

If you take into account all the territories that today belong to the European, then its area is 10,180,000 km², of which 720 thousand km² are islands. The largest state is Russia, although it is partially located in Asia. The second and third countries in terms of area are Ukraine and France respectively, with a difference of 30,000 km². It should be noted that the current political situation between Russia and Ukraine may lead to the fact that the territory of the Crimean peninsula will pass to the first. In this case, the area of France and Ukraine will become almost the same, with a difference of only 3 thousand km², although this will not affect the area of Europe in any way.

Political division

Conditionally the area of the states of Europe is divided into three parts: Eastern, Western and Central. Previously, this division was exclusively political in nature, now the geographical position is taken into account.

The largest countries that belong to Western Europe are Austria, Great Britain, Germany, France and Switzerland. To the Eastern part, most include countries such as Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Ukraine and others. The states of Central Europe play a very important role in the political arena, and they are ranked among Croatia, Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia.

Historical State

Earlier, such sovereign states as Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro were the territory of one country - Yugoslavia, which disintegrated in 2006. Prior to its disbandment, Yugoslavia was one of the largest countries in Europe, and its territory was 255,000 km².

Dwarf States

In this part of the world there is also a number of dwarf states that, although small in area, play important roles in political relations.
The smallest of these countries and at the same time the most influential is the Vatican. This city-state is an Italian enclave, located in Rome. Although the independence of the Vatican is supported by all of Europe, the area of the territory of this state is only 0.44 km ². Other dwarf countries in this part of the world include San Marino, Monaco, Malta, Liechtenstein and Andorra.

To summarize, it should be noted that the area of Europe was constantly changing in connection with the events that affected the political picture of the world. Nevertheless, it has always remained one of the largest and most significant parts of the world.