Over the past few weeks I have been working on better organizing the thousands of genealogy resources I've collected for reference during my years of genealogy research. Most of them are within the United States and you can browse resources by State, County, or Town, but I've also found some useful international resources along the way and organizing them has been somewhat of a challenge due to my admitted lack of knowledge of world geography. It is all very confusing to me, so I took some research to figure it all out.
Let's take England for an example, where much of my family originates. England is located on the island of Great Britain, within the United Kingdom (U.K.), off the northwestern coast of the continent of Europe. The islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and more than six thousand smaller islands make up the British Isles, collectively encompassing 121,684 square miles. Besides the United Kingdom, Ireland is the only other sovereign nation in the British Isles. The Republic of Ireland is located on the island of Ireland, divided from Great Britain by the English Channel. Northern Ireland, however, belongs to the United Kingdom and although both Great Britain and Ireland are islands, they are located within the continent of Europe.
As you know, Europe is one of the earth's seven continents. It is also considered part of the larger landmass called Eurasia. In this map, the continent of Europe is shown in green. As you can see, the islands of Ireland and Great Britain are shown as part of the continent of Europe, along with Iceland and thousands of other small islands. However, in terms of Continental Europe and its common definition, Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland and Scandinavian (Nordic countries) are not considered European countries. It is primarily countries on the mainland that are considered to be part of Continental Europe.
As of today, October 18, 2021, the population of Europe is 748,226,898 (Source). Russia's population tops the chart in both size and population, out of all the European countries, followed by Turkey, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, respectively.
Following is a list of countries within the continent of Europe, located on the mainland (Continental Europe):
Albania | Gibraltar (UK) | Romania |
Andorra | Greece | Russia* [Resources] |
Armenia | Hungary | San Marino |
Austria | Italy [Resources] | Serbia |
Azerbijan | Kosovo | Slovakia |
Belarus | Latvia | Slovenia |
Belgium | Liechtenstein | Spain [Resources] |
Bosnia & Herzegovina | Lithuania | Svalbard & Jan Mayen (Norway) |
Bulgaria | Luxembourg | Switzerland |
Croatia | Malta | The Netherlands [Resources] |
Czech Republic | Moldova | Transnistria |
Estonia | Monaco | Turkey* |
France [Resources] | Montenegro | Ukraine |
Georgia* | Poland [Resources] | Vatican City |
Germany [Resources] | Portugal | Yugoslavia |
* indicates countries that straddle both Europe and Asia.
The following countries are Northern European countries, formerly part of Scandinavia, called Nordic Countries:
Aland Islands (Finland) | Greenland (Denmark) |
Denmark | Iceland |
Faroe Islands (Denmark) | Norway |
Finland | Sweden [Resources] |
Following are Islands which are considered part of the Continent of Europe, but generally not considered Continental European countries:
After shining some light on my dark understanding of the definition of "European", I now understand why many of the early immigrants to America were called Europeans, despite some having British, Irish, Scottish, and other origins we might not typically consider to be part of Europe.
Are you from England, Ireland, or Scotland? If so, do you consider yourself to be European? Please share your perspective in the chat!