Editing Continental Europe

{{Short description|Mainland Europe, excluding European islands}}
{{For|the whole of the European continent|Europe}}
{{Redirect|The Continent|other uses|Continent (disambiguation)}}
{{See also|Pan-European corridors|Trans-European Transport Network|International E-road network|United Nations Economic Commission for Europe}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}

[[File:Mainland Europe (orthographic projection).svg|thumb|right|Extent of the contiguous mainland of Europe, continental Europe]]
'''Continental Europe''' or '''mainland Europe''' is the contiguous [[mainland]] of [[Europe]], excluding its surrounding islands.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com-archive-datasets.eu/dictionary/europe |dictionary=[[Merriam Webster Dictionary]] |title=Europe |access-date=5 May 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140422145420/http://www.merriam-webster.com-archive-datasets.eu/dictionary/europe |archive-date=April 22, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It can also be referred to ambiguously as the '''European continent''',<ref name="ae00">{{cite book |last1=Rosensteil |first1=Francis |title=Annuaire Europeen 2000 / European Yearbook 2000 |date=2001 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |page=69 |isbn=9041118446 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sFo33dJcyxcC&pg=RA7-PA69-IA1}}</ref><ref name="euroterre">{{cite book |last1=Robert |first1=Jacques |title=The European Territory: From Historical Roots to Global Challenges |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |page=183 |isbn=9781317695059 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l2uLAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA181}}</ref> – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by some, simply as '''the Continent'''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/continent |title=the Continent |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=Cambridge Dictionary |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=14 November 2023 |quote=}}</ref> When [[Eurasia]] is regarded as a single continent, Europe is treated both as a [[continent]] and [[Continent#Subcontinents|subcontinent]].<ref name="Baldwin">{{citation |last=Baldwin |first=James A. |chapter=Continents |editor=R.W. McColl |title=Encyclopedia of World Geography |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJgnebGbAB8C&pg=PA214 |year=2014 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-0-8160-7229-3 |pages=214–216}}</ref>

==Usage==
The continental territory of the historical [[Carolingian Empire]] was one of the many old cultural concepts used for mainland [[Europe]].<ref name="Heacock 2013">{{Cite web|last=Heacock|first=Roger|date=2013-12-13|title=Europe and Jerusalem:From Unholy Cacophony to Holy Alliance|url=https://www.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/jq-articles/JQ_55_Europe_and_Jerusalem_0.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115195816/https://www.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/jq-articles/JQ_55_Europe_and_Jerusalem_0.pdf |archive-date=January 15, 2021 |access-date=February 11, 2021|website=[[Institute for Palestine Studies]]}}</ref> This was consciously invoked in the 1950s as one of the basis for the prospective [[European integration]] (see also [[multi-speed Europe]])<ref name="Kaiser 2003 p. 67–69">{{cite book |last=Kaiser |first=Wolfram |author-link=Wolfram Kaiser |chapter=Trigger-happy Protestant Materialists? The European Christian  Democrats and the United States |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=Yltz0aCPaM4C|pg=PA67}} |editor-last=Trachtenberg |editor-first=Marc |editor-link=Marc Trachtenberg |title=Between empire and alliance : America and Europe during the Cold War |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |publication-place=Lanham, Md. |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-585-45510-5 |oclc=52451911 |pages=67–69 |ref=none}}</ref><ref name="Hyde-Price 2000 p. 128">{{cite book |last=Hyde-Price |first=Adrian G. V. |chapter="Epochenwend:" unification and German grand strategy |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/germanyeuropeano0000hyde/page/102/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/germanyeuropeano0000hyde |url-access=registration |title=Germany and European order : enlarging NATO and the EU |publisher=Manchester University Press : Distributed exclusively in the USA by St. Martin's Press |publication-place=Manchester, UK, New York |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7190-5427-3 |oclc=44851822 |page=[https://archive.org/details/germanyeuropeano0000hyde/page/128/mode/2up 128] |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

The most common definition of mainland Europe excludes these [[Island#Continental islands|continental islands]]: the [[list of islands of Greece|Greek islands]], [[Cyprus]], [[Malta]], [[Sicily]], [[Sardinia]], [[Corsica]], the [[Balearic Islands]], [[Great Britain]] and [[Ireland]] and surrounding islands, [[Novaya Zemlya]] and the Nordic archipelago, as well as nearby [[Island#Oceanic islands|oceanic islands]], including the [[Canary Islands]], [[Madeira]], the [[Azores]], [[Iceland]], the [[Faroe Islands]], and [[Svalbard]].<ref name="Misachi 2019">{{cite web |last=Misachi |first=John |title=What Is Continental Europe? |website=WorldAtlas |date=2019-05-07 |url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-continental-europe.html |access-date=2022-05-11}}</ref>

The [[Scandinavian Peninsula]] is sometimes also excluded even though it is a part of "mainland Europe", as the ''[[de facto]]'' connections to the rest of the continent were historically across the [[Baltic Sea]] or [[North Sea]] (rather than via the lengthy land route that involves travelling to the north of the peninsula where it meets Finland, and then south through northeast Europe).<ref name="Misachi 2019"/> The [[Øresund Bridge]] now links the Scandinavian road and rail networks to those of Western Europe.

[[File:Europe As A Queen Sebastian Munster 1570.jpg|thumb|''[[Europa regina|Europa Regina]]'' map ([[Sebastian Munster]], 1570), excluding the greater part of [[Fennoscandia]], but including Great Britain and Ireland, ''[[Ottoman Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Scythia]], [[Grand Duchy of Moscow|Moscovia]]'' and ''[[Crimean Khanate|Tartaria]]''; [[Sicily]] is clasped by Europe in the form of a ''[[globus cruciger]]''.]]

===Great Britain and Ireland===
In both [[Great Britain]] and Ireland, ''the Continent'' is widely and generally used to refer to the mainland of Europe.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} An amusing British newspaper headline supposedly once read, "Fog in [[English Channel|Channel]]; Continent Cut Off".<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/19/oakley.blog.dayten/index.html |title=Europe no star as election issue |publisher=CNN |first=Robin |last=Oakley |date=April 19, 2005 | access-date=April 30, 2010}}</ref> It has also been claimed that this was a regular weather forecast in Britain in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Fog in Channel?: Exploring Britain's Relationship with Europe|editor1-first=Tom|editor1-last=Sykes|editor2-first=Simon|editor2-last=Sykes|date=September 2, 2009|publisher=Shoehorn Publishing|id= {{ASIN|1907149066|country=uk}}}}</ref> In addition, the word ''Europe'' itself is also regularly used to mean Europe excluding the islands of Great Britain, Iceland, and Ireland<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Europe? |url=https://www.open.edu/openlearn/society-politics-law/geography/what-europe/content-section-1.2.2 |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=Open Learning |language=en}}</ref> (although the term is often used to refer to the [[European Union]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-14525705 |title=Britain pushes hard choices for Europe's hard core |work=BBC News |first=Douglas |last=Fraser |date=August 15, 2011}}</ref>). The term ''mainland Europe'' is also sometimes used.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} Usage of these terms may reflect political or cultural allegiances, for example it has been observed that there is a correlation between whether a British citizen considers themselves "British" or "European" and whether they live in an area which primarily supported [[Brexit]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=O'Carroll |first1=Lisa |last2=Barr |first2=Caelainn |title=Half of young adults in the UK do not feel European, poll reveals {{!}} Society {{!}} The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/apr/11/half-of-young-adults-in-the-uk-do-not-feel-european-demos-survey |access-date=2022-06-26 |date=2017-04-11 |website=amp.theguardian.com}}</ref>

Derivatively, the adjective ''continental'' refers to the social practices or fashion of continental Europe. Examples include [[Breakfast by country#Continental breakfast|breakfast]], topless sunbathing and, historically, long-range driving (before Britain had [[controlled-access highway|motorways]]) often known as [[Grand tourer|''Grand Touring'']].{{citation needed|date = April 2012}} Differences include electrical plugs, time zones for the most part, the use of [[left- and right-hand traffic|left-hand traffic]], and for the United Kingdom, currency and the continued use of certain [[imperial units]] alongside the [[metric system|metric units]] which have long since displaced customary units in continental Europe.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6988521.stm |title=EU gives up on 'metric Britain' |work=BBC News |access-date=4 May 2015 |date=11 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Will British people ever think in metric?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16245391|publisher=BBC|access-date=4 May 2015|date=21 December 2011|first1=Jon|last1=Kelly}}</ref>

Britain is physically connected to continental Europe through the undersea [[Channel Tunnel]] (the longest undersea tunnel in the world), which accommodates both the [[Eurotunnel Shuttle]] (passenger and vehicle use – vehicle required) and [[Eurostar]] (passenger use only) services. These services were established to transport passengers and vehicles through the tunnel on a 24/7 basis between [[England]] and continental Europe, while still maintaining passport and immigration control measures on both sides of the tunnel. This route is popular with refugees and migrants seeking to enter the UK.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33709244|title=France boosts Calais tunnel security|date=July 29, 2015|publisher=BBC News}}</ref>

===Scandinavia===

[[File:Cosmographia Claudii Ptolomaei ante 1467 (7456016) Scandinavia.jpg|thumb|Map of the Scandiae islands by [[Nicolaus Germanus]] for a 1467 publication of ''Cosmographia Claudii Ptolomaei Alexandrini'']]

Especially in [[Germanic philology|Germanic studies]], ''continental'' refers to the European continent excluding the [[Scandinavian Peninsula]], Britain, Ireland, and Iceland. The reason for this is that although the Scandinavian peninsula is attached to continental Europe, and accessible via a land route along the [[66th parallel north]], it is usually reached by sea.

{{lang|sw|Kontinenten}} ("the Continent") is a vernacular Swedish expression that refers to an area excluding [[Sweden]], [[Norway]], and [[Finland]] but including Denmark (even the [[list of islands of Denmark|Danish Archipelago]] which is technically not a part of continental Europe) and the rest of continental Europe. In Norway, similarly, one speaks about {{lang|no|Kontinentet}} as a separate entity. In Denmark, Jutland is referred to as the mainland and thereby a part of continental Europe.

The Scandinavian Peninsula is now connected to the Danish mainland (the [[Jutland|Jutland Peninsula]]) by several bridges and tunnels.

==Mediterranean and Atlantic islands==
''The Continent'' may sometimes refer to the [[Metropolitan France#Mainland France|continental part]] of France (excluding [[Corsica]] and [[overseas France]]), the [[Geography of Greece#Mainland|continental part]] of Greece (excluding the [[Aegean Islands]], [[Crete]], and the [[Ionian Islands]]), the [[Italian Peninsula|continental part]] of Italy (excluding [[Sardinia]], [[Sicily]], etc.), the [[continental Portugal|continental part]] of Portugal (excluding the [[Azores]] and [[Madeira]]), and the [[peninsular Spain|continental part]] of Spain (excluding the [[Balearic Islands]], the [[Canary Islands]], the [[plazas de soberanía]], etc.). The term is used from the perspective of the island residents of each country to describe the continental portion of their country or the continent (or mainland) as a whole.

The part of continental France located in Europe is also known as ''l'Hexagone'', "the Hexagon", referring to its approximate shape on a map. Continental Italy is also known as ''lo Stivale'', "the Boot", referring to its approximate shape on a map. Continental Spain is referred to as [[peninsular Spain]].

==See also==
* [[Contiguous United States]]
* [[Continental philosophy]]
* [[Geographical midpoint of Europe]]
* [[Western European marriage pattern|Hajnal line]]
* [[Mainland]]
** [[Mainland Australia]]
** [[Mainland China]]
** [[Mainland Finland]]
** [[Mainland Tanzania]]
* [[Regions of Europe]]

==References==
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{{Europe topics (small)}}

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[[Category:Regions of Europe]]
[[Category:Political geography]]