Europe

Lat/Long: 56.2000, 15.0160

The smallest of the seven continents except Australia, Europe covers approximately 4,000,000 square miles. It is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean; on the east by the Ural Mountains, Ural River, and the Caspian Sea; on the north by the Arctic Ocean; and on the south by the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and the Caucasus Mountains. France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy are among the nations on the European mainland. Geographers also consider the United Kingdom, Ireland, and other islands lying off the mainland to be part of the continent. During Abraham Lincoln's lifetime, revolutions, nationalism, war, and the industrial revolution convulsed the continent, leading to the rise of mass industrialization, democratic reform, and new nation states and empires.

Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 383; The World Book Encyclopedia (Chicago: World Book, 2006), 6:394, 413.