Europe is a fascinating continent with a colourful history and a wide range of different cultures and peoples. It’s no wonder then that this is also a continent that can surprise you with many colourful European facts. Here we will look at ten European facts that illustrate what makes Europe such an amazing continent.
1.Europe is the second smallest continent in the world
Of the seven continents in the world, Europe comes in at the second smallest and is roughly 4 million square miles.
2.Europe is the third most populace continent
Despite this it is highly populated behind only Africa and Asia and is home to 700 million people. A bit over crowded!
3.The smallest country in Europe is small enough that you can walk across it in less than an hour
One of the most interesting European facts is that the Vatican City in Rome is actually considered its own country despite being smaller than most universities.
4.Europe was named after a Greek myth
The name Europe it is believed comes from the Phoenician Princess ‘Europa’ from Greek mythology – one of the lesser known European facts!
4.Europe was once more than 80% forest
Though sadly today it is only 3 percent.
5.Europe is home to the ten most ‘charitable’ countries in the world
In terms of the amount of money given to charities the ten most ‘generous’ countries are all situated in Europe.
6.Members of the EU can cross between borders with no passport
Thanks to European integration passport control has been abolished between the borders of EU countries – so they can go on holiday with no inspections and even move home freely between member states.
7.Paris is the largest city in Europe
Paris is the largest city in Europe and has a population of around 10 million. This puts it as being larger than London or Moscow.
8.There is no desert in Europe
One of the fun European facts that few people are aware of is that there is not one desert in Europe.
9.Europe is thought to include the forerunner of Western culture
Ancient Greece was believed to have been the progenitor of Western culture and civilisation as we know it, and was home to many sculptors and artists. It was then largely thanks to the Roman empire that this culture was spread around the rest of the world.
Try these European facts on your friends and you will likely find they are surprised to learn a lot of things they probably didn’t know about Europe. However being as large as it is, there are many more amazing European facts if you take some time to look for them, and these might surprise you too!
