What actually counts as Europe?

Exploring Europe: Where Does It Begin and End? Does Europe's edge stop at Greece, stretch into Russia, or include parts of Turkey and beyond? We examine if geography alone can define a continent and question the role of natural landmarks in shaping our understanding. Can political entities like the European Union provide a clearer picture, or do cultural aspects hold the key to Europe's true essence? This journey is not just about lines on a map, but a deeper quest to understand what makes Europe uniquely European. Join us in this fascinating investigation into the heart and soul of a continent that has captivated the world for centuries.

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[ralfklonowski]

As a schoolkid almost 50 years ago I was tought that Europe is limited geographically by the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Aegean and Black sea as weel as the Caucasian and Ural mountains. This still makes the most sense to me, as culture and especially politics can be subject to change, while oceans and mountains tend to stay where they are, at least on a human timescale.
Historicly and culturally I would insist that western Russia belongs to Europe. Looking at it through politics, it does not seem like it, but then politics are a very shiort-term buisness.

[nataliiateteruk]

Norway was never "kicked out of the club". They had the peoples referendum on joining but at that time Norwegians voted no to join the EU.

[ivan_matvichuk]

It's a complicated question, but I think it's culture, politics and common history that binds the whole continent of Europe! 🇪🇺

[jervylim]

Definition of European border:

It is bordered by Asia to the east - the watershed of the Ural Mountains (RUSSIA), the Ural River (KAZAKHSTAN), the Caspian Sea (AZERBAIJAN), the Greater Caucasus (GEORGIA), the Black Sea (UKRAINE, ROMANIA, BULGARIA), the waterways of the Turkish Straights (TURKEY), the Aegean Sea (GREECE), the Mediterranean Sea to the south (MALTA, ITALY, MONACO, FRANCE, SPAIN), the Atlantic Ocean to the west (PORTUGAL, UNITED KINGDOM, IRELAND, FAROE ISLANDS, ICELAND), and the Arctic Ocean to the north (NORWAY). 

CYPRUS is not geographically included. But yes ethnically, religiously, politically, and economically part of.

Like ARMENIA (Lesser Caucasus) isn't geographically in Europe but ethnically, religiously, politically, culturally, and historically part of.

However, I do believe that Cyprus and Armenia are part of the European Family.

[ugur]

Turkey's culture is close to the Balkan countries, except for religion. The food, traditional folk clothes, friendliness are close to each other. There are many cultural differences with Western Europe, but Southeastern Europe and Turkey have a lot in common.

[msender]

I don’t understand why the geographic definition isn’t enough. It’s pretty exact and internationally recognised, so why bother with all this useless polemic about politics and culture? It’s a continent, not a social club you can join or leave.

[elkgus]

7:53 as a Finn i am legally obliged to inform that Finland is not apart of scandinavia. Fenno-scandia or the Nordics would be the right term

[o_s-]

In MY opinion, Europe is the loosely defined westernmost part of the continent of Eurasia that has some common cultural features and is mainly composed of three people/language groups: Slavic, Romance, and Germanic. The more vague countries include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey, as they might geographically or culturally more different than other European countries.

I see a lot of people who don't want to include Russia nowadays, but by my definition, I think it fits; yes, Russia's land is mostly east of the Urals, but the vast majority of its population is located west of the Urals, moreover, ethnic Russians (the majority of Russia's population) are undisputably Slavic people as can be seen from their language, looks, food, etc etc. Justifying your opinion based on a military event doesn't make sense, because I think everyone agreed that Germany was in Europe during WWII, right?

[emreunalir]

- Although the Turkish Empire ended with the abolition of the Ottoman Dynasty in 1922, modern Turkey is the continuation of this country. This is the political thesis of Turkey's Europeanness.
- We largely lost our presence in the Balkans with the ethnic Turkish migration to Anatolia and Europe during World War I. However, the basis of the Turkish identity formed during the Ottoman Dynasty is our old European lands of 1, 998, 000 km2. This is a historical and cultural argument.
- The thesis that Turks came from Asia is an insufficient thesis. Today, Hungarians, Finns and many Caucasian people who stepped into Europe are of Asian origin. However, today all of them have undergone cultural change in the face of the dominant European identity and culture. Today, there are huge differences between Turks and Turkic peoples. (This is not just because of Europe)
- Although Turkish Thrace is a small region, 10 million Turkish citizens live in this region. This is more than the population of many European countries.
- +BONUS; You can see the traces of European identity in Turkey by reading the English edition of the book Turkish Founding Fathers Of United Europe by Kayhan Karaca.

[slavianalbanovich]

I add that there are many more British territories (Bermuda, Cayman, Turks and Caicos, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Saint Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha, Pitcairn, Sandwich Islands, South Georgia and British Territory in Indian Ocean) and the Netherlands also has 5+1/2 islands in the Caribbean.😊

[kredfieldk]

What a dumb video. Who ever would not consider Russia as European? Just look at their people and their history started in Europe

[TheAstrobiologistOW]

This is an excellent exercise in why looking for ways to divide ourselves from each other is kinda ridiculous and unproductive: there are _always_ exceptions and inconsistencies to whatever line you might try to draw

My personal definition of Europe is the geographical one on Wikipedia though

[ΠέτροςΟικονομάκος]

Putting geography aside, the culture that produced Dostoyevsky and Tchaikovsky is of course european. If Europe wants to disown that, no problem, it's Europe's loss.

[yorgunliberal]

Let me answer as a Turk; We are not European or Middle Eastern, we are Central Asian. Our family structure, language, traditions and history come from Central Asia. This region is already known as Turkestan.

[Elliasp-xxmb]

Let's do simple : all these countries are europe (except the city of La Courneuve in the suburb of Paris, wich is Africa) 🤣🤣🤣

[renatoovelar]

Russia is 100% European despite the current political situation

[juliansebastian]

I really like this kind of discussion-type video and also the mix of graphics and video. James Kir-Lindsey has perfected the integration of the two in my opinion

[pionieresvizzero]

The division of the continents is a very Eurocentric thing, it is emblematic how Europeans try to set cultural limits to distinguish what is Europe from what is not, but they do not make the same reasoning for Africa and Asia. It seems that for these two, internal divisions in terms of religion, linguistic family or other cultural aspects matter little. For many Europeans it is very difficult to include Turkey in Europe, but then Turkey itself is in the same continent of Asia together with Myanmar or Mongolia.
Another strange thing is how the Anglo-Saxons define the continent as "Australia" while for others the continent is Oceania.
Furthermore, as a geologist I categorically refuse to divide the continents according to tectonic plates. If this were the case, the system of continents would be decidedly more complicated and I have serious doubts that geopolitics can be based on the tectonic lines of our planet.

[FLISTICK]

So I think I should say here why we don’t have these problems in Russia. There are two normal options for dividing continents, these are Europe and Asia and, in our case, Eurasia. BUT, in our schools a person learns two things, these are continents and parts of the world. The continents are standard everywhere, the same as everyone else’s - Eurasia. But parts of the world are an interesting thing. In parts of the world there are: America (all of North and South), Africa, Australia and Oceania, Antarctica, Europe and Asia. We have one continent - Eurasia, but different parts of the world - Europe and Asia. The border between them runs along Geographical lines (the Ural Mountains + the river next to them, to the Caspian Sea, then from Azerbaijan to the Black Sea, and through the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey)

[FakenameStevens]

No one says the UK isn't part of Europe though, that's just the EU. It's not like the UK has to join some economic alliance of another continent now.