Western Europe

Introduction

The land south of Denmark and west of Greece is known as Western Europe. It stretches to Italy and starts in the United Kingdom. Read on to uncover Western Europe.

Geography

Europe is one of the smaller continents it lies by the North Atlantic Ocean. Western Europe is nearer to the Atlantic ocean than other European countries such as Greece, Russia and Finland. In 2016 Britain left the EU but geographically Britain is a European country. The east side is covered by The Alps stretching between Italy, Switzerland and southern Germany. Spain is warmer and has desert in but also lush green hills. Spain, Portugal and Italy are known as the Mediterranean countries. They're good destinations for tourists because of their warm, sunny beaches.

History

During the 1900's Western Europe colonised a lot of African countries eg. Algeria: France, Congo: Belgium, Somalia: Italy. During the world wars. They were just allies. Germany and Britain led World war one and two. During the Middle Ages, Europe was hit by a deadly plague, The Black death! Many died from it, it was caused by black rats but soon stopped around 1350 AD. Back during Ancient Europe, The Romans had took over about half of Europe and Asia, even parts of Africa like Egypt and Libya.

Subregions

Western Europe is divided up into four regions.

• Iberia - Iberia is anything south-west of France. They include Spain, Andorra and Portugal.
• South - Italy and other smaller countries like San Marino make this area.
• Britain and Ireland - The British isles are made up of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. Ireland is west of the United Kingdom.
• North - Germany and France are the larger countries in this region. Belgium and The Netherlands are called the low countries since they're below sea level.

Countries

The Western European countries are usually larger than Eastern Europe. Many Eastern European countries are landlocked while only several countries in the west don't touch the sea. Western Europe is one of the richest parts of the world.

Sights and Activities

If you want to visit somewhere in Western Europe, for sun head to the Spanish city of Granada, it also has the fascinating Al Hambra in its centre. The biggest Western European city is London in England it has several landmarks such as The London Eye, Big Ben, The Tower of London and The Shard. The kids will love London zoo and the Natural History Museum! Southern Italy has warm beaches with nothing but peaceful, blue seas and golden sand, the perfect place to soak up the sun of Italy. Germany and Austria are famous for their coffee houses and lush green hills. Everybody will have something to do at Hamburg fair in the historical German city of Hamburg. Paris is a stunning tourist destination from the Eiffel tower to The Louvre where the Da Vinci's painting of the Mona Lisa lies!

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