Northern Europe is the northern part or region of the European continent. A United Nations report published in 2011 defines Northern Europe as including the following ten countries and dependent regions:
- Denmark
- Faroe Islands
- Estonia
- Finland
- Åland Islands
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Norway
- Svalbard and Jan Mayen
- Sweden
- United Kingdom
- Guernsey
- Isle of Man
- Jersey
Before the establishment of the Nordic Council in 1952, the term 'Nordic', or 'Northern', was commonly used to also refer to the Lutheran Baltic countries Estonia and Latvia, as well as the northern sections of European Russia.
The United Kingdom and Ireland are sometimes included in Western Europe; as is Iceland for historal, cultural, linguistic and political reasons (compare Greenland which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but is geographically located in America, and is often considered to be in Northern Europe or the Nordic Countries, though rarely Scandinavia proper). The Baltic states are sometimes included in Eastern Europe due to their recent occupation by the Soviet Union.
Famous quotes containing the words northern and/or europe:
“The note of the white-throated sparrow, a very inspiriting but almost wiry sound, was first heard in the morning, and with this all the woods rang. This was the prevailing bird in the northern part of Maine. The forest generally was alive with them at this season, and they were proportionally numerous and musical about Bangor. They evidently breed in that State.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“New York has her wilderness within her own borders; and though the sailors of Europe are familiar with the soundings of her Hudson, and Fulton long since invented the steamboat on its waters, an Indian is still necessary to guide her scientific men to its headwaters in the Adirondack country.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)