Talk:Continental Europe

British-centric?

Is the term not rather a bit british-centric? Is it also used in North America? Can't imagined that "The continent" has the same meaning in North America as it has in Britain. Could someone elaborate that? Hell

I'm from North America and if I heard someone say "the Continent" I would assume that they were talking about continental Europe. Absent context, I've never heard someone use the phrase to refer to any other continent. I don't think the phrase is as common here, though. - AdelaMae ^{(talk - contribs)} 03:22, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Living in England I can say that the terms "Continental Europe" and "the Continent" are certainly extremely Anglo-centric and are not widely used nowadays except among the over-50s. I am not sure if Malta, Cyprus (when those countries were under British occupation) and Gibraltar were ever considered to be "the Continent". I am also not sure what an English-speaker from Cyprus, Armenia or Georgia (the country) would consider to be "Continental Europe". The more modern equivalent is "mainland Europe"; there is a Wikipedia article of that name which redirects here. Anyway I suggest that the term "mainland Europe" is the more appropriate term when there is a need to refer to the contiguous part of Europe. Rugxulo 22:22, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

It's frequently used in Sweden rocks (Swedish: "kontinenten"). Nordic usage, of course.

In order to lengthen the article, I would like to make the proposal that we mention that mainland Europe has recently been becoming less divided from its islands as a result of the European Union. The European Union has combined many of the countries' markets with the creation of the new currency, the Euro. Because of the cooperative economy, easier transportation between European countries has followed. This has been seen in lower travel fares and highlighted in the construction of the Chunnel between Great Britain and France and the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden. These are just some quick examples off the top of my head, and with a little research, I think a lot more could be said about the centralization and cooperation among European nations and how this has effected the countries' views of spatial separation from each other. Tddwigg 23:48, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

As a Brit, my general observations of British attitudes is that 'Europe' usually means the continent except the British Isles & the nordic countries and possibly the baltic countries, definately never Russia and rarely Turkey. It's not necessarily a Eurosceptic term, I think it just came about in a idiosyncratic sense, a bit like how America means the United States but never Canada or Brazil. A possible theory of mine is that when flying abroad became financially tenable to many, people would talk about holidaying in 'Europe' as opposed to rainy old Blighty. That would be Spain, France, Italy etc. People don't tend to go to the nordic countries for sun, sea & sand. Gary Parks

I would not consider it a british-centric tern, because term Continental Europe is also used in countries of 'Continental Europe' —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.164.247.14 (talk) 15:05, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

2017

I totally agree, this is British 'slang', stated here as a fact. AFAIK people on 'the Continent' -as British say- never refer to themselves as "being on the Continent". This is just something the British use to psychologically distance themselves from Europe. I'm not a historian, but the Brits have had an aversion against the rest of Europe for a long time. The Brexit is another confirmation of this.JHBonarius (talk) 11:27, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

See my comment of 11:23, 13 December 2008 below... AnonMoos (talk) 12:20, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

Mainland Europe

Shouldn't this be Mainland Europe? The term "Continental Europe" seems outdated and meaningless, whereas "Mainland Europe" is more obvious. 80.42.157.126 20:25, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

its all the same really, it depends where you live, I sometimes call it "the continent" but not the main land, why not just list different terms

Here I've mostly heard fastlandseuropa (Mainland Europe), 'Continental Europe' is very uncommon. --Joffeloff 18:40, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree, not only should this article be kept where it is & not merged, the title should be changed to mainland europe.--[[Fennessy]] 14:32, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

I disagree with the merger with Europe - the special meaning would be lost in that article. I checked on Google and the term "Continental Europe" is somewhat more common than "Mainland Europe". It certainly couldn't be described as "outdated". As this is the English Wikipedia, the terms used in other languages shouldn't have a bearing. Robina Fox 11:21, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Exactly. People don't say "mainland Europe", they say "on the continent" or similar, and if this doesn't have its own article, it would be unnecessarily swamped by a lot of other information. Lethe 23:19, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

What's the point of this article? There's no such thing as "continental Europe", it's just plain Europe. We don't talk about "continental Asia". The interest of this item is extremely limited as a strictly anglocentric term, and the article should refer only to this. -- 02:47, 13 December 2008 User:Ijontichy

If 50 million British think there's such a thing as Continental Europe, then it's not out of line to have a Wikipedia article documenting their collective delusion (in your view). Furthermore, I wonder if some Japanese don't think that there's such a thing as "Continental Asia"... AnonMoos (talk) 11:23, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

I don't dispute the value of this article, but I think it should be pointed out that most "Continental Europeans" (like myself) do not consider themselves "Continental", and have absolutely no need for a term that specifically excludes Britain from Europe. I've heard the British refer to the rest of Europe as "Europe", and I think that's just silly (what are they, Asians?). Since I am of course biased and by no means knowledgeable on the subject (although how do you find someone knowledgeable enough to confirm that we haven't heard of it) I won't edit the article, but I think it deserves a mention that the term is (probably, as far as I can tell) mostly unknown by the people it describes. --Lakonislate (talk) 10:10, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

I think that if you asked most Americans what "Continental Europe" means, that they would probably answer just as this article defines the term. MasonicDevice (talk) 19:35, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Continental Breakfast

Isn't the phrase "the Continent" where the concept of the continental breakfast comes from? Since a continental breakfast is made up of bread, butter, jam, croissant, coffee, etc. - essentially a french (or other mainland europe) breakfast... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ramsayem (talk • contribs) 05:45, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Yes.--Roentgenium111 (talk) 18:41, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Scandinavia

"Continental Europe"/"The continent" as used in Scandinavia definately does not include Sweden and Norway in Continental Europe. Saying that continental is everything but the British Isles seems very british-centric to me. -- 21:58, 30 November 2008 213.114.184.25

However, the English-language Wikipedia is mainly oriented towards English speakers, so there's no problem with discussing the phrase's main meaning among English speakers first, before discussing other possible meanings. AnonMoos (talk) 11:26, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Technically speaking, Finland is not part of Scandinavia; if there's a reason to include Finland, refer to Fennoscandia instead. -- Sylph (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 13:52, 21 June 2009 (UTC).

Revising the map

Could someone please revise the map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Continental_Europe.svg ? Instead of using two colors (Continental Europe, everything else), it makes sense to use three or four, where

• #3 is parts of Europe that are not part of the continent (that would allow us to distinguish Iceland/Europe from Greenland/North America. It would also make islands like Cyprus, etc., more visible
• #4 is territories outside of Europe that are politically tied to continental Europe (the part of Russia that lies in Asia is currently illustrated to be part of Continental Europe)

samwaltz (talk) 15:51, 13 June 2010 (UTC)

Peninsula of peninsulas

Wouldn't it be appropriate to mention the expression "peninsula of peninsulas" as a description of Europe? That Europe can be considered as a peninsula of Eurasia, and that the various peninsulas (Scandinavian, Iberian, Balkan, Italian, and even Great Britain when sea levels were low, as well as a few smaller peninsulas - I'm suggesting a list of European peninsulas) comprise much of Europe? TomS TDotO (talk) 14:26, 17 March 2013 (UTC)

What ordinary people refer to as Continental Europe

Geographers and other experts might say that Continental Europe is another word for the european landmass, even including places like Scandinavia and Russia.
However, in daily talk among ordinary people (at least from where I come from) Continental Europe was made up from the following countries and areas during the pre-1990 Cold War era: West Germany, BeNeLux, Switzerland, Austria, France and Northern Italy. The core of Europe, or if you will Central Europe. Much the same era that the first edition of EU was made up of in 1957. Often, but not always was also Spain, Portugal, Southern Italy and Greece included too. These countries and areas was however most commonly referred to as the Mediterrean.
In the post-Cold War era one could of course also include the 6 countries occupied by Sovietunion in 44-45, which became the Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War. (I.e. DDR, Poland, Chechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumenia and Bulgaria). Also the former communist countries Yugoslavia and Albania. However, it's impossible to include the outermost countries, i.e. the 5 Nordic countries, Russia and other former Soviet republics and Turkey.

Stein S., Oslo — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.209.88.240 (talk) 23:19, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

For most "ordinary people" in Britain, "Continental Europe" is everything except the British Isles (or possibly also Iceland, if they bother to even think of Iceland)... AnonMoos (talk) 16:27, 21 March 2013 (UTC)

It is very hard for me to believe what you're saying. That if someone in Britain says "I'm going on a ski-holiday to continental Europe", that the other person would guess it could be Norway and Sweden as well. Not only Switzerland and Austria. I'm very glad for feedback from other brits on this one.

The Nordic countries (which includes Scandinavia) and Continental Europe are opposite extremes in both nature and culture. In the nordic countries it's 90% nature and 10% culture (cities etc.), while in Continental Europe it's opposite.

Stein S., Oslo, Norway — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.209.88.240 (talk) 16:17, 24 March 2013 (UTC)

If they were going to Scandinavia, they would likely say "Scandinavia", and if they were going to the Alps or Pyrenees, they would likely say "the Alps" or "the Pyrenees" (not "to continental Europe"). Nevertheless, the expressions "on the continent" or "the continental way of doing things" would generally implicitly include Scandinavia along with the rest of non-island Europe... AnonMoos (talk) 16:45, 24 March 2013 (UTC)

When you talk about "ordinary people", are you referring to British people? Because most "ordinary people" I know do not ever use the word "Continental" when they are talking about Europe. It's actually the British that mainly use this term. And as the 'norm' is set by the average of all people in the world, of which the British are just a faction, I would consider them to be 'an exception'. And that's my problem with this Wikipedia page: information is stated as a fact, while it is only an opinion of a fraction of the world.JHBonarius (talk) 11:35, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

See my comment of 16:27, 21 March 2013 directly above. Since this is English-language Wikipedia, there's no problem with discussing what native English-speakers mean by a word first, before then going on to discuss other possible meanings... AnonMoos (talk) 03:25, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

Ireland

I'd be very interested in knowing if "continental Europe" is also used in Ireland... on the one hand, slang terminology seems to mirror British norms in most cases (see calling a Euro a "quid"), while on the other hand the pro-European zeal has been much greater there than in either Britain or Scandinavia. Any light that can be added to the article would be appreciated -- MichiganCharms (talk) 05:35, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

BRD - hatnote to a Mandarin-language trash film

I've twice reverted a hatnote place by Bovineboy2008 as inappropriate for a serious en Wikipedia article where this editor is trying to promote an unreleased non-notable, nonsense film in Mandarin language, The Continent (film). I expect better from an editor with autopatrolled, file mover, reviewer priveleges than to clutter and cheapen articles in this way. I cannot see any rationale here, only unconstructive trivia. --Rocknrollmancer (talk) 08:24, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

The problem is that "The Continent" redirects here ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Continent?redirect=no ). It would be best to change "The Continent" to a disambiguation page... AnonMoos (talk) 05:37, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

I would love for you to have come to me with your concerns. This is merely a navigation concern, not a promotional edit. It would be best if "The Continent" were to redirect to "Continent (disambiguation)" to avoid a specific hat for this film. However, that is a different discussion. I would be willing to compromise if we include a hat to the disambiguation page on this article, but until then, navigation is broken unless the hat is included. BOVINEBOY2008 02:15, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

I'm afraid I definitely agree with User:Rocknrollmancer about one thing -- there absolutely should NOT be a specific link to the film on this page, because the film and this article have nothing whatever in common. If there's a hatnote link, it should be to Continent (disambiguation) -- NOT to the film page. If you had done that from the beginning, there might not have been any problem. AnonMoos (talk) 01:12, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

This is how hat templates work. And I'm sorry to see that some editors believe this page to be an exception. Are we opposed to including a hat to Continent (disambiguation)? BOVINEBOY2008 01:31, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

I personally have no objection to either 1) changing The Continent to a disambiguation page, or 2) adding a hatnote link to Continent (disambiguation) to the top of this article. However, adding a direct link to the Chinese film page to the top of this article seems to single that link out from a number of other possible links to give it unusual special prominence, which seems odd. AnonMoos (talk) 07:15, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

Thanks... AnonMoos (talk) 12:59, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

Thanks - I have been off Wikipedia unexpectedly due to a family crisis. I appreciate the comments.--Rocknrollmancer (talk) 20:50, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

Big problem with lede

I've just read this article for the first time, and upon reading the second paragraph "the most common definition of Europe...", I looked to the illustrations on the right, and none of them matched! Surely the the most prominent illustration should align with the lede and show "the common definition of Europe"!!!Savlonn (talk) 19:03, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

Kaukasus

I consulted the article to find comments about the question whether countries in the Kaukasus are considered part of Europe. Georgians in particular may be offended by not being considered Europeans. Georgia has a Christian background. I recall proud Georgians claiming that their country is the beginning of Europa rather than the end. I also recall definitions that consider the Greater Caucasus part of Europe, deviding the countries in the Caucasus between Europa and Asia. Note that Caucasus countries are part of several "European" organisations, such as the Council of Europe and the European Broadcasting Union. Anyway, there are no consequences of being considered part of Europe. Rbakels (talk) 11:58, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Mountains (Himalayas and Andes excepted) rarely provide as clear a dividing line as a body of water (river, lake, sea). Georgia is sort of Europe and sort of Asia, it depends on context. For the purposes of this article, it is on the Asian side of the imaginary line. In the real world, it doesn't matter. --Red King (talk) 18:05, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Examples of "continental" as an adjective

The See also section lists Continental philosophy, I suppose as an example of "continental" being used as an adjective. I wonder whether it would be worthwhile listing every such example that has a Wikipedia article (e.g. Continental Freemasonry, Continental Reformed church) or otherwise removing continental philosophy from the See also section since Continental breakfast is already given as an example in the prose. Essentially, I think it makes sense to give just one example or to give all examples, but two is weird. What do people here think? Ypna (talk) 23:41, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Continental philosophy is not about the adjective. It groups 19th- and 20th-century philosophical traditions from Continental Europe. Dimadick (talk) 12:16, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

Inclusion of Crimea in highlighted Russian part of the map

Apparently someone added the Crimean penonsula to Russia's territory........ 2A02:A420:13:4D57:2:1:7B2B:F1FB (talk) 22:50, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

Discussion of "core Europe" & reliability of sources

The second paragraph in the lead has been removed twice. Giralda.Avenida removed it first with an edit summary of Unsourced and unnecesary images for the page despite the two sentences having three citations. I manually restored them with the edit summary of Manually restoring _sourced_ information removed by Giralda.Avenida without explanation. 37.29.207.8 (talk · contribs · WHOIS) then removed it with the summary The statement is poorly-sourced. But affirming that the "Core of Europe" is the Carolingian Empire is just surprising and obviously wrong. The concept of Europe (Europa), both cultural and geographical, can be traced to Ancient Greek. It's way older than the Middle Ages and not particuly related to the modern territories of the Carolingian Empire.

However, 37.29.207.8 has only stated an opinion & has not offered any citations to contradict the claims in the existing citations. This seems to be original research on 37.29.207.8's part. I am restoring the material & am asking these editors to discuss their claims here. I believe that Kaiser 2003 & Hyde-Price 2000 are reliable sources.

I am posting the three citations here. I will work on adding missing parameters for the two book citations in the article.

• Kaiser, Wolfram (2003). "Trigger-happy Protestant Materialists? The European Christian Democrats and the United States". In Trachtenberg, Marc (ed.). Between empire and alliance : America and Europe during the Cold War. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 67–69. ISBN 978-0-585-45510-5. OCLC 52451911.
• Hyde-Price, Adrian G. V. (2000). "Epochenwend: unification and German grand strategy". Germany and European order : enlarging NATO and the EU. Manchester, UK, New York: Manchester University Press : Distributed exclusively in the USA by St. Martin's Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-7190-5427-3. OCLC 44851822 – via Internet Archive.
• Heacock, Roger (2013-12-13). "Europe and Jerusalem:From Unholy Cacophony to Holy Alliance" (PDF). Institute for Palestine Studies. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 15, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.

Peaceray (talk) 17:57, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

Can you add the quotes where it is stated that the Carolingian Empire is the cultural notion of Europe in general? Giralda.Avenida (talk) 12:01, 6 September 2023 (UTC)