Southern Europe
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The term southern Europe, at different times, has had different meanings, providing additional political, linguistic and cultural context to the definition in addition to the typical geographical, phytogeographic or climatic approach. Most coastal countries in the United Nations-designated southern Europe border the Mediterranean Sea. Exceptions are Portugal which has only Atlantic coastline, Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia, which are landlocked, and Bulgaria, which borders the Black Sea.
Geographical definition
Geographically, southern Europe is the southern half of the landmass of Europe. This definition is relative, with no clear limits.
Countries geographically considered part of southern Europe include:
Iberian Peninsula (SW Europe)
Andorra
Gibraltar (UK - British overseas territory)
Portugal (including: Madeira and Azores. Madeira is sometimes considered to be northern Africa)
Spain (including: Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, and plazas de soberanía. The Canaries, Ceuta, Melilla and the so-called plazas de soberanía are sometimes considered to be northern Africa)
Italy (including: Sardinia and Sicily. The South Tyrol province is sometimes considered to be central Europe)
San Marino
Vatican City
Balkan Peninsula (SE Europe)
- Countries whose borders lie entirely within the Balkans
Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Greece (including: Aegean Islands, Crete, and Ionian Islands)
Macedonia
Montenegro
- Countries that are mostly located inside the Balkans
Croatia (below Sava; the northern regions (Slavonia, Zagreb, Međimurje and Zagorje) are sometimes considered to be central Europe)
Serbia (below Sava and Danube; the northern regions (Vojvodina, northern Belgrade and Mačva) are sometimes considered to be central Europe)
- Countries that are mostly located outside the Balkans
- Italy (Trieste and partially Gorizia)
Romania (Northern Dobruja)
Slovenia (Primorska region)
Turkey (whilst most Turkish territory is geographically part of Asia, Turkey can be considered part of Europe for political and historical reasons. East Thrace region is considered southern European)
Cyprus (geographically part of Asia but considered European for historic and cultural reasons)
Malta (including: Gozo)
United Nations geoscheme
For its official works and publications, the United Nations Organization groups countries under a classification of regions. Southern Europe, as defined by the United Nations (the sub-regions according to the UN), comprises the following countries and territories:[1]
- Albania
- Andorra
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Croatia
- Gibraltar (UK - British overseas territory)
- Greece (including: Aegean Islands, Crete, and Ionian Islands)
- Italy (including: Sardinia and Sicily)
- Macedonia
- Malta (including: Gozo)
- Montenegro
- Portugal (including: Madeira and Azores)
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Spain (including: Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, and plazas de soberanía)
- Vatican City
As of 2009, there were 163,865,210 people living in southern Europe with an average population density of 74 inhabitants per square kilometer:[1]
| Southern Europe:[1] | ||||
| Country | Area (km²) |
Population (2010 est.) |
Population density (per km²) |
Capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania
|
28,748 | 3,695,000 | 111.1 | Tirana |
| Andorra
|
467.63 | 84,082 | 179.8 | Andorra la Vella |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
51,129 | 4,613,414 | 90.2 | Sarajevo |
| Croatia
|
56,594 | 4,489,409 | 81 | Zagreb |
| Gibraltar (United Kingdom)
|
6.8 | 29,431 | 4,328 | Gibraltar |
| Greece
|
131,990 | 11,295,002 | 85.3 | Athens |
| Italy
|
301,338 | 60,418,711 | 200.5 | Rome |
| Republic of Macedonia
|
25,713 | 2,114,550 | 82.2 | Skopje |
| Malta
|
316 | 412,966 | 1,306.8 | Valletta |
| Montenegro
|
13,812 | 672,181 | 50 | Podgorica |
| Portugal
|
92,090 | 11,317,192 | 114 | Lisbon |
| San Marino
|
61.2 | 31,716 | 501 | City of San Marino |
| Serbia
|
88,361 | 7,120,666 | 102.46 | Belgrade |
| Slovenia
|
20,273 | 2,054,199 | 99.6 | Ljubljana |
| Spain
|
504,030 | 46,030,109 | 93 | Madrid |
| Vatican City
|
0.44 | 826 | 1877 | Vatican City |
| Total | 1,338,694 | 163,865,210 | 74.05 | |
Climatical definition
Southern Europe's most emblematic climate is that of the Mediterranean climate, which has become a typically known characteristic of the area.
Those areas of Mediterranean climate present similar vegetations and landscapes throughout, including dry hills, small plains, pine forests and olive trees.
The area which is considered climatically southern Europe is:
- Albania
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (coasts)
- Bulgaria (southern coast and extreme southwest)
- Croatia (coasts)
- Cyprus
France (southeast coast, and the island of Corsica)- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Italy (except the Po River plain and Alps region)
- Macedonia (extreme south)
- Malta
Monaco- Montenegro (coasts)
- Portugal[2]
- Slovenia (coasts)
- Spain (the whole of the country except the northern coast and the Pyreenes)
Phytogeographical definition
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Southern Europe's flora is that of the Mediterranean Region, one of the phytochoria recognized by Armen Takhtajan. The Mediterranean and Submediterranean climate regions in Europe comprise the following countries and territories:[3]
- Albania
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- France (the southern and southeastern part, and the island of Corsica)
- Greece (including: Aegean Islands, Crete, and Ionian Islands)
Hungary (the southwestern part till the Lake Balaton)- Italy
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Montenegro
- Portugal (except for the northwestern part)
- Romania (only the southern part along the Danube river)
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Spain (except for the northwestern part)
Switzerland (only Ticino)
Ukraine (only the southern part of Crimea)
Linguistic southern Europe
Romance languages and modern Greek are the heirs of Latin and ancient Greek as the main historical languages of the Mediterranean area.
Romance languages have spread from the Italian peninsula, and are emblematic of southern-western Europe: the "Latin Arch" (Romania and Moldova are an exception on that point). Note that, Romance-speaking countries like Belgium (Wallonia), France, Monaco, Moldova, Romania, and Switzerland (French, Italian and Romansh speaking areas) do not belong to Southern Europe:
- Andorra: Catalan (also French, Portuguese, Spanish)
Belgium* (Wallonia): French (also Walloon)- France*: French (also Occitan, Oïl languages, Franco-Provençal, Catalan, Corsican)
- Italy: Italian, Friulian, Ladin, Sardinian, plus other regional languages, not officially recognised by Italian Republic (Piedmontese, Ligurian, Lombard, Venetian, Emiliano and Romagnolo, Neapolitan, Sicilian)
Moldova*: Romanian (Moldovan)- Monaco*: French (also Monégasque, Occitan, Italian)
- Portugal: Portuguese, Mirandese
- Romania*: Romanian
- San Marino: Italian
- Spain: Spanish, Catalan/Valencian, Galician (plus Aragonese, Asturian, Leonese, Extremaduran, Occitan)
- Switzerland*: French, Italian, Romansh
- Vatican City: Italian
- Small communities in
- Albania: Aromanian (officially, Albanese, see below)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ladino (officially, Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, see below)
- Bulgaria: Aromanian, Ladino (officially, Bulgarian, see below)
- Gibraltar: Llanito, Spanish (officially, English, see below)
- Greece: Aromanian, Ladino (officially, Greek, see below)
- Macedonia: Aromanian, Ladino (officially, Macedonian, see below)
- Malta: Sicilian, Italian (officially, English and Maltese, see below)
- Serbia: Aromanian, Ladino (officially, Serbian, see below)
- Turkey: Aromanian, Ladino (officially, Turkish, see below)
- Small communities in
Albanian is also a language rooted in southern Europe, spoken in the Balkan peninsula.
Gheg:
- Northern Albania
* Kosovo- West Macedonia
- South-east Montenegro
Tosk:
- Southern Albania
- West Macedonia
- Italy: Arbëresh (spoken by small communities in Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, and Sicily)
Slavic languages that are now spoken in southern Europe are not rooted in the Mediterranean area nor spoken mainly in those areas: In that sense those languages are not part of the linguistic definition of southern Europe, since they are logically associated with their "core". That said, southern Slavic languages form a quite homogenous area, geographically separated from north Slavic languages by Hungary and Romania.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
- Bulgaria: Bulgarian
- Croatia: Croatian, Serbian
- Macedonia: Macedonian
- Montenegro: Montenegrin, Serbian
- Serbia: Serbian
- Slovenia: Slovene
- Small communities in
- Italy: Slovene (in Eastern Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
Due to the English colonisation in Malta and Gibraltar, Germanic languages have a little presence in southern Europe, far from the core of Germanic languages in northwestern Europe. Malta uses English as a second language in some cases (after Maltese, which still is the original and main native language). In Gibraltar, English is the official language but Spanish and Llanito (mix of Andalusian Spanish with some English) are also spoken.
- Small communities in
- Italy: German (in South Tyrol and some small areas in the northern part of the country)
The Basque language is a linguistic isolate spoken by the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France.
See also
References
- ^ a b c United Nations Statistics Division- Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications (M49)
- ^ http://www.meteo.pt/pt/areaeducativa/otempo.eoclima/clima.pt/index.html
- ^ Wolfgang Frey and Rainer Lösch; Lehrbuch der Geobotanik. Pflanze und Vegetation in Raum und Zeit. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, München 2004
