The world around us
Europe is made up of
peninsulas
, land surrounded by sea on all but one side.
There are also thousands of
islands
in Europe, some part of an
archipelago
,
such as the Scilly Isles in the
English Channel
, and some on their own such
as Gotland in the Baltic Sea. This means that Europe is a continent
with an enormous amount of coastline.
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What’s Europe’s coastline like?
Europe’s main southern peninsulas are the
Iberian
Peninsula
, the
Italian Peninsula
, which is shaped like
a boot; the
Balkan Peninsula
and its extension, the
Peloponnese Peninsula
, where we find Greece. The
Crimean Peninsula
is located between the Sea of Azov
and the Black Sea. In the north, the
Scandinavian
Peninsula
is where we find Sweden, Norway and
northern Finland. It’s the biggest peninsula in Europe.
N
W
E
S
1 000 km
0
Scandinavian Peninsula
SWEDEN
NORWAY
DENMARK
FINLAND
Some of Europe’s islands, such as
Iceland
,
Ireland
,
Cyprus
and
Malta
, are countries. Other major islands are part of
countries, such as the
Balearic Islands
, the
Canary Islands
,
the
Azores
and
Madeira
. The Balearics and the Canaries,
as we know, belong to Spain and the Azores andMadeira,
both in the Atlantic Ocean, belong to Portugal.
Greenland
,
Europe’s largest island, is part of
Denmark
, although it’s
located on the North American continent.
75 km
0
Mediterranean Sea
Mallorca
Menorca
Ibiza
Formentera
Cabrera
Balearic Islands
N
W
E
S
Capes are large areas of land which protrude into
the sea. They are formed by glaciers and sometimes
volcanoes. Important European capes include
Capes
San Vincent
and
Roca
in Portugal,
Fisterra
and
Cabo
de Gata
in Spain. In Norway there is the
North Cape
and Greece has
Cape Matapan
. The cape in this
picture is
Land’s End
in the United Kingdom. Its name
means the same as Fisterra in Galego!
40 km
0
ATLANTIC OCEAN
Land’s End
C
ORNWALL
N
W
E
S
1
What features do coastlines have? Test your partner.
Some coastlines have … and some have…
G
E T T I N G S T A R T E D
