Country Profiles

European Union

[articleimagethumbLeft]Austria

Austria is situated in southern Central Europe, covering a part of the eastern Alps and the Danube region and, although land-locked, it borders on the Mediterranean area. The country, situated at the heart of a continent, has historically been a junction for communication links between the trade and cultural centers of Europe.   read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The republic borders Poland to the north, Germany to the northwest and west, Austria to the south, and Slovakia to the east. Historic Prague (Czech: Praha), a major tourist attraction, is its capital and largest city. The country is composed of two older regions, Bohemia and Moravia, and part of a third one, Silesia. As of May 1, 2004, it is a member state of the European Union.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Denmark

The Kingdom of Denmark is geographically the smallest Nordic country and is part of the European Union. It is located in Scandinavia, which is in northern Europe. Denmark borders the Baltic Sea and the North Sea and is north of Germany and Poland, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway. Additionally, the territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands are under the Danish crown, while enjoying political home rule.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Estonia

The Republic of Estonia is a country in Northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the north. Estonia has land borders with its fellow Baltic state, Latvia, to the south, with Russia to the east, and maritime border with Finland to the north.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Finland

The Republic of Finland is a Nordic country in northeastern Europe, bordered by the Baltic Sea to the southwest, the Gulf of Finland to the southeast and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. Finland has land frontiers with Sweden, Norway and Russia and a maritime border with Estonia.   read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]France

The French Republic is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in central Europe. Germany is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east by Poland, and the Czech Republic, to the south by Austria and Switzerland, and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Transversed by the Rhine, Danube, and Elbe rivers, Germany has sat at the crossroads of European trade and cultural routes.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Italy

The Italian Republic or Italy is a southern European country, comprising a boot-shaped peninsula and two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily and Sardinia. It shares its nothern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.   read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Belgium

The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in Western Europe, bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France, and the North Sea.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Cyprus

Cyprus is an island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, 113 kilometres (70 miles) south of Turkey and around 120 km west of the Syrian coast.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Malta

The Republic of Malta is a small and densely populated island nation in southern Europe. It consists of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea directly south of Italy.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Latvia

The Republic of Latvia, or Latvia, is a country in Northern Europe. Latvia has land borders with its two fellow Baltic states — Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south — and Russia and Belarus to the east. In the west Latvia shares a maritime border with Sweden.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Netherlands

The Netherlands is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch, located in northwestern Europe. It borders the North Sea to the northeast, the English Channel to the northwest, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Portugal

The Republic of Portugal is a democratic republic located on the west and southwest parts of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe; it is the westernmost country in continental Europe. Portugal is bordered by Spain to the north and east and by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Spain

The Kingdom of Spain or Spain is a country located in the southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. To the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Ireland

Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe. It lies on the west side of the Irish Sea, close to the island of Great Britain. It is composed of the Republic of Ireland which covers five sixths of the island and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the northeastern sixth of the island. The population of the island is approximately 5.7 million people, most of whom live on the east coast.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Luxembourg

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a small landlocked state in the north-west of the continental European Union, bordered by France, Germany and Belgium.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Greece

Greece, formally called the Hellenic Republic, is a country in the southeast of Europe on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula. It has land boundaries with Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania to the north; and with Turkey to the east. The waters of the Aegean Sea border on Greece to the east, and those of the Ionian and Mediterranean Seas to the west and south.   read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Hungary

The Republic of Hungary (Magyar Köztársaság) or Hungary (Magyarország) is a landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. It is known locally as the Country of the Magyars.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Lithuania

The Republic of Lithuania is a republic in Northeastern Europe. One of the three Baltic States along the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with fellow Baltic State Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland to the south, and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia to the southwest.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Bulgaria

The Republic of Bulgaria is a republic in the southeast of Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the east, Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north along the river Danube.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Sweden

The Kingdom of Sweden is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Norway on the west, Finland on the northeast, the Skagerrak Strait and the Kattegat Strait on the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia on the east.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Romania

Romania is a country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Ukraine and Moldova in the northeast, Hungary in the west and Serbia and Bulgaria to the south along the Danube river. Romania has a stretch of sea coast on the Black Sea and the eastern and southern Carpathians mountains run through its center.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Slovenia

The Republic of Slovenia is a coastal sub-Alpine country in south central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Poland

The Republic of Poland, a country in Central Europe, lies between Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and Russia to the north.   read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]Slovakia

Slovakia is a landlocked republic in Central Europe. It borders the Czech Republic in the northwest, Poland in the north, Ukraine in the east, Hungary in the south, and Austria in the southwest.  read full article »

[articleimagethumbLeft]United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and a member of the European Union. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, UK or, inaccurately, as Great Britain or Britain.  read full article »