Europe encompasses an area of 4,000,000 square miles, stretching from Asia to the Atlantic, and from Africa to the Arctic. Europe's longest river is the Volga, which meanders 2,193 miles through Russia, and flows into the Caspian Sea. Eastern Europe's highest point is Russia's Mt. Elbrus, which rises to 18,510 feet above sea level. Western Europe's highest point is Mont Blanc in the French-Italian Alps, which rises to 15,771 feet above sea level. Europe's climate ranges from subtropical near the Mediterranean Sea in the south, to subarctic near the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean in the northern latitudes. There is much here for the traveller to enjoy, with a bewildering array of diversity and culture, cosmopolitan cities and spectacular scenery. 20 Europe Facts: 1. Europe is the second smallest continent with roughly 4 million square miles.
2. Europe is designated as a continent for political reasons. There is no geographic basis for the claim.
3. Europe is home to more than 700 million people, but birth rates are stagnant.
4. Most scholars believe Europe was named after Europa, a Phoenician Princess in Greek mythology.
5. The smallest country in Europe is the Vatican, which is considered a separate country from Italy even though it is in the middle of Rome.
6. The largest city in Europe is Paris with a population of 12 million people.
7. La Sapienza University in Rome is the largest university in Europe with a whopping 184,000 students.
8. Europe produces just over 18 percent of all the oil in the world.
9. The European Union has 27 country members.
10. 80 to 90 percent of Europe was once covered in forest, but this has been reduced to 3 percent in Western Europe.
11. Europe has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world.
12. Europe has been racked with war throughout its history to the point where more than 70 former countries have been conquered and no longer appear on maps.
13. The great Roman inventions so often cited by scholars actually were created by Etruscans, a small empire in the south of present day Italy.
14. The Dark Ages in Europe lasted from 476 to 1,000 A.D. or twice as long as the United States has been a country.
15. The Renaissance followed this period and lasted roughly 200 years.
16. The first country to join the industrial revolution in Europe was Great Britain.
17. The First World War lasted from 1914 to 1918 and resulted in four empires radically changing or dissolving completely: the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and the Russian.
18. Adolf Hitler was not German. He was Austrian, born in the small town of Braunau am Inn.
19. It is estimated that 62 million people died in World War II, 2.5 percent of the world’s population at that time.
20. The 10 most generous countries in the world when it comes to charitable giving are all located in Europe. Some interesting facts about London... * London is the world’s most popular city tourism destination attracting over 27 million overnight visitors annually.
* St Paul ’s Cathedral took only 35 years to build, from 1675-1710.
* There are over 6000 restaurants in London representing 53 different styles of cuisine.
* The main bell of Big Ben rings 78 times during every twelve-hour cycle.
* The London Eye can carry 15,000 visitors a day. This is enough to fill Concorde 160 times over.
* The average visitor to London in 2003 spent £83 a day.
* Every tube train travels the equivalent of London to Sydney (10,500 miles) seven times every year.
* 1700 tons of steel were used in the creation of the London Eye. That is enough steel to make more than 250 double decker buses.
* Notting hill Carnival is the second largest carnival in the world behind Rio de Janeiro. and... * The Houses of Parliament has 1,000 rooms, 100 staircases, 11 courtyards, eight bars, and six restaurants - none of them open to the public. The Palace of Westminster was sited by the river so it could not be totally surrounded by a mob.
* The Inner and Outer dome of St. Paul's Cathedral is the second biggest dome in the world, standing at 360 ft (110 m) high, only after St. Peter's in Rome.
* Waterloo Station has the most escalators of any underground station with 25.
* The Big Ben bell weighs 13 tons.
* The name Big Ben is not actually the name of the clock tower but instead that of the bell inside the tower. It is named after Sir Benjamin Hall, a portly politician of the time who was also the Parliamentary Commissioner of Works. but also… * In 1952 a double decker bus had to leap from one side of Tower Bridge to the other after the Bridge began to rise with the bus still on it.
* The Tower of London is home to 7 ravens and legend has it that if these ravens ever fly away the Tower will collapse and the monarchy will fall.
* The door at No.10 Downing Street only opens from the inside.
* The Millennium Dome is one of only two man made structures (the other being the Great Wall Of China) that is visible from Space.
"It is far more better to have seen it once than to have heard about it a thousand time." - Mongolian proverb |