Extreme points of Europe
Encyclopedia
This is a list of the extreme points of Europe: the geographical points that are higher, farther north, south, east or west than any other location in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Some of these positions are open to debate, as the definition of Europe is diverse.
Extremes of the European continent, including islands
- Northernmost point. Cape Fligely, Rudolf IslandRudolf IslandPrince Rudolf Land, Crown Prince Rudolf Land, Prince Rudolf Island or Rudolf Island is the northernmost island of the Franz Josef Archipelago, Russia. The island was named by the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition in honor of Archduke Rudolf , Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia...
, Franz Josef LandFranz Josef LandFranz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land, or Francis Joseph's Land is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard, and is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast. Franz Josef Land consists of 191 ice-covered islands with a...
, RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(81° 48′ 24″ N). Franz Josef LandFranz Josef LandFranz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land, or Francis Joseph's Land is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard, and is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast. Franz Josef Land consists of 191 ice-covered islands with a...
is near the ill-defined border between Europe and Asia; if it is not considered a part of Europe, then the northernmost point is on the island of RossøyaRossøyaRossøya, sometimes referred to as Ross Island in English, is an island located in the Barents Sea. It is a part of Sjuøyane, a group of islands in the Svalbard archipelago, just north of the coast of Nordaustlandet. Rossøya is located just north-west of the slightly larger island Vesle Tavleøya...
, SvalbardSvalbardSvalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
(81°N81st parallel northThe 81st parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 81 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane, in the Arctic. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Asia, the Arctic Ocean and North America....
). - Southernmost point. The island of GavdosGavdosGavdos is the southernmost Greek island, located to the south of its much bigger neighbour, Crete, of which it is administratively a part, in the peripheral unit of Chania. It forms a community with surrounding islets and was part of the former Selino Province. It is the southernmost point of...
, GreeceGreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
(34° 48′ 02″ N) is the least ambiguous southernmost point of Europe. However, there are other contenders, depending on definition. The island of CyprusCyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
has cultural links with Europe; its southernmost point is the British base at Akrotiri. The Portuguese islands of MadeiraMadeiraMadeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
are borderline between Europe and Africa; their southernmost point is the Savage IslandsSavage IslandsThe Savage Islands, also referred to as the Salvage Islands or the Selvagens Islands, of Sé. They are designated a Nature Reserve, comprising two areas: one on Selvagem Grande Island and the second on Selvagem Pequena Island.-Geography:...
. La Restinga on the island of El Hierro in the Spanish Canary IslandsCanary IslandsThe Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
is yet further south and could be considered politically, though not physiographically as part of Europe. - Westernmost point. The westernmost point of mainland Europe is Cabo da RocaCabo da RocaCabo da Roca is a cape which forms the westernmost extent of mainland Portugal and continental Europe...
, PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
(09° 30′ 03″ W). The Westernmost point including islands is Fajã GrandeFajã GrandeFajã Grande is a rural civil parish in the municipality of Lajes das Flores in the archipelago of the Azores. In the most recent census reported, the parish had 225 inhabitants in an area of approximately 12.5 km²; its density is 17.9/km²...
on Flores Island (31° 13' W). - Easternmost point. Cape Flissingski (69° 02′ E), Severny IslandSeverny IslandSeverny Island is the northern island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, lying north of Russia. It has an area of , making it one of the largest islands in the world. It is separated from Yuzhny Island by the narrow Matochkin Strait...
, Novaya ZemlyaNovaya ZemlyaNovaya Zemlya , also known in Dutch as Nova Zembla and in Norwegian as , is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in the north of Russia and the extreme northeast of Europe, the easternmost point of Europe lying at Cape Flissingsky on the northern island...
, RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
Mainland Europe
- Northernmost point. Cape NordkinnCape NordkinnCape Nordkinn at is the northernmost point on Nordkinn Peninsula in Finnmark county in northern Norway. It is notable for being the northernmost point of mainland Norway, and by extension the northernmost point of mainland Europe.- Geography :...
(Kinnarodden), NorwayNorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
(71° 08′ 02″ N) - Southernmost point. Punta de TarifaPunta de TarifaPunta de Tarifa is the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula and continental Europe. It is located in the province of Cádiz and the autonomous community of Andalusia on the Atlantic end of the Straits of Gibraltar. The coast of Morocco can be seen from this point....
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
(36° 00′ 15″ N) - Westernmost point. Cabo da RocaCabo da RocaCabo da Roca is a cape which forms the westernmost extent of mainland Portugal and continental Europe...
, PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
(09° 30′ 03″ W) - Easternmost point. The easternmost point is dependent upon the various definitions of Europe's eastern border. Utilizing the most common definition of Europe's eastern edge (the watershed divideContinental divideA continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea...
of the Ural MountainsUral MountainsThe Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
), the easternmost point of the Ural watershed (and thus mainland Europe) lies on an unnamed 545 metre peak at 68° 18′ 37″ N 66° 37′ 05″ E as shown on various detailed maps such as the Soviet General Staff maps and as shown on Google EarthGoogle EarthGoogle Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
/Maps. This peak is 17 km northeast of an 875 meter peak named Gora Anoraga and 60 km southwest of Ostov Lediyev (island) on Arctic waters south of the Kara Sea. - The geographical midpoint equidistant to these extreme points (if 66° 11′ 57″ E is used as easternmost point) is at 53°34′01.5"N 28°20′57.2"E, 15 km north east of Marina Gorka, BelarusBelarusBelarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. The centre could be 1° to the east.
Elevation
- Highest point. The highest point is dependent upon the definition of Europe. The Caucasus MountainsCaucasusThe Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
watershed divide is the most common definition for the European/Asian border. This places the highest point at Mount ElbrusMount ElbrusMount Elbrus is an inactive volcano located in the western Caucasus mountain range, in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia, near the border of Georgia. Mt. Elbrus's peak is the highest in the Caucasus, in Russia...
, Russia (5,642 metres; 18,506 feet), which is 11 km onto the European side of the Caucasus watershed divide. If the mountains of the Caucasus were to be excluded, the highest point would be Mont BlancMont BlancMont Blanc or Monte Bianco , meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps, Western Europe and the European Union. It rises above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence...
, on the border between France and Italy (4,810 metres; 15,781 feet). - Lowest point. Caspian SeaCaspian SeaThe Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
shore, Russia (−28 metres; −92 feet)
Highest attainable by transportation
- Cable car (and lift) - Klein MatterhornKlein MatterhornThe Klein Matterhorn is the highest point in the Zermatt-Cervinia ski area in Switzerland, and the end point of the highest cable car in Europe...
, Switzerland (3,883 metres; 12,736 feet) - Train (dead end) - JungfraujochJungfraujochThe Jungfraujoch is a col or saddle between the Mönch and the Jungfrau in the Bernese Alps on the boundary between the cantons of Bern and Valais, inside the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area....
, Switzerland (3,454 metres; 11,330 feet) - Road - Veleta (Sierra Nevada)Veleta (Sierra Nevada)Veleta or Pico del Veleta is the third highest peak of the Iberian peninsula and the second highest in the Sierra Nevada. Its height is given variously as , and ....
, Spain (3,398 metres; 11,150 feet) - Train (mountain pass) - Bernina PassBernina PassThe Bernina Pass is a high mountain pass in the Bernina Range of the Alps, in the canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland. It connects the famous resort town of St. Moritz in the Engadin valley with the Italian-speaking Val Poschiavo, which ends in the Italian town of Tirano in Valtellina....
, Switzerland (2,253 metres; 7390 feet)
See also
- Geographical midpoint of Europe
- Extreme points of the European UnionExtreme points of the European UnionThis is a list of the extreme points of the European Union — the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.-In Europe:* North: Nuorgam, Finland...
- Geography of EuropeGeography of EuropeEurope is traditionally reckoned as one of seven continents. Physiographically, however, it is the northwestern peninsula of the larger landmass known as Eurasia : Asia occupies the eastern bulk of this continuous landmass and all share a common continental shelf...
- Extreme points of EurasiaExtreme points of EurasiaThis is a list of the extreme points of Eurasia, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location on the continent...
- Extreme points of Africa-EurasiaExtreme points of Africa-EurasiaThis is a list of the extreme points of Afro-Eurasia , the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location on the supercontinent.Afro-Eurasia...
- Extreme points of Earth
- The world's most northernThe world's most northernThis is a list of various northernmost things on earth.- Cities and settlements :See also: Northernmost settlements, Northernmost cities and towns-Geography:-Animals:-General:-Shrubs:-Trees:-Culture and music:-Sport :- Religion :...
city, capital, island etc. (most of them are in Europe) - List of highest points of European countries