The definition of Europe has always been both inspiring and incoherent
But that has not stopped it growing
CURIOUSLY, THE only continent to have united under a moderately effective form of multinational government is not actually a continent. English-speakers may call Europe “the continent”, but that is because their language evolved on an island off its coast. In fact it is simply a convoluted promontory of Eurasia. This sets geographers a puzzle: where does Europe end? The eastern border especially is fuzzy. The current consensus holds that it runs through Russia along the Urals, gets vague for a while and then follows the Caucasus mountains’ watershed to the Black Sea. That makes demi-Europeans of not just Russia, Turkey and Georgia but also Kazakhstan and perhaps Azerbaijan. It puts Armenia outside Europe, though many Armenians would disagree.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Borderline cases”
From the September 30th 2023 edition
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