From its political and historical importance Europe has always been
regarded as one of the great divisions of the earth’s surface though
it is not a separate and independent mass. It is, rather, a great
peninsula of what is sometimes called _Eurasia_--i.e. the continent
of Europe and Asia combined--that extends westward its many arms
between the Arctic Ocean on the north, the Atlantic on the west, and
the Mediterranean Sea on the south.
Its name seems to have been derived from the Semitic word _ereb_,
meaning “the land of the setting sun,” and came into use among the
Greeks and Latins in very early times as _Europa_.
=Outline and Extent.= The most striking feature of its outline is
that of its great irregularity, the deep inlets and gulfs of the
ocean which penetrate its mass, and the peninsulas which run from
it.
The greatest distance between its extreme north and south
points--the North Cape of Norway and Cape Matapan in Greece--is
about twenty-four hundred miles; and from east to west--from Cape La
Roca, or the “Rock of Lisbon,” to Cape Apsheron, the eastern
extremity of the Caucasus range, on the Caspian--about three
thousand miles.