Western vs Eastern Europe 🇪🇺😱 Baltics, Balkans & Nordic Countries 🤔

[0:00]Europe looks simple on the map, but do you know the difference between Western and Eastern Europe? Where are Scandinavia and the Nordic region, as well as the Baltics and the Balkans? So, let's figure it out. Europe stretches from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Western Russia, where its eastern boundary runs along the Ural Mountains and the Ural River, dividing Kazakhstan. Then continues through the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains and the Bosporus Strait, which is why part of Turkey lies in Europe. It is considered a continent, but geographically, it's actually part of the Eurasian landmass. Since the Cold War, Europe has often been politically divided into Western and Eastern Europe, a divide known as the "Iron Curtain", which separated two opposing ideologies. Today there is no clear border between them, but in a historical and economic context, countries located west of the eastern borders of Germany, Austria and Italy are often considered Western Europe. Most of Eastern Europe is home to Slavic-speaking countries, including Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Some countries, such as Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary, are culturally and historically oriented towards the West, so today they are more often referred to as Central Europe. The Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, are named for their location along the Baltic Sea. The Balkans are a group of countries located on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. There is also the geographical concept of Southern Europe, which usually includes Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece. As for the North, Scandinavia usually means the countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula, Norway and Sweden, plus Denmark due to their shared history and similar languages. The broader term Nordic countries includes the Scandinavian countries, as well as Finland and Iceland. So yeah, that's Europe.