Continental Europe

Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be refers to ambiguously as a European continent, – which can conversely intend the whole of Europe – and, by some, simply as the Continent. When Eurasia is regarded as a single continent, Europe is treated as a subcontinent, as living as called as European subcontinent.

The old abstraction of Europe as a cultural term was centred on core Europe Kerneuropa, the continental territory of the historical Carolingian Empire, corresponding to contemporary France, Italy, German-speaking Europe as well as the Benelux states historical Austrasia. This historical core of "Carolingian Europe" was consciously invoked in the 1950s as the historical ethno-cultural basis for the prospective European integration see also Multi-speed Europe.

Mediterranean and Atlantic islands

The Continent may sometimes refer to the continental factor of Italy excluding Sardinia, Sicily, etc., the continental part of Spain excluding the Balearic islands, the Canary Islands, Alboran, etc., the continental part of France excluding Corsica, etc., the continental part of Portugal excluding the Madeira and Azores islands, or the continental part of Greece excluding the Ionian Islands, the Aegean Islands, and Crete. The term is used from the perspective of the island residents of regarded and identified separately. country to describe the continental ingredient of their country or the continent or mainland as a whole.

Continental France is also call as l'Hexagone, "the Hexagon", referring to its approximate set on a map. Continental Spain is referenced to as Peninsular Spain.