North Europe

Northern Europe is the northern part of the European continent. At various times this region has been defined variously, but today it is generally seen to include:

• The Nordic countries, including Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, as well as Ãland, the Faroe Islands and occasionally Karelia, Kola Peninsula, Greenland and Svalbard
• The Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (but see also Western Europe)
• The Baltic states, i.e. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (but see also Eastern Europe)
• Areas bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, e.g. north-western Russia, northern Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and northern Germany.

Before the 19th century, the term 'Nordic' or 'Northern' was commonly used to mean Northern Europe in a sense that included the Nordic countries, European Russia, the Baltic countries (at that time Livonia and Courland) and Greenland.