A prosperous, democratic country, Austria joined the EU in 1995. It has a well-developed market economy, having modern agricultural and industrial sectors and a high standard of living. It has a thriving tourist scene based around its historic cities and winter sports facilities. Austria is a landlocked country bordered by Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. Geographically, Austria can be...

A country that occupies the western part of the Iberian peninsula in southwest Europe, Portugal borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south, and Spain to the east and north. It also includes two Atlantic archipelagos, the Azores and Madeira that occupy strategic points along the approaches to the Strait of Gibraltar. The overseas territory of Macao (Macau) was returned to China in 1999. Portugal has developed a diverse and increasingly service-oriented...

Germany lies in the heart of Europe. It stretches from the North Sea and Baltic coasts in the north to the Alps in the south and has land borders with nine countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland. Following Germany's defeat in World War I and the collapse of their empire, they were left with crippling reparations, soaring inflation, and high unemployment. The rise of the Nazi...

A country in Central Europe, with a coastline on the Baltic Sea in the north, Poland is bounded to the west by Germany, to the south by the Czech and Slovak Republics, to the east by Ukraine and Belarus, and by Lithuania and the Russian oblast of Kaliningrad to the north. For the most part undulating, Poland is part of the great Northern European Plain, though it rises toward the south through hills that culminate in the Sudeten and Carpathian mountains...

A European country in the southern Balkans, Greece is a complicated series of mountain ridges and enclosed valleys, forming a deeply indented peninsula that extends down into the Mediterranean Sea. Greece is famous for the clarity of its light, and no place is very far from the sea. Scores of islands, some of them forming named groups, make up a fifth or so of the country, and are mostly uninhabited. The largest island, Crete, was acquired by Greece...

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK), is made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It is an island nation in northwestern Europe. England is an important tourist destination and home to the site of Neolithic Stonehenge, Bath's Roman spa, and centuries-old universities at Oxford and Cambridge. The UK's economy is one of the strongest in Europe, with many important industries,...

A kingdom of Northern Europe, Sweden occupies the eastern portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula and borders Finland in the northeast. It has a coastline on the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea to the east, and the Skagerrak and Kattegat Straits lie to the southwest. Sweden has enjoyed a long period of peace and neutrality, and an almost continuous Social Democratic government since 1932. This stability, combined with the country's mix of high-tech...

A kingdom of Western Europe, bounded to the north and west by the North Sea, to the south by Belgium, and to the east by Germany. The Netherlands (also known as Holland), with Belgium and Luxembourg, make up what are known as the Low Countries. Strictly speaking, however, the name Holland belongs only to the two coastal provinces of North and South Holland. The plural "Netherlands," used in English, is a legacy of the past, since the Dutch themselves...