>The eastern boundary runs through Istanbul (which is quite distinct), the Dardanelles and Bosphorus and thence up the Urals. >The western boundary would be ar

>The eastern boundary runs through Istanbul (which is quite distinct), the Dardanelles and Bosphorus and thence up the Urals. >The western boundary would be around the shores of Scotland and Ireland. There are some outlying islands such as the Azores, Iceland, the Faroes etc associated for cultural and political reasons. Yes, that's what the maps and textbooks say of course. And I don't disagree with you. But if you look at how it's actually used in online discourse it's clearly a much more fluid definition based around whatever is of most use to who's invoking it.