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I live in Romania, so I can tell what we consider West: Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Bel
by cristianpascu 14y ago
I live in Romania, so I can tell what we consider West: Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Belgium.
If one goes to one of these countries, one feels like going west. Otherwise, it's less and less.
So when Americans speak about Europe, it's safe to assume that they might refer to these countries.
Rock bands will always have a hard time to tell Bucharest from Budapest.
- iuguy 14y agoAs someone from the UK, I see your list as mostly similar to mine, except I'd put Austria in the Central Europe camp. I'd also put Switzerland and Italy as Central Europe in location but Western Europe in culture. There's definitely parts of Germany I'd class as western in location but eastern in culture.
- Svip 14y agoLooking at his list, it seems that he is merely dividing Europe into West and East, no Centre. What's Northern Europe? What's Southern Europe?
- iuguy 14y agoHaving just come back from touring Italy, I think I can say that anything south of the olive line (that is oil producing regions) would constitute Southern Europe. This, typically like European countries is not as useful as it seems as France, Italy etc. all exist both above and below the line, but there is definitely a cultural (and ethnic) difference between those living in colder and warmer climates. Similarly I'd suggest the point at which grape production for wine tails off would signify the start of Northern Europe. Wine grapes are grown in England, but I wouldn't call England a big wine producing country. Similarly, the Netherlands has some wine production but I wouldn't class them as a major wine producer and as such part of Northern Europe. North of Dusseldorf or Hannover? Arguably Northern Europe. South of Dresden? Probably Central Europe. I completely appreciate this is made on no scientific basis whatsoever and I'm probably completely wrong, but if you visit Spain, southern France, Italy, Greece and Western Turkey you'll see remarkable cultural and ethnic differences and similarities between them and Austria, Poland, central and southern Germany and in turn Northern Germany, the Netherlands, northern France and the UK. TL;DR - Europe's a mess. We can't even really all agree on what it is.
- klibertp 14y agoErr.. that's curious, you mean that going almost exactly NORTH (Sweden, Finland) is considered going west? I'm not sure if I like this, even if only because it's so obviously, factually wrong :)
- pbreit 14y agoGeography is only part of it.
- cristianpascu 14y agoIt's not geographical west but cultural/economical/mental west. It's about the perception, not the location. Greece, south of Romania, could also be included in the western countries.
- cadlin 14y agoI think it mostly comes down to countries that were part of the Soviet bloc vs those that weren't.