Northern Europe

Northern Europe is a geographic term referring to the northern part of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as including the following countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom. Northern Europe consists of the Scandinavian peninsula, the peninsula of Jutland, the Baltic plain and the many islands that lie offshore from mainland northern Europe, Greenland and the main European continent. The area is defined by the volcanic islands of the far northwest, notably Iceland and Jan Mayen, the mountainous western seaboard, extending from the mountainous sections of Great Britain & Ireland to the Scandinavian mountains, the central north mountains and hills of Sweden and the large eastern plain, which contains Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. From the west climates vary from maritime and maritime subarctic climates. In the north and central climates are generally subarctic or Arctic and to the east climates are mostly subarctic and temperate/continental. Vegetation is also variable, with sparse tundra in the north and high mountains, boreal forest on the north-eastern and central regions temperate coniferous forests and temperate broadleaf forests growing in the south, west and temperate east.