h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Can somebody help me, we are having the usual (rainy) Bank Holiday family argument....It all started when I foolishly repeated what a tour guide had claimed years ago when we were in Crete, and that is that the South of Crete is the most southerly part of Europe. Everbody instantly cried out in disagreement; some stating that it was the South of Cyprus and others insisting that it was the Canary Islands.

We all raced to the atlases, text books and internet to prove we were right. I quickly realised that I might be wrong (and blamed the tour guide) as there is no doubt that the Canary Islands are further South than Crete and so is Cyrpus, BUT WAS I STILL RIGHT? -

1) There is no doubt that geographically the Canary Islands should be part of Africa and are only counted as part of Europe because they are 'owned' by Spain. Therefore can they truly be counted as the most southerly part of Europe?

2) In the Atlas, Cyprus appears to feature as part of Europe on one page and part of Asia on another. In my text book it is definately part of Asia, and on the internet it neither mentioned as a country in Europe or in Asia ( it is not even mentioned as part of Greece or Turkey).

My research, far from answering my question, threw up several more questions:

Firstly, Turkey is shown in the Atlas and text books as definately being part of Asia, but on the internet, it was listed under both Europe and Asia.

Secondly, Russia certainly seems to be split between Europe and Asia, but where is the dividing line? All the books seem to have an overlapping bit between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains.

I apologise for the length of this question, but would be most grateful for the definative answer (not least to restore family harmony).

Unfortunately the Europe/Asia boundary is not along a country boundary but is instead a line down the Ural mountains in Russia and through Turkey just by Istanbul...so these countries are in both Europe and Africa.

As for the canaries being in Europe, I think thats not right...no more than the Falklands are really.

What about Cyrpus? And would you consider I was right about Crete being the most southerly part of Europe?

The Collins Concise Atlas of the World lists the Canaries under Africa and Cyprus under Asia, which would make Crete the southernmost part of Europe.
Still doesn't explain how Cyprus and Turkey get into the Eurovision Song Contest though.

What confuses me is that although we agree that the Canaries should be part of Africa, in the Times World Atlas, the DK World Factfile and the internet it is listed as being part of Europe. Hence the confusion.

P.S.

On the subject of the Eurovision Song Contest, forget Cyprus and Turkey, what on earth are Israel doing there?

People who live on Cyprus tend to regard themselves as in Europe, which probably ought to count for something.

The Canary Islands are within the European Union, which probably explains why some atlases say they're in Europe. But then Spain has a couple of (very small) territories in north Africa, which are also in the EU, and no-one says they're in Europe...

Part of the problem may arise because there are different "Europes" - there is the continent of Europe which is bounded by the Ural mountains and the mediterannean, there is the "European Comunity" which is a group of countries (and their colonies/dependencies) roughly in that continent and there is the soft rock group of which we need know no more .
This doesn't really help but it does offer the possibility that you are both right which is by far the best outcome from any argument.

Both being right is not a option, there is money riding on it!!

Oh God, the beginnings of a family feud! Every bang collar day from now on ruined. What about anyone who can make themselves understood in more than one Germanic or Romance language being a European and therefore whereever they live is Europe?

Who is the definitive authority is more the question: The United Nations, FIFA, Eurovision, the questionmakers for Trivial Pursuit??? In other words, what IS Europe: is it the political or geographical entity? It's something like the North Pole, there are two of those, or maybe even more, depending on whether you're an astronaut, an astronomer, a geographer, a geologist, a physicist or an expotition (is that how AA Milne spelt it?) going there.

So maybe everybody is right. For some purposes the Canary Islands are European (monetary, for example) , for others (climate) they are thrown in with Africa. This would also throw up the questions - is Greenland in Europe or America? And did Hong Kong used to be European? Is Great Britain European? (you wouldn't think it, to hear my parents talk)

The examples "Falklands" and "Israel" immediately sprung to my mind too, on reading the question. Israel doesn't feel African or Arabian.

Does it matter. Who does it matter to?

"Who is the definitive authority... "

The Guide???

"Crete ... Being the most southerly point of Europe" made it to the edited entries! A362161

(And surely I would say that the Canaries belongs to Africa, Cyprus to Asia.)

did anyone get a definitive answer to this question

I would say it was still as topical as ever.

*nods*

If the Canaries count C/- Spain...
does Antarctica count C/- Norway and the UK?
if so, Europe extends to 90 deg South

Islands don't count, they're too messy, so it would be Ákra Taínaron, Greece.

<>

Conclusive proof then that the UK is NOT part of Europe ...

If you like. That certainly seems to be the attitude in many places. I think the question needs to be more specific. Are we talking about continental europe, political europe, cultural europe. You'll get different answers for each one: Ákra Taínaron, the south pole, and any number of places, respectively.

Islands count if there attached to the continental shelf (I think)