Northernmost countries and autonomous regions of Europe

[Ülev]

United Nations geoscheme subregions of Europe:
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Iceland
Ireland
Latvia
Lithuania
Norway
Sweden
United Kingdom


In accordance with this division, such regions as Pskov, Novgorod, Smolensk, Tver, Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod oblast, Perm Krai, Kirov oblast, Tatarstan, Udmurtia and Mari El also could fall into Northern Europe.

don't like that map, but this is the holy truth

[Grace O'Malley]

I was wondering which of the republics of European Russia might be seen as part of Northern Europe, if for example Northern Europe is considered to consist of anything as north as the Nordic countries and the Baltic states. I also wanted to know if for example Finland or Norway is further north, or if Komi Republic or the Republic of Karelia is further north.

At first I made the list below of the latitude of the geographical center point of different European countries and regions based on Wikipedia and other sources. However different sources utilize different methods to calculate the geographical center point, and I did not find information about the center point of some countries.

64.18: Finland (https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leskelä_(Siikalatva), unsure if islands are included)
63.99: Norway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_of_Norway, islands included, overseas areas of Svalbard and Jan Mayen not included)
62.39: Sweden (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geogra...nter_of_Sweden, utilized imprecise method of measurement)
58.71: Estonia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adavere, coordinates based on the location of a village)
57.82: Scotland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_of_Scotland, islands included)
55.30: Lithuania (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruoščiai, coordinates based on the location of a village)
54.61: Northern Ireland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre...rthern_Ireland)
53.50: Republic of Ireland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geogra...tre_of_Ireland)
52.56: England (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre...ingdom#England)
52.33: Wales (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cwmystwyth, coordinates based on the location of a village)

However I then realized that if you simply search for the name of a country on Google Maps, the coordinates returned correspond roughly to the geographical center point of the country. I then searched for the name of different countries and regions on Google Maps, and I made the following list of the latitude returned:

67.90: Nenets Autonomous Okrug
64.62: Finland (error .44)
64.59: Iceland
63.60: Republic of Karelia
63.53: Komi Republic
63.48: Norway (error .51)
61.89: Faroe Islands
61.74: Sweden (error .63)
60.26: Åland Islands
58.54: Estonia (error .17)
57.67: Scotland (error .15)
57.18: Udmurtia
56.88: Latvia
56.56: Mari El
56.15: Denmark
55.47: Chuvashia
55.24: Tatarstan
55.09: Lithuania (error .11)
54.66: Northern Ireland (error .05)
54.40: Mordovia
54.23: United Kingdom
53.97: Bashkortostan
53.63: Belarus
53.36: Republic of Ireland (error .14)
52.75: England (error .16)
52.38: Wales (error .05)
52.19: Netherlands

On the list above, you can see that the error compared to the first list in this post is .2 or less in the case of all countries and regions except Finland, Norway, and Sweden (which might be because of the elongated shape of all three countries).

Based on the list above, if the countries and regions whose center point is equal or higher than Lithuania's are considered to be part of Northern Europe, then Scotland, Udmurtia, Mari El, Chuvashia, and Tatarstan would be part of Northern Europe, but Northern Ireland, Mordovia, and Bashkortostan would not.

Based on the list above, 4 out of 5 of the northernmost countries and autonomous regions of Europe are part of the Uralic domain.

Out of the first 20 countries and autonomous regions on the list above, the language of the primary ethnicity historically associated with the country or region (which is no longer the majority ethnicity in the case of many regions) belongs to the following language families:

Uralic: 8 (Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Finland, Republic of Karelia, Komi Republic, Estonia, Udmurtia, Mari El, Mordovia)
Germanic: 6 (Iceland, Norway, Faroe Islands, Sweden, Åland Islands, Denmark)
Baltic: 2 (Latvia, Lithuania)
Celtic: 2 (Scotland, Northern Ireland)
Turkic: 2 (Chuvashia, Tatarstan)

Malin Head in Co Donegal is the most northern part of Ireland. It is in the Irish Republic.

The most northerly point is Inishtrahull Island, situated in the Atlantic Ocean 7 km north of Inishowen Peninsula, county Donegal. It lies at latitude 55.43ºN. Of mainland Ireland, the most northerly point is a headland 2 km northeast of Malin Head, Inishowen Peninsula, county Donegal.

https://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users...tremities.html

[Ymyyakhtakh]

BTW, I counted Komi Republic as an autonomous region, but I'm not sure if it is still autonomous (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komi_Republic): "On 21 March 1996, the Komi Republic signed a power-sharing agreement with the government of Russia, granting it autonomy.[16] The agreement would be abolished on 20 May 2002."

Udmurtia is located at the same latitude as southern Sweden and Latvia. Izhevsk the capital of Udmurtia is located at the same latitude as the capital of Latvia Riga. The distance from Helsinki to Izhevsk is closer than from Helsinki to Sofia 1670 and 1950 km respectively. If Udmurtia were an independent state it would be one of the northernmost European countries.

Yeah, somehow both Southwest Europe and Southeast Europe are part of Southern Europe, but then Northeast Europe is not part of Northern Europe (?).

Finland is the only country which can be considered to be part of either Northeast Europe or Northwest Europe (even though I prefer to identify as a Northeast European).

Saami territory covers both Northwest Europe and Northeast Europe, and I believe Saami are the only people which can be considered Northeast European but which still primarily lives in regions that cannot be considered to be part of Northeast Europe.

Apart from Finland, I believe there is no other country in Europe which can be considered to be part of two different quadrants of Europe in its entirety, even though the northern parts of France are sometimes included as part of Northwest Europe.

Malin Head in Co Donegal is the most northern part of Ireland. It is in the Irish Republic.

The most northerly point is Inishtrahull Island, situated in the Atlantic Ocean 7 km north of Inishowen Peninsula, county Donegal. It lies at latitude 55.43ºN. Of mainland Ireland, the most northerly point is a headland 2 km northeast of Malin Head, Inishowen Peninsula, county Donegal.

https://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users...tremities.html

I was also surprised to find that the northernmost point of Scotland (island of Out Stack in Shetland, latitude 60.85) is further north than where I live (Southwest Finland, latitude 60.64).

[Lemminkäinen]

Only thing that matters is the amount of sun light. Not too much or too little. Birds would not migrate if they could find a perfect place.

[Laag]

BTW, I counted Komi Republic as an autonomous region, but I'm not sure if it is still autonomous (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komi_Republic): "On 21 March 1996, the Komi Republic signed a power-sharing agreement with the government of Russia, granting it autonomy.[16] The agreement would be abolished on 20 May 2002."

Yeah, somehow both Southwest Europe and Southeast Europe are part of Southern Europe, but then Northeast Europe is not part of Northern Europe (?).

In the geographical sense Northeast Europe is Northern Europe for sure.

[Ymyyakhtakh]

Northeast Europe is the most mysterious quadrant of Europe that no-one knows about.

Number of Google hits for each quadrant of Europe (in quotation marks):

"northwest europe": 767,000
"northeast europe": 55,400
"southwest europe": 151,000
"southeast europe": 1,930,000

"northwestern europe": 821,000
"northeastern europe": 114,000
"southwestern europe": 358,000
"southeastern europe": 1,830,000

[Laag]

I have seen this term "Northeast Europe" in some ethnographic books. The ethnographer Zherebcov used this term in relation to the territories where Russians of Russian North, Komi and Nenets people live.
Carleton Coon used the term "Northeast European" to indicate the phenotype.

Udmurtia also is Northeast Europe and Uralische type is indigenous phenotype for Northeast Europe.

[Laag]

The land of Komi-Permyaks Komi-Permyak Okrug is located in Northern Europe. Kudymkar the administrative center of Komi-Permyak Okrug is located approximately on the same latitude as Stockholm: Kudymkar 59,0 and Stockholm 59,3

[Ymyyakhtakh]

The land of Komi-Permyaks Komi-Permyak Okrug is located in Northern Europe.

Yeah but I didn't count it because it's no longer a federal subject of Russia (RIP Permyakia). However Komi-Permyaks still made up a majority of the population (59%) in the 2002 census.

Kudymkar the administrative center of Komi-Permyak Okrug is located approximately on the same latitude as Stockholm: Kudymkar 59,0 and Stockholm 59,3

Also the center of population of Sweden is south of Stockholm at about latitude 59.1 (https://gist.github.com/cavedave/ed6...c9898e58b42ff7). The center of population of Komi-Permyak Okrug must be further north, because Kudymkar is near the southern border of Komi-Permyak Okrug.

[Salty Ears]

The center of population of Komi-Permyak Okrug must be further north, because Kudymkar is near the southern border of Komi-Permyak Okrug.

Kudymkar and Kudymkar district has the highest population density. While the geographical center of okrug - Yurla district is an ethnic russian exclave. By the way okrug have the special status within of Perm krai, while Perm krai dont have any special status in Russia. It is soviet atavism, for example tatar-bashkir Barda district have only cultural autonomy, Udmurts and Mari in Perm krai dont have it at all.