# Is Scandanavia part of Europe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135 "2004-11-16T22:01:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pyrrthon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@pyrrthon1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyrrthon1)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/1 "2004-11-16T22:01:13Z")
I read this quote on another page: > [@](#): > > Well, I’m not French and I don’t consider myself a “left leaning liberal” - I’m Scottish, male, heterosexual, married, I have my own company and own my own home. I have never voted for anybody else other than the Conservatives in either local or general elections (the Conservatives are, for the 92% of Americans who don’t know anything about what goes on beyond their own borders, the right wing of British politics). **I have travelled in Europe, Scandinavia (yes it is separate)**, Africa and the USA. If I lived in the USA (and I thank God that I don’t - his provenance is NOT restricted to within your borders, no matter what Bush might say), I would be a typical Republican. [Link thingy](http://www.notsorryeverybody.com/) ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/2 "2004-11-16T22:05:44Z")
Yes, Scandinavia is part of Europe. If you mean the continent, that’s irrefutable. If you mean in some other way, I can not answer you. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/3 "2004-11-16T22:07:38Z")
From [http://m-w.com](http://m-w.com) Main Entry: Scan·di·na·via Pronunciation: "skan-d&-'nA-vE-&, -vy& Usage: geographical name 1 peninsula N **Europe** occupied by Norway & Sweden 2 Denmark, Norway, Sweden, & sometimes also Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, & Finland The Ural Mountains are accepted as the northern boundary of Europe and Asia. They are well within the European side of the Urals. I don’t know how this stuff is defined in Scotland, though. ---
**Author:** ![pyrrthon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@pyrrthon1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyrrthon1)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/4 "2004-11-16T22:14:01Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > Yes, Scandinavia is part of Europe. If you mean the continent, that’s irrefutable. If you mean in some other way, I can not answer you. I was just wondering if anyone else on the board made this distinction. Myself I have always considered Europe and Scandanavia to be both culturally and geograpically European. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/5 "2004-11-16T22:48:34Z")
It’s a typically Scottish ignorant sweeping sociopolitical generalisation. (Yes, my tongue is in my cheek.) The author is wanting to emphasise the differences between northern Europe (in which Finland is probably being included despite not being Scandinavian) and central and Mediterranean Europe. And Scotland has many common traits with northern Europe that even England does not have. But it’s all Europe. I guess my take on it is to imagine somebody claiming that Newfoundland isn’t part of North America, because it’s so different from Texas and from Mexico. Meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/6 "2004-11-16T23:08:48Z")
You might be getting a **cultural** distinction – England for many years did not consider itself part of Europe (I don’t know what the Scots/Welsh concept was). Likewise there may be a sense that the large mass of contiguous countries from Poland to Greece to France constitute a cultural entity that the Fennoscandic peoples are not an integral part of. Maybe some of our Eurodopers can speak more to this – **clairobscur** usually has a pretty good handle on cultural attitudes, and **flodnak** up in Oslo is nearly equally sound on that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/7 "2004-11-16T23:19:13Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > England for many years did not consider itself part of Europe (I don’t know what the Scots/Welsh concept was). I’m not quite sure what you mean by this - certainly there has always been a tendency to use the word ‘Europe’ as shorthand for ‘the European mainland’, or even for ‘France and Germany’. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/8 "2004-11-16T23:22:10Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I’m not quite sure what you mean by this - certainly there has always been a tendency to use the word ‘Europe’ as shorthand for ‘the European mainland’, or even for ‘France and Germany’. That, and a slightly supercilious attitude of “all those people over there on the mainland who keep having wars amongst themselves that we British have to come in and straighten out.” (I’ve been rereading Churchill, and so I’m looking at a Britain past, here.) No slam intended on the present inhabitants of the sceptred isle! ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/9 "2004-11-16T23:35:58Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > No slam intended on the present inhabitants of the sceptred isle! None taken! But yes, I guess it comes from pre-19th century history, Ireland, plus the Empire, that gives a whole ‘us and everyone overseas’ attitude. Mind you, Churchill was a thoroughly repellant creature, with the one saving grace that he won the war. (Still doesn’t excuse him for producing offspring that created Nicholas Soames, but that’s another matter) ---
**Author:** ![grey\_ideas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@grey\_ideas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grey_ideas)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/10 "2004-11-16T23:54:58Z")
The only way I could see that someone could separate any of the Scandinavian countries from the rest of Europe would be if you considered the European Union since, if memory serves me right, Norway rejected entry into the EU in 1994. Still seems pretty odd to separate Scandinavia from the rest of Europe though, maybe to make a cultural point but still, pretty odd. Please correct me if I’m wrong, it’s late and my memory might be acting up grey\_ideas ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/11 "2004-11-17T00:04:32Z")
And, of course, Sweden and Denmark decided against switching to the euro. (Not that Denmark is part of Scandinavia, but it often gets lumped in there.) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/12 "2004-11-17T00:17:04Z")
It’s very appropriate to identify the hostility shown towards the EU and the Euro as a northern-European trait…but that backs up my earlier comment that it’s nothing particularly Scandinavian, for Britian shares such seemingly-ingrained suspicion. But still, to suggest that the quote in the OP really had anything to do with EU borders is nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/13 "2004-11-17T00:29:21Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > And, of course, Sweden and Denmark decided against switching to the euro. (Not that Denmark is part of Scandinavia, but it often gets lumped in there.) Because there’s _geographic_ Scandinavia (the peninsula) and _cultural_ Scandinavia. Plus Finland, who gets lumped in by association. ---
**Author:** ![pyrrthon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@pyrrthon1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyrrthon1)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/14 "2004-11-17T00:44:47Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > And, of course, Sweden and Denmark decided against switching to the euro. (Not that Denmark is part of Scandinavia, but it often gets lumped in there.) Uh, Denmark is not a part of Scandanavia? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/15 "2004-11-17T01:11:03Z")
> [@pyrrthon1](#): > > Uh, Denmark is not a part of Scandanavia? 😕 I’d query that one, too - are you willing to back it up, **Colophon**? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/16 "2004-11-17T01:13:12Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > And, of course, Sweden and Denmark decided against switching to the euro. (Not that Denmark is part of Scandinavia, but it often gets lumped in there.) Denmark is part of Scandinavia. Finland is the odd-ball, being goegraphically Scandinavian, but not linguistically Scandinavian (if we ignore the sizeable Swedish speaking population there). ---
**Author:** ![Hadrian0117](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Hadrian0117](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hadrian0117)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/17 "2004-11-17T02:16:11Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I’d query that one, too - are you willing to back it up, **Colophon**? Denmark isn’t part of the Scandinavian **peninsula**. _Geographically_ Scandinavia consists of Norway and Sweden. Culturally Denmark is part of Scandinavia. When you include Finland you get the **Nordic** countries. I’m not sure how Iceland would be classified. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/18 "2004-11-17T03:44:54Z")
_Culturally_ and _geographically_, Denmark is very much a part of Scandinavia. And all are a part of northern Europe. If you speak of only the Scandinavian peninsula, then you have narrowed it down to Norway and Sweden. But that wasn’t the question. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/19 "2004-11-17T04:25:11Z")
I’m guessing that the guy quoted in the OP thinks of “Europe” as being only those regions which were once under the dominion of the Roman Empire, and therefore share a common sense of classical Western history. Scandinavia didn’t enter the “classic Western” historical picture until much later. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135/20 "2004-11-17T08:02:59Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I’m guessing that the guy quoted in the OP thinks of “Europe” as being only those regions which were once under the dominion of the Roman Empire I really don’t think the guy’s thought it through that thoroughly. And in any case, that idea eliminates most of central and eastern Europe, while including much of Arabia. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-scandanavia-part-of-europe/275135.md?page=2)