300 



THE POPULAK EDUCATOE. 



Under this head are included Great Britain, anciently called 

 Albion or Britannia, and divided into the three countries of 

 England, Wales, and Scotland ; and Ireland, anciently called 

 Hibernia, with various islands of much smaller dimensions lying 

 around or near the coast. The principal of these are the Isle of 

 Man, in the Irish Sea, situated at nearly an equal distance from 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland ; the Isle of Anglesea, which 

 is separated from the mainland of Wales by the Menai Straits ; 

 the Scilly Isles, anciently called Oassiterides, or the Islands of 

 Tin, adjacent to Cornwall, the real tin region ; the Isle of 

 Wight, south of, and forming part of, Hampshire; the Hebrides, 

 or Western Islands, lying west of Scotland ; the Orkney and 

 Shetland Islands, north of Scotland ; and the Channel Islands, 

 Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sark, which lie to the north- 

 west of France. 

 Next to the 

 British Islands, 

 the most import- 

 ant in the north 

 of Europe are 

 those which 

 belong to and 

 form part of 

 the kingdom of 

 Denmark, and 

 lie in the chan- 

 nel or passage 

 to the Baltic, 

 called the Cat- 

 tegat viz., 

 Zealand, which 

 contains Copen- 

 hagen, the capi- 

 tal of that 

 kingdom, with 

 Fiinen, Laaland, 

 Falster, Moen, 

 Xangeland,Born- 

 h olm , and 

 various others. 

 In other parts 

 of the Baltic 

 are the islands 

 of Eugen, Oland, 

 Gottland, Aland, 

 Oesel, and Dago. 

 The islands 

 called the 

 Azores, or 

 Western Is- 

 lands, which are 

 generally con- 

 sidered to belong 

 to Europe, and of 

 which Terceira 

 and St. Michael 

 are the princi- 

 pal, are situated 

 about 800 miles 

 W. of Portugal, 

 to which they belong. The island of Iceland, which belongs to 

 Denmark, and is celebrated for its hot springs and its volcanoes, 

 ia situated on the edge of the arctic circle, and having its 

 northern point within the Arctic Ocean ; the Faroe Isles, which 

 belong to the same kingdom, and are situated N.W. of the 

 Shetland Isles. Ferro, one the Canary Isles, once formed the 

 site of the first meridian, to which all nations referred the 

 longitude, and it is to be regretted that this did not retain its 

 position as the universal meridian for the world at large, and 

 for the simplification of the mode of reckoning the longitude in 

 different countries. The islands which lie in the most northern 

 regions of Europe are the Lofoden Isles, W. of Norway ; Spitz- 

 .bergen, and Nova Zembla, in the Arctic Ocean. 



The islands of the greatest importance in the south of 

 Europe, and which lie in the Mediterranean Sea, are the 

 following : Corsica, which belongs to France, lying in the 

 Tuscan Sea; Sardinia, S. of Corsica, and separated from it 

 by the Strait of Bonifacio ; the Balearic. Isles viz., Majorca, 



l.on.."W- fl lion- JS. s from. Gr'eiiMi.c)i. 



NORWAY, SWEDEN 



AND 



DENMARK. 



Icai 



Minorca, Ivica, and Formentera, E. of Spain; Sicily, S.W. of 

 Naples, and separated from it by the S ^rait of Messina ; 

 Malta, S. of Sicily, and belonging to Great Britain ; the Ionian 

 Islands viz., Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, Santa Maura, Theaki 

 or Ithaca, Cerigo, and Paxo, situated W. of Greece, and S.W. 

 of Turkey, in the Ionian Sea, and now belonging to Greece ; 

 Candia or Crete, S.E. of Greece ; many of the islands of the 

 Archipelago namely, the Negropont (anciently Euboea), Andros, 

 Syra, Naxia, Paros, Antiparos, Hydra, Spezzia, Egina, etc., 

 lying E. and S.E. of Greece ; and Lemnos or Stalimene, Imbros,' 

 Samothraki, and Thaso, lying S. of Turkey, and belonging to 

 that power. The chief islands in the Mediterranean reckoned 

 as belonging to Asia are Lesbos or Mitylene, Scio or Chios, 

 Samos, Patmos, Rhodes, and many others, lying to the E. of 



Turkey in Asia, 

 or rather Asia 

 Minor ; and 

 Cyprus, situ- 

 ated in the Le- 

 vant, which ia 

 now under the 

 admin istra- 

 tion of Great 

 Britain. 



The principal 

 capes (Latin, ca- 

 put, a head) in 

 Europe are the 

 following: The 

 North Cape, on 

 the island of 

 Mageroe, in lat. 

 71 10',andlong. 

 26 l'E.,is com- 

 monly reckoned 

 the most north- 

 ern point of Eu- 

 rope ; but this, 

 according to 

 some authors, ia 

 Nordkyn, in 

 Finmark, in lat. 

 71 6' N. ; the 

 north point of 

 Nova Zembla ia 

 in lat. 77 4' N., 

 and long. 77 5' 

 E. ; the Naze 

 (German, the 

 nose or beak), 

 the most south- 

 ern point of Nor- 

 way, on the Ska- 

 ger - Rack ; the 

 Skaw, or most 

 northern point 

 of Jutland, in 

 Denmark; Capo 

 La Hogue, in 

 Franco ; Capes 



Ortegal and Finisterre, in Spain, of which the latter, as the 

 name indicates (Latin, finis, the end; terrse, of the earth), was 

 deemed by the ancients the end or uttermost extremity of the 

 world ; Cape Roca, near Lisbon, and Cape St. Vincent, in 

 Portugal ; Cape Trafalgar and Tarifa Point, lat. 36 1' N., long. 

 5 36' W. ; Cape Spartirento and Caps di Leuca, in Italy, and 

 Cape Matapan, in Greece (the Morea), the last-named cape 

 being in lat. 36 22' N., and long. 22 28' E. ; Cape Passaro, in 

 Sicily ; and others of less importance. In the British Islands, 

 Dunnet Head, and not Cape Wrath, is the most northerly point 

 of Great Britain; also Lizard Point, and not Land's End, 

 is the most southerly point. The most northerly point of 

 Ireland is Mullin or Malin Head, and the most southerly point 

 Mizon Head, and not Cape Clear, which is on an island called 

 Clare Island. 



The northern highlands of Europe are those which contain 

 the Scandinavian system chain of mountains, extending from 

 the Naze to the North Cape, and consisting of the Langefield, 



