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Super Nintendo

Super Nintendo

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, and Australia. In Japan it is known as the Super Famicom (スーパーファミコン). In South Korea, it is known as the Super Comboy (슈퍼컴보이). That console was licensed and distributed by Hyundai Electronics. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated to NES, released as the Famicom in Japan). Whereas the earlier system had struggled in Europe and large parts of Asia the SNES proved to be a global success, albeit one that could not match its predecessor's popularity in South East Asia and North America - due in part to increased competition from Sega's Mega Drive console (released in North America as the Genesis). Despite its relatively late start, the SNES became the best selling console of the 16-bit era but only after its competitor Sega had pulled out of the 16-bit market to focus on its 32-bit next generation console

History

16-bit era Even as the original NES/Famicom was at the height of its popularity, several companies were launching their own consoles. In 1987 and 1988 respectively, NEC and Sega launched their contenders, the PC Engine and the Mega Drive, one of the first 16-bit home gaming systems. Although the NES would continue to dominate the video game industry for years to come, Nintendo's hardware was beginning to show its age, and though Nintendo executives initially showed little interest in developing a new system, Sega and NEC's growing market share soon forced Nintendo to reconsider. Masayuki Uemura, the man responsible for designing the Famicom several years earlier, was put in charge of the design of the console and the Super Famicom was released in Japan on November 21, 1990 for ¥25,000. An instant success, Nintendo's initial shipment of 300,000 units quickly sold out. The system was so popular that it was said to have attracted the attention of the Yakuza, leading to the decision to ship the devices at night in order to avoid robbery. In Japan, the Super Famicom easily outsold its chief rival, the Mega Drive, and Nintendo retained control over approximately 80% of the Japanese console market thanks, in part, to Nintendo's retention of most of its key third party developers from the Famicom, including Capcom, Konami, Tecmo, Square Co., Ltd., Koei and Enix. Ten months later, in August 13 1991, Nintendo released the Super Famicom in North America with a new redesigned case as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Initially sold for a price of $200 USD, the North American package included the game Super Mario World. The SNES was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland in April 1992 for £150, with a German release following a few weeks later. The PAL versions of the console looked identical to the Japanese Super Famicom, except for labelling. Nintendo's Japanese market dominance was not repeated in the American and European markets. By the time of launch the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis had already became firmly entrenched in the US and European marketplace, helped by the lower cost of the Mega Drive/Genesis console and games and Sega's aggressive marketing in North America. In addition many US gamers had come to expect backwards compatibility from console developers (as was the case with the Atari 2600 and 7800), but the SNES was not designed to play NES cartridges. Rivalry between the two companies produced what is possibly the most notorious console war in history. Nintendo would never achieve market leadership in Europe and did not manage to do so in the US until 1994, benefiting from Sega pulling out of the market and it’s continued production of SNES and its games well after 32-bit era of gaming had started. 1994 By 1996, the 16-bit era of gaming had ended, and a new generation of consoles, including Nintendo's own Nintendo 64, caused the popularity of the SNES to wane. In October 1997, Nintendo released a redesigned SNES 2 in North America for $99 USD (which included the pack-in game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island). Like the earlier NES 2, the new model was designed to be slimmer and lighter than its predecessor but lacked S-Video and RGB output, and would prove to be among the last major SNES-related releases in America. A similar redesigned Super Famicom Jr. was released in Japan around the same time. All the American cases from the original NES to the SNES 2 were designed by Lance Barr. Nintendo of America ceased production of the SNES in 1999. In Japan, the Super Famicom continued to be produced until September 2003. In recent years, many SNES titles have been ported to the handheld Game Boy Advance, which has similar video capabilities. Some video game critics consider the SNES era "the golden age of video games," citing the many groundbreaking games and classics made for the system,[http://www.nintendoland.com/articles/gold_era.htm] whereas others question this romanticism.[http://www.nintendoland.com/home2.htm?articles/gld_era2.htm] See video game player for more. video game player video game player

Regional lockout

Nintendo employed several types of regional lockout. Game cartridges, depending on which market they were released in, were of different shapes. The North American model had a rectangular bottom that had inset grooves which when inserted complemented the console's shape whereas the Japanese and European cartridges had a smoothed curve on the front of the cartridges with no inset grooves. Since the North American console has protruding grooves, the Japanese/European cartridges could not be inserted without the removal of these grooves and North American cartridges being completely rectangular could not fit into the slightly curved opening of the Japanese and European console units. Additionally, a regional lockout chip within the console and in each cartridge prevented European games being played on Japanese/North American consoles and vice versa despite the fact that European and Japanese Cartridges fit in each other's consoles. The Japanese and North American machines had the same region chip, so once the difference in the shape of the cartridges was overcome, cartridges were interchangeable. The simplest way to play the Japanese and European cartridges in the North American system was to use a Game Genie cheat device with the small rectangular piece of plastic from its top removed. This not only circumvents the problem of different cartridge shapes but also removes any problem with lockout chips due to the internal design of the Game Genie. Alternatively, various other adapters or physical modification of the console could overcome regional lockout. The chip lockout system worked by having hardware in the console act as a lock and the chip inside the cartridge act as the key. Disconnecting pin 4 of the console's lockout chip caused a situation where there were two keys and no locks. This meant that the lockout chips would not operate and could not halt the console. Games towards the end of the console's lifecycle, such as Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars could detect this deadlock situation and refuse to run, so it later became common to install a switch that disconnected and connected the lockout chip as required. PAL consoles often faced another modification. Instead of being re-coded, most PAL games were simply slowed down from 60Hz to 50Hz, resulting in 17% slower gameplay and sound effects. Additionally, PAL's higher resolution was not taken advantage of, and the extra scanlines were blank, creating large black bars that letterboxed the image. This practice was common across all consoles at the time, but created a squashed and out of proportion picture. As most PAL TVs support NTSC and the SNES hardware made such a thing quite simple to add, a switch to select 50 or 60Hz operation was often added. As an additional form of region lockout, later games would check that the SNES was running at the speed the game was expecting. PAL games would refuse to run on 60Hz machines and vice versa. The solution was to start the game in the native speed and then flick the switch once the region check had succesfully completed. There was an adaptor made by Nintendo designed to overcome the nationality problems. You could plug the device into the SNES (Either version) and then you had to place a game that would normally not run on this SNES (eg a rectangle cartirdge that would not run in the round cartridge's SNES version) into the front. Then, in the back part you put in a nother game that would work on this SNES. The adaptor would read the game from the front port and use the nationality chip programming from the second.

Peripherals

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars Throughout the course of its life, a number of peripherals were released which added to the functionality of the SNES. Many of these devices were modelled after earlier add-ons for the NES: the Super Scope was a light gun similar to the NES Zapper (though the Super Scope featured wireless capabilities) and the Super Advantage was an arcade-style joystick with adjustable turbo settings akin to the NES Advantage. Nintendo also released the SNES Mouse in conjunction with its Mario Paint title, and Hudson Soft, under license from Nintendo, released the Super Multitap, a multiplayer adaptor that allowed games to support up to eight players. One of the most interesting and successful first-party peripherals released for the SNES was the Super Game Boy, an adaptor cartridge allowing games designed for Nintendo's portable Game Boy system to be played on the SNES. The Super Game Boy touted a number of feature enhancements over the Game Boy, including color support (in reality, merely the ability to substitute a different color palette: the games themselves were still limited to four colors) and custom screen borders. Like the NES before it, the SNES saw its fair share of unlicensed third-party peripherals, including a new version of the Game Genie cheat cartridge designed for use with SNES games and a variety of game copier devices. In general, Nintendo proved to be somewhat more tolerant of unlicensed SNES peripherals than they had been with NES peripherals. Japan saw the release of the Satellaview, a modem which attached the Super Famicom's expansion port and connected to the St. GIGA satellite radio station. Users of the Satellaview could download gaming news and specially designed games, which were frequently either remakes of or sequels to older Famicom titles, released in instalments. Satellaview signals were broadcast from April 23, 1995 through June 30, 2000. During the SNES's life, Nintendo contracted with two different companies to develop a CD-ROM-based peripheral for the console. Ultimately, negotiations with both Sony and Philips fell through, and the two companies went on to develop their own consoles based on their initial dealings with Nintendo (the PlayStation and the CD-i respectively), Philips also gaining the right to release a series of CD-i titles based on popular Nintendo franchises.

Screenshots

Image:SNES_F-Zero.png|F-Zero
Nintendo (1991) Image:Mario_Kart_SNES.PNG|Super Mario Kart
Nintendo (1992) Image:SNES_Star_Fox.png|Star Fox
Nintendo (1993) Image:SNES_Street_Fighter_II_Turbo.png|Street Fighter 2 Turbo
Capcom (1993) Image:SuperMarioBros3SNES.png|Super Mario All-Stars
Nintendo (1993) Image:SNES_Chrono_Trigger.png|Chrono Trigger
Square Co., Ltd. (1995) Image:Dkc2-2.jpg|Donkey Kong Country 2
Nintendo/Rare (1995) Image:Earthworm_jim_2.PNG|Earthworm Jim 2
Playmates/Shiny (1995)

Emulation

Like the NES before it, the SNES has retained interest among its fans even following its decline in the marketplace. It has continued to thrive on the second-hand market and through console emulation. Many gamers discovered the SNES after its decline. The SNES has taken much the same revival path as the NES. Emulation projects began in 1996 with projects such as "VSMC" and "Super Pasofami," which, despite some important initial gains, did not last long past 1998. During that time, two competing emulation projects--Snes96 and Snes97--merged forming a new initiative entitled Snes9x. In early 1998, SNES enthusiasts began programming a console emulator named ZSNES. From then on, these two emulators have continued to offer the most complete emulation of the system and its various add-on chips like the Super FX Chip. Nintendo took the same stance against the distribution of SNES ROM image files and emulation as it did with the NES, insisting that they represented flagrant software piracy. Proponents of SNES emulation cite as arguments for their continued distribution: the discontinued production of the SNES, the right of the owner of the respective game to make a personal backup, the frailty of SNES cartridges (even though cartridges are far more durable than optical discs), and the lack of certain foreign imports. Starting in the 128-bit era, both Nintendo and emulation proponents began to have a less active stance on this issue. Despite Nintendo's attempts to stop the proliferation of such projects, ROM files continue to be available on the Internet. Since the console's discontinuation, second-hand market decline, and rapid growth of the Internet, finding the files has become less of a challenge than it had been with the NES. Most general ROM sites offer files for the SNES. The SNES was one of the first systems to attract the attention of amateur fan translators: Final Fantasy V was the first major work of fan translation to be completed, in 1997.

Technical specifications

The design of the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom was unusual for its time. It featured a low-performance CPU supported by very powerful custom chips for sound and video processing. This approach would become common in subsequent video game hardware, but at the time it was new to game developers. As a result early third-party games were of low technical quality. Developers later became accustomed to the system, and were able to take advantage of its full potential. It was the first console capable of applied acoustics in video game audio sold in North America, Europe, and Japan.
- Core
- CPU: Nintendo custom '5A22', believed to be produced by Ricoh; based around a 16-bit CMD/GTE 65c816 (a predecessor of the WDC 65C816, used by the Apple IIGS personal computer) with NES sound 2A03 core. The CPU runs the 65c816-alike core with a variable-speed bus, with bus access times determined by addresses accessed, with possible clock speeds of 1.79, 2.68 and 3.58 MHz (the chip usually ran at 2.68 MHz and seemed to drop to 1.79 MHz when loading from ROM.) It worked at 1.5 MIPS with strictly 16bit arithmetic and a theoretical peak of 1.79 million 16bit adds/second. The SNES/SFC provided the CPU with 128 KB of Work RAM. The CPU also contains other support hardware, including:
  - For interfacing with controller ports;
  - For generating NMI interrupts on Vblank;
  - For generating PSG sound with inclued 2A03 core.
  - For generating IRQ interrupts on screen positions;
  - DMA unit, supporting two primary modes, general DMA (for block transfers, at a rate of 2.68 MB/second) and Hblank DMA (for transferring small data sets at the end of each scanline, outside of the active display period);
  - Multiplication and division registers.
- Cartridge Size Specifications: 2 - 32 Mb which ran at two speeds ('SlowROM' and 'FastROM'). Custom address decoders and bankswitching allow larger sizes, eg. 48 Mb for Star Ocean: Fantastic Space Odyssey and Tales of Phantasia
- Sound
  - Sound Controller Chip: 8-bit Sony SPC700 CPU for controlling the DSP; running at an effective clock rate around 1.024 MHz.
    - Sound RAM: 64 KB shared between SPC700 and S-SMP.
    - Memory Cycle Time: 279 milliseconds
  - Main Sound Chip : Sony S-SMP
    - Hardware ADPCM decompression,
    - 8-channel PCM
    - Hardware sound effects pitch modulation, echo effect with feedback (for reverberation) with 8-tap FIR filter, and ADSR and 'GAIN' (discretely controlled) volume envelopes.
    - Polyphony of 8 notes per voices
  - SFx sound chip : Sony\Nintendo S-DSP
    - 3-channel PCM
  - Low-pass filter for improved quality of low-frequency (bass) tones
  - Pulse Code Modulator: 16-Bit ADPCM (if programmer uses 4-bit compressed ADPCM samples, expanded to 16-bit resolution, processed with an additional 4-point Gaussian sound interpolation).
  - Note - while not directly related to SNES hardware, the standard extension for SNES audio subsystem state files saved by emulators is .SPC, a format used by SPC players.
- Video
  - Picture Processor Unit: 16-Bit
  - Video RAM: 128 KB
    - 64 KB of VRAM for screen maps (for 'background' layers) and tile sets (for backgrounds and objects);
    - 64 KB for sprite layers, 512 + 32 bytes of 'OAM' (Object Attribute Memory) for objects; 512 bytes of 'CGRAM' for palette data.
  - Palette: 256 entries; 15-Bit color depth (RGB555) for a total of 32,768 colors.
  - Maximum colors per layer per scanline: 256.
  - Maximum colors on-screen: 4096 without alpha and 32,768 (using color arithmetic for transparency effects).
  - Maximum colors per sprite: 128
  - Resolution: between 256x224 and 512x448. Most games used 256x224, 320x224, 512x224 pixels since higher resoulutions caused slowdown, flicker, and/or had increased limitations on layers and colors (due to memory bandwidth constraints); the higher resolutions were used for less processor-intensive games, in-game menus, text, and high resolution images.
  - Maximum onscreen objects (sprites): 128 (32 per line, up to 34 8x8 tiles per line).
  - Maximum number of sprite pixels on one scanline: 256. The renderer was designed such that it would drop the frontmost sprites instead of the rearmost sprites if a scanline exceeded the limit, allowing for creative clipping effects.
  - Most common display modes: Pixel-to-pixel text mode 1 (16 colors per tile; 3 scrolling layers) and affine mapped text mode 7 (256 colors per tile; one rotating/scaling layer).
- Enhancement chips
  - SuperFX Developed by Argonaut. The Super FX chip is a supplemental RISC CPU for the main SNES CPU. The chip was primarily used to create 3D worlds made by shaded polygons, texture mapping and light source shading. It was used in Star Fox and Stunt Race FX. The SuperFX2, which followed soon after used two SuperFX cores on a single chip each with a speed of 10.5 MHz that worked together in tandem. While the chip most commonly associated with 3D, it was also used to enhance 2D games such as Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Some other carts that the chip can be found in are Doom, Dirt Trax FX, Vortex, and Winter Gold. A number of the games designed to use it were never released, such as Star Fox 2, FX Fighter, and an early version of Super Mario 64.
  - SA-1 chip 65c816 8/16-bit processor, clocked at 10 MHz. It contains some extra circuits developed by Nintendo, which includes some fast RAM, a memory mapper, DMA, several real-time timers, and the region lockout chip. The SA-1 was a multipurpose chip that could be found in games such as Kirby Super Star, Kirby's Dream Land 3, and Super Mario RPG.
  - DSP1 chip The DSP (Digital Signal Processor) chip was created to generate more enhanced Mode 7 rotation and scaling effects using floating-point processing. The chip can be found in Pilot Wings and Super Mario Kart.
  - DSP2 chip A more advanced DSP chip developed by Seta that increases the SNES´s speed from 3.58 MHz to 8 MHz. The chip was created for Seta's own F1 Race of Champions.
  - SDD1 chip Other than its normal processing and copy protection duties, this chip was primarily a memory compression chip. This allowed games to be bigger than normal by compressing the data. Games that used this chip were Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Star Ocean.
  - C4 chip A chip created by Capcom. This chip was used to create enhanced transparency effects such as rain and water. The chip was used in Mega Man X2 and Mega Man X3.
- Power Adapter
  - Transformer Input: NTSC: 120 Volts AC, 60 Hz, 17 watts, PAL: 240 Volts AC, 50 Hz
  - Transformer Output: 10 Volts DC, 850 mA (NTSC), 9 Volts AC (PAL)
- Game controllers
  - Controller Response: 16 ms
  - 2 seven-pin controller ports in the front of the machine

References


- Mary Bellis. [http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_playstation.htm History of Sony Playstation]. Retrieved 9 February 2005.
- Mattias Liedholm. [http://www.nintendoland.com/home2.htm?articles/gold_era.htm The Golden Era]. Retrieved 1 February 2005.
- Silent Axis. [http://www.nintendoland.com/home2.htm?articles/gld_era2.htm The Golden era - Just for the nostalgics?]. Retrieved 1 February 2005.
- Bayer, Glen. [http://www.n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=279 SNES-CD]. Retrieved 9 September 2005.

Miscellaneous

Sales figures

Nintendo claims they have sold 49 million Super NES units worldwide. [http://www.nintendo.com/systemsclassic?type=snes]

See also


- Nintendo Systems:
  - Nintendo Entertainment System (1985)
  - Game Boy (1989)
  - Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1991)
  - Nintendo Virtual Boy (1995)
  - Nintendo 64 (1996)
  - Game Boy Color (1998)
  - Game Boy Advance (2001)
  - Nintendo GameCube (2001)
  - Game Boy Advance SP (2003)
  - Nintendo DS (2004)
  - Game Boy Micro (2005)
  - Nintendo Revolution (2006) Working Title
- 16-bit era
- List of SNES games
- List of Super Famicom games
- Game controller
- ZSNES

External links


- [http://www.nintendo.com The official Nintendo Corp. homepage]
- [http://www.n-sider.com N-Sider (Nintendo fansite database)]
- [http://www.gamersgraveyard.com/repository/snes/peripherals/sufamiturbo.html Sufami Turbo at Gamers Graveyard]
- [http://www.yiu.co.uk/snes/ Chris Yiu's Super Nintendo page] - including boxart and how to mod PAL systems to 60Hz. Category:Nintendo consoles Category:Fourth-generation video game consoles ja:スーパーファミコン

16 bit

Prominent 16-bit processors include the Intel 8086, Motorola M68000, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. A 16-bit integer can store 2^ (or 65536) unique values. In an unsigned representation, these values are the integers between 0 and 65535; using two's complement, possible values range from -32768 to 32767. 16-bit processors have been almost entirely supplanted in the personal computer industry, but remain in use in a wide variety of embedded applications. 116-bit

Video game console

A video game console is a dedicated electronic device designed to play video games. Often the output device is a separate television or a computer monitor. The main input device is a controller. There was a time when video game consoles were easily distinguishable from personal computers: consoles used a standard television for display, and did not support standard PC accessories such as keyboards or modems. However, as consoles have become more enhanced, the distinction has blurred: some consoles can have full Linux operating systems running with hard drives and keyboards (like the Sony Playstation 2). The console market has steadily developed from simple one-off games, such as PONG, to fully featured general purpose games systems. Older game consoles and their software now live on in emulators as they are no longer supported by their manufacturers. However, console makers try to prevent their games from being played on emulators using copyright-like exclusive rights in mask works and a protection of encrypted media created by the United States' Digital Millennium Copyright Act and foreign counterparts. Note that the advertised "bitness" of post-32-bit consoles were in large part created by the console makers' marketing departments and may have little to do with the actual architecture or processing power of the systems. Video game consoles have created a whole self-supporting market for thousands of different video game accessory manufacturers who would otherwise not be able to produce their own video game consoles. These manufacturers have expanded upon the original uses for the game consoles and have even created entirely new ways to both play and use some of the most popular video game systems.

Timeline

Note: This is an abridged timeline of video game consoles in North America. DateFormat=mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize= width:600 height:400 Period = from:01/01/1975 till:12/31/2008 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = justify PlotArea = width:90% height:90% left:0 bottom:30 Colors = id:console value:rgb(0.9,0.3,0.3) id:consolealt value:rgb(0.3,0.9,0.9) id:2ndgen value:tan1 id:8bit value:coral id:16bit value:skyblue id:32bit value:drabgreen id:64bit value:drabgreen id:6thgen value:lightorange id:7thgen value:lavender id:line value:black id:liteline value:rgb(0.3,0.3,0.3) id:bg value:white id:projection value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) PlotData= width:23 textcolor:black align:center bar:Atari from:01/01/1977 till:01/01/1990 color:2ndgen text:"Atari 2600" bar:Atari from:01/01/1993 till:06/30/1996 color:64bit text:"Jaguar" bar:Atari2 from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1984 color:2ndgen text:"Atari 5200" bar:Atari2 from:01/01/1986 till:01/01/1992 color:8bit text:"Atari 7800" bar:Nintendo1 from:01/01/1985 till:01/01/1995 color:8bit text:"NES" bar:Nintendo2 from:08/01/1982 till:03/01/1984 color:8bit text:"Colecovision" bar:Nintendo2 from:08/01/1991 till:01/01/1999 color:16bit text:"Super NES" bar:NEC1 from:01/01/1978 till:01/01/1984 color:2ndgen text:"Magnavox Odyssey 2" bar:NEC1 from:08/01/1989 till:08/01/1992 color:16bit text: "TurboGrafx-16" bar:NEC2 from:01/01/1980 till:01/01/1984 color:2ndgen text:"Intellivision" bar:NEC2 from:10/10/1992 till:01/01/1995 color:16bit text: "TurboDuo" bar:Nintendo1 from:09/29/1996 till:08/01/2001 color:64bit text:"N64" bar:Nintendo2 from:10/18/2001 till:05/01/2006 color:6thgen text:"GameCube" shift:(-20,0) bar:Nintendo2 from:05/01/2005 till:12/31/2006 color:projection text:"(proj.)" bar:Nintendo1 from:03/22/2006 till:12/31/2007 color:projection text:"Revolution (projection)" bar:SEGA1 from:01/01/1986 till:01/01/1992 color:8bit text:"Master System" bar:SEGA2 from:01/09/1989 till:12/31/1995 color:16bit text:"Genesis" bar:SEGA1 from:05/01/1995 till:03/01/1998 color:32bit text:"Saturn" bar:SEGA2 from:09/09/1999 till:01/01/2001 color:6thgen text:"Dreamcast" bar:Sony1 from:09/09/1995 till:01/01/2001 color:32bit text:"PlayStation" bar:Sony2 from:10/26/2000 till:01/01/2006 color:6thgen text:"PS2" bar:Sony2 from:01/01/2006 till:07/01/2006 color:projection text:"(proj.)" bar:Sony3 from:04/01/2006 till:12/31/2007 color:projection text:"PS3 (proj.)" bar:MS from:11/15/2001 till:01/01/2006 color:6thgen text:"Xbox" bar:MS from:01/01/2005 till:03/01/2006 color:projection text:"(proj.)" bar:MS2 from:11/22/2005 till:12/31/2007 color:projection text:"Xbox 360 (proj.)" ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:4 start:01/01/1976 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:liteline unit:year increment:2 start:01/01/1978 Note: This is an abridged timeline of video game consoles in Japan. DateFormat=mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize= width:600 height:400 Period = from:01/01/1975 till:12/31/2008 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = justify PlotArea = width:90% height:90% left:0 bottom:30 Colors = id:console value:rgb(0.9,0.3,0.3) id:consolealt value:rgb(0.3,0.9,0.9) id:2ndgen value:tan1 id:8bit value:coral id:16bit value:skyblue id:32bit value:drabgreen id:64bit value:drabgreen id:6thgen value:lightorange id:7thgen value:lavender id:line value:black id:liteline value:rgb(0.3,0.3,0.3) id:bg value:white id:projection value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) PlotData= width:23 textcolor:black align:center bar:Nintendo1 from:07/15/1983 till:01/01/2003 color:8bit text:"Famicom(NES)" bar:Nintendo2 from:11/21/1990 till:09/01/2003 color:16bit text:"Super Famicom(Super NES)" bar:NEC1 from:10/30/1987 till:01/01/1999 color:16bit text: "PC Engine(TurboGrafx-16)" bar:NEC2 from:01/01/1994 till:01/01/1998 color:16bit text: "PC FX" bar:Nintendo3 from:07/01/1983 till:01/01/1985 color:2ndgen text: "SG-1000" bar:Nintendo3 from:06/23/1996 till:01/01/2002 color:64bit text:"N64" bar:Nintendo4 from:09/14/2001 till:05/01/2005 color:6thgen text:"GameCube" shift:(-20,0) bar:Nintendo4 from:05/01/2005 till:12/31/2006 color:projection text:"(proj.)" bar:Nintendo1 from:07/01/2006 till:12/31/2007 color:projection text:"Revolution (projection)" bar:SEGA1 from:10/20/1985 till:02/04/1989 color:8bit text:"SG-1000_Mark_III(Master System)" bar:SEGA2 from:10/29/1988 till:12/31/1995 color:16bit text:"Mega Drive (Genesis)" bar:SEGA1 from:11/22/1994 till:01/01/1999 color:32bit text:"Saturn" bar:SEGA2 from:11/27/1998 till:02/24/2004 color:6thgen text:"Dreamcast" bar:Sony1 from:12/03/1994 till:01/01/2002 color:32bit text:"PlayStation" bar:Sony2 from:03/04/2000 till:01/05/2005 color:6thgen text:"PS2" bar:Sony2 from:01/05/2005 till:12/31/2006 color:projection text:"(proj.)" bar:Sony3 from:04/01/2006 till:12/31/2007 color:projection text:"PS3 (proj.)" bar:MS from:02/22/2002 till:01/05/2005 color:6thgen text:"Xbox" bar:MS from:01/05/2005 till:12/31/2006 color:projection text:"(proj.)" bar:MS2 from:11/10/2005 till:12/31/2007 color:projection text:"Xbox 360 (proj.)" ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:4 start:01/01/1976 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:liteline unit:year increment:2 start:01/01/1978 Note: This is an abridged timeline of video game consoles in Europe. DateFormat=mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize= width:600 height:400 Period = from:01/01/1975 till:12/31/2008 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = justify PlotArea = width:90% height:90% left:0 bottom:30 Colors = id:console value:rgb(0.9,0.3,0.3) id:consolealt value:rgb(0.3,0.9,0.9) id:2ndgen value:tan1 id:8bit value:coral id:16bit value:skyblue id:32bit value:drabgreen id:64bit value:drabgreen id:6thgen value:lightorange id:7thgen value:lavender id:line value:black id:liteline value:rgb(0.3,0.3,0.3) id:bg value:white id:projection value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) PlotData= width:23 textcolor:black align:center bar:Nintendo1 from:03/01/1997 till:11/16/2001 color:64bit text:"N64" bar:Nintendo1 from:07/01/2006 till:12/31/2007 color:projection text:"Revolution (projection)" bar:Nintendo2 from:04/01/1992 till:01/01/1999 color:16bit text:"Super NES" bar:Nintendo2 from:05/03/2002 till:05/01/2005 color:6thgen text:"GameCube" shift:(-20,0) bar:Nintendo2 from:05/01/2005 till:12/31/2006 color:projection text:"(proj.)" bar:SEGA2 from:11/30/1990 till:12/31/1995 color:16bit text:"Genesis" bar:SEGA2 from:10/14/1999 till:01/01/2001 color:6thgen text:"Dreamcast" bar:Sony1 from:09/29/1995 till:01/01/2001 color:32bit text:"PlayStation" bar:Sony3 from:04/01/2006 till:12/31/2007 color:projection text:"PS3 (proj.)" bar:MS from:04/26/2002 till:01/05/2005 color:6thgen text:"Xbox" bar:MS from:01/05/2005 till:12/31/2006 color:projection text:"(proj.)" bar:MS2 from:11/10/2005 till:12/31/2007 color:projection text:"Xbox 360 (proj.)" ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:4 start:01/01/1976 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:liteline unit:year increment:2 start:01/01/1978

See also


- Console manufacturer
- History of computer and video games
- List of video game consoles
- List of handheld game consoles
- List of occurrences of game consoles in entertainment media

Books

[http://www.game-machines.co.uk/gameplan_01.5_UK/]

External links


- [http://www.mobygames.com MobyGames], an Internet database of video games, including console games
- [http://www.ps3portal.com/?page=history Video Game and Console Timeline], a Brief Video Game and Console Timeline
- [http://www.linkcableoftime.com/ The Link Cable of Time] article and history of video game consoles and their makers
- [http://www.game-machines.com/consoles/ Game-Machines.com Consoles] a detailed history of video game consoles ja:ゲーム機

North America

North America is a continent in the northern hemisphere bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocean. It covers an area of 24,497,994 km² (9,458,728 sq mi), or about 4.8% of the Earth's surface. As of July 2002, its population was estimated at more than 514,600,000. It is the third largest continent in area, after Asia and Africa, and is fourth in population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. Both North and South America are named after Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a previously undiscovered (by Europeans) New World. North America occupies the northern portion of the landmass generally referred to as the New World, the Western Hemisphere, the Americas, or simply America. North America's only land connection is to South America at the narrow Isthmus of Panama. (For geopolitical reasons, all of Panama – including the segment east of the Panama Canal in the isthmus – is often considered a part of North America alone.) According to some authorities, North America begins not at the Isthmus of Panama but at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, with the intervening region called Central America and resting on the Caribbean Plate. Most, however, tend to see Central America as a region of North America, considering it too small to be a continent on its own. Greenland, although a part of North America geographically, is not considered to be part of the continent politically.

Physical features

Greenland, plutonic, metamorphic rock types of North America. ]] Plate tectonics recognizes the vast majority of North America as being the surface of the North American Plate. Parts of California and western Mexico are known for being the edge of the Pacific Plate, with the two plates meeting along the San Andreas fault. The continent can be divided into four great regions (each of which contains many sub-regions): the Great Plains stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian Arctic; the geologically young, mountainous west, including the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, California and Alaska; the raised but relatively flat plateau of the Canadian Shield in the northeast; and the varied eastern region, which includes the Appalachian Mountains, the coastal plain along the Atlantic seaboard, and the Florida peninsula. Mexico, with its long plateaus and cordilleras, falls largely in the western region, although the eastern coastal plain does extend south along the Gulf. The western mountains are split in the middle, into the main range of the Rockies and the coast ranges in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia with the Great Basin – a lower area containing smaller ranges and low-lying deserts – in between. The highest peak is Denali in Alaska. Since 1931, Rugby, North Dakota, has officially been recognized as being at the geographic center of North America. The location is marked by a 4.5 metre (15 foot) field stone obelisk. Image:North america terrain 2003 map.jpg|North America bedrock and terrain. Image:North america basement rocks.png|North American cratons and basement rocks. Image:North America Tectonic Elements.jpg|Tectonic elements of North America Image:North america craton nps.gif|North American craton.

Territories and regions

craton On the main continent landmass, there are three large and relatively populous countries:
- Canada - many large islands off the shore of North America belong to Canada, including Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands on the west, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island on the east, and the Canadian Arctic islands (including Ellesmere Island, Baffin Island, and Victoria Island) in the north
- Mexico - the Revillagigedo archipelago and numerous smaller islands off its coast belong to Mexico
- The United States - the 48 contiguous states and Alaska are part of North America, while the state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean is not; the Aleutian Islands south of Alaska also belong to the U.S. At the southern end of the continent, in a relatively small area known as Central America, are the countries of:
- Belize
- Costa Rica
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Nicaragua
- Panama 1 At the southeastern end of the continent lies a chain of islands territories called the Antilles, the Caribbean or the West Indies, which include the countries:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Grenada
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago 1 And the dependencies:
- Anguilla (British overseas territory)
- Aruba 2 (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
- Cayman Islands (British overseas territory)
- Guadeloupe (French région d'outre-mer)
- Martinique (French région d'outre-mer)
- Montserrat (British overseas territory)
- Navassa Island (U.S. territory)
- Netherlands Antilles 1 (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
- Puerto Rico (U.S. commonwealth)
- Turks and Caicos Islands (British overseas territory)
- British Virgin Islands (British overseas territory)
- U.S. Virgin Islands (territory of the USA) Lying in the Atlantic Ocean but considered part of the continent are the dependencies:
- Bermuda, a British overseas territory found about 1,072 km (670 mi.) southeast of New York City
- Greenland, the largest island in the world and a self-governing dependency of Denmark, which is located in the far north of the continent to the east of Nunavut.
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a French collectivité d'outre-mer off the south coast of Newfoundland, is the last of France's once vast possessions in America north of the Caribbean. 1 These states and dependencies have territory both in North and South America.
2 These dependencies lie in South America, but are considered North American because of cultural and historical reasons.
See here for details.

Usage

The United States, Canada, and the other English-speaking nations of the Americas (Belize, Guyana, and the Anglophone Caribbean) are sometimes grouped under the term Anglo-America, while the remaining nations of North and South America are grouped under the term Latin America. Alternatively, Northern America is used to refer to Canada and the U.S. together (plus Greenland and Bermuda), while Central America is mainland North America south of the United States. The West Indies generally include all islands in the Caribbean Sea. In this respect, Latin America generally includes Central America and South America and, sometimes, the West Indies. The term Middle America is sometimes used to refer to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean collectively. The term "North America" may mean different things to different people. The term in common usage is often taken to mean "the United States and Canada, only" by some people of the United States and Canada, excluding Mexico and the countries of Central America, unless the context makes it clear that they are to be included (such as with specific reference to Mexico, when talking about NAFTA). For example, guides to wild flora and fauna published by the National Audubon Society for "North America" frequently include only species found in Canada and the U.S. This may be attributed to the fact that culturally and economically, the U.S. and Canada are more alike to each other than they are to the rest of North America. Mexicans, however, are acutely aware that Mexico is a part of North America and object to this usage. Central Americans, however, are generally content to be called Central Americans – largely because of their shared history, which includes several attempts at supranational integration in the region and in which Mexico, their much larger northern neighbor, was never involved.

Political divisions and regions

Notes:
1 Continental regions as per UN categorisations/map.
2 Depending on definitions, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago have territory in one or both of North and South America.
3 Due to ongoing activity of the Soufriere Hills volcano beginning 1995, much of Plymouth, Montserrat's de jure capital, was destroyed and government offices relocated to Brades.

See also


- Discoverer of the Americas
- Economy of North America
- European colonization of the Americas
- History of North America
- Birds of North America

External links


- http://www.america-norte.com/america-norte-mapa.htm Category:Continents Category:North America zh-min-nan:Pak Bí-chiu ko:북아메리카 ja:北アメリカ simple:North America th:ทวีปอเมริกาเหนือ

Europe

:This article is about the continent. For other meanings, see Europe (disambiguation). Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula or subcontinent, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. It is conventionally considered a continent, which, in this case, is more of a cultural distinction than a geographic one. It is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the south by the Mediterranean and Black Seas and the Caucasus. Europe's boundary to the east is vague, but has traditionally been given as the Ural Mountains and Caspian Sea to the southeast: the Urals are considered by most to be a geographical and tectonic landmark separating Asia from Europe. :See also Continent, Bicontinental country, and Table of European territories and regions. Table of European territories and regions Table of European territories and regions Europe is the world's second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering around 10,790,000 km² (4,170,000 sq mi) or 2.1% of the Earth's surface, and is only larger than Australia. In terms of population, it is the third-largest continent (Asia and Africa are larger) with a population of more than 700,000,000, or about 11% of the world's population.

Etymology

Africa.]] In Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus in bull form and taken to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to Minos. For Homer, Europé (Greek: Ευρωπη; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece, and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to lands to the north. The Greek term Europe has been derived from Greek words meaning broad (eurys) and face (ops) -- broad having been an epitheton of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion; see Prithvi (Plataia). A minority, however, suggest this Greek popular etymology is really based on a Semitic word such as the Akkadian erebu meaning "sunset" (see also Erebus). From the Middle Eastern vantagepoint, the sun does set over Europe, the lands to the west. Likewise, Asia is sometimes thought to have derived from the Akkadian word asu, meaning "sunrise", and is the land to the east from a Mesopotamian perspective.

History

Europe has a long history of cultural and economic achievement, starting as far back as the Palaeolithic, although this is true for the rest of the Old World as well. The recent discovery at Monte Poggiolo, Italy, of thousands of hand-shaped stones, tentatively carbon-dated to 800,000 years ago, may prove to be of particular importance. The origins of Western democratic and individualistic culture are often attributed to Ancient Greece, though numerous other distinct influences, in particular Christianity, can also be credited with the spread of concepts like egalitarianism and universality of law. The Roman Empire divided the continent along the Rhine and Danube for several centuries. Following the decline of the Roman Empire, Europe entered a long period of changes arising from what is known as the Age of Migrations. That period has been known as the "Dark Ages" to Renaissance thinkers. During this time, isolated monastic communities in Ireland and elsewhere carefully safeguarded and compiled written knowledge accumulated previously. The Renaissance and the New Monarchs marked the start of a period of discovery, exploration, and increase in scientific knowledge. In the 15th century Portugal opened the age of discoveries, soon followed by Spain. They were later joined by France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in Africa, the Americas, and Asia. After the age of discovery, the ideas of democracy took hold in Europe. Struggles for independence arose, most notably in France during the period known as the French Revolution. This led to vast upheaval in Europe as these revolutionary ideas propagated across the continent. The rise of democracy led to increased tensions within Europe on top of the tensions already existing due to competition within the New World. The most famous of these conflicts was when Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power and set out on a conquest, forming a new French empire that soon collapsed. After these conquests Europe stabilised, but the old foundations were already beginning to crumble. The Industrial Revolution started in the United Kingdom in the late 18th century, leading to a move away from agriculture, much greater general prosperity and a corresponding increase in population. Many of the states in Europe took their present form in the aftermath of World War I. From the end of World War II through the end of the Cold War, Europe was divided into two major political and economic blocks: Communist nations in Eastern Europe and capitalist countries in Western Europe. Around 1990, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Eastern bloc disintegrated.

Geography and extent

Eastern bloc Geographically Europe is a part of the larger landmass known as Eurasia. The continent begins at the Ural Mountains in Russia, which define Europe's eastern boundary with Asia. The southeast boundary with Asia isn't universally defined. Most commonly the Ural or, alternatively, the Emba river can serve as possible boundaries. The boundary continues with the Caspian Sea, and then the Araxes river in the Caucasus, and on to the Black Sea; the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. The Mediterranean Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa. The western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean, but Iceland, much farther away than the nearest points of Africa and Asia, is also often included in Europe. There is ongoing debate on where the geographical centre of Europe is. At times "Europe" is defined with greater regard to political, economic, and other cultural considerations. This has led to there being several different Europes that are not always identical in size, including or excluding countries according to the definition of Europe used. Almost all European countries are members of the Council of Europe, the exceptions being Belarus, and the Holy See (Vatican City). The idea of the European continent is not held across all cultures. Some non-European geographical texts refer to the continent of Eurasia, or to the European peninsula, given that Europe is not surrounded by sea. In the past concepts such as Christendom were deemed more important. In another usage, Europe is increasingly being used as a short-form for the European Union (EU) and its members, currently consisting of 25 member states. A number of other European countries are negotiating for membership, and several more are expected to begin negotiations in the future (see Enlargement of the European Union).

Physical features

In terms of shape, Europe is a collection of connected peninsulas. The two largest of these are "mainland" Europe and Scandinavia to the north, divided from each other by the Baltic Sea. Three smaller peninsulas (Iberia, Italy and the Balkans) emerge from the southern margin of the mainland into the Mediterranean Sea, which separates Europe from Africa. Eastward, mainland Europe widens much like the mouth of a funnel, until the boundary with Asia is reached at the Ural Mountains. Land relief in Europe shows great variation within relatively small areas. The southern regions, however, are more mountainous, while moving north the terrain descends from the high Alps, Pyrenees and Carpathians, through hilly uplands, into broad, low northern plains, which are vast in the east. This extended lowland is known as the Great European Plain, and at its heart lies the North German Plain. An arc of uplands also exists along the northwestern seaboard, beginning in the western British Isles and continuing along the mountainous, fjord-cut spine of Norway. This description is simplified. Sub-regions such as Iberia and Italy contain their own complex features, as does mainland Europe itself, where the relief contains many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate the general trend. Iceland and the British Isles are special cases. The former is a land unto itself in the northern ocean which is counted as part of Europe, while the latter are upland areas that were once joined to the mainland until rising sea levels cut them off. Due to the few generalisations that can be made about the relief of Europe, it is less than surprising that its many separate regions provided homes for many separate nations throughout history.

Biodiversity

Having lived side-by-side with agricultural peoples for millennia, Europe's animals and plants have been profoundly affected by the presence and activities of man. With the exception of Scandinavia and northern Russia, few areas of untouched wilderness are today to be found in Europe, except for different natural parks. The main natural vegetation cover in Europe is forest. The conditions for growth are very favourable. In the north, the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift warm the continent. Southern Europe could be described as having a warm, but mild climate. There are frequent summer droughts in this region. Mountain ridges also affect the conditions. Some of these (Alps, Pyrenees) are oriented east-west and allow the wind to carry large masses of water from the ocean in the interior. Others are oriented south-north (Scandinavian Mountains, Dinarides, Carpathians, Apennines) and because the rain falls primarily on the side of mountains that is oriented towards sea, forests grow well on this side, while on the other side, the conditions are much less favourable. Few corners of mainland Europe have not been grazed by livestock at some point in time, and the cutting down of the pre-agricultural forest habitat caused disruption to the original plant and animal ecosystems. Eighty to ninety per cent of Europe was once covered by forest. It stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Ocean. Though over half of Europe's original forests disappeared through the centuries of colonisation, Europe still has over one quarter of the world's forests - spruce forests of Scandinavia, vast pine forests in Russia, chestnut rainforests of the Caucasus and the cork oak forests in the Mediterranean. During recent times, deforestation has been stopped and many trees were planted. However, in many cases conifers have been preferred over original deciduous trees, because these grow quicker. The plantations and monocultures now cover vast areas of land and this offers very poor habitats for European forest dwelling species. The amount of original forests in Western Europe is just two to three per cent (in the European part of Russia five to ten per cent). The country with the smallest forest-covered area is Ireland (eight per cent), while the most forested country is Finland (72 per cent). In "mainland" Europe, deciduous forest prevails. The most important species are beech, birch and oak. In the north, where taiga grows, a very common tree species is the birch tree. In the Mediterranean, many olive trees have been planted, which are very well adapted to its arid climate. Another common species in Southern Europe is the cypress. Coniferous forests prevail at higher altitudes up to the forest boundary and as one moves north within Russia and Scandinavia, giving way to tundra as the Arctic is approached. The semi-arid Mediterranean region hosts much scrub forest. A narrow east-west tongue of Eurasian grassland—the steppe—extends eastwards from Ukraine and southern Russia and ends in Hungary and traverses into taiga to the north. Glaciation during the most recent ice age and the presence of man affected the distribution of European fauna. As for the animals, in many parts of Europe most large animals and top predator species have been hunted to extinction. The woolly mammoth and aurochs were extinct before the end of the Neolithic period. Today wolves (carnivores) and bears (omnivores) are endangered. Once they were found in most parts of Europe. However, deforestation caused these animals to withdraw further and further. By the Middle Ages the bears' habitats were limited to more or less inaccessible mountains with sufficient forest cover. Today, the brown bear lives primarily in the Balkan peninsula, in the North and in Russia; a small number also persist in other countries across Europe (Austria, Pyrenees etc.), but in these areas brown bear populations are fragmented and marginalised because of the destruction of their habitat. In the far North of Europe, polar bears can also be found. The wolf, the second largest predator in Europe after the brown bear, can be found primarily in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans. Other important European carnivores are Eurasian lynx, European wild cat, foxes (especially the red fox), jackal and different species of martens, hedgehogs, different species of snakes (vipers, grass snake...), different birds (owls, hawks and other birds of prey) Important European herbivores are snails, amphibians, fish, different birds, and mammals, like rodents, deers and roe deers, boars, and living in the mountains, marmots, steinbocks, chamoises among others. Sea creatures are also an important part of European flora and fauna. The sea flora is mainly phytoplankton. Important animals that live in European seas are zooplankton, molluscs, echinoderms, different crayfish, squids and octopuses, fish, dolphins, and whales. Some animals live in caves, for example proteus and bats.

Demographics

Almost all of Europe was possibly settled before or during the last ice age ca. 10,000 years ago. Neanderthal man and modern man coexisted during at least some of this time. Roman road building helped with the interbreeding of the native Europeans' genetics. In contemporary times Europe has one of the lowest inbreeding rates in the world because of an extensive transport network paired with open borders. Europe passed well over 600 million people before the turn of the 20th century, but now is entering a period of population decline, for a variety of social factors.

Territories and divisions

Political divisions

Independent states

interbreeding on this map.]] :See also: Table of European territories and regions The following independent states have territory in Europe: 2 Azerbaijan and Georgia lie partly in Europe according to the usual definition which consider the crest of the Caucasus as the boundary with Asia.
3 Kazakhstan's European territory consists of a portion west of the Ural and Emba Rivers.
4 The name of this state is a matter of international dispute. See Republic of Macedonia for details.
5 Those territories of Russia lying west of the Ural Mountains are considered as part of Europe.
6 State union of Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro.
7 European Turkey comprises territory to the west and north of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles straits.
2, 3, 5, 7 See Countries in both Europe and Asia for details.

Dependent territories

The European territories listed below are recognised as being culturally and geographically defined. Most have a degree of autonomy. In the list below, each territory is followed by its legal status.
- Faroe Islands (autonomous region of Denmark)
- Gibraltar (UK overseas territory)
- Guernsey (British crown dependency)
- Jersey (British crown dependency)
- Man, Isle of (British crown dependency)
- Svalbard (autonomous region of Norway) Note that this is not a list of all dependencies of all European countries. Dependencies located on other continents are not listed.

Unilaterally seceded territories

Following are breakaway regions of independent states. These regions have declared and de facto achieved independence, but this is not recognised de jure by their home state or by the other independent states.
- Abkhazia (from Georgia)
- Nagorno-Karabakh (disputed by Armenia and Azerbaijan)
- South Ossetia (from Georgia)
- Transnistria (from Moldova)

Territories under United Nations administration


- Kosovo and Metohia (province of Serbia)

Table of European territories and regions

Notes:
1 Continental regions as per UN categorisations/map. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 2-6, 8, 9) may be in one or both of Europe and Asia.
2 Armenia is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Western Asia (as per UN categorisations/map).
3 Azerbaijan is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for European portion only.
4Cyprus is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Southern Europe; population and area figures are for de jure Greek-administered portion only.
5Georgia is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for European portion only.
6Kazakhstan is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe.
7Netherlands population for July 2004; Amsterdam is the de facto capital, while The Hague is the country's administrative seat.
8Russia is generally considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe (UN region) and Asia; population and area figures are for European portion only.
9Turkey is generally considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Southern Europe; population and area figures are for European portion only, including all of Istanbul.

Linguistic and cultural regions

The sub-division in several linguistic and cultural regions is much less subjective than the geographical sub-division, since they correspond to people's cultural connections. There are three main groups:

Germanic Europe

Germanic Europe, where Germanic languages are spoken. This area corresponds more or less to north-western Europe and some parts of central Europe. The main religion of the region is Protestantism, even if there are also some countries with Catholic majority (particularly Austria). This region consists of: United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the Faroe Islands, German-speaking Switzerland, the Flemish part of Belgium, the Swedish-speaking municipalities of Finland, and the South Tyrol part of Italy.

Latin Europe

Latin Europe, where the Romance languages are spoken. This area corresponds more or less to south-western Europe, with the exception of Romania and Moldova which are situated in Eastern Europe. The major religion is Catholicism, except in Romania and Moldova. This area consists of: Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Romania, Moldova, French-speaking Belgium and French speaking Switzerland, and Italian and Romansh speaking Switzerland as well.

Slavic Europe

Slavic Europe, where Slavic languages are spoken. This area corresponds, more or less, to Central and Eastern Europe. The main religions are Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism, with large Muslim populations in some parts formerly ruled by the Ottoman Empire. This area consists of: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

Others

Outside of these three main groups we can find:
- The Celtic nations: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Cornwall (within the United Kingdom); the Isle of Man (a British Crown dependency); the Republic of Ireland; Brittany (within France). These are all nations where a Celtic language is spoken, or was spoken into modern times, and there is a degree of shared culture (see Pan Celticism). Also considered Celtic nations, by some, are both Galicia (Spain) and Asturias, (within Spain), whose own Celtic language died out several hundred years ago.
- Greece, the only country of "Hellenic Europe".In Hellenic Europe we can consider also the Greek Cypriot community It is sometimes associated with the Latin countries, due to the geographical and cultural ties to the Mediterranean Sea, and sometimes to the Slavic-Orthodox part of Europe due to the importance or Orthodoxy in Greece.
- Armenia has a language that constitutes a separate branch of Indo-European family of languages. The Armenian language is spoken in Armenia and other European countries with Armenian communities (such as France, Greece, Belgium, Russia, Germany etc.).
- Ibero-Caucasian, a group that includes ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus region (both North and South). Ibero-Caucasian languages are not linked to the Indo-European languages. This group includes Georgians, Abkhaz, Chechens, Balkars, and a number of other smaller ethnic groups that reside in the Caucasus.
- Turkey, having an Altaic language not of Indo-European origin, and mainly a Muslim country, unlike the main regions' different versions of Christianity.
- Hungary, having a language related to Finnish and Estonian. Due to its location Hungary is normally grouped with Central or Eastern European countries.
- Finland and Estonia, whose languages are related to Hungarian. Despite this connection (not a close one), Finland and Estonia are normally associated with northern European countries (of an even farther connection).

See also


- Eurasia
- Culture of Europe
- Economy of Europe
- Geography of Europe
- History of Europe
- Politics of Europe
- Transport in Europe
- Eurozone
- European Union
- Euroregion
- Europium

Lists and tables


- General
  - Table of European territories and regions
- Demographics
  - Area and population of European countries
  - European Union Statistics
  - The most populous metropolitan areas in Europe
  - The most populous urban areas of the European Union
- Economy
  - Economy of the European Union
  - Financial and social rankings of European countries
  - GDP of European Countries
- Political
  - Alternative names of European cities
  - Date of independence of European countries
  - International Organisations in Europe (table of membership)
- Other
  - List of Europe-related topics

External links


-
- [http://www.democracyineurope.com Democracy in Europe]
- [http://www.holidayhomeseuro.com European holiday homes]
- [http://phoenicia.org/europa.html Europa, the Phoenician Princess] - overwhelmed Zeus with love
- [http://www.europestartpage.com EUROPEstartpage.com, travel and city guide to Europe]
- [http://www.limitlesseurope.com LimitlessEurope.com : information guide to Europe]
- [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=13266 Europe at Night] at NASA Earth Observatory
- [http://www.geog.tamu.edu/~prout/GVmidtermTwo.html Regions of Europe]
- [http://p086.ezboard.com/balbanau Evropa / Europa / Europe]
- [http://www.eufpc.org EUFPC European Foreign Policy Council]
- [http://www.itmaps.com/?modul=map Map of Europe]
- [http://www.freeworldmaps.net/europe/index.html Physical Map of Europe]
- [http://www.parks.it/europa/Eindex.html Parks in Europe] - National parks, nature parks, reserves and other protected areas. Category:Continents als:Europa roa-rup:Evropa zh-min-nan:Europa ko:유럽 ms:Eropah ja:ヨーロッパ simple:Europe th:ทวีปยุโรป

Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the world's smallest continent and a number of islands in the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Australia's neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast, and New Zealand to the southeast. The continent of Australia has been inhabited for over 40,000 years by Indigenous Australians. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north and by European explorers and merchants starting in the 17th century, the eastern half of the continent was claimed by the British in 1770 and officially settled as the penal colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were successively established over the course of the 19th century. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth Realm. The current population of around 20.4 million is concentrated mainly in the large coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Origin and history of the name

The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning southern. Legends of an "unknown southern land" (terra australis incognita) date back to the Roman times and were commonplace in mediæval geography, but they were not based on any actual knowledge of the continent. The Dutch adjectival form Australische ("Australian," in the sense of "southern") was used by Dutch officials in Batavia to refer to the newly discovered land to the south as early as 1638. The first English language writer to use the word "Australia" was Alexander Dalrymple in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, published in 1771. He used the term to refer to the entire South Pacific region, not specifically to the Australian continent. In 1793, George Shaw and Sir James Smith published Zoology and Botany of New Holland, in which they wrote of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland." New Holland was established on this site.]] The name "Australia" was popularised by the 1814 work A Voyage to Terra Australis by the navigator Matthew Flinders. Despite its title, which reflected the view of the Admiralty, Flinders used the word "Australia" in the book, which was widely read and gave the term general currency. Governor Lachlan Macquarie of New South Wales subsequently used the word in his dispatches to England. In 1817 he recommended that it be officially adopted. In 1824, the British Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia.

History

England, claiming the land for Britain in 1770. This replica was built in Fremantle in 1988 for Australia's bicentenary.]] The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have occurred between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago. The first Australians were the ancestors of the current Indigenous Australians; they arrived via land bridges and short sea-crossings from present-day India or Southeast Asia. Most of these people were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, inhabited the Torres Strait Islands and parts of far-north Queensland; they possess distinct cultural practices and practised subsistence agriculture. The first undisputed recorded European sighting of the Australian continent was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Jansz, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there following the loss of the American colonies that had previously filled that role. penal colony was Australia's largest penal colony.]] The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. Britain formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1829. Separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory (NT) was founded in 1863 as part of the Province of South Australia. Victoria and South Australia were founded as "free colonies"—that is, they were never penal colonies, although the former did receive some convicts from Tasmania. Western Australia was also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts due to an acute labour shortage. The transportation of convicts to Australia was phased out between 1840 and 1868. The Indigenous Australian