The second smallest continent, Europe extends over just two percent of the world’s total surface and nearly seven percent of its land surface. Within that area there are fifty countries ranging from Vatican City which is the smallest to Russia, the largest. Europe is surrounded and dissected by water with the Arctic and other oceans in the north, the Atlantic in the west, the Mediterranean in the south, with the Ural River, Caspian Sea, Black Sea and Aegean Sea in the east. The climate differs vastly from the cooler northern countries to the warmer south.