Extraordinarily European
A little bit about Scotland, Denmark, and Greece
A Nation of the UK
General Facts
Government Type: Constituent Nation of the United Kingdom; Constitutional monarchy
Leader: Queen Elizabeth II
Population: 5.295 million
Currency: UK £; Pound Sterling
Exchange rate to US dollars: 1.65
Language: English, Scottish Gaelic and Lowland Scots
Religion: Church of Scotland (The Kirk) functions as the national church (42%), No Religion (28%), Roman Catholicism (16%)
Location: the Northern section of the island of Great Britain
Climate: unpredictable, northern European temperate, influenced by the sea, the cold arctic and the warm air from the gulf stream.
Topography: mountainous in the Highlands, the low-lying Central Belt, and the hilly Southern Uplands.
The Wallace Monument
Flora Macdonald
An Effect on the USA
Explorer Vitus Bering explored northern Siberia and eventually found Alaska. The Bering Strait, the Bering Island, the Bering Sea, etc. are named after him.
General Facts
Leader: Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt
Population: 5.5 Million
Currency: Danish krone
Exchange rate to US dollars: 0.18
Language: Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect), German (small minority)
Religion: Evangelical Lutheran (official) 95%, other Christian (includes Protestant and Roman Catholic) 3%, Muslim 2%
Location: Peninsula in the Baltic Sea north of Germany
Climate: temperate; humid and overcast; mild, windy winters and cool summers
Topography: low and flat to gently rolling plains
Canal Nyhavn
"The great Memorial Anchor (Mindeankeret) in front of Nyhavn is a monument commemorating the more than 1,700 Danish officers and sailors in service for the Navy - merchant fleet or Allied forces - who offered their life's during the Second World War. The Anchor was inaugurated in 1951 - and has a plague with a monogram of King Frederik VII on it. The Memorial Anchor is from 1872 and was used on the Frigate Fyn (Funen) - which was docked at Holmen Naval Base during the Second World War." -Source
The Jelling Mounds, Runic Stones, and Church
Current Event
Greece almost went bankrupt and almost had to leave the eurozone. The Parliament of Greece recently approved a budget plan to try to get out of the debt. It is commonly called the 2014 budget plan.
General Facts
Leader: Prime Minister Antonis Samaras
Population: 11.2 Million
Currency: Euro
Exchange rate to US dollars: 1.36
Language: Greek 99% (official); Turkish (Northern Greece), English
Religon: Greek Orthodox 98%, Muslim 1.3%, other 0.7%.
Location: Peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea
Climate: Mediterranean; mild, wet winter and hot, dry summer
Topography: Mountainous interior with coastal plains; 1,400 plus islands