European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social, and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union and its policies.
A 1928 Europa coin for the hypothetical "Federated States of Europe" (États fédérés d'Europe)
Flags of Visegrád Group countries
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Europe shares the landmass of Eurasia with Asia, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Asia and Africa. Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea, and the waterway of the Bosporus Strait.
Depiction of Europa regina ('Queen Europe') in 1582
Paleolithic cave paintings from Lascaux in France (c. 15,000 BCE)
Stonehenge in the United Kingdom (Late Neolithic from 3000 to 2000 BCE)
The Parthenon in Athens (432 BCE)