Scandinavian Peninsula

The Scandinavian Peninsula (Skandinaviska halvön; Den skandinaviske halvøy (Bokmål) or Den skandinaviske halvøya (Nynorsk); Skandinavian niemimaa) is a peninsula located in Northern Europe, which roughly comprises the mainlands of Sweden, Norway and the northwestern area of Finland. The name of the peninsula is derived from the term Scandinavia, the cultural region of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. That cultural name is in turn derived from the name of Scania, the region at the southern extremity of the peninsula which was for centuries a part of Denmark, which is the ancestral home of the Danes, and is now part of Sweden. The Scandinavian Peninsula is the largest of the peninsulas of Europe, with a greater area than the Balkan, Iberian and Italian peninsulas. During the Ice Ages, the sea level of the Atlantic Ocean dropped so much that the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland disappeared, and the countries now surrounding them, including Germany, Poland, the other Baltic countries and Scandinavia, were directly joined by land. The largest peninsula in Europe, the Scandinavian Peninsula is approximately long with a width varying approximately from . The Scandinavian mountain range generally defines the border between Norway and Sweden. The peninsula's borders are: the Barents Sea to the north the Norwegian Sea to the west the North Sea to the southwest Russia, the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia to the east. Denmark to the south Its highest elevation was Glittertinden in Norway at above sea level, but since the glacier at its summit partially melted, the highest elevation is at at Galdhøpiggen, also in Norway. These mountains also have the largest glacier on the mainland of Europe, Jostedalsbreen. About one quarter of the Scandinavian Peninsula lies north of the Arctic Circle, its northernmost point being at Cape Nordkyn, Norway. The climate across Scandinavia varies from tundra (Köppen: ET) and subarctic (Dfc) in the north, with cool marine west coast climate (Cfc) in northwestern coastal areas reaching just north of Lofoten, to humid continental (Dfb) in the central portion and marine west coast (Cfb) in the south and southwest.