Transcontinental countries

Countries with land on two continents: the ones a continental boundary runs through, and the ones whose islands or overseas regions lie on another continent.

13 countriesAs of September 2026Short notes, not sourcedSuggest a correction

The 13 countries shaded; the smallest are dots.

Continents are a convention more than a fact of nature, especially where Europe meets Asia. There’s no sea between them, so the line is drawn by agreement: usually down the Ural Mountains and the Ural River to the Caspian Sea, then along the Caucasus, the Black Sea and the Turkish Straits.

This list counts a country as transcontinental when part of the country itself lies on a second continent under those usual conventions. That includes islands and overseas regions that are fully part of the country, like Hawaii or French Guiana, but not dependencies and overseas territories with a separate status, such as Greenland or the British Overseas Territories.

Europe and Asia5

Where the boundary runs over land, or through a narrow strait.

Russia
The Urals split it. Most of its land is in Asia, but most of its people live in the European part, west of the mountains.
Kazakhstan
Mostly in Asia. The strip west of the Ural River, in its far northwest, counts as Europe.
Türkiye
About 3% of its land, East Thrace, is in Europe. Istanbul straddles the Bosporus, with districts on both continents.
Azerbaijan
On the usual line along the crest of the Greater Caucasus, a small slice north of the mountains is in Europe.
Georgia
Like Azerbaijan, it has a sliver north of the Caucasus crest. Draw the line further north, along the Kuma–Manych Depression, and it’s wholly in Asia.

Africa and Asia1

Egypt
The Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez Canal, is in Asia. The canal is usually taken as the boundary.

Asia and Oceania1

Indonesia
Its Papua region covers the western half of New Guinea, which is usually counted as part of Oceania. The rest of Indonesia is in Asia.

Across the sea6

Islands and overseas regions that are as much part of the country as the mainland.

Spain
The Canary Islands lie off the coast of Africa, and Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish cities on the African mainland.
Portugal
Madeira lies off Morocco and is geographically African.
France
Its overseas departments are part of France itself: French Guiana in South America, Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Caribbean, and Réunion and Mayotte off Africa.
Netherlands
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, in the Caribbean, have been special municipalities of the Netherlands since 2010.
United States
Hawaii, a state since 1959, is in Polynesia, so in Oceania.
Chile
Easter Island (Rapa Nui), far out in the Pacific, is part of Polynesia.

Close calls

Panama

Most maps end North America at the Panama–Colombia border, which puts all of Panama in North America. Some draw the line at the Panama Canal instead, which would split Panama between the two Americas.

Yemen

The island of Socotra, off the Horn of Africa, is geologically part of Africa, and some lists count Yemen as transcontinental because of it. It’s usually grouped with Asia, like the rest of Yemen.

Denmark and the United Kingdom

Greenland is geographically part of North America, but it’s a self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark rather than part of Denmark itself. The same goes for the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, which aren’t part of the UK.

Cyprus and Armenia

Both are in Asia geographically but usually treated as European politically: Cyprus is in the EU, and Armenia belongs to the Council of Europe. Each lies wholly on one continent, though, so neither is transcontinental.

Islands near another coast

Italy’s Lampedusa is closer to Tunisia than to Sicily, and Greece’s Dodecanese islands hug the coast of Türkiye, but both are counted as Europe. Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands are counted as South America.

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