Western Europe has nine countries: two large ones, France and Germany, and several smaller ones around them, including two of the world's tiniest. Five of them are landlocked, which you studied in Landlocked Countries.
Key idea
France and Germany are the big two. The Low Countries (the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) lie between them and the North Sea. Switzerland, Austria and tiny Liechtenstein are in the Alps, and Monaco is a city-state on the Mediterranean coast.
Why it works
The Low Countries are called that because much of the land is low and flat; parts of the Netherlands are below sea level, protected by dikes. The Alpine countries have no coast: the mountains wall them off from the sea. Monaco and Liechtenstein survived as tiny states because of old agreements between ruling families and their larger neighbors.
Worked example: The Low Countries, north to south
Put the Low Countries in order from north to south.
- The Netherlands is on the North Sea, farthest north.
- Belgium is in the middle, also on the coast.
- Luxembourg is the small landlocked one to the south.
Answer: The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg.
Worked example: Germany's neighbors
How many countries border Germany?
- Go around it: Denmark, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands.
Answer: Nine.
Common mistake
Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are easy to mix up. Remember the order from the sea inland: the Netherlands is the northern one on the North Sea, Belgium is below it, and Luxembourg is the small landlocked one to the south.