What is the most European country, that is not actually a European country?
July 12, 2025
What is the most European country, that is not actually a European country?
25 comments
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Either former British colonies like Canada and Australia or some former USSR republic like Kazakhstan.
Less serious answer but technically correct: Cyprus
Cyprus & maltalol….. but Canada probably, several dialects of English and French, Gaelic is still spoken in some villages, theres couple towns the mainly speak Ukrainian but unfortunately the Canadian dielectric has been dying out… Ancient viking ruins, Quebec City was also the capital of New France for a while…. also as someone who’s born in Belgian and grew up in Switzerland and italy part of Canada feel more European then Canada, ironic because theres also parts that feel more American then america.
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Really depends on what kind of Europe you’re thinking.
UK? Probably New Zealand feels the most similar.
Spain or Italy? I bet some South American countries like Argentina would almost feel like home.
Scandinavian countries? Nothing super similar maybe but Canada feels right in some ways.
Germany or Austria? I’m having a hard time thinking of places outside Europe that would feel similar.
Canada, but I’d say that Central Asian countries (at least the cities) as well as Ulaanbator in Mongolia are both mostly indistinguishable from Eastern Europe
Argentina – architecture, city planning etc.
Australia – culture very much is influenced by british as much as american. Humour is very british.
Depends on the way you look at it. You could probably go with the obvious ones like Australia or New Zealand, but those are rather british, which is in many ways distinct from (western) continental Europe. Europe is so diverse, that it’s really hard to pinpoint a country, that’s the most “European.” I think you could make a case for Turkiye (Depending on whether you don’t c9nsider it European in the first place) due to how intertwined it is with the Balkans and how heavily Atatürk modeled the country after western European states, especially France, but it obviously changed heavily over the decades and is kind of distinct from everyone around it. The former Soviet Republics in central Asia have been influenced by Russia a lot, but Russia is distinct from a lot of “European” stuff itself. Canada is in the same category as Australia’s and NZ.
I think you can’t really answer this question due there not even being a European country, that is really the most European, but European being a vide variety and combination of different peoples and cultures, meaning you would have to ask this question much more specifically.
Mhm pretty controversial to say… Some already consider them European, some don’t. I would say Caucasian countries.
idk about most European, but most EU-like would probably be Australia. Their latest laws regarding tech regulation and online protection feel like they could’ve come straight from Brussels
There’s no definitive answer, but in political, social and economic terms, countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay often embody values most European states share: very developed economies, liberal democracies with a strong welfare state and independent institutions. Cape Verde is not yet very developed, but when it gets there it can also join the list.
If we just go for cultural and/or historic affinities, in general, I’d say every European is bound to find similarities across America and Oceania. Perhaps a Portuguese feels more at home in Ouro Preto, Brazil, while maybe Spaniards feel more attached to say Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dutch with Willemstad, Curaçao, French with New Orleans, USA and so on so forth…
depends on what you consider as being in Europe, but I would say Cyprus and Malta (Cyprus is geographically Middle East and Malta is on the African tectonic plate, but both are basically European in every other sense and are even in the EU)
Definitely Argentina. Some places in Buenos Aires could easily fit within Paris. Other places have more Italy and Spain vibes. Some neighborhoods and towns have a strong British influence. Some places in Patagonia could easily be somewhere in the Alpes. I’ve heard Greece is also very similar, but that, I can’t say.
Canada definitely in terms of values. Built environment couldn’t be further from it. Big box store suburban sprawl hell outside of a select few cities.
Argentina. Lots of people talking about how European they are and lots of ancestors coming from Europe and Germany in the first half of the 20th century.
Australia felt the most familiar to me. I don’t agree with those saying Canada, we mostly share climate, but I feel they’re very culturally American and therefore more cousins rather than siblings. My vote goes to Australia every time
Chile felt very European when there, both culturally and infrastructure wise. Argentina for the culture but less so infrastructure
Argentina. Buenos Aires very much struck me as a mix of Paris and cities in Italy/Greece. I felt very at home there.
St Pierre and Miquelon (literally a bit of France in North America) and Cape Breton (a bit of Scottish North America).
Ceuta and Melilla.
Many parts of China used to be either colonized by European countries completely, or were parts of European “concessions” for some time
Hong Kong, of course, used to be a British colony, so it’s going to be British-like in many ways. Same thing for Macau being a former Portuguese colony; a lot of it is going to be Portuguese-like in many ways
Harbin was once [heavily populated by Russians and other groups from the former Russian Empire](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbin_Russians), so the city still has lots of Russian architecture
So yeah, while most of China and Chinese cities weren’t directly influenced by European style urbanism or architecture, a lot of it was
when people talk about the term of Europe, it is not clear whether it refers to a geographical, cultural or historical definition, and it varies depending on the context.
Full countries, only two. New Zealand reminds me of Ireland. Australia reminds me of England. Even though I’d most of Britain would say New Zealand is reminds them of themselves.
But the others would be cultural enclaves in countries, especially Canada. Newfoundland – Ireland, Nova Scotia – Scotland, Quebec – France (actually Quebec is better than France as the Quebecois aren’t as rude), New Iceland Manitoba – Iceland.
Argentina is also home to Y Wladfa in Patigonia, basically New Wales. People still speak Welsh here
The answer is Cyprus.
It is an EU member, is populated by (mostly) Greek Cypriots and is in Asia (the Middle East, specifically).
People are listing NZ, Argentina etc but the real answers are the weird semi-independent territories belonging to France/UK/Netherlands.
Canary Islands are also not European (they’re Africa!) as is Ceuta and Melilla (all Spanish regions).
From an Irish perspective, Newfoundland is basically like a parallel universe, though the looking glass version of Ireland — they even speak with Co. Waterford accents and the landscape is similar, but colder.
Much of that area of Atlantic Canada is very familiar looking – except in winter in the colder bits.
New Zealand, particularly the South Island, feels remarkably familiar too.
I mean, European countries are generally quite small so you can’t make a 1:1 comparison. There are parts of driving through New England in the US that briefly feel like driving through parts of Ireland.
25 comments
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Either former British colonies like Canada and Australia or some former USSR republic like Kazakhstan.
Less serious answer but technically correct: Cyprus
Cyprus & maltalol….. but Canada probably, several dialects of English and French, Gaelic is still spoken in some villages, theres couple towns the mainly speak Ukrainian but unfortunately the Canadian dielectric has been dying out… Ancient viking ruins, Quebec City was also the capital of New France for a while…. also as someone who’s born in Belgian and grew up in Switzerland and italy part of Canada feel more European then Canada, ironic because theres also parts that feel more American then america.
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Really depends on what kind of Europe you’re thinking.
UK? Probably New Zealand feels the most similar.
Spain or Italy? I bet some South American countries like Argentina would almost feel like home.
Scandinavian countries? Nothing super similar maybe but Canada feels right in some ways.
Germany or Austria? I’m having a hard time thinking of places outside Europe that would feel similar.
Canada, but I’d say that Central Asian countries (at least the cities) as well as Ulaanbator in Mongolia are both mostly indistinguishable from Eastern Europe
Argentina – architecture, city planning etc.
Australia – culture very much is influenced by british as much as american. Humour is very british.
Depends on the way you look at it. You could probably go with the obvious ones like Australia or New Zealand, but those are rather british, which is in many ways distinct from (western) continental Europe. Europe is so diverse, that it’s really hard to pinpoint a country, that’s the most “European.” I think you could make a case for Turkiye (Depending on whether you don’t c9nsider it European in the first place) due to how intertwined it is with the Balkans and how heavily Atatürk modeled the country after western European states, especially France, but it obviously changed heavily over the decades and is kind of distinct from everyone around it. The former Soviet Republics in central Asia have been influenced by Russia a lot, but Russia is distinct from a lot of “European” stuff itself. Canada is in the same category as Australia’s and NZ.
I think you can’t really answer this question due there not even being a European country, that is really the most European, but European being a vide variety and combination of different peoples and cultures, meaning you would have to ask this question much more specifically.
Mhm pretty controversial to say… Some already consider them European, some don’t. I would say Caucasian countries.
idk about most European, but most EU-like would probably be Australia. Their latest laws regarding tech regulation and online protection feel like they could’ve come straight from Brussels
There’s no definitive answer, but in political, social and economic terms, countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay often embody values most European states share: very developed economies, liberal democracies with a strong welfare state and independent institutions. Cape Verde is not yet very developed, but when it gets there it can also join the list.
If we just go for cultural and/or historic affinities, in general, I’d say every European is bound to find similarities across America and Oceania. Perhaps a Portuguese feels more at home in Ouro Preto, Brazil, while maybe Spaniards feel more attached to say Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dutch with Willemstad, Curaçao, French with New Orleans, USA and so on so forth…
depends on what you consider as being in Europe, but I would say Cyprus and Malta (Cyprus is geographically Middle East and Malta is on the African tectonic plate, but both are basically European in every other sense and are even in the EU)
Definitely Argentina. Some places in Buenos Aires could easily fit within Paris. Other places have more Italy and Spain vibes. Some neighborhoods and towns have a strong British influence. Some places in Patagonia could easily be somewhere in the Alpes. I’ve heard Greece is also very similar, but that, I can’t say.
Canada definitely in terms of values. Built environment couldn’t be further from it. Big box store suburban sprawl hell outside of a select few cities.
Argentina. Lots of people talking about how European they are and lots of ancestors coming from Europe and Germany in the first half of the 20th century.
Australia felt the most familiar to me. I don’t agree with those saying Canada, we mostly share climate, but I feel they’re very culturally American and therefore more cousins rather than siblings. My vote goes to Australia every time
Chile felt very European when there, both culturally and infrastructure wise. Argentina for the culture but less so infrastructure
Argentina. Buenos Aires very much struck me as a mix of Paris and cities in Italy/Greece. I felt very at home there.
St Pierre and Miquelon (literally a bit of France in North America) and Cape Breton (a bit of Scottish North America).
Ceuta and Melilla.
Many parts of China used to be either colonized by European countries completely, or were parts of European “concessions” for some time
Hong Kong, of course, used to be a British colony, so it’s going to be British-like in many ways. Same thing for Macau being a former Portuguese colony; a lot of it is going to be Portuguese-like in many ways
Shanghai, for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, was centered around a [European dominated concession](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_International_Settlement) and a separate [French concession](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_French_Concession), so there are still lots of buildings and parts of Shanghai that have European-style architecture. The [Shanghai Bund](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund), one of the central districts of Shanghai, was built during this era and has lots of European architecture
Qingdao used to be part of a [German concession](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiautschou_Bay_Leased_Territory), so you can still see German architecture there. [Tsingtao Brewery](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsingtao_Brewery), originally “Germania-Brauerei Tsingtao Co Ltd”, was founded by German and British businessmen and today remains China’s most well known beer brand
Tianjin was also largely dominated by [European concessions](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_concessions_in_Tianjin), so there’s still lots of European architecture in the city
Harbin was once [heavily populated by Russians and other groups from the former Russian Empire](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbin_Russians), so the city still has lots of Russian architecture
So yeah, while most of China and Chinese cities weren’t directly influenced by European style urbanism or architecture, a lot of it was
when people talk about the term of Europe, it is not clear whether it refers to a geographical, cultural or historical definition, and it varies depending on the context.
Full countries, only two. New Zealand reminds me of Ireland. Australia reminds me of England. Even though I’d most of Britain would say New Zealand is reminds them of themselves.
But the others would be cultural enclaves in countries, especially Canada. Newfoundland – Ireland, Nova Scotia – Scotland, Quebec – France (actually Quebec is better than France as the Quebecois aren’t as rude), New Iceland Manitoba – Iceland.
Argentina is also home to Y Wladfa in Patigonia, basically New Wales. People still speak Welsh here
The answer is Cyprus.
It is an EU member, is populated by (mostly) Greek Cypriots and is in Asia (the Middle East, specifically).
People are listing NZ, Argentina etc but the real answers are the weird semi-independent territories belonging to France/UK/Netherlands.
Canary Islands are also not European (they’re Africa!) as is Ceuta and Melilla (all Spanish regions).
From an Irish perspective, Newfoundland is basically like a parallel universe, though the looking glass version of Ireland — they even speak with Co. Waterford accents and the landscape is similar, but colder.
Much of that area of Atlantic Canada is very familiar looking – except in winter in the colder bits.
New Zealand, particularly the South Island, feels remarkably familiar too.
I mean, European countries are generally quite small so you can’t make a 1:1 comparison. There are parts of driving through New England in the US that briefly feel like driving through parts of Ireland.