The Atlantic-facing flank of Western Europe. Includes the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and western France from the Bay of Biscay down to the Strait of Gibraltar. Defined by ocean-exposed coasts, strong westerlies, and climatic gradients that shift from cool maritime in the northwest to Mediterranean in the southeast. Structurally built from ancient Hercynian massifs and younger coastal plains. The region’s identity is shaped by outward maritime orientation: ocean fisheries, Atlantic trade routes, and centuries of naval projection.
