query: continent main 
supports: The Weser is a river in Northwestern Germany. Formed at Hannoversch Münden by the confluence of the rivers Fulda and Werra, it flows through Lower Saxony, then reaching the Hanseatic-town Bremen (see: Hanseatic League), before emptying further north at Bremerhaven into the North Sea. On the opposite (west) bank is the town of Nordenham at the foot of the Butjadingen Peninsula; thus, the mouth of the river is in Lower Saxony. The Weser has an overall length of . Together with its Werra tributary, which originates in Thuringia, its length is . The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia, and Switzerland. The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. Mont Blanc spans the FrenchItalian border, and at is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres (just over 13,000 feet). Frankfurt am Main is a metropolis and the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2015 population of 731,095 within its administrative boundaries, and 2.3 million in its urban area. The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, which has a population of 5.8 million and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after Rhine-Ruhr. Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2013, the geographic centre of the EU is about to the east of Frankfurt's CBD, the Bankenviertel. Frankfurt is culturally and ethnically diverse, with around half of the population, and a majority of young people, having a migration background. A quarter of the population are foreign nationals, including many expatriates. The Main ( German pronunciation : ( man ) ) is a river in Germany . With a length of 527 km ( 327 mi ) ( including the White Main : 574 km ( 357 mi ) ) , it is the longest right tributary of the Rhine , and the longest river lying entirely in Germany ( if we consider the Weser and the Werra as two separate rivers ; together they are longer ) . The largest cities along the Main are Frankfurt am Main and Würzburg . The Rhine (, , ) is a European river that begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps, forms part of the 
  Swiss-Austrian, Swiss-Liechtenstein, Swiss-German and then the Franco-German border, then flows through the Rhineland and eventually empties into the North Sea in the Netherlands. 
  The largest city on the river Rhine is Cologne, Germany, with a population of more than 1,050,000 people. It is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe (after the Danube), at about , with an average discharge of about . The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of , and an estimated population of over 510 million. The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital within the internal market, enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished. A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. To the east and southeast, Europe is generally considered as separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways of the Turkish Straits. Yet the non-oceanic borders of Europea concept dating back to classical antiquityare arbitrary. The primarily physiographic term "continent" as applied to Europe also incorporates cultural and political elements whose discontinuities are not always reflected by the continent's current overland boundaries. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of , and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular immigration destination in the world. Germany's capital and largest metropolis is Berlin. Other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf. The Netherlands  is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three island territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing maritime borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Amsterdam is the country's capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of government and parliament. The name "Holland" is used to refer informally to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Bankenviertel ("banking district") is the name of the central business district in Frankfurt, Germany. It designates an area in the city centre, where many banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions are located. It is the most important financial centre in Germany and one of the largest in Europe along with La Défense in the Paris aire urbaine and London's City and Canary Wharf. The Hanseatic League (also known as the Hanse or Hansa; Middle Low German: "Hanse", "Dudesche Hanse", or "") was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 1100s, the League came to dominate Baltic maritime trade for four centuries along the coast of Northern Europe. It stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period (c. 15th to 19th centuries). "Hanse", later spelled as "Hansa", was the Middle Low German word for a convoy, and this word was applied to bands of merchants traveling between the Hanseatic cities whether by land or by sea. The euro (sign: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of the eurozone, which consists of 19 of the member states of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The currency is also officially used by the institutions of the European Union and four other European countries, as well as unilaterally by two others, and is consequently used daily by some 337 million Europeans . Outside of Europe, a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. The Danube (, known by various names in other languages) is Europe's second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe.
candidates: eurasia europe
answer: europe