Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands and one of the largest islands in Greece. In practice, however, it’s literally touching the coast of Turkey. As such, you may question whether it’s formally recognised as a part of Europe or Asia. It’s also not all that far off from Africa – so which one is it? Let’s take a look.
Rhodes belongs to Greece and, as a result, is part of the EU (since 1981) and the Schengen Area (since 2000). The island’s climate is clearly hot Mediterranean, as it’s dry and desert-like in some areas. It’s in the southern corner of the Aegean Sea, snuggled up against Turkey – it’s a lot closer to the Asian shore than to the European mainland – over 200 miles away from the mainland of Greece and mere 11 miles away from Turkey. You’ll be able to see the Turkish coast from the island. As such, is Rhodes in Europe or Asia?
Which continent is Rhodes a part of?
Most people tend to recognise Rhodes as a part of Europe, mostly just because it’s a part of Greece and that’s that. In the past, there were people like Philip Johan von Strahlenberg who suggested that the Dodecanese should belong to Asia. Today, we recognise that the borders between Asia and Europe are an artificial thing and Rhodes could be thought of as Asian given a specific understanding of how islands should be attributed to continents.
Basically, think of it this way: if we assign continental associations based on proximity to the nearest landmass, Rhodes is in Asia, no questions asked. At the same time, most Greeks think of Rhodes as Europe and, if you were to go to Rhodes and tell the locals they’re Asian, they’d think you a tad mad. So which one is it? Theoretically, both, for it’s in Eurasia. The divide is semantical and we tend to stick with Rhodes being in Europe for historical and political reasons.
We can also point to non-geographical understandings: would Rhodes be culturally more Asian or European? Greece has always been a bit of a mix, with most people reducing the ‘Europeanness’ of modern Greece to it being Christian. If Rhodes were Muslim, it would likely be reduced to being more Asian. In reality, it’s just that mix, which makes sense from a geographical standpoint.
The one definitive area of debate is that Rhodes is politically in Europe, as it’s a part of Greece. The truth is that, beyond that, you could see the Dodecanese islands as Asian, even though many people, including those living on Rhodes, would tell you otherwise. Still, Greece is considered a non-contiguous transcontinental country for a reason – the closer you get to the border of Europe and Asia, the more blurred the lines become. For peace of mind, stick with it being in Europe, for that’s where the debate has been generally settled.
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