Which element is named after the continent Europe?

Europium is the element named after the continent Europe.

Europium has the symbol Eu and atomic number 63. It belongs to the lanthanide series, the group often called the rare-earth elements. French chemist Eugène-Anatole Demarçay identified it in the late 19th century and isolated it in 1901, giving it a name derived from Europe.

The discovery was difficult because europium occurs mixed with other rare-earth elements in minerals such as monazite and bastnäsite. Earlier researchers noticed unexplained spectral lines in rare-earth samples, but separating the individual elements required painstaking chemical work. Europium is unusually reactive for a lanthanide and commonly forms compounds in both +2 and +3 oxidation states.

A common mix-up is confusing europium with americium, which was named after the Americas, or with germanium and francium, named after Germany and France. Europium is especially useful in phosphors: europium compounds help produce red and blue colors in screens, lamps, and fluorescent materials.