Which ocean lies mainly between Europe and North America?

The Atlantic Ocean lies mainly between Europe and North America.

Its basin separates the Americas from Europe and Africa, with North America on its western side and Europe and Africa on its eastern side. The ocean is broadly S-shaped and connects northward with the Arctic Ocean and southward with the Southern Ocean, while passages link it with the Pacific and Indian oceans.

The Atlantic is the second-largest of Earth’s five oceans, covering about 85.1 million square kilometres. It became central to world history during the Age of Discovery, when European voyages across it connected Afro-Eurasia with the Americas. Norse sailors reached North America before Columbus, but Columbus’s 1492 voyage had especially far-reaching consequences, including colonization and the Columbian Exchange.

The wording “between Europe and North America” is a useful simplification, not the ocean’s complete boundary. The Atlantic also lies between South America and Africa, and its marginal seas include the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and North seas.