Geographical and place names without an article

With the following types of proper nouns there is usually no article:

Continents, such as: Europe, America, Asia, Antarctica, Africa. But you say 'the African Continent'.

Countries, such as: Britain, France, Germany, China, India, Australia.

However, some names of countries have the definite article, in particular those which contain common nouns: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States of America, the United Kingdom. This is the same with abbreviated alternatives: the USSR, the USA, the UK, and so on.

Sometimes a name without the has an official alternative with the: China or the People's Republic of China.

Plurals also have the: the Netherlands, the Philippines. With the names of countries that have developed from geographical regions there are often two possibilities, with or without the definite article: Sudan or the Sudan, Yemen or the Yemen, Argentina or the Argentine, Cameroun or the Cameroons, Ukraine or the Ukraine, Ivory Coast or the Ivory Coast. The tendency is to use the form without the definite article.

Villages, towns and cities, for example: Chiddingstone, Tonbridge, London.

There is the exceptional case of 'The Hague', where the definite article is a fixed part of the place name.

Bays.

He worked as a tug boatman on San Francisco Bay.

However, where there are two nouns separated by 'of', the definite article is used, for example: the Bay of Bengal, the Bay of Biscay.

Lakes: the Baikal / Lake Baikal

.. the calm waters of Lake Michigan.

There are some exceptions: the Great Salt Lake, the Lake of Geneva (also Lake Geneva).

Individual islands, for example: Ireland, Bermuda, Sicily, Borneo.

However, there are exceptions when two nouns have 'of' in between: the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight.

Individual mountains, for example: Ben Nevis, (Mount) Everest, Mont Blanc, and so on.

Some names of foreign mountains keep the definite article: the Matterhorn.