But us Western European people think of everything at the right of Germany and Austria as "Eastern Europe" because of the Iron Curtain and all. I suppose it's culural.
It's cultural for the last few generations. From a historical perspective it is rather inaccurate.
Let me just scratch the surface of the history of Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It is much more complex, but I hope this simplification will be enough for getting a feel for it.
Czech lands, which are east of Germany and Austria were a part of the same Holy Roman Empire for roughly 900 years until the beginning of the 19th century and then part of Austria-Hungary until the First WW. The influence is clear in trade, culture, education.
Slovakia is a bit different story. During the same 900 year period it was part of the Hungarian Kingdom, which was again a Central European entity.
Both countries sort of met in Austria-Hungary in the 19th century.
Post WWI they formed Czechoslovakia, from 1918 to 1938. It was democratic country with strong ties to the West.
The most intensive period of Eastern European/Russian influence was from the end of WWII to the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The time where the term Iron Curtain comes from.
This and the "slavic connection" with Russia are probably the sources of confusion. The languages are similar.
In the period of "romantic nationalism" of the 19th century, part of the so-called intellectual elite was intrigued by the idea of Pan-Slavism and wanted close ties with the Russian Empire. This was always more of a romantic idea that comes back every now and then. When the real decisions have been made (formation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, Velvet Revolution in 1989, joining the NATO and later the EU in 2004), they were always in a "westward" direction, in terms of both economy and diplomacy.
It's been more than 20 years now since the Iron Curtain lifted, so I guess people might as well start getting used to the idea that old divisions no longer make sense.
It's not really clear where Europe ends. Some people argue geographical Europe ends at the Ural Mountains. I guess currently Europe ends politically at the western border of Russia, rendering Austria a Central European country by your vague definition.
The old divisions make a lot of sense because they are still reality. Both in an economical and a cultural sense. Looking at Google Maps makes me consider Cuba to be kind of North America. :P
They probably do not know much about the banking sector, as most of the banks (I would say 95%) are branches of Western European ones, like the French Societe Generale, Austrian Erste Group, or the Belgian KBC.
The way they bought/privatized/stole them in the 1990s is a whole another story.
Yes, pretty much like South America starting in Tijuana or the Far East being west of California.
It is just a case of a relative description used as an absolute description, which is often quite convenient. Being capitalised is an indicator of that.
Not everything. They think Sweeden and Finland are Western Europe despite the fact that those countries geographically are more eastern than for example Poland.
