Europe should obviously be capitalized, since it is a proper noun. Should the northern part of the example sentence "I was traveling through northern Europe." be capitalized?
In country names such as North Holland, north is actually part of the name and not an adjective, and should therefore be capitalized.
However, in this case, there is no part of Europe officially named "Northern Europe", but is instead just used as a general (and varied, depending on you count them) list of countries roughly situated towards the north. What are the rules for capitalization in such a case?
Best Answer
The implied direction of your question is sound. As you say, "there is no part of Europe officially named "Northern Europe", but is instead just used as a general [...] list of countries roughly situated towards the north."
There is no need to capitalize 'northern' in this case, for the reason you implied. Contrast this with North Dakota or North Carolina (the official names of two of the United States), which do require capitalization of the "North" component, because that feature of the presentation of those names helps to mark them as official designations.
When 'north' or 'northern' is merely a general descriptor, no capitalization is required. Indeed, capitalizing the word would misleadingly imply that the term was an official name.
I therefore take issue with Translegal's guidance on this point.