World Regional GeographyChapter 4: A Geographic Profile of Europe

• Traditionally, Europe is classified as one of the world’s seven continents, but it is not a distinct landmass– Actually an appendage or a subcontinent of Eurasia

• Europe is the culture region made up of the countries of Eurasia lying west of Turkey, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova

• The traditional physical dividing line between Europe and Asia is drawn from the Ural Mountains down to the Caucasus, which technically places the majority of the above-mentioned countries within Europe

4 Delineating Europe

Political Geography of Europe

• Subregions of Europe– European Core

– Northern Europe

– Southern Europe

– Eastern Europe

4.1.1 Europe’s Subregions

• Area of Europe is half that of conterminous U.S.

• Europe contains one of the world’s great clusters of human population– Population of 532 million (2007)– 1 out of every 12 people in the world is a European– Population density varies widely

• 1,020 persons per square mile in the Netherlands• Only 7 persons per square mile in Iceland

4.1.2 The Europeans

Population Distribution of Europe

Population Cartogram of Europe

• Greatest population densities found in 2 belts of industrialization and urbanization near historical sources of coal and hydroelectric power– From the United Kingdom to Italy

– Britain to southern Poland and out into Ukraine

• These belts contain large cities and generate greater value of industrial output than rest of Europe combined

• Europe’s overall population is 74% urban

4.1.3 Industrialization & Development

• Europe has transitioned from preindustrial high birth and death rates to postindustrial low birth and death rates

• Population of Europe peaked in 1997• “Birth Dearth”

– Low Birth Rates• Employed and educated women choosing not to devote

time and money necessary to raise children– Fertility rate below population replacement level– No European country maintaining its population through births– Europe’s population aging faster than all other world regions

• Strategies– Cash incentives to parents who have multiple children– Offering welfare benefits to immigrants

4.1.4 Why Is Europe’s Population Declining?

• Physical Characteristics of Europe– Irregular shape

– High latitude

– Temperate climate

– Jagged coastal outline

• Estuaries and harbors offer protection for shipping• Much of Europe’s history has focused on seaborne

trade, sea fisheries, and sea power• Much of Europe lies north of the conterminous U.S.,

resulting in long summer days and short winter days

4.2 Physical Geography & Human Adaptations

Physical Geography of Europe

Comparison of Latitude and Area:Europe vs. North America

• Europe has mild climates despite its high latitude– Warm Ocean Currents

• Gulf Stream• North Atlantic Drift

– Westerly Winds• Winter winds absorb heat from ocean and transport to land• In summer, the ocean is cooler than land, so the winds have

a cooling effect• Winds also bring abundant moisture

– Average annual precipitation in European lowlandsis 20-40 inches

4.2.1 Why Is Europe So Warm?

• North European Plain– Extends from French-Spanish border far into Russia

– Contains the greater part of Europe’s cultivated land

– Underlain by deposits of coal, iron ore, and other minerals important in the region’s industrial development

– Home to many of the largest European cities

– Fertile loess soils

• Glaciation– Created favorable sites for hydroelectric installations– Glacial deposition left fertile deposits on most of the

North European Plain that are productively farmed today

4.2.2 Human-Environmental Relationship

The Swiss Alps from Space

Maximum Extent of Pleistocene Glaciation

• Despite its relatively small size, Europe has remarkable climatic and biotic diversity– Marine West Coast– Humid Continental Short-Summer (Cold)– Humid Continental Long-Summer (Warm)– Mediterranean– Subarctic and Tundra– Undifferentiated Highland

4.2.3 Diversity of Climate & Vegetation

Climate Types of Europe

Biomes of Europe

Land Use in Europe

Mediterranean Landscape in Greece

• Uses of River Systems– Transport– Water Supply– Electricity Generation– Recreation

• Romans used rivers for transport and today, riversstill make it possible to move cargo at low cost

• Dutch developed the pound lock for canals• The Rhine and Danube traverse many countries

and are important arteries for the flow of goods• Important Seaports

– London on the Thames– Antwerp on the Scheldt– Rotterdam in the delta of the Rhine– Hamburg on the Elbe

4.2.4 Rivers and Waterways

The Busy Rhine River

• Europe is a region marked by extraordinary cultural diversity– So many countries crowded into a relatively small land area– This richness can be experienced through a brief train ride

through Europe

4.3 Cultural & Historical Geographies

• Europe emerged from prehistory as thehomeland of many different peoples– Great expansion of the Greek and Celtic peoples in the

first millennium B.C.E.– Europe’s Greek and Celtic languages expanded at roughly

the same time, but are represented today only by remnants

• Major Language Families– Romance (Evolved from Latin)

• Examples: Italian, French, Spanish & Portuguese

– Germanic• Examples: German, English, Dutch, Danish & Swedish

– Slavic• Examples: Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak & Serbian

4.3.1 Linguistic & Ethnic Groups of Europe

Languages of Europe

• Dominance of Christianity– Embraced by Emperor Constantine in the 4th Century– Roman Catholic Church

• Europe’s largest religious group (280 million followers)

– Eastern Orthodox Church• Developed in Constantinople during Middle Ages as rival to Rome

– Sects Emerging from Protestant Reformation (16th Century)• Church of England• Calvinism• Lutheran Protestantism

• Europe has become increasingly secularized

• Islam is fastest growing religion in Europe

• Only one million Jews in Europe today

4.3.2 Europeans’ Religious Roots

Religions of Europe

• The Silk Road was an important global trade route, connecting China and Venice

• The balance of world affairs started shifting to Europe with the beginning of the Age of Discovery in the 15th century

• The process of exploration and discovery began with Portuguese expeditions down the west coast of Africa

• Explorers were the vanguards of a global European invasion that would bring the missionaries, soldiers, traders, settlers, and administrators

• The Columbian Exchange– Important in reshaping the world’s biogeography– The transfer of plants and animals from one place to

another following Europe’s conquest of the Americas

4.3.3 European Colonialism & Consequences

• Europe had significant material and cultural riches, which the colonial system built on to make it the world’s wealthiest region for centuries

• Achievements in shipbuilding, navigation, and the manufacture and handling of weapons gave Europe decided advantages

• Foundations of modern science primarily came out of Europe

• First world region to evolve from an agricultural to an industrial society

4.4 Economic Geography

• By 1900, European cities created about 90% of world’smanufacturing output

• In 20th century, Europe’s preeminence in world trade and industry diminished to about 25% of the world’s manufacturing output.This happened for several reasons:– Warfare– Rising nationalism– Rising economic and political stature of the U.S. and

U.S.S.R.– A major shift in global manufacturing patterns– Dependence on outside sources of energy

4.4 Economic Geography con’t

Ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin, 1945

• Western Europe is wealthier than Eastern Europe– Trend dates to at least the 1870s, when per capita

incomes in the west were twice those in the east– After World War II, eastern European countries were in

effect colonized by the Soviet Union• Served as vassal states that gave up human and material

resources to service the motherland

– Hope for Eastern Europe• Dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991• Admission of eastern European countries to the EU

4.4.1 An Imbalance of Wealth

• Europe’s Postindustrial Economy– Shift from energy-hungry, labor-costly, and polluting

industries toward an economy based on services and production of high-tech goods

– These industries do not employ as many people as the old manufacturing sector, so there are unemployment problems

• Many European nations fit model of welfare state– Use resources collected through high taxation rates

to provide generous social services to citizens

4.4.2 Postindustrialization

• Agriculture was the original foundation of Europe’s economy and is still very important

• Agricultural advances after about 1500:– Introduction of new crops, such as the potato– New systems of crop rotation– Scientific advancements– Industrial cities provided growing markets for farmers– Farmers protected through tariffs or direct subsidies

• Fishing an important part of the European food economy– Control of fishing grounds as commercial / political objective– Overfishing of cod

4.4.3 Land and Sea

Fishing Boats in Harbor of Skagen, Denmark

• Europe’s geopolitical situation has changed more profoundly and violently in the past 100 years than any other world region

• Europe experienced two world wars that wrought unprecedented devastation– World War I (1914-1918)

– World War II (1939-1945)

4.5 Geopolitical Issues

• European Union– Federation of nations similar to the United States– Largest post-war European supranational organization– Member countries are united beyond the authority of

any single national government and are planned and controlled by a group of nations

4.5.1 Postwar Europe

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)– Military alliance founded in 1949 between the U.S., Canada,

most European countries west of the Iron Curtain & Turkey

– NATO faced off against the Warsaw Pact, an alliance of the Soviet Union and its eastern European satellites

– Cold War ended with collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991• Warsaw Pact was dissolved• Nuclear arsenals of the respective alliances were reduced • Plans made to turn the path of the Iron Curtain into the

European Greenbelt, a mosaic of national parks and other protected areas

– NATO remains today with a membership of 26

4.5.2 The Cold War & Its Aftermath

European Membership of NATO

• Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium• Most important of Europe’s supranational organizations• Began as the European Economic Community, 1957• Initially designed to secure the benefits of large-scale

production by pooling resources & markets of its members• Maastricht Treaty of European Union, 1993

– Removal of nontariff trade barriers

– Implementation of the euro, a single EU currency, in 1999• European Economic & Monetary Union (EMU)• In 2007, the number of official euro-using nations was 13

4.5.3 The European Union

Members of the European Union

• The “Big Bang” of 2004– 10 eastern European nations joined the EU all at once

– Created a mega-Europe of 450 million people

– EU economy is valued at almost $10 trillion,nearly as strong as the U.S. economy

• Schengen Agreement– Attempt at integration, allowing free circulation of people

among 15 nations that signed the agreement

– To maintain internal security within this greater Schengenland, member states are supposed toexercise common visa, asylum, and other policiesat their external borders

– Truly open borders probably far in the future

4.5.4 Size and Diversity of the EU

• Ongoing issues facing the EU:– Many member states retreating to nationalist interests

– Struggle to craft and ratify a constitution in which all members can agree on matters such as defense and foreign affairs

• Conflict over distribution of power between big and small states• Debate over whether God should be mentioned in preamble• French and Dutch voters rejected the constitution in 2005• New draft of constitution could be ratified in 2008 or 2009

– Concerns with how to articulate a defense policy that does not conflict with NATO

4.5.5 The Future

• A rift developed between U.S. & Europe over the Iraq War• Questions raised on what we do or don’t have in common

– Many instinctively equate the U.S. with Europe when speaking about global patterns, as we share:

• Many common cultural roots• A great deal of the world’s wealth• Many of the same measures of quality of life

• Differences between Europeans and Americans– Concept of Social Justice– Provision of and Spending on Public Education– Taxes on Gasoline– Views on U.S. “Cultural Industries” (e.g., Hollywood films)– Allowance of questions of spirituality into political debates– Acceptance of Death Penalty (outlawed in EU countries)– Differences on the Geopolitical Front

4.5.6 Comparing Europeans & Americans