GEOG 3762 Geography of Europe

GEOG 3762Geography of Europe

Fall 2008

Dr. Olaf Kuhlke Week 2

Review

• Ideas of Europe • What is Europe about? • What distinguishes it? • What makes it different from the United

States? • T.R. Reid• Reactions?

European Landscapes

• Physical Landscapes– Climate– Geomorphology – Hydrography

• Cultural Landscapes– Cultural Attributes– Religion– Selected Aspects of the Cultural Landscape

Physical Landscapes

European Climates

What’s significant about European Climates?• Location of Continent– Further to the North than US America– Climate classification: Koeppen

• Gulf Stream– North Atlantic Circulation – Climate Change debate

• Predominant Weather Patterns– Grosswetterlagen (GWL) – Weather Patterns

What makes the European Weather?

Contemporary European Climates


• A Climates = Tropical• B Climates = Subtropical• C Climates = Temperate • D Climates = Continental• E Climates = Polar• Subgroups indicate season

changes in precipitation and temperature variation


Dominant European Climate Types• Cfb = Maritime Temperate = Fluctuating weather

patterns, often overcast skies, high humidity, cool summers, warm winters

• Dfb = Warm Summer Continental = Often Dryer summer than Cfb, cool, wet winter

• Csa = Mediterranean Climate = Hot, Dry Summer, Wet, cool, rainy winter

The Gulf Stream Effect – Real or Imagined?

The Gulf Stream – North Atlantic Circulation

The Jet Stream Effect – Typical Winter Air Movements

Grosswetterlagen

Predominant Weather Patterns

• Dependent upon north/south movement of the Polar Front

• Position of Highs and Lows over Europe

• Drive or block the movement of Low Pressure Systems from the Atlantic

Contemporary European Landscapes


General Divisions of the European Landscape• Mountains • Orogeny • Caledonian • Hercynian• Alpine

Contemporary European LandscapesGeneral Divisions of the European Landscape• Caledonian • Northern Europe • Norway, Sweden, UK and Ireland• Cambrian (542-488 mya)

Contemporary European LandscapesGeneral Divisions of the European Landscape• Hercynnian• Central Europe• Germany, France, Spain• Silurian (443-416 mya) to Carboniferous (359-

299 mya)


General Division of the European Landscape• Alpine • Southern Europe• Alps, Pyrenees, Dinaric Alps• Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland,

Austria• Tertiary (65-1.8 mya)


Impact of Glaciation• European Lowlands• Glacial Remnants• Northern Europe • Moraines– Terminal moraines

• Loess Belt – Windblown glacial outwash deposits

General Hydrography of Europe

Cultural Landscapes

Overview• Introduction • How should geographers study religion in Europe?• Exploring the evolving religious landscape of Europe– Prehistoric – The Greeks and Romans– Jewish Europe– Christian Europe – Islamic Europe

• Examining European sacred places

How should geographers study religion in Europe?

They should focus on • Origins, diffusion and distribution• Spatial characteristics of individual places and

movements– Significance, drawing power– Pilgrimage paths, spatial connections

• Sharing of and struggling over religious space

How do geographers study religion?

Origins, diffusion and distribution• Origins– Life, death and place of religious teachers• Founders • Missionaries • Saints

– Supernatural events • Miracles, apparitions


Origins, diffusion and distribution• Diffusion – Paths of conversion – Hierarchy– Networks of modern religious movement

• Distribution – Expansion– Drawing power – Networks and overlap


Spatial characteristics of individual places• Sacrality – Why is it sacred?• Hierophany– Encounter with a manifestation of the sacred -

miracle, apparition, vision • Life of founder or saint• Node of larger movement

– How did the sacred manifest itself? – How sacred is it?• Drawing power

Exploring the evolving religious landscape of Europe

Prehistoric Europe• Animistic • Nature religion • “Pagan” myths– Examples • The cave at Lascaux• Stonehenge and the Celtic Druids • Athens as a model of Greek cosmology


Prehistoric Europe• Animistic - The cave at Lascaux (17000 BP)


Prehistoric Europe• Nature religions

• Stonehenge and druidic sun cult


Prehistoric Europe• Pagan religious systems

• Athens and Greek cosmology - The Golden Ratio


Jewish Europe• End of Jewish State under Roman Empire - 66CE

– Diaspora development – Coexistence in early Christian Europe (4th Century AD onwards)

• Heavy persecution in Christian Europe– Crusades beginning in 11th Century – Expulsions - Inquisition

• Eastern European Tolerance– Poland

• Enlightenment reintegration– Emancipation Period in 1700 -1800s


Jewish Europe• Renewed Anti-semitism from late 1800s onwards

– Racial (Racist) Science– Zionism – Large-scale emigration– Holocaust

• Return to Europe after WW II– Russian and Eastern European Jews – Remaining anti-semitism– The Holocaust Memorial (Berlin)


Christian Europe• Apostle Paul • Birth of Christianity• Gnostic and Literalist Christians• Christianity unifies Europe

– Literalist dominance– Edict of Milan 313 – State religion

• Christianity splits Europe – Council of Nicea 325 AD – Series of Ecumenical Councils – Creedal difference– Great Schism 1054 split Latin from Orthodox Churches

The Roman Empire at the height of its political power and maximum geographic expansion

The gradual spread of Christianity to Europe


Christian Europe• Christianity splits Europe

– 1517 Martin Luther – Reformation movement begins– Calvin, Zwingly – 16/17th Century Church of England – Arrival of LDS in Europe - 19th Century

• Results– Europe is predominantly Christian Continent today, yet very diverse

denominations exist– Most European nation states have “state churches” – Certain brands of Christianity are officially sanctioned

The Roman Empire after its split in 330, divided into an Eastern and a Western Section

The fragmented Western Empire at the beginning of Frankish expansion


Islamic Europe• Birth of Islam

– 622 AD • Advancement of Islam

– Spain – Ottoman Empire – Challenges to Christianity

• Questions of Church vs. State in Islam – Sharia – Example of Turkey – Modern Controversies

What should the European reaction to the increasing presence of Muslims be?

Should they react at all?

Examining European sacred places

Why are some sacred places more popular than others? The example of Christian sacred places

• What makes places sacred? – The place itself – The movement associated with it

• What places can we distinguish?• Where are these places?

– Santiago de Compostella• What happens at these places?

– The anatomy of a pilgrimage


Ancient Pilgrimage Route to Santiago de Compostela

Main Cathedral in Compostela - Final Point of the Journey


What makes Santiago de Compostela sacred?

• The place itself– UNESCO World Heritage Site– Camino de Santiago (Way of St.

James) – Pilgrimage route(s) from France to

Spain– One of the most visited religious

sites in Europe and the world – Tremendous Infrastructure– Santiago = Saint James



• The place itself– Santiago = Saint James– One of the 12 Apostles– Early missionary– Returned to Palestine AD 44– Martyred – His remains were moved to Spain – Hermit Paleyo is led to remains by

vision in 813– Declaration as Holy Town in 1213

by Pope Alexander



• The movement associated with it– Movement from sacred sites

to holy cities – Movement of increasing

intensity

GEOG 3762 Geography of Europe

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