Geography and Urban Geography of
Europe
1
• Western extremity of Eurasia
• Lingering world influence
• High degrees of specialization
• Manufacturing dominance
• Numerous nation-states
• Urbanized population
• High standards of living
2
• At the heart of the land hemisphere
• Maximum efficiency for contact with the rest of the world
• Every part of Europe is close to the sea.
• Navigable waterways
• Moderate distances
3
• Excluding Russia, Europe occupies only 3.4% of the global surface
(2,284,509 sq. miles).
• Europe has a high-latitude northerly location.
• Much of Europe lies north of the conterminous United States (north of
the 49th parallel).
• Scotland lies in the same general latitude as Hudson Bay, and Norway
has many communities located as far north as the northern mainland of
Canada.
4
• Europe has an irregular outline, and is largely formed of
peninsulas.
• The main European peninsula is surrounded by:
• First order peninsulas: Scandinavian, Iberian, Italian and Balkan
peninsulas.
• Second order peninsulas: Jylland (Jutland), Bretagne (Brittany),
Cornwall, Peloponnesus (Peloponnesus) and others.
• The complex mingling of land and water has provided much of
Europe with many opportunities for maritime activities.
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Most
places
in
Europe are no more
than 640 km (400
miles) from the sea.
By contrast, parts of
the US, interior are
more than 1600 km
(1000 miles) from
salt water.
6
Europe has 13 landlocked states:
 Andorra
 Luxembourg
 Austria
 Switzerland
 Belarus
 Czech Republic
 Slovakia
 Macedonia
 Moldova
 Hungary
 San Marino
 Liechtenstein
 Vatican City
7
• Western Uplands (Northwestern Highlands)
•
•
Hard, geologically ancient rock
Scandinavia, Iceland, Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, Portugal Spain
• North European Plain (Lowland)
•
•
Extensive region, a prominent feature of Europe; includes parts of France,
Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Poland, the Baltic states,
Belarus and Russia
Rich in natural resources; coal, natural gas, potash, salt, iron ore, largest
cultivated region
• Central Uplands
•
•
Lower and less rugged than mountain regions, geologically older
Important deposits of metals and coal
• Alpine Mountains
•
•
•
High mountains, rugged plateaus, steeply sloping land
The Alps, the Pyrenees, the Apennines, Dinaric Alps, and the Carpathians
Highest peak is Mont Blanc –4807 meters (15,771 feet)
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• Climatic controls
• Warm currents (North Atlantic Drift)
• Westerly winds
• Differential of heating between land and water
• Europe’s climate is mild for its latitude
• London’s average
winter temperature is about the same as
Richmond, VA, which is 1500 km (950 miles) farther south.
• The British Isles, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany and
Poland lie north of the conterminous United States
• Most lowlands receive 50 centimeters (20 inches) of precipitation per
year:
• Average in lowlands is 50-89 centimeters
• A few highland areas receive 102 (40 inches) –254(100 inches)
centimeters per year
9
• Marine West Coast (Cfb)
• Humid subtropical (Cfa)
• Mediterranean or Dry Summer Subtropical (Csa)
• Humid continental (Dfa)
• Subarctic (Dc, Dd)
• Tundra (ET)
• Undifferentiated Highlands (H)
10
• Coniferous forest – Scandinavia
• Regions once forested but now mostly cleared for agricultural and
industrial development:
• Coniferous forest – Germany and Poland
• Mixed deciduous forest – southern England, France, Czech
Republic,Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
• Southern Europe's extensive oak forests have been reduced to
maquis (brush) and garigue (low scrub). Macchia in Italy,
chaparral in California. Reforestation efforts are underway.
11
Generally acidic
(Lime is added
balance acidity)
to
Low fertility (alfisols,
inceptisols, histosols,
spodosols and entisols)
Favorable soils:
Loess – central France
and Poland
Mollisols – Danubian
Plain
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• Rich in a variety of mineral resources
• Energy sources – coal and petroleum
• Iron ore deposits – Sweden, Czech Republic, Alsace-Lorraine
(France), English Midlands
• Bauxite – Hungary, Greece
• Lead -- Sweden
• Zinc --Sweden
• Scenery – tourist industry
13
 Rivers of Northern Europe
 Swift in summer, frozen in winter
 Important for generation of electricity
 Limited use for navigation
 Rivers of Central Europe
 Most important river of Europe is the Rhine.
 Carries more freight than any other river in the world.
 Originates in Alpine mountain chains of central Europe and flows
through Switzerland, Germany, France and The Netherlands
 Rivers of Southern Europe
 Of limited use for navigation because of dry summers and high water
flow in winter and spring
 Danube
 Is the longest river in Europe, but is handicapped by site situation
characteristics:
 Rapids at middle course “iron gate” make navigation impossible
 Flows through agricultural areas, rather than industrial
 Other important rivers: Thames (London); Rhone (Marseilles); Seine
(Paris); Schelde (Antwerp); Elbe (Hamburg), Po (Italy).
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• Europe is the third largest population cluster, after East Asia and
Southern Asia.
• Extremely
high population densities are found in western
European countries, especially Belgium, the Netherlands and
Luxembourg – Benelux.
• Population densities are not as high in Eastern and Southern
Europe.
• Nordic Europe, with the exception of Denmark, is sparsely
populated.
15
Current characteristics of Europe’s population:
• Falling share of the world’s population
• Fertility is at an all-time low
•
Fewer young people
•
Smaller working age population
•
Boom & bust age-dependent
•
Immigration partially offsetting losses
16
• Europe is among the most highly urbanized regions of the world.
• Europe's proportion of urban population has grown from 54% in
1950 to 73% in 2003.
• Western European countries have a higher percentage of
population living in cities than Eastern Europe.
17
Belgium – 97%
Iceland – 94%
United Kingdom – 90%
Germany – 86%
France --- 74%
Bosnia-Herzegovina – 40%
Albania – 46%
Moldova – 46%
18
The urban system of many European countries follows the law of the
primate city.
According to the law of the primate city, a country’s leading city is
“disproportionately large and exceptionally expressive of national
capacity and feeling.” (Mark Jefferson, 1939).
Examples:

Paris personifies France

London personifies the UK

Amsterdam personifies the Netherlands

Warsaw personifies Poland

Athens personifies Greece

Vienna personifies Austria

Stockholm personifies Sweden
19
The trend in European
urbanization is toward U.S.
style suburbanization.
European city scapes differ
from North American cities
due to:
Long histories
Scarce land
Strong government control of
urban land development
The internal spatial structure
of the European metropolis
consists of the central city
and its suburban ring, as in
London.
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• The
CBD contains the main
concentration
of
business,
government, shopping facilities
and wealthiest residences.
• Broad residential sectors radiate
outward
from
CBD
with
considerable class differentiation.
• European
suburbs are highdensity satellite towns or villages
surrounded by open countryside
that is heavily utilized for
recreational purposes.
21
London
Berlin
Madrid
Rome
Kiev
Paris
Bucharest
Budapest
Barcelona
Hamburg
Minsk
Warsaw
Vienna
Milan
Munich
Prague
Sofia
Belgrade
Naples
7,650,944
3,475,392
3,102,846
2,649,765
2,643,000
2,152,432
2,067,545
1,906,798
1,714,355
1,652,383
1,661,000
1,655,700
1,539,848
1,305,591
1,255,623
1,214,174
1,190,126
1,136,786
1,047,987
0
2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
22
• The cultural geography of Europe
is very diverse and complex.
• Europe
is a cultural mosaic,
based on language and religion.
23
• Indo-European Family (Major group, detail in next slide)
• Uralic Family
• Finnie
• Northwest (Finnish, Karelian, Estonian)
• Lapp
• Ugrian (Hungarian)
• Altaic Family – Turkish, in Turkish foothold in Europe
• Semitic Family – Maltese, spoken on island of Malta
• Basque Family – spoken by the Basques of Southwestern France
and Northern Spain
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• Teutonic (Germanic) – English, German-Dutch (Dutch, Flemish and
German) and Scandinavian (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic).
 Romanic (Latin) – French (French and Walloon), Spanish (Castilian and
Catalan), Portuguese (Portuguese and Galician), Italian (Italian and
Sardinian), Romansch (Rhaeto-Romanic), Romanian (Romanin and
Vlakh). Romania, an outlier of the Roman empire, managed to retain its
Romance language.
 Slavic – Western Slavic (Polish, Czech and Slovak), Eastern Slavic
(Russian, Ukrainian,Byelo-Ruthenian), Southern Slavic (Slovene, SerboCroat, Bulgarian)
 Baltic – Latvian and Lithuanian
 Illyrian -- Albanese
 Hellenic -- Greek
 Celtic – Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Breton
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• The predominant religion in Europe is Christianity.
• Islam is the predominant religion of Albania, and is the religion of
many immigrants to northwestern Europe from the Middle East
and North Africa.
• Religion as a unifying (centripetal) cultural force has been unable
to overcome the disunifying (centrifugal) force of nationalism in
Europe.
26
• Eastern Christians number 558,729,000 or 76.6% of a total
• European population of 729,406,000.
• Roman Catholicism dominates in southern Europe, Poland and
eastern Germany. 286,124,000 or 39.2% of total European
population.
• Orthodoxy is the predominant faith in eastern Europe and Greece.
158,775,000 or 21.8% of Europe’s population.
• Protestantism (especially Lutheran churches) is the major religion in
northern and northwestern Europe. 85,924,000 or 11.8% of the
population.
• Anglicanism (Episcopalian) number 25,632,000 or 3.5% of Europe's
population.
• Non Christians:
• Islam: 31,401,000 or 4.3% of the total population
• Judaism: 2,530,000 or 0.3% of the total population
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 Agriculture
 High degree of commercialization
 Dairy farming and livestock farming
 Specialized subtropical crops in Mediterranean Europe.
 Major crops
 Cereals, with wheat the leading cereal grain
 Rye – Germany and Poland
 Corn (maize) – Danube plains of Hungary, Romania and
Yugoslavia, the Po river valley of Northern Italy and the
southwestern lowland of France.
 Oats and barley
 Irrigated rice
28
 Fisheries
 High degree of commercialization
 North sea countries and Iceland
 Dogger Bank in the North Sea is a famous fishing ground.
 Norway is the European leader in quantity of fish caught.
 Europe depends heavily on food imports. It is self-sufficient in milk,
potatoes and rye. It imports wheat, corn, oil cake, soybeans, vegetable
fats and oils, chilled and frozen meats, cane sugar, cocoa, coffee and
tobacco; fibers (cotton and wool predominantly) and natural rubber.
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 Europe produces a wide range of industrial goods, from the most basic
to the most technologically advanced.
 Globalization has caused major changes in the industrial sector.
 Some famous European products are:
 Swiss watches
 English woolens
 Scotch whiskeys
 German porcelain and cameras
 Bohemian glassware
 Irish linens
 French wines, brandies and liqueurs
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The “Four Motors of Europe” are:
1.
Southeastern France’s Rhone-Alpes region (anchored by Lyon).
2.
Northern Italy’s Lombardy (anchored by Milan).
3.
Northeastern Spain’s Catalonia (anchored by Barcelona).
4.
Southern Germany's Baden-Württemburg (anchored by Stuttgart).
Other important European industrial regions:

Sweden:

Switzerland:

Poland:

Austria:

Italy: Venice

Spain: Bilbao
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SPATIAL INTERACTION
• Movement across geographic space
• Involves contact of people in two or more places for the purposes of
exchanging goods or ideas
Principles
• Complementarity
• Transferability
• Intervening opportunity
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 Two places, through an exchange
of goods, can specifically satisfy
each other’s demands.
 One area has a surplus of an item
demanded by a second area.
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 The ease with which a commodity may be
transported or the capacity to move a
good at a bearable cost
 Rivers, Mountain Passes, Road networks
 Advances in transportation technology
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INTEREVENING OPPORTUNITY
 The presence of a nearer source of supply or opportunity that acts to
diminish the attractiveness of more distant sources and sites
Would Austrian beer
be cheaper to import
into Italy?
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