Geography 260 -- Geography of Europe
Lecture Outlines!
1. Introduction
2. Physical Geography
3. PHYSICAL REGIONS -- GROUP ANALYSIS
4. Religion
5. Language
6. Demography
7. Geopolitics
8. European Union
9. Agriculture
10. Rural Geography
11. Cities
12. Primary and Secondary Industries
13. Tourism
14. Services
1. Europe - Introduction
I. Europe as a Continent - What is Europe?
A. Boundaries
1. Physical Barriers
2. Climatic Boundaries
II. Europe as a Human Entity –
A. Religion
B. Language
C. Race
D. Other Modern Characteristics
III. European Great Ideas –
IV. Core and Periphery of EuropeA. Physical core
B. Economic core
C. Cultural core
V. Systematic Versus Regional Approaches –
2. Europe - Physical Geography
I. Introduction
A. Physical Geography: patterns of natural phenomena on earth's surface
1. Has much to do with distribution of humankind and prospects of economic
success
2. Elements: geologic processes, landforms, weather & climate, natural vegetation,
and soils
3. "Environmental determinism:" view that all human and economic patterns can be
explained by their relation to the natural world alone
II. The Influence of Geological & Physical Factors
A. Population Distribution
B. Economic Activity
C. Climatic Influences
D. Settlement Sites
E. Boundaries & Political Concerns
F. Resource Distribution
G. Physical Danger
III. The Physical Geographic Regions of Europe
A. River Systems - Crucial Role
1. Source of Transportation
2. Source of Water Supply
3. Source of Power
B. Major Mountain Ranges
1. Baetic
2. Pyrenees
3. Alps
a. Southern
b. Western
c. Eastern
4. Appennines
a. Dinaric Range
b. Carpathians
5. Kjölen
C. European Lowlands
1. Why are people concentrated in the lowlands?
2. Great European Plain
a. Only large, continuous area of essentially flat land in Europe
b. North Sea, along the Baltic (northern France, eastern England, Belgium,
Netherlands, northern Germany, and Poland), parts of Denmark and
southern Sweden)
c. By far the most important region of Europe today
d. Uneventful to tourists, yet heart of Europe from geographer's view
3. East European Plain
a. Arctic Ocean to Black Sea
4. Hungarian Basin
b. Breadbasket of Southeastern Europe
5. River Valleys and Narrow strips of coastal plains
a.Languedoc Plain
b. Po River Valley (Po-Veneto Plain)
c. Andalucia
e. Valachian Plain
D. Hills
1. Bretagne
2. Massif Central
3. Hercynian Hills
4. Cornwall/Cambrian "Mountains"
5. Scottish Highlands
E. Coastlines
1. Rugged and Mountainous Coastlines: mirror larger landform regions
a. Mediterranean coast, Scandinavia, Finland, British shoreline
2. Smooth Shorelines:
a. North Sea (Normandy), parts of the Mediterranean coast, Baltic (southshore)
3. Coastal Plains: marsh and shallow wetland
a. Rivers Po, Rhône, Rhine, Danube
b. Require effort to be made productive
4. Port & Harbor has been difficult--those few good harbors have been important
places since antiquity
F. Rivers & Streams
1. Running water of exceptional importance on populated continents
2. Rhine
a. Connects industry of eastern France and western Germany to the North
Sea through the Netherlands
3. Rhône
a. Flows south through France to the Mediterranean
4. Danube
a. Europe's only major eastward flowing river
b. Links most of southeastern Europe
5. Seine (France) & Thames (Britain)
a. Link Paris and London to sea
6. Po
a. Major river of Italy
7. Dnieper, Don, Volga
a. Former Soviet Union
b. Flow north/south
IV. Climate Types - What Factors produce these climates?
A. Marine West Coast
B. Mediterranean
C. Humid Continental
D. Minor Types
1. Subarctic
2. Arctic
3. Humid Subtropical
4. Alpine
V. Biotic Regions–How do these relate to climate and soils?
A. Atlantic
B. Mediterranean
C. Central European
D. Steppe
E. Taiga
F. Tundra
VI. OTHER Physical Issues
A. Straits
B. Soils
C. Environmental Modification
D. Pollution
3. Physical Regions – Group Analysis
Andalucía
Southern Spain
Located between Sierra Morena and Sierra Nevada
Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea
Guadalquivir River runs through it
Populated region, great climate
Strong Moorish influence
From Strait of Gibraltar inland across Southern Spain
The rain is southern Spain falls in Andalucia
Madre Mia! Andalucia!
Bretagne Hills
700-1500 feet elevation
North west peninsula of France
Between English Channel and Bay of Biscay
Language-Celtic
Farming, Uranium deposits
Highly populated
20-40 inches of precipitation
Rolling hills
Bretagne points to Britain
The French sticking their “tagne” out at the British
Cambrian Mountains
Located in western side of United Kingdom
Elevation is 1000 to 2000 feet
Located on coastal region
Low density, cities on coast for ports
Largest, highest range in southern UK
West of Cambridge University
Cambrian is a whale (Wales) of a mountain range
Came Brian to the corn wall to see a Whale
Carpathian Mountains
Highest peaks in Europe
Transylvania
Gypsies and Dracula
Sparsely populated
Mineral rich
Folded mountains fractured by Tectonism
Linguistic barrier between Slavic/Romanian/Hungarian
Tectonically stable
Natural boundary between Slovakia and Poland
Legend of Dracula runs through Transylvania
Roll in through Romania, you creep in through the Ukraine
Slope in to Slovakia, Poke into Poland
Dinaric Range
North-south orientation
Home to many ethnic groups
Folded faulted land
Few terraces, very green
Croatia
Cropland and woodland
High precipitation rates
Not densely populated
No minerals, some coal
Mixed Forests
Dianric=Generic
Dissected Dinaric Alps—Dissects countries and ethnicities
When Yugoslavia was dissected, Dinaric stayed intact
Eastern European Plain
From Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea
Black Sea:
Surrounded by land
Eastern Europe—elevation approximately 500 feet
Straight in Istanbul connects to the Aegean Sea
Arctic to Black Sea—area is flat like a large plain
Arctic is in the north
Heavily populated
Cropland and woodland
Mild precipitation
From the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea
Is an Eastern European Plain filled with cropland and a few trees
From the Barents Sea to the Black Sea
It’s the easy east European Plain to see
European Lowlands
Netherlands, Belgium, France
Along the Rhine—easy transportation, industrial development
Good farmland, cropland, natural resources
Deciduous forests
The higher you get, the lower you go
Great European Plain
Agricultural Arc
Nuclear power is relevant
Industry, coal, etc
Densely populated
20-40 inches of precipitation yearly
North-south rivers
Deciduous or mixed forests
Natural hazards are minimal
Much of it was under German rule during WWII
G (ermany) E (ngland) P (oland)
G (reat) E (uropean) P (lain)
Hungarian Basin
Borders the Danube
Constant political turmoil
Flat agricultural center for Eastern Europe
Referred to as Alfold
Tisza and Koros Rivers run through it
Natural springs and hot pots
Located in the eastern part of Hungary
High population density
20-40 inches of rainfall / year
Grass and deciduous forests
If you are hungry, go to Hungary
In the fertile Danube Basin, is where the food comes to be.
Hungary—the Breadbasket of Eastern Europe
Hungry people come here for its fertile land, surrounded by mountains it resembles a breadbasket
Hercynian Hills
Southern Germany
Foot hills to the Alps
The Rhine runs through it
Contains the Black Forest and Bohemian Forest
Also called the Swiss Plateau
Northern France to the Czech Republic
Coniferous and deciduous forests
Her Sin in Southern Germany made her run through the Black Forest through the hills of France to
the Czech Republic
The Hills are alive with the sound of Music (Austria, Swiss, Germany)
Kjolen Mountains
Located in Norway and Sweden
Runs north-south
Approximately 2000 feet
Younger series, strongly folded and faulted rocks
Forest woodland and tundra
High precipitation—40 to 60 inches in some places
Iron and Copper deposits
These mountains are “Kjol”
The Kjolen mountains are Kjold by the Fjords
Languedoc Plain
Located in Southern France
On the Gulf of Lion
Bordered on the north by Cevennes
Rhone and Canal de Midi run through it
River plains-deposits of sands, bottomlands
Coastal plains
Horizontal sediments make up physiography
Cropland, swamps
20-40 inches of precipitation/ year
Very dense population
Languedoc is long on ducks because ducks go to the south of France for the winter
A coastal plain north of Spain
Massif Central
Volcanic uplands
Intrusive igneous rocks
Volcanic lava flow
Uranium
Poorest Area
Big hills in central southern France
Mediterranean climate
1000-6185 feet elevation
10-20 inches of precipitation
Coniferous Forests
So “massif” that it sunk to the bottom of France
Pyrennes Mountains
11, 168 feet, 2nd highest in Europe
Recently formed mountain range
Natural boundary between France and Spain
Touches both the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic
East-West range
Stronghold of the Basques
One of Europe’s most difficult ranges to cross
Andorra is enclosed in the Pyreness
Only range that touches both the Mediterranean and Atlantic
Don’t scrape your knees crossing the border
A pier between France and Spain
Po River Valley
Runs east-west
Ends in Adriatic Sea
Begins near Italy-France border
Crosses all of Northern Italy
High precipitation rates
Highly populated region
Deciduous forests
A horseshoe of mountains surrounds it
Sought after by French and Austrian for rich fertile ground
Since all the rich people live in Milan
The po people live south near the Po
The Po river and the Pope can both be found in Italy
Soil isn’t po in the Po Valley
Scottish Highlands
Poor area of Scotland
Population decreases as elevation increases
Lots of precipitation
Good tourism
Deciduous forest
Traditionally Celtic still
Rye and Barley
Up to 4400 feet of elevation
Sheep raising a major economic staple
Metamorphic and Igneous rocks
Loch Ness Monster comes from here
Go to the Highlands of the Island of Scotland
The higher you go, the fewer people you’ll see
The higher you go, the more sheep you’ll feed.
Nessy is loched into the Highlands
Wallachian Plain (Valachian?)
South east Europe
Along the Danube River
On coast of Black Sea
Surrounded by alpine systems
Bottom lands, sandy
Great access to the Mediterranean
In the lowlands of the Transylvanian Alps
V is for Vampire and for Valachia near Transylvanina
The plain is surrounded by a Wall of mountains
Western Alps
Borders France, Italy, and Switzerland
15000 feet high
Always snow covered
Low population of people living on the mountains
High amounts of precipitation
Minor Coal Deposits
In Western Alps, three languages are spoken and three countries are broken
4. European Religion
I. Pagan Europe
A. Polytheistic Culture
1. Greeks, Romans, Gemanic
B. Mystery Cults
II. Diffusion of Christianity
A. Apostle Paul
B. Sequent Occupancy of Worship Sites
C. Constantine
III. Christian Fragmentation
A. East/West Split
B. Western Church Split
IV. Protestantism
A. Lutheranism
B. Anglican
C. Presbyterianism
D. Methodist/Baptist/United Reformed
E. Dutch Reformed
F. Brethren
G. Mennonites
H. Recent Changes - Proselyting Groups
V. Eastern Orthodoxy
A. Region of Influence
B. Architecture
C. Uniate Church
D. Armenian Churches
VI. Secularization
A. Uneven geographical pattern
VII. Non-Christian Minorities
A. Islam
B. Judaism
5. Languages
I. Centrifugal vs Centripetal Forces
A. Dialect Net
1. Linguistic Drift
2. “Tears”
3. Language Hearths
II. Indo-European
A. Romance
B. Latin
C. Italian
D. Castilian Spanish
E. Catalan
F. Portuguese/Gallegan
G. French
H. Romansch/Ladinic/Friuli
I. Sardegnan
J. Romanian
III. Germanic
A. German
B. English
C. Scandinavian languages
D. Icelandic
E. Alsatian
F. Swiss-German
G. Dutch, Flemish
H. Frisian
IV. Slavic
A. Polish
B. Czech/Slovakian
C. Russian
D. Great Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian
E. Slovenian
F. Serbo-Croatian
G. Bulgarian/Macedonian
H. Celtic
I. Welsh
J. Manx/Cornwall
K. Breton
L. Scottish Gaelic
M. Erse (Irish Gaelic)
V. Hellenic
A. Greek
VI. Thracian
A. Albanian
VII. Baltic
A. Latvian, Lithuanian
VIII. Romany
A. Roma - many different dialects
IX. Non-Indo-European
A. Uralic
1. Estonian
2. Finnish/Karelian
3. Sami (Lapps)
4. Hungarian
5. Basque
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Why do Languages Die?
Clearance Model
Changeover Model
Economic Development Model
Social Morale Model