SOCIAL STUDIES- Unit 1- Europe
Study Guide
Name______________________________________________ Date__________ Test Date_______________
1) What are the most common languages language families spoken in Europe?
From Germanic, Romance, and Slavic language families
2) What are some specific physical features in Europe and where are they located?
Danube River, Rhine River, English Channel, Mediterranean Sea, European Plain, Alps, Pyrenees, Ural
Mountains, Iberian Peninsula, Scandinavian Peninsula
3) What two peninsulas did we discuss and where are they located?
Iberian – Spain and Portugal
Scandinavian – Norway, Sweden, and northern region of Finland
4) What is the largest religion in Europe? Christianity
5) What are the Jewish, Christian, and Islam holy books called?
Jewish – Torah
Christian – Bible
Islam - Koran
6) What happened during the Chernobyl nuclear reactor incident? In what year did this accident occur?
-1986
-one of the nuclear reactors at the Chernobyl plant exploded
7) What factor is a major contributor to environmental problems in Europe?
Air pollution caused by factories, traffic, etc.
8) How has acid rain affected the European environment?
-destroying the Black Forest in Germany
-harmful to plant life, aquatic animals, humans (cancer), and even buildings and sculptures
9) How has Europe been affected by its rivers?
Lots of rivers – key to transportation and trade!
10) What are the Germanic, Romance, and Slavic languages?
a. Germanic – German and English
b. Romance –French, Italian, and Spanish
c. Slavic--Russian
11) What causes acid rain?
air pollution, which is caused by factories and exhaust from buses and cars
12) Why does the United Kingdom have a problem with air pollution? What are the effects of it?
Because there are lots of factories and lots of traffic
Asthma, pneumonia, blackens buildings, harms wildlife
13) What are the effects of acid rain?
14) The European Plain extends from where to where (countries) and includes which countries in Europe?
stretches from the Pyrenees in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east
Germany - Russia
15) What do the Alps provide for Italy, Switzerland, and France?
water sources – the Alps are the source of many rivers in Europe
16) The United Kingdom includes which four countries?
a. England
b. Scotland
c. Wales
d. Northern Ireland
17.) What type of climate does the UK have and why?
mild due to Gulf Stream which moves warm water across the Atlantic Ocean to the UK
18) What were the effects of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl?
-exposed approximately one million people to unsafe levels of radiation
-tons of radioactive material surrounded the plant, poisoning the land and the water
-radioactive material entered the air, falling on northern Europe and Scandinavia
-drinking water was unsafe for months after the accident
-a 30-mile exclusion zone around the power station was abandoned by humans
-the faulty reactor was buried in concrete, but the radioactive material is still not safe
-the Chernobyl plant was finally shut down in 2000
19) What is the largest form of trade in the UK? Service industries
20) What kind of natural resources does Russia have? Are they able to use them? Why or why not.
bauxite, coal, copper, fishing, gold, iron ore, lead, natural gas, nickel, tin, zinc
Russia’s harsh climate and rugged terrain make its natural resources difficult to access
21) What has been an environmental issue for the Black Forest of Germany?
acid rain has damaged more than half of the Black Forest
22) What does the term “monotheistic” mean?
belief in one God
24) What kind of natural resources do the following countries have:
a. Russia - bauxite, coal, copper, fishing, gold, iron ore, lead, natural gas, nickel, tin, zinc
b. UK- coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, lead, zinc, gold, tin, limestone, salt, clay, chalk, slate, arable land
c. Germany- coal, iron ore, timber (although acid rain has damaged tree growth)
d. Italy-coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, lead, zinc, gold, tin, limestone, salt, clay, chalk, grapes, olives
25) Where do most Russians live, if only 10% of their land is habitable?
In European Russia (west of the Ural Mountains)
26.) What type of climate do the following countries have?
a. Russia- most of western Russia has humid continental climate; summers warm and rainy, while winters
cold and snowy – eastern Russia has cool, short summers and long, snowy winters; Asian Russia (Siberia) is a
tundra (nearly frozen, treeless plain)
b. UK- mild climate with plentiful rainfall year-round; winters mild and wet; summers warmest in south; The
Gulf Stream crosses the Atlantic Ocean which gives UK its mild climate
c. Germany- West – winters mild and summers cool; East – winters are very cold and summers very hot with
long, dry periods
d. Italy-most of Italy has mild climate, sunny summers and rainy winters
27.) What is the place of worship called for each of the following religions?
a. Judaism-synagogue
b. Christianity-church
c. Islam - mosque
Essay Question:
Choose of the following questions to answer and write notes or an outline, so you are prepared for your test.
Option A:
How do climate, geographic landforms and access to natural resources influence
concentrations in population? In short, why do people choose to live where they live –
specifically in Europe?
Option B:
Europe has seen its share of environmental issues, some caused gradually and others that
resulted from disaster or human error. Write about one of the environmental issues that had
an impact on Europe, being sure to address the following: where, why and how is occurred,
what was the cause and how people were affected.