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 North America
– Climate classification: Koeppen
• Gulf Stream
– North Atlantic Circulation
– Climate Change debate
• Predominant Weather Patterns
– Grosswetterlagen (GWL) – Weather Patterns
What makes the European Weather?
What makes the European Weather?
Contemporary European Climates
Contemporary European Climates
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A Climates = Tropical
B Climates = Subtropical
C Climates = Temperate
D Climates = Continental
E Climates = Polar
Subgroups indicate season
changes in precipitation and
temperature variation
Contemporary European Climates
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
Contemporary European Landscapes
General Divisions of the European Landscape
• Mountains
• Orogeny
• Caledonian
• Hercynian
• Alpine
Contemporary European Landscapes
General Divisions of the European Landscape
• Caledonian
• Northern Europe
• Norway, Sweden, UK and Ireland
• Cambrian (542-488 mya)
Contemporary European Landscapes
General Divisions of the European Landscape
• Hercynnian
• Central Europe
• Germany, France, Spain
• Silurian (443-416 mya) to Carboniferous (359299 mya)
Contemporary European Landscapes
Contemporary European Landscapes
General Division of the European Landscape
• Alpine
• Southern Europe
• Alps, Pyrenees, Dinaric Alps
• Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland,
Austria
• Tertiary (65-1.8 mya)
Contemporary European Landscapes
Contemporary European Landscapes
Impact of Glaciation
• European Lowlands
• Glacial Remnants
• Northern Europe
• Moraines
– Terminal moraines
• Loess Belt
– Windblown glacial outwash deposits
Contemporary European Landscapes
General Hydrography of Europe
Cultural Landscapes
Overview
• Introduction
• How should geographers study religion in Europe?
• Exploring the evolving religious landscape of Europe
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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
How do geographers study religion?
Origins, diffusion and distribution
• Diffusion
– Paths of conversion
– Hierarchy
– Networks of modern religious movement
• Distribution
– Expansion
– Drawing power
– Networks and overlap
How do geographers study religion?
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
Exploring the evolving religious
landscape of Europe
Prehistoric Europe
• Animistic - The cave at Lascaux (17000 BP)
Exploring the evolving religious
landscape of Europe
Prehistoric Europe
• Nature religions
• Stonehenge and druidic sun cult
Exploring the evolving religious
landscape of Europe
Prehistoric Europe
• Nature religions
• Stonehenge and druidic sun cult
Exploring the evolving religious
landscape of Europe
Prehistoric Europe
• Pagan religious systems
• Athens and Greek cosmology - The Golden Ratio
Exploring the evolving religious
landscape of Europe
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
Exploring the evolving religious
landscape of Europe
Jewish Europe
• Renewed Anti-semitism from late 1800s onwards
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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)
Exploring the evolving religious
landscape of Europe
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
Exploring the evolving religious
landscape of 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
Exploring the evolving religious
landscape of Europe
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
– St. Marie De la Mer
• What happens at these places?
– The anatomy of a pilgrimage
Examining European sacred places
Ancient Pilgrimage Route
to Santiago de
Compostela
Main Cathedral in Compostela - Final
Point of the Journey
Examining European sacred places
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
Examining European sacred places
What makes Santiago de
Compostela sacred?
• The place itself
– Santiago = Saint James
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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
Examining European sacred places
What makes Santiago de
Compostela sacred?
• The movement associated
with it
– Movement from sacred sites
to holy cities
– Movement of increasing
intensity