Chapter 4: Europe

1. Chapter 4:Europe

2. The European Map

3. Peninsula of Peninsulas • Westward projecting peninsular section of Eurasia • Four larger peninsulas • Scandinavian • Iberian • Italian • Balkan • Mountain ranges • Southern ranges are a result of plate tectonics. • Alps • Pyrenees • Dinaric • Carpathians • Fertile valleys, basins, and tablelands • Hungarian Basin • Po River valley • Meseta

4. More on the European Subcontinent • Great European Plain • Lowland that dominates northern Europe • Atlantic coast of France to the top of Russia and into Eurasia • Highly fertile soils • Sizeable agriculture • Hill lands • Celtic refuge • Two basic locations • Atlantic coasts of Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland, and Britain • Central European zone

5. The European Subcontinent

6. Landforms and Soils of Europe

7. Summer in the Italian Alps & Mt. Etna, Sicily

8. Agriculture of the Paris Basin & Rolling Hills of Western Ireland

9. Climate • Marine west coast • Westerlies • Prevailing winds from Atlantic Ocean via North Atlantic Drift • Provides a very moist and cloudy climate • Extends eastward halfway across Europe • Cool summers • Rare heat waves • Humid continental climate • Eastern Europe • Moist climate • Bitter cold winters • Summers similar to marine west coast • Mediterranean climate • Southern peninsulas–Iberian, Italian, and Balkan • Winter precipitation • Exceptionally dry summers

10. Climate Regions of Europe

11. Hydrogeography • Water is very important. • Movement of people • Major port cities • Rotterdam • Amsterdam • Hamburg • Rivers and canals to enhance transport

12. The Importance of Water: The Rhine River’sEconomic and Cultural Significance • Most important waterway of western Europe • Busiest inland river in the world • Delivers goods to some of the most densely populated areas of the world

13. Mineral Resources • Less abundant • However, coal in very high quality • North Sea • Petroleum • Natural gas

14. Mineral and Forest Resources of Europe

15. Environmental Modifications/Problems • Modifications • Forest clearance • Terrain and weather modifications • Terracing–Stair-stepped hillsides • Urban heat islands • Urban temperatures higher than in neighboring rural areas • Air pollution is a significant problem. • The problem of acid rain • Release of substances, such as sulfur and carbon, into the air • Comes back with rainfall • Creates death of forests • Result of industrial production and heavy use of fossil fuels • European Union has sought to coordinate standardized policies.

16. European Cultural & Economic Environment • Human phenomenon • Twelve basic traits • 80% Christian • 80%+ Indo-European speech • 90%+ Caucasian • Low infant mortality • Educated population • Highly urbanized • Dense population • Wealthy population • Stabilized or declining population growth • Densely-built public transit and road network • Less than 10% in agriculture • Well-established tradition of democratic governance

17. Core-Periphery Pattern • The most purely European areas lie in the center. • Germany • France • Peripheral areas exhibit fewer defining traits. • Cultural borders are rarely sharp.

18. Mackinder’s Heartland Theory, 1904 • Who rules East Europe commands the HeartlandWho rules the Heartland commands the World-IslandWho rules the World-Island commands the world World Regional Geography (Clawson et al.) - Ch. 11 Europe: Culture, Society, Economy

19. Religious Regions • Western church split in 1504. • Roman Catholicism • Eastern Orthodox • Still the most fundamental religious border in Europe • Protestant reformation (1519–1559) • Further split the western church • Added a north–south aspect to the religious map of Europe • North Europe predominantly Protestant (90 million) • Southern Europe predominantly Roman Catholic (250 million)

20. Europe and Non-Europe

21. Major Religions of Europe

22. Language Patterns • Similar to the religious map • Three major subdivisions • East–Western and southern Slavic languages • South–Romance languages • North–Germanic languages • Some smaller groupings • Celts • Greeks • Latvians • Lithuanians • Two major alphabet traditions • Latin/English • Cyrillic • Generally follows the eastern boundary of Europe.

23. Principal Languages of Europe

24. Demographics • Population • 535 million people within the continent • Four countries with populations of over 50 million • Center of Europe is most dense. • “European zone of continuous settlement” • Fueled by emigration from peripheries to the core • Natural rate of increase has ceased. • Entirely due to immigration • Some predictions of demographic collapse • Older population • Better health conditions • Zero population growth • Other indicators • Low fertility rates • Low infant mortality–Lowest of any sizable part of the world

25. Population Density of Europe

26. Declining Fertility • European fertility rates have stabilized or have been negative of replacement rates. • Combined with an older population leads to a more expensive welfare state

27. Infant Mortality Rates • The best indicator of level of living • Generally mid to high, but not as high as world standards

28. Immigration • Contentious issue in some countries • Several major migration flows • Associated with colonial legacies • Legal and by invitation • Britain–Asian Indians, Pakistanis, and West Indians • Germany–Turks • France–North Africa and the Caribbean

29. European Urbanization • 74% urbanized • Some counterurbanization taking place • European cities differ from American cities. • Far more compact • Less suburban sprawl • More tendency to flats as basic living standard • Much more likely to use mass transit

30. Europe: Distribution of Metro Areas & Predominantly Rural Areas

31. Structure of European Urbanization • Preindustrial core–medieval nucleus • Narrow streets • Marketplaces • Prestigious to live • Inner ring (preindustrial suburb) • Began as a lower-class settlement zone outside city walls • Remains predominantly residential • Middle ring • Result of the industrial revolution • Factories • Worker apartment (flat) blocks • Wound up dwarfing the older core and inner ring • Outer ring (postindustrial suburb) • Single-family, detached dwellings • High-tech factories and info/data gathering/processing

32. Primary & Secondary Industries • Primary industries–Those involved in extracting resources from Earth and seas • Secondary industries–Involved in the processing stage (typically called manufacturing) • Deindustrialization after 1950 • Industrial rejuvenation • System and geography differed from the old order. • Shift to focus on labor-intensive operations, producing items of high value

33. Service Industries • Postindustrial economy; emphasis on services • Government • Transportation • Banking • Retailing • Tourism • Producer services • Banking • Accounting • Legal services • Research and development • Insurance • Marketing and wholesaling • Real estate brokerage • Various types of consulting • Processing and provision of knowledge of information

34. Shifting Pattern of Primary & Secondary Industry

35. Centers of European-Producer Service Industries

36. Types of European Agriculture

37. European Union (EU) Political and Geographical Context • European map has changed in the last century. • Start of 20th century–22 independent states • Start of 21st century–44 independent states • Newer states are ministates–small and hard to discern on a political map. • Separatism • Trends within existing countries • Ethnic minorities seek to establish their own state. • More likely to arise in heterogeneous societies • Territorial by nature and can lead to nationalism

38. Political Separatism Movements in Europe

39. Germany • Current government • Federal Republic • Power is vested in the provinces (Länder). • Unitary government has dominated history. • Second Reich • Third Reich • Locational dynamics • South–Predominantly Roman Catholic • North–Predominantly Protestant • North–South divide is very ancient–Going back 2,000 years.

40. The Demise of the Berlin Wall • Vestige of the cold war • Symbol of the Post-World War II East/West divide • Began the process of the dissolution of the USSR and client states • Brought major economic, political, and social challenges for a unified Germany

41. France • Two challenges involving cultural regionalism • United a Germanized North with a Mediterranean South • Results of annexation of peripheral lands inhabited by ethnic minorities • Result has been an historic unitary state

42. Paris • A global city • Center of French society and government • Rich culture • Suburbs are home to Muslim immigrants, typically from former colonial lands. • Area of increasing instability • Poverty • Unemployment

43. Switzerland and Belgium • Switzerland • Success in joining linguistic and religious groups • Multinational country • 73% speak German • 21% speak French • 4.3% speak Italian • Alps divide the state. • Originally a confederation • Belgium • Dates from 1830 • Predominantly Catholic • Broke away from Protestant Netherlands • Tension between French Walloons and Dutch Flemings

44. Yugoslavia: Balkan Tragedy • Formed during World War I • Straddled human fault lines • Shards of former empires • Roman • Byzantium • Turkish • Austrian • Hungarian • Three mutually antagonistic faiths • Catholicism • Orthodoxy • Islam • Two alphabets–Latin & Cyrillic • Ancient legacies of hatred

45. Yugoslavia: Balkan Tragedy (Continued) • Serb domination • Major economic disparities • Prosperous • Slovenia • Croatia • Not so prosperous • Macedonia • Parts of Serbia • Memories of medieval independence harbored by Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina • Break up 1991 • Four provinces seceded. • 1992–Remaining parts renamed Serbia and Montenegro. • Put many people on the “wrong” side of borders • War, mass murder, and ethnic cleansing follow. • 2006–Montenegro declares independence.

46. The United Kingdom • Creation of Germanic tribes • Saxons • Angles • Normans • Formed in the SE lowlands • Expansion brings challenges. • Hilly lands on North and West conquered and annexed. • Celts never fully, culturally absorbed. • Scots and Welsh seek “home rule”. • Further western conquering into the island of Ireland. • Began Protestant–Catholic tension that remains to this day. • British rule Northern Ireland. • Republic of Ireland (1920s)

47. Italy • State that rests upon memory of ancient greatness • North • Location of the Renaissance (North) • More prosperous • South • Mezzogiorno • Feudalistic, poor, traditional, corrupt, and provincial • Long-time political fragmentation until 19th century • Unification originated in the North • Unifying factors • Italian language (fragmented into many dialects) • Natural framework

48. Rome • Major city • Home to Vatican City–Seat of the Roman Catholic Church

49. Spain • Origins date to merger of Castile and Aragon in 1569. • Greater part of Iberian Peninsula • Excluding Portugal • Castilians built and ruled Spain–Dominated ethnic minorities. • Basques • Catalans • Galicians • Strong separatist movements remain with Basques and Catalans. • Cultural tensions in 1930s lead to fascist dictatorship (Franco).

50. Poland • Historically, a target of other powerful empires • Germany • Russia • Austria • Reborn after World War I • Invaded/occupied by Germany to precipitate World War II • Emerged with a Communist dictatorship • 1989–Emerged as a free, democratic country • Core-periphery problems remain. • West • More prosperous and urbanized • Industrialized • European • East • Deeply rural • Impoverished