Chapter 8

1. Chapter 8 Southern Europe

2. Southern Europe • Southern Europe is located between 35° and 45° north of the equator. • The area is sometimes called Mediterranean • Europe because the countries of southern Europe are located on the Mediterranean Sea.

3. Southern Europe • Three peninsulas make up southern Europe: the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian peninsula, and the Balkan Peninsula. • These peninsulas are the three physical regions. • Spain and Portugal make up the Iberian Peninsula. • Like all peninsulas, water surrounds it on three sides. • The Bay of Biscay lies to the northwest.

4. Southern Europe • The Mediterranean Sea • borders the east and south. • The Atlantic Ocean touches the western coast of the peninsula. • The Strait of Gibraltar links the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea. • A strait is a narrow passage of water between two larger bodies of water.

5. Southern Europe • The Mediterranean Sea borders the east and south. • The Atlantic Ocean touches the western coast of the peninsula. • The Strait of Gibraltar links the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea. • A strait is a narrow passage of water between two larger bodies of water.

6. Southern Europe • Four seas, each a part of the Mediterranean Sea, surround the Italian peninsula. • The Adriatic Sea lies to the east. • The lonian Sea separates Italy from Greece in the southeast. • The Tyrrhenian Sea lies off Italy’s southwestern coast. • The Ligurian Sea borders the northwestern coast.

7. Southern Europe • Greece the most southern part of what geographers call the Balkan Peninsula. • The lonian touches its western coast. • The Aegean Sea lies to the east and south. • This sea another arm of the Mediterranean. • The Aegean stretches from northeastern Greece to Crete, the country’s largest and southernmost island.

8. Southern Europe • The four nations of southern Europe are Spain, Portugal, and Greece. • Spain is the largest of the southern European countries. • More than half of the country is a dry plateau that geographers call the meseta or tableland. • The meseta receives little rainfall. Summers are hot.

9. Southern Europe • The region has little vegetation and is hard to farm. • Most people in Spain live on coastal lowlands on the edge of the meseta. • The Costa Brava, or Rough Coast, lies in the north of Spain. • To the south is the Costa del Sol, or Coast of the Sun. • Its year-round sunshine draws thousands of tourists.

10. Southern Europe • Portugal’s land looks a lot like Spain’s. Much of it is a dry highland. • Geographers call southern Portugal the Algarve. • Northern Portugal receives more rain than the Algarve. • Northern Portugal also has fertile soil and good farmland.

11. Southern Europe • Mountains cover more than three-fourths of Italy and Greece. • Most people in Italy live in mountain valleys or coastal plains. • The western plains of Italy’s Tyrrhenian coast are good for farming.

12. Southern Europe • In the south, the plains used to be swampy and marshy. • However, Italian farmers drained the swamps and marshes to create new farmland. • Since most Greeks live on the coast, Greek farmers also drained swampy areas to create farmland.

13. Southern Europe • Because of the rugged land in which they lived, the people of southern Europe have always looked to the sea. • All four countries share a long history of sailing. • The ancient Greeks were among the first people to trade with others by sailing the Mediterranean. • During the 1300s and 1400s, Italian ships sailed this sea

14. Southern Europe • Merchants brought silks and spices overland from India and China to the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. • Then Italian ships carried them to Italy and sold them in cities like Venice, Pisa, and Genoa. • Soon Spain and Portugal began looking for their own trade routes. • They wanted to have silks and spices to sell.

15. Southern Europe • During the 1400s, Portugal began to search for a sea route to India and China. • Portuguese sailors sailed south down the Atlantic Ocean toward the tip of Africa. • They were the first explorers to go around the tip of Africa to get to India.

16. Southern Europe • Spanish sailors also tried to reach Asia by sea. • However, they sailed west instead of south as the Portuguese had done. • Christopher Columbus, an Italian sea captain, sailed from Spain. • He tried to reach India and its spices by crossing the Atlantic Ocean. • Instead, he reached the Americas.

17. Physical Features and Climate • When you think of southern Europe, think of mountains. • The Pyrenees Mountains separate Spain from France and western Europe. • Some of these mountain peaks are over 11,000 feet high. • The Pyrenees separate Spain and Portugal from western Europe. • The Cantabrian Mountains is another big range in Spain. • While not as high as the Pyrenees, the Cantabrians are almost as long.

18. Physical Features and Climate • The Alps Mountains border northern Italy. Farther east, between Italy, Switzerland, and Austria, stand the Dolomite Mountains. • Just south of the Po River valley, the Apennine Mountains form the backbone of Italy. • They stretch from northern to southern Italy. The biggest mountain range in Greece is the Pindus Mountains.

19. Physical Features and Climate • Southern Europe also has many islands. Greece includes an archipelago of hundreds of islands. • In fact, islands make up about 20 percent of Greece. • Its biggest islands are Crete, Corfu, and Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean. • The two largest islands in the Mediterranean are Sicily and Sardinia. • They both belong to Italy

20. Physical Features and Climate • Spain also has some important islands off its coast. • The Balearic Islands sit in the Mediterranean. • The Canary Islands lie 800 miles southwest of Spain. • They sit in the Atlantic Ocean and are only 70 miles from the northwestern coast of Africa. • Grand Canary and Tenerife are the biggest of these islands.

21. Physical Features and Climate • As you know, many seas touch the coasts of southern Europe. • However, this area also has many rivers. • Most of them are shallow and short. • Portugal’s most important river is the Douro.

22. Physical Features and Climate • Two important Spanish rivers rise out of the mountains. • The Ebro and the Guadalquivir supply water for irrigation and hydroelectric power. • Some of Spain’s rivers dry up when rain does not fall.

23. Physical Features and Climate • The Po is the only navigable Italian river. • The Po River valley has some of the best farmland in Europe. • Italy’s other important rivers are the Arno, the Tiber, the Dora, and the Taro. • As in Spain, many of Italy’s smaller rivers dry up in the hot summer months.

24. Physical Features and Climate • Greek rivers run short, winding courses from the highlands to the sea. • None of them are navigable. Large ships cannot sail on any of them. • The Achelous Greece’s longest river. It only miles from beginning to end. • The most famous lakes of southern Europe are in Glaciers in the Alps formed them thousands of years ago. • They include Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, and Lake Garda.

25. Physical Features and Climate • Geographers usually describe the climate of southern Europe as Mediterranean. • Summers are hot and dry; winters are short and mild. • Rain usually falls in the winter. • In fact, southern Europe has only two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. • However, some climate differences do occur in southern Europe. • For example, more rain falls on its northern part than on its southern part. When a person travels farther south, temperatures remain about the same.

26. Physical Features and Climate • How high the land is also affects the climate. • Mountain areas like the Alps receive more than 30 feet of snow a year. • High up on the mountains, temperatures are generally lower than on the coastal plains. • More precipitation falls in the mountains than on the coastal plains. • The best climate in southern Europe is probably on its islands. • There, temperatures are almost the same throughout the entire year. • Because of this, many tourists come to these islands every year.

27. The People • Each country in southern Europe has its own culture. • Spain, Portugal, and Italy are a mix of many people. • Their cultures reflect the different peoples who once ruled the land. • For example, Spain has several cultures, each one different from the other. • Northern Spaniards are descended from Celtic people.

28. The People • Southern Spain was strongly influenced by 700 years of Arab rule. • Ancient Iberian tribes influenced the people of eastern Spain and Portugal. • The Iberians were the first people in Portugal. • Later the Celts and Romans arrived there. • Still later, the Moors, Arab invaders from North Africa, overran Portugal and conquered the people there.

29. The People • Most Italians are descended from the ancient Etruscans and Romans. • During its long history; however, many different people have settled in Italy. • Greeks sailed to the south of Italy and set up colonies. • Later, Germanic and Norman people invaded Italy, defeated the people living there, and stayed.

30. The People • The people of Greece call their country Hellas; they call themselves Hellenes. • About 94 percent of the people of Greece have a Greek background. • But people from other areas have also influenced Greece. • Slavic people from the Balkans live in the northern part of the country. • About 4 percent of the people living in Greece are Turkish. • This is because the Turks ruled Greece for many years.

31. The People • Southern European cultures share much in common. • The people in Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece believe that the family is more important than anything else. • They have extended families. • That is, they believe that a family is made up of parents, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, godparents, and even close friends.

32. The People • Religion, history, and tradition play a big part in the lives of the people of southern Europe. • Traditions are ideas, beliefs, and customs that people pass down to their descendants. • Meals are an important part of daily life because they are a time for families to get together. • Southern Europeans like good food. • In fact, people all over the world like their foods, especially those of Greece and Italy.

33. The People • Small groups of Protestants, Jews, and Muslims live in Southern Europe. • However, most southern Europeans are Christians. • Most people in Spain, Portugal, and Italy are Roman Catholics. • Religious holidays are an important part of their culture. • One of the biggest events in their year is Holy Week. • This is the week that ends with the celebration of Easter.

34. The People • The world center for Roman Catholics is Vatican City. • It sits within the city of Rome, Italy. • The pope, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, lives there. • He runs Vatican City; which is an independent nation. • More than 95 percent of Greeks belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. Until about the eleventh century; it was part of the Roman Catholic Church.

35. The People • All southern European languages, except Greek, are one part of a Romance languages. • Romance languages grew out of Latin. • It was the language of ancient Rome. • Portugal speak Portuguese. • Most people in Spam speak Spanish. • However, in some parts of Spain, the people speak a local dialect.

36. The People • The language of Italy is Italian. • Many people there also speak a local dialect. • Sometimes, people who speak one dialect do not understand people who speak another dialect. • In Italy’s border areas, many people speak German or French.

37. The People • Before the 1940s, most southern Europeans lived in rural areas. • After World War II, people left their farms and went to the cities to work in factories. • Today, both Spain and Italy are very urban. • Of the four southern European countries, Italy has the most people.

38. The People • About 97 percent of Italians live in cities. • In Spain, more than 90 percent live in cities. • Portugal and Greece are more rural, but there too, over half of the people live in cities. • Southern Europe has many big cities. Madrid and Barcelona are the two largest cities in Spain.

39. The People • More than four million people live in the metropolitan areas of these two Spanish cities. • Italy’s largest cities are Rome, Napoli, Milan, and Turin. • Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, has over two million people. • Three out of every ten Greeks live in Athens.

40. The People • One problem facing Spain and Italy is regionalism. • That is, people feel more loyal to their part of the country than to the whole country. • One example of this is the Basques. • They live in northern Spain. • They speak their own language and have their own culture. • Some Basques want to separate themselves from Spain. As for Italy, it has been united only since 1871. • Regionalism is not as strong there as in Spain, but it does exist.

41. Economy and Environment • The economies of southern Europe differ. • All four countries are members of the European Union. • However, Italy is one of the richest countries in Europe; • Greece is one of the poorest. • Until World War II, all four countries had people not being economies based on farming.

42. Economy and Environment • Agriculture is still important in Greece and Portugal even though they do have some industry. • Italy began to industrialize right after the war ended. • Spain industrialized in the 1960s and 1970s. • Its economy grew quickly.

43. Economy and Environment • In recent years, Spain has had many problems. • One problem is inflation, which is a period of rising prices. • During a time of inflation, money does not buy as much as it used to. • Spain’s second problem is unemployment. • Many young people there cannot find jobs.

44. Economy and Environment • None of the southern European countries are rich in natural resources. • Italy has to import oil. • It does produce some hydroelectric and geothermal power. • Italy mines only three minerals in large amounts: mercury; sulfur, and marble. • It is the biggest producer of marble in the world. • People use Italian marble to build fine buildings.

45. Economy and Environment • Spain also uses its fast-moving mountain streams to • produce hydroelectric power. • Like Italy Spain must import oil for its energy needs. • It does have some iron, coal, and zinc in the north. • Small amounts of other minerals have been found in Spain’s central highlands. • Some mineral resources have been found in Portugal. • These are difficult to mine, however, so few mines exist.

46. Economy and Environment • The most important mineral found in Greece is bauxite. • Oil has been discovered near some Greek islands, but it has not been drilled for yet. • The reason for this is that nearby Turkey also claims the waters in which the oil has been found.

47. Economy and Environment • Agriculture is still an important part of the economy of • Portugal, Spain, and Greece. • Portugal is the world’s leading producer of cork, which comes from trees. • Fruit is Spain’s biggest agricultural export Greece exports olives, grapes, and other fruits. • The Portuguese and Greeks have always turned to the sea to make a living. • Their fishing industries are important Shipping is also important to the Greek economy.

48. Economy and Environment • Thousands of people in southern Europe leave the countryside each year and move to factory jobs in the big cities. • Other European Union countries have started manufacturing businesses in Spain. • They have done this because Spanish people work for less money than German or French people.

49. Economy and Environment • Italy’s largest, oldest, and most important industry is textiles. • Workers produce silk, cotton, and wool cloth. • An industry related to textiles is the making of clothes. • People around the world buy Italian suits, dresses, purses, hats, and shoes. • Italy also has a large chemical industry. • Italian made motorcycles and cars are sold everywhere, as are Italian-made tires, appliances, and electronic equipment.

50. Economy and Environment • Tourism is important to all four southern European countries. • Tourists come to see the ruins of ancient marble buildings and other historical sites. • They also enjoy the swimming, fishing, sailing, and wonderful weather in southern Europe.