Northern and Southern Europe

Northern Europe Geography Much of Northern Europe is rugged mountains, rocky soils, and jagged coasts. It consists of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. The main body was carved through Glaciation – Weathering and erosion caused by moving glaciers. Giving many mountains and plateaus to the area. Iceland is also a very rugged area but due more to the over 200 volcanoes on the island. The climate varies in the Northern Europe from warmer and mild weather to more icy and artic climates.

Southern Europe Geography The Mediterranean Sea dominates the coast of Southern Europe. This region is made up of Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece. The boundary between Western and Southern Europe is formed by two mountain ranges. The Alps and the Pyrenees. The land contains some mountains, such as Mt. Olympus in Greece. Most of Spain resides on a plateau called the Meseta Central. The weather is mostly Mediterranean – hot summers and mild winters, with the more mountainous areas having harsher winters and drier climates.

History of the Regions Southern Europe produced two of the world’s most influential civilizations ancient Greece and ancient Rome. In Northern Europe there were the Vikings a group of seafarers and invaders. Their voyages changed the history of Western Europe and North America.

Ancient Greece Greece’s many mountains and seacoasts influenced the development of the area to form separate communities called city- states. Each city-state was independent but connected by the Greek language. Athens and Sparta were the most powerful city-states before the Persian wars. Persians invaded Greece in 490 BC and the combined forces of Athens’s Navy and Sparta’s army took 40 years to defeat them.

Athens After the Persian wars Athens emerged as the most powerful city-state in Greece. It’s philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are still studied to this day in how they influenced the arts and learning of Greece. Was the first known democracy in the world. Many wars wrecked the Greek city-states and the Macedonian king known as Alexander the Great took control of Greece. Though Alexander the Great died at 33 he created an empire that lasted 300 years.

Rome Rome started out in Italy and started expanding their territory, by 275 BC they had control of the Italian peninsula. Rome continued to expand it’s boarders, in 330 AD Constantine moved the capital of Rome to the Greek city of Byzantium. The city was renamed Constantinople. Repeated invasions weakened the empire when the western part of the empire fell in 476 AD then finally the Eastern part of the empire fell in 1453.

Viking Age In 700 AD Scandinavian ships carrying Viking warriors started raiding the coasts of Western Europe. By 793 AD the Vikings had raided many parts of the British Isles and even into parts of France. Vikings were excellent seafarers and would sail their longships vast distances eventually settling in Iceland and Greenland. About in the year 1000AD Leif Eriksson led Vikings to the land called Vinland, now known as Newfoundland in Canada. He was the first European to set foot in North America.

Renaissance After the fall of Rome there was a period known as the Dark Ages, many advances in technology and understanding was lost. This changed in the 1300’s in Florence, Italy where poets like Dante and Petrarch were influenced by old Greek Tales. The Renaissance brought about the printing press, allowing literature to be printed at a faster pace. In 1609 an astronomer named Galileo designed a telescope and helped prove Copernicus’s theory that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

Modern History The 1800’s brought about changes to the Regions, Spain and Portugal lost their empires overseas, the Scandinavian countries lost their military strength but became prosperous democracies. In WW II Italy was ruled by Bendito Mussolini, a dictator that allied with Hitler. During WW II Denmark, not wanting to comply with the Nazi’s, managed to evacuate 7,220 of Denmark's 7,800 Jews, plus 686 non- Jewish spouses, by sea to nearby neutral Sweden before they were taken by the Nazi.