EUROPE

Physical geography BEN NEVIS: HIGHEST MOUNTAINS IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 4,406 FT. LOW ROUNDED MOUNTAINS AND HIGH PLATEAUS WITH SCATTERED FORESTS. THE WESTERN REGION INCLUDES THE MESETA (SPAIN) AND THE MASSIF CENTRAL (FRANCE). SOUTHERN EUROPE: GEOLOGICALLY YOUNGER. MOUNTAINS ARE HIGH AND JAGGER.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY EARTHS CRUST LIFTED AND FOLDED FORMING THE PYRENNES. 11,000 FT. THE ALPS WERE CREATED BY GLACIATION AND FOLDING. FROM SOUTHERN FRANCE TO THE BALKAN PENINSULA. SOME OF MAJOR RIVERS IN EUROPE (RHINE, PO) HAVE THEIR SOURCE IN THE ALPS. GREAT EUROPEN PLAIN. FERTILE SOILS. SOUTHERN EDGE OF EUROPE IS ESPECIALLY FERTILE DUE TO LOESS (WIND-BORNE SOIL LEFT BY GLACIERS)

Physical geography

Physical geography DEPOSITS OF COAL, IRON AND ORE LED TO THE EUROPEAN INDUSTRIAL ERA. MOST OF EUROPE LIES WITHIN 300 MILES OF A SEACOAST. SOME REGIONS UNDER SEA LEVEL (NETHERLANDS). BUILT DIKES AND POLDERS

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY EUROPE IS A LARGE PENINSULA MADE UP OF SMALLER PENINSULAS. DURING THE LAST ICE AGE THOUSANDS OF LAKES WERE FORMED IN FINLAND AND SWEDEN. IN THE SCANDINAVIAN PENINSULA (NORWAY, SWEDEN, FINLAND) FJORDS WERE FORMED.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY SOUTHERN PENINSULA/IBERIAN PENINSULA: SEPARATES THE ATLANTIC OCEAN FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA. THE SPACE BETWEEN AFRICA AND SOUTHERN EUROPE’S (IBERIAN PENINSULA) IS KNOWN AS THE STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR. BECAUSE OF THE PYRENEES THE PEOPLE FROM THE IBERIAN PENINSULA WAS ISOLATED FROM THE REST OF EUROPE AND ORIENTED TOWARDS THE SEA. ITALIAN PENINSULA: THE APENNINES. BALKAN PENINSULA: LAND TRAVEL IS DIFFICULT DUE TO MOUNTAINS BOUNDED BY THE ADRIATIC, IONIAN, AGEAN AND BLACK SEAS.

Physical geography ISLANDS: ICELAND: VOLCANOES, HOT SPRINGS AND GEYSERS. HIGH LATITUDE & VOLCANOES. GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND: ROCKY CLIFFS, PLATEAUS AND VALLEYS. SARDINIA, SICILY, CORSICA, CRETE AND CYPRUS. TECTONIC ACTIVITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA. (MOUNT ETNA IS THE HIGHEST ACTIVE VOLCANO IN EUROPE, LOCATED IN SICILY).

WATER SYSTEMS RIVERS IN SCANDINAVIA ARE SHORT. ON THE IBERIAN PENINSULA THEY ARE NARROW AND SHALLOW. THE THAMES IN ENGLAND ALLOWS FOR LAGER SHIPS TO REACH LONDON. THE RHINE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RIVER IN WESTERN EUROPE. FROM THE SWISS ALPS THROUGH FRANCE, GERMANY AND THE NEDERLANDS.

WATER SYSTEMS

WATER SYSTEMS THE DANUBE RIVER. EASTERN EUROPE’S MAJOR WATERWAY. FROM GERMANY THROUGH HUNGARY AND ROMANIA TO THE BLACK SEA.

Natural resources ABUNDANT SUPPLY OF COAL AND IRON. LARGE DEPOSITS OF OIL AND NATURAL GAS UNDER THE NORTH SEA. FRANCE LACKS LARGE OIL AND COAL RESERVES HAS INVESTED IN NUCLEAR POWER.

NORTHERN EUROPE UNITED KINGDOM IRELAND ICELAND NORWAY SWEDEN FINLAND DENMARK

POPULATION MOST DENSELY POPULATED AREA: THE UNITED KINGDOM AND IRELAND. EARLY MIGRATION APPROX 2500-3000 YEARS AGO. (THE CELTICS) FOLLOWED BY ROMANS, NORMANS AND OTHER INVADERS. LAST CENTURY: MIGRATIONS FROM SOUTH ASIA AND THE WEST INDIES. SWEDES, NORWEGIANS AND DANES: GERMANIC HERITAGE & CULTURE EARLY ANCESTORS OF GREAT BRITAIN ARRIVED ABOUT 12000 YEARS AGO

CLIMATE CLIMATES AND VEGETATION VARY FROM THE SUB-ARTIC ICELAND, NORWAY, SWEDEN AND FINLAND TO THE WARM MEDITERRANEAN COAST OF ITALY, SPAIN AND GREECE. SAME LATITUDE WITH BOSTON, PARIS’ WINTER IS MILDER DUE TO WARM WINDS BROUGHT BY THE NORTH ATLANTIC CURRENT. THE TUNDRA REGIONS OF NORTHERN EUROPE HAVE PERMAFROST (SOIL FROZEN BELOW THE SURFACE)

CLIMATE MOST OF WESTERN EUROPE HAS MILD WINTERS, COOL SUMMERS AND ABUNDANT RAINFALL. SOUTHER EUROPE HAS A MEDITARRENEAN CLIMATE, WITH HOT DRY SUMMERS AND MILD, RAINY WINTERS. THE MISTRAL, A STRONG NORTH WIND FROM THE ALPS CAN SEND GUSTS OF COLD AIR INTO FRANCE. SIROCCOS, HOT DRY WINDS FROM AFRICA BRING HIGHER TEMPERATURES TO THE REGION. MOST OF EASTERN EUROPE, HAS HUMID CONTINENTAL CLIMATE WITH COLD SNOWY WINTERS AND HOT SUMMERS.

CLIMATE THE ALPS HAVE A HIGHLAND CLIMATE WITH COLDER TEMPERATURE AND MORE PRECIPITATIONS. FOEHNS, WINDS THAT BLOW FROM THE MOUNTAINS INTO VALLEYS AND PLAINS CAN TRIGGER AVALANCHES.

CLIMATE

climate STEPPE CLIMATE: HOT SUMMERS AND EXTREMELY COLD WINTERS. DRY, COLD GRASSLANDS AT HUNGARY, SERBIA, MONTENEGRO, ROMANIA, UKRAINE AND CENTRAL ASIA.