European Geography Chapter I – NOT IN TEXT BOOK

While the earth is over 4 billion years old.... Humans have occupied it less than a hundred-thousandth of that time Oceans and continents have moved around- changing shape, size, and location.... Less than a hundred million years ago, dinosaurs could walk from North America to Europe on dry land in a warm climate

Less than a few thousand years have passed since the end of the most recent ice age, creating the coastlines of today... Man probably originated in Africa and spread from there to every continent except Antarctica. Human groups became isolated by barriers- oceans, deserts, or mountains- and differentiated into the modern races.

Europe is small- 6% of the earth's land mass- just a little larger than Australia. Europe can be considered a peninsula of Asia- a cultural conception of differences from Asia and Africa Europe is separated from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea, but even more by the Sahara Desert, which dried up only a few thousand years ago.

The separation from Asia is less clear- the low and wide Ural Mountains. So, while Europe is physically a peninsula of Asia (Eurasia) like Arabia and India, it is very different. A major reason for this is the uniqueness of the Mediterranean Sea...

Being nearly closed in at the Strait of Gibraltar- only 8 miles across, it is shielded from the open ocean. It has very little tide action and few violent ocean storms. The Med. Sea is over two thousand miles long but, is subdivided by islands and peninsulas into lesser seas with identities of their own- Adriatic and Aegean.

This made it possible to travel great distances without being far from land- and aided the development of navigation from early times It is easy to cross from Europe to Africa at Gibraltar and from Europe to Asia at the Bosporus Strait in Turkey, so populations mixed through early migrations. 19 miles long 2.2 miles wide

Mountains In southern Europe and along its entire length- is a series of mountains The Pyrenees shut off Spain from the north, while the Alps isolate Italy, and the Balkans separate the Balkan Peninsula. Due to the Rhône River Valley, France is the only country that is both Mediterranean and northern in its culture

Rivers Until recently, rivers have provided easiest mode of transportation and give access to the sea Most of the important older cities of Europe are on rivers… Paris on the Seine Warsaw on the Vistula London on the Thames Lyon on the Rhone Rome on the Tiber Prague on the Vitava Kiev on the Dnieper Berlin on the Spree Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest on the Danube

Climates Climate depends on factors such as latitude, ocean currents and winds that bring rainfall Europe is as far north as northern US and southern Canada- Rome and Madrid are same as New York; Stockholm and St. Petersburg are the same as the center of the Hudson Bay Because of ocean currents, parts of Europe near the sea have less extreme temperatures, but the winters are cold enough to keep out certain diseases

Europe is the only continent without a desert- for the most point, fertile soils. Since the end of the last Ice Age, Europe has been one of the most favored places on the globe for human habitation. Climate changes... Roman ruins in Morocco's and Tunisia's interiors remind us that their climates were once favorable.

Distance Its effects vary according to the means of transportation... For most of human history neither persons, information, nor commands could travel much more than 30 miles a day- took three weeks to travel from London to Venice- six weeks to exchange letters. Most of history, Europe was made up of pockets of territory with own customs, way of life, and manner of speech. A "foreigner" might come from a thousand miles away or only ten...