Geography of Europe Ch. 9.1 Study the geography of the Europe and the Eurasian land mass, including its location, topography, waterways, vegetation, and climate and their relationship to ways of life in Medieval Europe.

I. Location

Europe: Asia Eurasia is the large landmass that includes both Europe and Asia.

Label EURASIA in LARGE CAPITAL BLUE LETTERS over your map

Ural Mountains: “The Great Divide” 1500 miles The Ural Mountains are the boundary between the two continents.

The Ural Mountains

Label the Ural Mountains and draw mountains

II. Topography

Topography is the shape and elevation of land in a region.

Southern Europe

Southern Europe is covered mainly by mountain ranges. Caucasus Pyrennes Carpathians Alps Apennines

Some peaks in the Alps reach higher than 15,000 feet! The Alps cover most of Switzerland, Austria, and parts of Italy and France. Some peaks in the Alps reach higher than 15,000 feet!

Mt. Blanc in the Alps Highest mountain in the Alps: 15,771 feet

Label the Alps and draw mountains

The Caucasus Mountains The origin of the word Caucasian.

Transylvania in the Carpathian Mountains Home of Vlad Tepeš, the Drakul (“Count Dracula”)

Northern Europe

Northern Europe is much flatter and is called the Northern European Plain Stretches from Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east

Northern Europe is covered with thick forests and many types of trees.

Many peninsulas that give Europe a very long, jagged coastline Northern British Isles and Scandanavia Scandinavian Peninsula Many peninsulas that give Europe a very long, jagged coastline

III. Climate

Southern Europe: largely warm and sunny climate allows shrubs and trees that don’t need a lot of water.

Northwestern Europe: mild and cooler, wetter climate bring freezing weather in the winter where few plants can survive

1. Label Northern Europe with a sun 2 1. Label Northern Europe with a sun 2. Label Southern Europe with snowflakes

IV. Waterways

R i v e r s Many of Europe’s rivers are in the Northern European Plain Some important rivers are the Danube, Thames, Rhine, Rhone, Ural, Volga, Ebro The snow in the southern mountains melts and flows out over the plain on its way to the northward sea. R i v e r s Volga R. Don R. Thames R. Elbe R. Vistula R. Rhine R. Oder R. Dnieper R. Seine R. Loire R. Danube R. Po R. Tagus R. Tiber R. Ebro R.

The Danube River 1770 miles

The Danube River Where Buda & Pest Meet Biking Along the Danube Flows through the 12 countries of Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, and the Ukraine.

The longest river in Europe --> 2,300 miles. The Volga River The longest river in Europe --> 2,300 miles.

The Volga River

Label these rivers and trace them in blue. Danube Thames Volga

V. Vegetation

Vegetation: How geography shapes life Southern Europe: Most people lived on coastal plains (similar to Japan) or in river valleys (like Africa) where the land was flat enough to farm Grapes and olives were grown that could survive the region’s dry summers People raise sheep and goats Many people became traders and seafarers

Southern Europe Draw grapes and olives along the Southern coast 2. Add goats and sheep 3. Now, draw boats to represent the traders and seafarers

Northern Europe: Most people lived farther from the sea and most towns grew along the river. London on the Thames Paris, right bank of the Seine Prague on the Vltava Budapest on the Danube

Northern Europe Draw small houses near the river to represent where people lived.

VI. The Big Idea

VI. The Big Idea The river provides transportation and protection Farmers grew many crops No mountains surrounded northern Europe making it easy to invade

VII. Checking for Understanding

Checking for Understanding What is the boundary between Europe and Asia? Where are most of Europe’s rivers located? How is the topography of southern Europe different from that of the Northern European Plain? What part of Europe do you think was open to more invasions? Why?