1. Eastern Europe
Chapter 4 Section 1
Chapter Atlas

2. Physical Features Main landforms in Eastern Europe mountains
Balkan Peninsula
Balkan Mountains
Dinaric Alps
Carpathian Mountains
Transylvanian Alps
broad plains
Great Hungarian Plain
between the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvanian Alps
North European Plain
stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea
Most of the Eastern European farms and cities are located here

3. Balkan
Peninsula

4. Physical Features
The physical features of the northern Eastern Europe were shaped by an ice age.
time of lower temperatures when much of the land is covered in ice
Ice piled up as deep as 2 miles thick.
Glaciers – heavy sheets of ice
scraped up rocks and soil as they moved slowly dropping materials as they melted
created ridges of hills that extend for hundreds of miles across the region
formed lakes and rivers

5. Physical Features
Reading Check What effects have glaciers had on the physical features of Eastern Europe? Glaciers have created ridges of hills, dug out land for lakes, and deposited material that blocked the flow of rivers.

6. Climate and Agriculture
Latitude is the main factor affecting climate in Eastern Europe.
Southern Latitudes
summers are dry and winters are rainy
Northern Latitudes
winters are very cold and summers are generally mild
The continental cool summer climate covers much of Eastern Europe.

7. Climate and Agriculture
Rainfall on the Adriatic Coast is different from east of the Dinaric Alps
On the coast, 200 inches of rain may fall in a year.
Inland areas may get only 30 inches.

8. Climate and Agriculture
The difference in climate between coastal and inland areas is caused by:
Air rising over the mountains cools and drops its moisture as rain on the coastal side of the mountains.
Air that reaches the inland side of the mountains is quite dry so it brings little rain.
Rain Shadow Effect

9. Climate and Agriculture
The growing season on the North European Plain is shorter than the growing season farther south in the region.
Mechanized Farming
farming with machines
easy on large expanses of flat land
Wheat and rye are common crops in this region
well suited to the cooler climate and easy to harvest with machines

10. Climate and Agriculture
Reading Check How is agriculture in the north of Eastern Europe different from that in the south? In the north, agriculture is mostly mechanized. In the south it mostly uses human labor instead of machines.

11. Natural Resources and the Environment
Physical geography influences industry as well as agriculture.
The location of Eastern Europe’s factories depends on the location of natural resources.
Poland
coal
Ukraine
iron ore
steel is an important industrial product

12. Natural Resources and the Environment
Oil and gas are in very short supply in Eastern Europe.
countries import what they need to develop industry

13. Natural Resources and the Environment
The need for energy to fuel industry has created serious environmental problems.
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine
1986 explosion
Winds spread radioactive pollution over a huge area in Europe.
Many people became sick and died from the radiation.
Farmland was contaminated, so that the food grown there was no longer safe to eat.
20 years later, the area around the power plant was still contaminated.

14. Chernobyl, Ukraine

15. Natural Resources and the Environment
Eastern European countries have drawn on their coal reserves.
Burning coal and other fossil fuels sends chemicals into the air that cause acid rain.
precipitation that is acidic
Forests have been destroyed
soils are too contaminated for crops
polluted water and soil have cause higher rates of birth defects, cancer, and other diseases

16. Natural Resources and the Environment
To join the European Union, countries must install equipment to make power plants cleaner.

17. Natural Resources and the Environment
Reading Check What has caused damage to the forests of Eastern Europe? acid rain

18. Religious Diversity in Eastern Europe
Christianity is the dominant religion in Eastern Europe.
Divided into the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church
Catholic Church
headed by the pope in Rome
Eastern Orthodox Church
headed by an Ecumenical Patriarch
Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Pope Benedict XVI
of the Catholic Church

19. Religious Diversity in Eastern Europe
Muslims are the largest group of non-Christians who live mainly in Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, and the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine.
the southern part of Eastern Europe has been a borderland where the Christian and Muslim worlds meet

20. Religious Diversity in Eastern Europe
Judaism
During the Holocaust of the 1940s, 2/3 of the Jews in Europe were murdered.
During and after the Holocaust, many Jews left Europe.
there has been a revival of Jewish communities in some areas
Jews still continue emigrate, or leave Europe.
30,000 Jews leave Ukraine each year for the United States, Israel, and other places

21. Religious Diversity in Eastern Europe
The laws of the Soviet Union restricted religion.
Eastern European governments discouraged religion under Soviet rule.
Today, many people in Eastern Europe do not belong to any religion.
More than half of the people in the Czech Republic and 40% of those in Estonia claim no religious faith.

22. Religious Diversity in Eastern Europe
Religious life has become more active since the end of communism.
people have more opportunities to start and join religious organizations
Eastern Europeans have had the chance not only to return to traditional religious practices, but also to live more freely in other areas of their lives.

23. Religious Diversity in Eastern Europe
Reading Check Where are many Muslims found in this region? Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, and Bulgaria