chapter 4: europe

Chapter 4:Europe

World Regional Geography, Tenth Edition Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. 2

The European Map


Peninsula of Peninsulas

• Westward projecting peninsular section of Eurasia• Four larger peninsulas

1. Scandinavian2. Iberian3. Italian4. Balkan

• Mountain ranges• Southern ranges are a result of plate tectonics.• Alps• Pyrenees• Dinaric• Carpathians

• Fertile valleys, basins, and tablelands• Hungarian Basin• Po River valley• Meseta


More on the European Subcontinent

• Great European Plain• Lowland that dominates northern Europe• Atlantic coast of France to the top of Russia and into Eurasia• Highly fertile soils• Sizeable agriculture

• Hill lands• Celtic refuge• Two basic locations

1. Atlantic coasts of Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland, and Britain2. Central European zone


The European Subcontinent


Landforms and Soils of Europe


Summer in the Italian Alps & Mt. Etna, Sicily


Agriculture of the Paris Basin & Rolling Hills of Western Ireland


Climate• Marine west coast

• Westerlies• Prevailing winds from Atlantic

Ocean via North Atlantic Drift• Provides a very moist and cloudy

climate• Extends eastward halfway across

Europe • Cool summers• Rare heat waves

• Humid continental climate• Eastern Europe• Moist climate• Bitter cold winters• Summers similar to marine west

coast• Mediterranean climate

• Southern peninsulas–Iberian, Italian, and Balkan

• Winter precipitation• Exceptionally dry summers


Climate Regions of Europe


Hydrogeography

• Water is very important.• Movement of people

• Major port cities• Rotterdam

• Amsterdam

• Hamburg

• Rivers and canals to enhance transport


The Importance of Water: The Rhine River’sEconomic and Cultural Significance

• Most important waterway of western Europe

• Busiest inland river in the world

• Delivers goods to some of the most densely populated areas of the world


Mineral Resources

• Less abundant

• However, coal in very high quality

• North Sea• Petroleum

• Natural gas


Mineral and Forest Resources of Europe


Environmental Modifications/Problems

• Modifications• Forest clearance

• Terrain and weather modifications• Terracing–Stair-stepped hillsides

• Urban heat islands• Urban temperatures higher than in neighboring rural areas

• Air pollution is a significant problem.

• The problem of acid rain• Release of substances, such as sulfur and carbon, into the air

• Comes back with rainfall

• Creates death of forests

• Result of industrial production and heavy use of fossil fuels

• European Union has sought to coordinate standardized policies.


European Cultural & Economic Environment

• Human phenomenon• Twelve basic traits

1. 80% Christian2. 80%+ Indo-European speech3. 90%+ Caucasian4. Low infant mortality5. Educated population6. Highly urbanized7. Dense population8. Wealthy population9. Stabilized or declining population growth10. Densely-built public transit and road network11. Less than 10% in agriculture12. Well-established tradition of democratic governance


Core-Periphery Pattern

• The most purely European areas lie in the center.• Germany

• France

• Peripheral areas exhibit fewer defining traits.

• Cultural borders are rarely sharp.

World Regional Geography (Clawson et al.) - Ch. 11 Europe: Culture, Society, Economy 18

Mackinder’s Heartland Theory, 1904

• Who rules East Europe commands the HeartlandWho rules the Heartland commands the World-IslandWho rules the World-Island commands the world


Religious Regions

• Western church split in 1504.• Roman Catholicism

• Eastern Orthodox

• Still the most fundamental religious border in Europe

• Protestant reformation (1519–1559)• Further split the western church

• Added a north–south aspect to the religious map of Europe

• North Europe predominantly Protestant (90 million)

• Southern Europe predominantly Roman Catholic (250 million)


Europe and Non-Europe


Major Religions of Europe


Language Patterns

• Similar to the religious map

• Three major subdivisions1. East–Western and southern Slavic

languages

2. South–Romance languages

3. North–Germanic languages

• Some smaller groupings• Celts

• Greeks

• Latvians

• Lithuanians

• Two major alphabet traditions1. Latin/English

2. Cyrillic

• Generally follows the eastern boundary of Europe.


Principal Languages of Europe


Demographics

• Population• 535 million people within the continent• Four countries with populations of over 50 million• Center of Europe is most dense.

• “European zone of continuous settlement”• Fueled by emigration from peripheries to the core

• Natural rate of increase has ceased.• Entirely due to immigration• Some predictions of demographic collapse• Older population

• Better health conditions• Zero population growth

• Other indicators• Low fertility rates• Low infant mortality–Lowest of any sizable part of the world


Population Density of Europe


Declining Fertility

• European fertility rates have stabilized or have been negative of replacement rates.

• Combined with an older population leads to a more expensive welfare state


Infant Mortality Rates

• The best indicator of level of living

• Generally mid to high, but not as high as world standards


Immigration

• Contentious issue in some countries

• Several major migration flows• Associated with colonial legacies

• Legal and by invitation• Britain–Asian Indians, Pakistanis, and West Indians

• Germany–Turks

• France–North Africa and the Caribbean


European Urbanization

• 74% urbanized• Some counterurbanization taking place• European cities differ from American cities.

• Far more compact• Less suburban sprawl• More tendency to flats as basic living standard• Much more likely to use mass transit


Europe: Distribution of Metro Areas & Predominantly Rural Areas


Structure of European Urbanization

• Preindustrial core–medieval nucleus• Narrow streets• Marketplaces• Prestigious to live

• Inner ring (preindustrial suburb)• Began as a lower-class settlement zone outside city walls• Remains predominantly residential

• Middle ring• Result of the industrial revolution• Factories• Worker apartment (flat) blocks• Wound up dwarfing the older core and inner ring

• Outer ring (postindustrial suburb)• Single-family, detached dwellings• High-tech factories and info/data gathering/processing


Primary & Secondary Industries

• Primary industries–Those involved in extracting resources from Earth and seas

• Secondary industries–Involved in the processing stage (typically called manufacturing)

• Deindustrialization after 1950

• Industrial rejuvenation• System and geography differed from the old order.

• Shift to focus on labor-intensive operations, producing items of high value


Service Industries

• Postindustrial economy; emphasis on services• Government• Transportation• Banking• Retailing• Tourism

• Producer services• Banking• Accounting• Legal services• Research and development• Insurance• Marketing and wholesaling• Real estate brokerage• Various types of consulting• Processing and provision of knowledge of information


Shifting Pattern of Primary & Secondary Industry


Centers of European-Producer Service Industries


Types of European Agriculture


European Union (EU) Political and Geographical Context

• European map has changed in the last century.• Start of 20th century–22 independent states

• Start of 21st century–44 independent states

• Newer states are ministates–small and hard to discern on a political map.

• Separatism• Trends within existing countries

• Ethnic minorities seek to establish their own state.

• More likely to arise in heterogeneous societies

• Territorial by nature and can lead to nationalism


Political Separatism Movements in Europe


Germany

• Current government• Federal Republic• Power is vested in the provinces

(Länder).

• Unitary government has dominated history.• Second Reich• Third Reich

• Locational dynamics• South–Predominantly Roman Catholic• North–Predominantly Protestant• North–South divide is very ancient–

Going back 2,000 years.


The Demise of the Berlin Wall

• Vestige of the cold war

• Symbol of the Post-World War II East/West divide

• Began the process of the dissolution of the USSR and client states

• Brought major economic, political, and social challenges for a unified Germany


France

• Two challenges involving cultural regionalism1. United a Germanized North

with a Mediterranean South

2. Results of annexation of peripheral lands inhabited by ethnic minorities

• Result has been an historic unitary state


Paris

• A global city

• Center of French society and government

• Rich culture

• Suburbs are home to Muslim immigrants, typically from former colonial lands.

• Area of increasing instability• Poverty

• Unemployment


Switzerland and Belgium

• Switzerland• Success in joining linguistic and religious

groups

• Multinational country• 73% speak German

• 21% speak French

• 4.3% speak Italian

• Alps divide the state.

• Originally a confederation

• Belgium• Dates from 1830

• Predominantly Catholic

• Broke away from Protestant Netherlands

• Tension between French Walloons and Dutch Flemings


Yugoslavia: Balkan Tragedy

• Formed during World War I

• Straddled human fault lines• Shards of former empires

• Roman

• Byzantium

• Turkish

• Austrian

• Hungarian

• Three mutually antagonistic faiths

1. Catholicism

2. Orthodoxy

3. Islam

• Two alphabets–Latin & Cyrillic

• Ancient legacies of hatred


Yugoslavia: Balkan Tragedy (Continued)• Serb domination• Major economic disparities

• Prosperous• Slovenia• Croatia

• Not so prosperous• Macedonia• Parts of Serbia

• Memories of medieval independence harbored by Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina

• Break up 1991• Four provinces seceded.• 1992–Remaining parts renamed Serbia and Montenegro.• Put many people on the “wrong” side of borders• War, mass murder, and ethnic cleansing follow.• 2006–Montenegro declares independence.


The United Kingdom

• Creation of Germanic tribes• Saxons• Angles• Normans

• Formed in the SE lowlands• Expansion brings challenges.

• Hilly lands on North and West conquered and annexed.

• Celts never fully, culturally absorbed.• Scots and Welsh seek “home rule”.

• Further western conquering into the island of Ireland.

• Began Protestant–Catholic tension that remains to this day.

• British rule Northern Ireland.• Republic of Ireland (1920s)


Italy• State that rests upon memory of ancient

greatness• North

• Location of the Renaissance (North)• More prosperous

• South• Mezzogiorno• Feudalistic, poor, traditional,

corrupt, and provincial• Long-time political fragmentation until

19th century• Unification originated in the North

• Unifying factors• Italian language (fragmented

into many dialects)• Natural framework


Rome

• Major city

• Home to Vatican City–Seat of the Roman Catholic Church


Spain

• Origins date to merger of Castile and Aragon in 1569.

• Greater part of Iberian Peninsula

• Excluding Portugal

• Castilians built and ruled Spain–Dominated ethnic minorities.

• Basques

• Catalans

• Galicians

• Strong separatist movements remain with Basques and Catalans.

• Cultural tensions in 1930s lead to fascist dictatorship (Franco).


Poland

• Historically, a target of other powerful empires

• Germany• Russia• Austria

• Reborn after World War I• Invaded/occupied by Germany to

precipitate World War II• Emerged with a Communist

dictatorship• 1989–Emerged as a free, democratic

country

• Core-periphery problems remain.• West

• More prosperous and urbanized• Industrialized• European

• East• Deeply rural• Impoverished


Romania• History of domination

• Included Moldavia early 20th century• Communist state after World War II led

by dictator (Ceausescu)• Strengths

• Language stems from Roman empire• 90% of population speaks

Romanian.• Sizable Hungarian-speaking

minority• Most belong to their own branch of Eastern

Orthodox Church• Weaknesses

• Fertile plains/agriculture remains unmodernized and underproductive

• Widespread poverty and low living standards

• At the very edge of Europe


The European Union

• Need to create economic union after WW II

• European Economic Community

• Common Market

• Six states originally

• Now an expansive political and economic union

• Renamed EU in 1993

• Governmental structure• European Commission

• Council of Ministers

• European Parliament

• European Court of Justice

• Euro is the currency.


The Growth of the European Union


Challenges to European Union

• Resistance• Some countries have rejected the EU Constitution.

• Euro and EU dictates are seen by some as intrusions against local culture and identity.

• EU membership now “by invitation only” • New states have to prove their worth.

• Some criticism of cultural imperialism

• Turkey an especially controversial decision

• No EU military• NATO is de facto.

• Trends toward separatism in EU states


EU: Economic Powerhouse

• One of the most powerful economies in the world• 41.7% of world exports in 2006

• Leading SE Asia and US in nine of 20 different product categories

• Second in six of the remaining eleven

• Two parallel trends–Europeanization and globalization

• Free labor mobility within the EU

• Controversial issue– “Guest workers”

chapter 4: europe

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