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 EUROPEAN 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 LARGER SHIPS TO REACH LONDON.

• THE RHINE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RIVER IN WESTERN EUROPE. FROM THE SWISS ALPS THROUGH FRANCE, GERMANY AND THE NETHERLANDS.

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.