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Europe

Chapter 4

Objectives

This chapter should enable you to:

See how Europe has become one of the most heavily modified landscapes on Earth

Recognize Europe as a post-industrial region with a wealthy, declining population

Trace Europe’s emergence from wartime divisions to supranational unity within the European Union (EU) and know why the EU is important

Objectives (cont’d.)

Consider the “social compact” that most European governments have with their heavily taxed citizens

Appreciate the trend toward greater unity under the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the concurrent trend of devolution of power from central governments to provinces

Objectives (cont’d.)

Become acquainted with the origins and issues of some of Europe’s persistent ethnic and political struggles, including the Troubles of Northern Ireland and heightened tensions involving Muslims

Understand the “malaise” affecting European institutions and peoples, and the nationalistic, anti-immigration, anti-euro, and anti-EU countercurrents to European integration

Area and Population

Europe is classified as one of the world’s seven continents, but it is not a distinct landmass

Subcontinent of Eurasia

Political region made up of the countries of Eurasia lying west of Turkey, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova

Europe’s Subregions

European Core

UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and the microstates of Andorra, Monaco, and Liechtenstein

Generally includes the countries with the largest populations and most important economic and political roles in Europe

Northern Europe

Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland

Europe’s Subregions (cont’d.)

Southern Europe

Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, and Cyprus

Eastern Europe

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, and Slovenia

Small but Powerful Europe

Area of Europe is half that of the continental U.S.

Europe contains one of the world’s great clusters of human population

Population of 542 million

Population density varies widely

Four countries comprise half of Europe’s population

Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy

Europe

Figure 4.2 The political geography of Europe.

Urban Populations and Industries in Europe

Greatest population densities

Two belts of industrialization and urbanization near historical sources of coal and hydroelectric power

Runs north-south from the UK to Italy

Runs east-west from UK to Poland

Contain large cities and produce more goods and services than the rest of Europe combined

Why is Europe’s Population Declining?

Transition from preindustrial high birth and death rates to postindustrial low birth and death rates

Peaked in 1997 and then slowly declined

Low birth rates

Fertility rate below population replacement level

Population aging

Bring on the Immigrants?

Immigrants increasingly viewed as:

A financial burden on society

Threatening to unravel the social safety net

Living outside mainstream European society

Immigration statistics

1.8 million people enter EU legally each year

100,000 more people enter the EU illegally each year

Physical Geography and Human Adaptations

Physical characteristics of Europe

Irregular shape, high latitude, temperate climate, jagged coastal outline

Much of Europe’s history has focused on seaborne trade, sea fisheries, and sea power

Much of Europe lies north of the latitudes of the 48 conterminous U.S., resulting in long summer days and short winter days

Why Is Europe So Warm?

Mild climate despite high latitude

Warm ocean currents

Gulf Stream

North Atlantic Drift

Westerly winds

Winter winds absorb heat from ocean and transport to land

In summer, the ocean is cooler than land, so the winds have a cooling effect

Winds also bring abundant moisture

Average annual precipitation in European lowlands is 20 to 40 inches

Atlantic Currents

Figure 4.6 The Gulf Stream bathes the western and northwestern region of the Eurasian landmass with relatively warm waters swept up from the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. The warm water makes the air temperature warmer than it otherwise would be, giving the region milder winters than would be expected at such a high latitude.

Human Settlement on Europe’s Landscapes

North European Plain,

Contains most of Europe’s cultivated land

Underlain by deposits of coal, iron ore, and other minerals important in the region’s industrial development

Glaciation

Created favorable sites for hydroelectric installations

Glacial deposition left fertile deposits on most of the North European Plain that are productively farmed today

Glaciation in Europe

Figure 4.9 The maximum extent of glaciation in Europe about 18,000 years ago.

Diversity of Climate & Vegetation

Despite its relatively small size, Europe has remarkable climatic and biotic diversity

Oceanic

Humid continental, short summer (Cold)

Humid continental, long summer (Warm)

Mediterranean

Subarctic and tundra

Undifferentiated highland

Climate and Biomes

Figure 4.12 Climate types (a) and biomes (b) of Europe.

Rivers and Waterways

Uses of river systems

Transport

Water supply

Electricity generation

Recreation

Romans – military transport

Dutch – pound lock for canals

The Rhine and Danube – historic and scienic

Important seaports

Cultural and Historical Geographies - Ethnicity

Europe emerged from prehistory as the homeland of many different peoples

Great expansion of the Greek and Celtic peoples in the first millennium B.C.E.

Various other tribes:

Italic

Germanic

Slavic

Finno-Ugric

Etc.

Cultural and Historical Geographies - Language

Major language families

Romance (evolved from Latin)

Examples: Italian, French, Spanish & Portuguese

Germanic

Examples: German, English, Dutch, Danish & Swedish

Slavic

Examples: Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak & Serbian

Language (cont’d.)

● Figure 4.16 The languages of Europe.

Europeans’ Religious Roots

Dominance of Christianity

Emperor Constantine – 4th Century

Roman Catholic Church

Europe’s largest religious group (48% of the population)

Eastern Orthodox Church

Constantinople

Sects Emerging from Protestant Reformation (16th Century)

Church of England, Calvinism, Lutheran Protestantism

European Colonialism and Its Consequences

The Silk Road – China and Venice

Age of Discovery in the 15th century

Portuguese exploration

The Columbian Exchange

Important in reshaping the world’s biogeography

The transfer of plants and animals from one place to another following Europe’s conquest of the Americas

Economic Geography

Europe had significant material and cultural riches

Achievements in shipbuilding, navigation, and the manufacture and handling of weapons gave Europe decided advantages

Foundations of modern science primarily came out of Europe

First world region to evolve from an agricultural to an industrial society

Europe Displaced

By 1900, European cities created about 90% of world’s manufacturing output

20th century Europe has about 25% of the world’s manufacturing output

Warfare

Rising nationalism

Rising economic and political stature of U.S. and U.S.S.R.

A major shift in global manufacturing patterns

Dependence on outside sources of energy

An Imbalance of Wealth

Western Europe is wealthier

Trends date to at least the 1870s

After World War II, eastern European countries were colonized by the Soviet Union

Vassal states gave up human and material resources to service the motherland

Hope for Eastern Europe

Dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991

Admission of eastern European countries to the EU

Living off Land and Sea

Agriculture – original foundation of Europe’s economy

Agricultural advances after about 1500:

Introduction of new crops

New systems of crop rotation

Industrial cities

Tariffs or direct subsidies

Fishing

Control of fishing grounds as commercial / political objective

Overfishing of cod

Postindustrialization

Europe’s postindustrial economy

Shift toward an economy based on services and production of high-tech goods

Unemployment problems

Welfare state

Use resources collected through high taxation rates to provide generous social services to citizens

The European Union, Built on a Market

Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium

Began in 1957 as the European Economic Community (Common Market)

France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands

Initially designed to secure the benefits of large-scale production by pooling resources and markets of its members

The European Union

Initial rules

Tariffs eliminated on goods moving between member states

Ease restrictions on the movement of labor and capital between member states

Monopolies discouraged

Common set of external tariffs established to regulate imports

European Union created in 1993

By 1996, nine additional members had joined the EU

The European Union (cont’d.)

Figure 4.24 Members of the European Union

Bring on the Euro

Euro, single EU currency, launched in 1999 as the centerpiece of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)

European Central Bank

Advantages

Lower transaction costs

Provides more certainty for investors, enhanced competition, and more consistent pricing

Restrain public spending, reduce debt, and tame inflation

Europe’s “Big Bang”

Ten Eastern European nations joined the EU in 2004

Created a mega-Europe of 450 million people and an economy valued at nearly $10 trillion

Embracing the less wealthy

The old EU countries have 95% of the continent’s wealth

When the big bang countries joined in 2004, EU’s average wealth per person fell by 13 percent

Geopolitical Issues - Postwar Europe

The Cold War and aftermath

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Military alliance founded in 1949 between the U.S., Canada, most European countries west of the Iron Curtain & Turkey

NATO faced off against the Warsaw Pact, an alliance of the Soviet Union and its eastern European satellites

Postwar Europe (cont’d.)

Cold War ended with collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991

Warsaw Pact was dissolved

Nuclear arsenals of the respective alliances were reduced

Plans made to turn the path of the Iron Curtain into the European Greenbelt, a mosaic of national parks and other protected areas

NATO remains today with a membership of 28 countries

Differences Between Europeans & Americans

Concept of social justice

Public education

Taxes on gasoline

Allowance of questions of spirituality into political debates

Acceptance of death penalty (outlawed in EU countries)

Regional Issues and Landscapes - The European Core

Properties

Densest, most urbanized population

Most prosperous economy

Lowest unemployment

Most productive agriculture

Most conservative politics

Greatest concentration of highways and railroads

Highest levels of crowding, congestion, and pollution

Great Britain

Political units of the United Kingdom

England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland

Was the world’s most powerful country

From defeat of Napoleonic France in 1815 to start of WWI in 1914

Commonwealth of Nations

Legacy

Much world culture has British roots

Importance of English language around the world

Ireland’s Troubles

Potato famine of 1845-1851

10 percent of population died of starvation or disease

A greater number emigrated to North America, Australia, UK

Conflict in Northern Ireland

Officially part of the United Kingdom

British’s direct rule vs. Irish Republican Army (IRA)

Struggle between Catholic Republicans and Protestant Unionists

Paris as a Primate City

11 million in metropolitan area

Greater population than those of the next two largest cities combined

Can divert a disproportionately high share of the country’s goods, services, resources, and minds to the city and away from outlying areas

Important geographic situation on the Seine River

Largest city of mainland Europe

Leading urban tourist destination

Divided and Reunified Germany

Reunification of Germany – 1990

Inequity between west and east

Europe’s dominant country

81 million population

Along with France, seen as political cornerstone of EU

Fourth largest economy in the world

One of top three countries globally in exports of goods

Europe Lights the Way on Alternative Energy

Achieve the following by 2020:

Reduce greenhouse gases to 20% below 1990 levels

Get 20% of its energy from renewable sources

To achieve this, EU members will:

Promote fuel efficiency in automobiles

Encourage the use of public transportation

Use alternative energies

The European Periphery

Properties of the European periphery

“Rimland” of countries whose interests are tied closely to and strongly influenced by those of the core

Have less political and economic clout than core countries

Dependent on the core countries

Subregions

Northern Europe

Southern Europe

Eastern Europe

Northern Europe

Norway and Iceland’s refusal to join the European Union

Fear EU fishing policies will diminish profits

Both countries, along with Japan, engage in whaling

Whale meat is a prized food

Claim that populations of whale species have rebounded to levels that should allow regular, limited harvesting for human consumption

Argue that growing whale populations will feed on huge amounts of commercially-important fish stocks

Southern Europe: Basque Country

The Basques

Unique ethnicity and culture unrelated to those of their host country majorities

2.3 million Basques of Spain

300,000 Basques of France

In the 1960s, Basque desire for independence led to militant group ETA (Basque Homeland and Liberty)

ETA is seen as a terrorist organization by the EU and U.S.

In 2011, the ETA vowed to cease violence

Southern Europe: North vs. South in Italy

Longstanding vernacular distinction between the north and south:

Northerners, in Padania, see themselves as sophisticated and cosmopolitan

Northern Italy has labor shortages

Industries are more productive and income levels are higher

Southerners, in Mezzogiorno, acknowledge agrarian roots as the source of their kinship values and enjoyment of life

Southern Italy has more unemployment

Southern Europe: North vs. South in Cyprus

Gained independence as the Republic of Cyprus in 1960

Greek Cypriots

Greek Orthodox Christians

Make up about 75% of estimated population of 1 million

Turkish Cypriots

Muslims

Make up about 25% of population

Buffer zone (“Green Line”)

Eastern Europe

Prior to end of Cold War:

Majority Slavic ethnicity

Former Communist statue

Subjugation to Soviet interests

Shatter belt

A large, strategically located region composed of conflicting states caught between the conflicting interests of great powers

Countries as Soviet Satellites

The European Shatter Belt

Figure 4.46 Positioned between stronger powers to the east and west, Eastern Europe is a classic shatter belt, with a tumultuous past reflected in its shifting borders.

Communism in Ideals and Practice

One-party dictatorial governments

National economies planned and directed by organs of the state

Abolition of private ownership (with some exceptions) in the fields of manufacturing, mining, transportation, commerce, and services

Abolition of independent trade unions

Varying degrees of socialization (state ownership) of agriculture

Balkanization

Fragmentation into ethnically based, contentious units

Took its name from the characteristic disharmony of the Balkan region

Yugoslav state dissolved in 1991

Ethnic cleansing

Forced emigration or murder of one ethnic group by another within a certain territory

The Roma

The Roma (aka “Gypsies”)

At 4 million, one of Europe’s largest ethnic minorities; highest population in Romania

Originally from India

Language similar to those spoken on Indian subcontinent

Itinerant people; often moving in caravans

Poorer than the majority populations; higher unemployment rates

Prejudice and discrimination