WESTERN EUROPE
Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece. Yes, I know Greece isn't connected to the rest of them--we'll talk about that in class. There are also five other countries that are so small that they don't even show up on this map, and you've probably only ever heard of one of them: Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, and Liechtenstein.
Intro
Europe merits recognition as a world realm despite its
small size relative to the rest of the Eurasian land mass. Despite its size,
Europe's influence extends well beyond its geographic boundaries. European
influences, innovations empires and revolutions have transformed the world.
Despite internal wars, loss of colonial empires and the impact of external
competition, Europe has proved to contain the human and natural resources
necessary to overcome internal and external obstacles.
Globally, Europe's relative location, at the heart of the land hemisphere, is one for maximum efficiency for contact with the rest of the world. Almost nowhere is Europe far from the sea and it interfaces with the land as it does no where else on Earth. Southern and Western Europe consist almost entirely of peninsulas and islands from Greece, Italy and the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) to the British Isles, Denmark and the Scandinavian peninsula (Norway and Sweden). Southern Europe faces the Mediterranean and Western Europe virtually surrounds the North Sea as it look out over the Atlantic Ocean. Europe has long been a place of contact between peoples and cultures, of circulation of goods and ideas. The hundreds of miles of navigable waterways; the easily traversed bays, straits and channels between numerous islands and peninsulas and the Mainland; and the highly accessible Mediterranean, North and Baltic Seas all provided the route ways for these exchanges. Later, even the oceans become avenues of long distance spatial interaction.
This historic advantage of moderate distances applies
on the mainland as well. Europe's Alps may form a transcontinental divider,
but what they separate still lies in close contact. No place in Europe is
very far from anyplace else on the continent, although nearby places are
often sharply different from each other. Short distances and large differences
make for much interaction which is typical of European geography over the
past 1000 years.
Western European Climate
Of all of Europe's advantages, none stand out as much
as Europe's mild and temperate climate. At first glance it would appear
to be a harsh and cold climate, due to its northerly position on the globe
(most of the continental land mass lies north of New York City). But winters
in Madrid and Paris are less severe than those in New York and Boston. The
reasons for Europe's mild climate are due to two factors; prevailing westerly
winds and the North Atlantic Drift ocean current.
Europe's northerly location places it in the prevailing westerly wind belt. This brings mild maritime air from the Atlantic modifying the winters and summers (Africa's dry land mass lies just across the Mediterranean). These prevailing winds also prevent bitterly cold arctic air from penetrating into the continent instead sweeping into Russia, which does experience bitterly cold winters. Only occasionally due to changes in jet stream currents does arctic air penetrate all the way to the Mediterranean. Instead of continental polar air masses, Europe is dominated by cool maritime air from the Atlantic.
Adding to the moderate climate, ocean temperatures are warmer than what would be expected at this location. This is due to the North Atlantic Drift, an extension of the Gulf Stream, a warm water current that originates in the tropical Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. As the current moves past Cape Hatteras, it moves northeastward towards the British Isles, Scandinavia and even into the Arctic Ocean where the port of Murmansk (in Russia) remains open in the winter (albeit with ice breaker help) despite being located above the Arctic Circle. This warm water (relatively speaking) current warms the air masses that invade Europe from the west and provides enough moisture and instability that gives much of Europe beneficial precipitation.
These climatic controls help to explain Europe's climate, not too many temperature extremes and adequate precipitation. European climate falls under two classifications; Marine West Coast and Mediterranean.
European Physiography
European Topography is dominated by the following physiographic
regions.
The Central Uplands contain the majority of coalfields
and was the European center of the Industrial Revolution. This region served
as stimulus for Agrarian Revolution. The Western Uplands (Scandinavia,
Scotland, Ireland, Brittany (Western France), Portugal, Spain, Norway,
Sweden) are geologically related to the Appalachian Mountains of North America
separated by divergence of the North American and Eurasian Plates. The North
European Lowland extends from Southern Britain to Western Russia. It
is the most densely populated region of contact between Europeans and has
been an invasion route over the years for many armies. It has been subject
to ancient glaciation, has good agricultural lands and are home to many
navigable rivers: Weser, Germany; Elbe, Germany; Oder, Germany; Vistula,
Poland. The European Highlands include the Alpine Mountains: Alps,
Pyrenees, Apennines (Italy), Dinaric Ranges (Balkans), Carpathians
A few HISTORICAL notes...
The Greek Empire was noted for accomplishments in
political science, philosophy, architecture, sculpture, literature and education.
Greece's success was due in part to its geography- the fragmentation of
the islands allowed for local experimentation leading to a democratic government
(emphasis on local government) and pioneers of the city-state and large
urban areas.
The Roman Empire unified European continent as never before or since; advances in land and sea communications, military organization, law and government. Development of an urban traditions as never before –improvements in infrastructure needed to support economic growth and development. Development of a lingua franca (Latin) that unified the continent. Has not been unified as it was under the Romans. Legacy of ideas that influenced future civilizations: developed the geographic principle of areal functional specialization – bringing in diverse peoples and cultures within the Roman economic system – specialization of certain goods and services.
Rome’s decline coincided with peoples migrating to (and invading from) central Europe and invasions from Africa and Southwest Asia which commenced the The Dark Ages; a long thousand year period of turmoil and poverty.
The Dark Ages ended when Monarchies strengthened at the
expense of feudal societies, thus marked the beginning of nation-state.
Discovery of new territories in the world, promotion of mercantilism,
accumulation of precious metals through trade agreements and colonial conquests
all fueled the Agricultural, Industrial and Political Revolutions to come.
Revolutions which changed the world, and continue to do so today...
Masters of the WORLD--in the not too distant past
We should be reminded of why English has become an international language; of why the capitalist economic system is so widely accepted around the world; why there are Christians all over the place; why democracy is striven for in most nations around the globe. on a more simplistic note, why do people have tea time in India, play soccer in Brazil, speak English in South Africa? The answer? Look at the map below. Virtually the entire globe at some point in history has been a colony of a western European power--where all of the economic, political, religious, cultural ideals we accept as standards were conceived. As the europeans diffused outward in the world to absorb colonies, so flowed their ideas and ways of life. Pay particular attention to the few countries NOT colonized by Western Europe. More or less distinct from Europe, culturally? Politically? Linguistically?
Agrarian Revolution
The Agrarian Revolution was made possible by a sustained population increase during the 17th and 18th centuries, improvements in organization of land ownership, expanded markets and for profit farming rather than substance agriculture. New crops were introduced from Americas. Agriculture changed the economic geography of Europe and lead to changes in spatial patterns. Way more food = way more people = less people needed in the fields = more workers in the factories. It paved the way for the Industrial Revolution--Western Europe being the first place on earth to go through such a revolution.
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution commenced from a change from handicraft to mass production of products with the invention of steam engine. Coal was used to smelt iron rather than wood or charcoal. Britain benefited the most as the Industrial Revolution occurred when British influence extended worldwide and the most significant advances occurred in Britain. The British possessed skills necessary to make the machines that manufactured the products, controlled the flow of raw materials, and held a monopoly over products in demand. Manufacturing regions occurred adjacent to large coalfields in the British midlands. An east -west belt of manufacturing extended from northern France into Poland with heavy manufacturing centered on the Ruhr in western Germany.
Political Revolutions
The French Revolution led to revolutions all over the
European continent and the rise of the Nation-State (another distinctly
Western European innovation). A Nation-State is a political
unit comprising a clearly defined territory and inhabited a substantial
population, sufficiently well organized to posses a certain measure of power,
the people considering themselves to be a nation with certain emotional
and other ties. A Nation-State is also expressed in its legal institution:
political system, ideological strength, government that seeks to support
forces that unify a state over forces that will disunify it and European
model-many states elsewhere in the world are multicultural states.
The European realm has amassed fortunes at home and has established global influence due to its colonial exploitation abroad. It has survived a ruinous 20th century in which it was nearly destroyed by two world wars and realignment into east and west blocs during the Cold War. Although Europe constitutes a geographic realm, it exhibits little geographic homogeneity, physically or culturally. Regionalism in Europe is heightened by disunifying forces – also known as devolution -as it attempts to unify the realm into a common economic sphere.
The end of the Cold War in Europe has led to a revival of nationalism and old hostilities especially in Eastern Europe. Devolution is the process by which regions within a political state demand and gain political strength and even autonomy at the expense of the state. It typically occurs in countries who have historically had problems from the beginning to forge a nation-state. It is in countries patched together by external powers (Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia). Devolution in Europe is highlighted by Civil War in North Ireland, Scottish Nationalism, Basque & Catalonian separatism in Spain, Corsica from France, and Division from French and Flemish in Belgium. Devolution is a term which overall is better at describing forces in Eastern Europe.
The other trend at work in Europe, particularly Western Europe, is that of unification towards a regional entity similar to the Roman Empire. Voluntary associations of three or more countries for economic, cultural and/or political military unions are known as supranationalism with some loss of sovereignty.
Examples of supranationalistic organizations in Europe include:
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which we've discussed already, and the European Union (EU), perhaps the most important movement in modern European history.
The EU, formerly the EEC--European Economic Community, today consists of: France, Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Denmark and Greece
The trend in Europe is towards a single currency and reduced tariffs between member states. Difficulty exists as some countries balk at giving up their currency and sovereignty. More difficult questions concern admission of newly independent Eastern European countries whose economies and human rights records do not meet EU criteria. Even more difficult prospects appear as the EU expands into the Muslim near East, Turkey’s admissions vigorously opposed by Greece. Why did they form this union?--we discussed this in class. What better way to compete in the global market, than to become as big a player as the US, China, and others. However, whatever the reasons for its formation, the EU constitutes something radically new on the world stage--just like capitalism or the nation-state idea--another idea born in Western Europe which may diffuse out to the rest of the world.
Question is, how far are they willing to push it?
A single currency? A single language? A single culture? Full
elimination of borders? Its not just a economic thing anymore.
OPTIONAL: Just for your own reference,
check out this sweet-ass animated map page: EUROPE'S
CHANGING BORDERS
OPTIONAL: Check out this graphic
based EU information from the BBC: REDEFINING
EUROPE
OPTIONAL: Want to know more on
the EU and its workings for your personal knowledge, or a report?
Browse through Inside
Europe: Your Guide to Life inside the European Union