Europe
Defining the Realm
Europe is not a continent. A continent is a very large landmass mostly separated from other large landmasses by water. Many geographers identify an Eurasian continent of Eurasia
Boundaries
Europe is well defined by water to the north, west, and south.
The eastern boundary does not have any physical barrier
Where is the Eastern Limit of Europe?
Ural Mountains deep into Russia? The boundary is placed between Russia and its numerous European Neighbors to the west. Because of territorial contrasts, and Cultural properties

If Europe is not a continent, what is it?
Realm of peninsulas
Islands
585million people
40 countries

What propelled Europe to World superpower?

Locational Advantage
Located at the heart of the land hemisphere
What are the advantages of Europe’s relative location?
Advantages of Europe’s Relative Location
• Maximum efficiency for contact with the rest of the world
• Almost nowhere in Europe is far from the sea
• The hundreds of miles of navigable waterways
• No place in Europe is very far from anyplace else on the continent

Physical Landscape
The Central Uplands
This forms The heart of Europe.It is a region of hills and plateaus
Contain the majority of Europe's coalfields
European center of the Industrial Revolution.
Served as a stimulus for the Agrarian Revolution.

The Alpine Mountains
Highland regions named after the Alps

The Western Uplands
Geologically older.More stable than the Alpine mountains

The Northern European Lowlands
Most densely populated. Also known as The Great European Plain. Most below 500 feet elevation. This is where most European major cities are located;
London,
Paris,
Amsterdam,
Copenhagen etc

Historical Geography of Europe
Europe’s first great civilizations were:
The Islands and Peninsulas of Greece and modern day Italy.

The Greeks
Greeks laid the foundation of Europe’s civilization. The civilization endured for 25 centuries
Ancient Greece benefited from Mesopotamian civilization

Achievements
Political science
Philosophy
Arts

Failures
– Unable to unify their domain
– Persistent conflict proved fatal when challenged by the Romans
– Collapsed by 147BC

The Romans
Present day Italy. They borrowed from Ancient Greece culture. Empire stretched from Britain to the Persian Gulf and from the Black sea to Egypt. Their urban population exceeded 1 million

Achievements
Local functional specialization e.g. Elba- mined Iron ores, Cartagena in Spain produced silver and lead,
Spread of Roman language,
Durable systems of education
Collapsed in the 5th Century

Impact of the fall of Roman Empire
Massive migration of Germanic and Slavic people to their present location
Arab Berbers Moors from North Africa, conquered most of Iberia and Penetrated France
The Ottoman Turks invaded Eastern Europe and reached the outskirts of Vienna

Europe’s Renaissance
Began fifteen century -1000years “dark and Middle ages”
Monarchies laid the foundation of Europe’s modern states
Mercantilism-the competitive accumulation of wealth in the form of gold and silver

Revolutions of Modernizing Europe
Two revolutions that shaped Europe
Agrarian Revolution
Industrial Revolution

Agrarian Revolution
Revolutionary changes in landownership and agricultural methods
Improved farm practices
Better equipments
Superior storage facilities
Introduction of new crops (US potatoes)-became staple crops for Europe
Efficient transport to the urban Market revolutionalized the country side

Von Thunen’s “Isolated States”
An estate farmer chronicled the geography of Europe’s agricultural transformation.
He used information from his farmstead to build his “model” of the location of productive activities in Europe’s farmlands. He published his work” isolated states” in 1826

Von Thunen’s Model Assumptions
A self-contained area (isolated state)
A single market
Homogenous landscape
Transport cost is directly proportional to distance
That every one is a rational being

Four zones Circling the Market Centre


Characteristics of Von Thunen’s model
Innermost ring adjacent to market-Zone of intensive farming: Perishable and highest priced products e.g. dairy, vegetables, fruits
Zone of Forest- used for timber and firewood
Zone of field crops, for example grains or potatoes
Pastures and livestock
Beyond –wilderness from where cost of transport to market would become prohibitive

Samuel van Valkenburg and Colbert map of Twentieth century Europe agricultural intensity
What are the challenges of Von Thunen’s theory?

2: Industrial Revolution
What Propelled Europe’s industrial Intensification?
The adoption of James Watt and others’ steam-driven engine.
The discovery of coal as superior substitute for charcoal in melting iron
The invention of the power loom
Ocean shipping

How did Britain become so important?
– All the innovations occurred in Britain
– The British also controlled the flow of raw materials
– Held a monopoly over essential global commodity: coal
– Had skilled labor that made the manufacturing machines

Alfred Weber-Factors of Industrial Location

Agglomerative factors
Deglomerative factors

Factors of location of Industries
Raw material
Power supply
Labor
Market
Transportation

Political Revolution
Political revolution in Europe pre-dates the agrarian or industrial revolution
The peace (treaty) of Westphalia in 1648
Ending decades of wars,
Recognition of territories, boundaries and the sovereignty of countries.
But lasted until 1806
French Revolution (1789-1795) also played a dramatic role in Europe’s political revolution

Is Europe a unified Continent?
Centripetal and centrifugal forces

Centripetal forces; are the forces that unite a state
E.g. General satisfaction with the system of government and administration, legal institutions (treatment of minorities)

Centrifugal forces disunite a state
Ex. Religion, race, language etc

Centrifugal Europe
n Indo-European languages not mutually understandable Ex. Hungarians and the Finns have other linguistic sources
English effectiveness declines from west to east.
Religious conflicts: sectarian strife in Northern Ireland
Religion and politics remain closely connected Ex. Germany’s Christian Democratic Union

What Unify Europe? Centripetal forces
Edward Ullman-an American geographer identified three key operating principles

COMPLEMENTARITY
Two places, through an exchange of goods, can specifically satisfy each other’s demands.
One area has a surplus of an item demanded by a second area.
Ex. Industrial Italy needs coal from western Europe. Western Europe needs Italy’s farm products.

TRANSFERABILITY
The ease with which a commodity may be transported or the capacity to move a good at a bearable cost. Europe has developed the most efficient and advanced transportation technology

INTEREVENING OPPORTUNITY
The presence of a nearer source of supply or opportunity that acts to diminish the attractiveness of more distant sources and sites

Urbanization
3 of every 4 Europeans live in towns and cities
Industrial Revolution (1750-1850) stimulated the growth of cities.
17% of the population lived in cities in 1801.
1851( 35%) and
1891( 54%).
An Urbanized Realm
73% of Europe’s population resides in cities and towns

Law of Primate city
Mark Jefferson’s law of primate city.
What is a primate city?
A city which is greater than two times the next largest city in a nation. Very expressive of the national culture and often the capital city.
A primate city is a country's financial, political, and population centre.
Examples of European Primate cities
The best-known examples of primate cities perhaps are:
London,
Paris,
Warsaw

Europe’s changing population
Europe’s population is actually shrinking.
Average family must bear 2.1 children to keep a population from shrinking
Europe was 1.4 in 2003
Italy and Spain, recorded below 1.3 (the lowest ever seen in any human population)

Europe’s Modern Transformation
Much of Europe lay shattered after WWII
The former Soviet controlled much of Eastern Europe
Whole of Europe was poised towards a communist empire
1947 George Marshall, US Secretary of States, proposed a European recovery Program

Marshall Plan
To counter the powerful force of the Soviet Union
To create stable political conditions and ensure democracy in Europe
US provided 13 Billion dollars in assistance to Europe
The Soviet Union refused the offer and forced its Eastern European satellites to join.
Marshall plans applied to only 16 countries including Germany and Turkey.

Impact of the Marshall Plan
Stimulated the European economy
It set the platform for European Union.
How?
The need to coordinate the financial assistance from US
To ease the flow of resources and products across Europe’s many boundaries,
To Lower restrictive tariffs
To seek political cooperation

First Union-Benelux
Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg, formulated and signed the Benelux Agreement in 1944. The Benelux precedent helped speed the creation of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC)
OEEC to coordinate the investment of American Aid.
1949 The Council of Europe was created.
This became the first European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg - France

Supranationalism
It is the voluntary association in economic, political or cultural sphere of three or more independent states willing to yield some measure of sovereignty for their mutual benefit
Europe’s Supranationalism

Hint
What are the EU members?
and non EU members?
What European countries use the EURO and what European countries do not?

Prospects of EU
– Combined population of more than 450 million,
– EU Constitutes one of the world’s richest market
– Member-states accounts for more than 40% of the world’s exports

Devolution:
a regional drive for autonomy, or for outright secession.

Devolution forces in Europe
The British Isles- Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Spain- devolution forces in its Basque area, Catalonia and Galicia
France- islands of Corsica
Italy –devolutionary pressures in southern Tyrol and Lombardy
Eastern Europe- the collapse of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, led to the Fragmentation of Moldova,

Other Disuniting Forces
Emergence of powerful urban regions as centers of economic powers and influence, beyond the control of the government . The Four Motors of Europe
Kenichi Ohmae, a Japanese economist, calls such economic powerhouses as Regional States
Rhone-Alpes region in France (Lyon)
Lombardy in Italy (focused on Milan)
Catalonia in Spain (Barcelona)
Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany headquarted in Stuttgart