Europe, Second Edition

Zoran Pavlović

Description

This eBook introduces readers to the geography of Europe, covering the culture region as a whole rather than individual countries. The volume emphasizes the region's people and their various ways of life, considering how they have adapted to, used, and changed the natural environments in which they live.

Like other titles in the 10-volume Modern World Cultures set, Europe, Second Edition explores the geographical features, climate, and ecosystems; population, settlement, and culture; and the history and economy of the region at hand. Also covered are the region’s diversity, challenges, and prospects.

Illustrated with full-color maps and photographs, and accompanied by a chronology, glossary, and further readings, these accessible titles offer an ideal starting point for research on the culture regions of the world.

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Geography
• Demography
• Politics
• History of Europe
• Anthropology
• History
• Social
• Culture
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Infobase Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781438199450
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Europe, Second Edition
Copyright © 2021 by Infobase
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information, contact:
Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001
ISBN 978-1-4381-9945-0
You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.infobase.com
Contents Chapters Introducing Europe Physical Geography Historical Geography Population Geography Cultural Geography Political Geography Economic Geography Regional Geography Europe Looks Ahead Support Materials Glossary Chronology Further Reading About the Author and Series Editor Index
Preface

Geography provides a key that unlocks the door to the world's wonders. There are, of course, many ways of viewing the world and its people, places, and environments. In this series—Modern World Cultures—the emphasis is on people and their varied ways of life. As you step through the geographic door into the 10 world cultures featured in this set, you will come to better know, understand, and appreciate the world's mosaic of peoples and how they live. You will see how different peoples adapt to, use, and change the natural environments in which they live. And you will be amazed at the vast differences in thinking, doing, and living practiced around the world. The Modern World Cultures series was developed in response to many requests from librarians and teachers throughout the United States and Canada.

This is what the Earth looks like at night. This image is a composite of hundreds of pictures made by orbiting satellites. Human-made lights highlight the developed or populated areas of the Earth's surface.
Source: NASA.
As you begin your reading visits to the world's major cultures, it is important that you understand three terms that are used throughout the series: geography, culture, and region. These words and their meanings are often misunderstood. Geography is an age-old way of viewing the varied features of Earth's surface. In fact, it is the oldest of the existing sciences! People have always had a need to know about and understand their surroundings. In times past, a people's world was their immediate surroundings; today, our world is global in scope. Events happening half a world away can and often do have an immediate impact on our lives. If we, either individually or as a nation of peoples, are to be successful in the global community, it is essential that we know and understand our neighbors, regardless of who they are or where they live.
Geography and history are similar in many ways; both are methodologies—distinct ways of viewing things and events. Historians are concerned with time, or when events happened. Geographers, on the other hand, are concerned with space, or where things are located. In essence, geographers ask: "What is where, why there, and why care?" in regard to various physical and human features of Earth's surface.
Culture has many definitions. For this series and for most geographers and anthropologists, it refers to a people's way of life. It includes everything we possess because we are human, such as our ideas, beliefs, and customs, including language, religious beliefs, and all knowledge. Tools and skills also are an important aspect of culture. Different cultures, after all, have different types of technology and levels of technological attainment that they can use in performing various tasks. Finally, culture includes social interactions—the ways different people interact with one another individually and as groups.
Finally, the idea of region is one geographers use to organize and analyze geographic information spatially. A region is an area that is set apart from others on the basis of one or more unifying elements. Language, religion, and major types of economic activity are traits that often are used by geographers to separate one region from another. Most geographers, for example, see a cultural division between Northern, or Anglo, America and Latin America. That "line" is usually drawn at the U.S.-Mexico boundary, although there is a broad area of transition and no actual cultural line exists.
The 10 culture regions presented in this series have been selected on the basis of their individuality, or uniqueness. As you tour the world's culture realms, you will learn something of their natural environment, history, and way of living. You will also learn about their population and settlement, how they govern themselves, and how they make their living. Finally, you will take a peek into the future in the hope of identifying each region's challenges and prospects. Enjoy your trip!
Entry Author: Gritzner, Charles F.
Chapters
Introducing Europe

The continent of Europe owes its existence and name to the ancient Greeks. Greeks were the first to develop the concept of continents. Living on both shores of the Aegean Sea, they created the cultural distinction between Europe (present-day Greece) and Asia (Ionian Greece, or what is now Asiatic Turkey). Peoples of the eastern Mediterranean followed the seafaring Phoenicians in recognizing asu (sunrise) and ereb (sunset). For the Greeks, this logically translated into the lands that lay on the eastern shore of the Aegean Sea, where the sun rose, being called Asia and those on the west, on the Greek Peninsula, where the sun set, being called Europe.

Living on both shores of the Aegean Sea in what is today the European country of Greece and the Asian part of Turkey, the ancient Greeks were the first to develop the concept of continents. Shown here is the Acropolis of Athens, Greece, the cultural center of the Greek world.
Source: Sven Hansche. Shutterstock.
Colonial expansion throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins during the first millennium BCE resulted in the widespread idea of distinct continents. Greek mythology is important in understanding the link between ereb and Europe. In the mythological context, Europa was a woman who, after being taken by Zeus to the island of Crete, was worshipped as a goddess. They had three children. Europa then married the local ruler on Crete, who adopted her sons and integrated divine blood into the Minoan dynasty.
This book is less concerned with the mythological aspects of the European culture region than with the practical. The focus is on the wide array of cultural elements that make this part of the world so unique. It also explains why geographers and others find Europe so fascinating and attempt to paint a clear picture of the similarities and differences between Europeans and people of other world cultures. What is it that sets Europeans apart from Africans, Asians, and others? To answer such questions, we must look at the land, the people, and the people's way of life. We must attempt to understand how European culture evolved over many millennia on this small, relatively isolated peninsula. To understand the present, we must always look to the past, for there lie the roots of contemporary patterns of living.
A Peninsula of Peninsulas
Compared with continental giants such as Asia and Africa, Europe is rather small: Its area is comparable to that of the United States. Europe hardly qualifies as a continent in terms of its physical geography. There is no clear physical "division" that separates Europe from Asia. Rather, Europe is a relatively small peninsular appendage of the huge Eurasian landmass. Culturally, however, Europe is quite different from other lands. On this basis alone it stands apart as both a continent and as a distinct culture realm. As you will learn in this book, Europe's physical features have played an interesting role in terms of cultural development and adaptation.
Europe is often called a "peninsula of peninsulas." In the north, Scandinavia (comprising Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, as well as Finland and Iceland) and Jutland (comprising continental Denmark and a small part of northern Germany) are appendages to the main peninsula. Iberia (Portugal and Spain) juts southwestward between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Within the Mediterranean, Italy and Greece occupy peninsulas of great historical importance. As a result of Europe's many protrusions, no point on the continent is more than 300 miles (500 kilometers) from salt water. Through time, this factor alone has been of tremendous physical, cultural, and historical importance to the region.


Source: Infobase.
The general east-west alignment of Europe's higher mountain ranges also has been an extremely important geographical factor. There are no mountain barriers to block the prevailing westerly winds that sweep across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, almost the entire continent receives ample moisture and has a moderate marine climate. Such conditions provide comfortable and enjoyable living free of aridity, extreme droughts, or severe temperatures. Much of Europe has climatic conditions similar to those in coastal California and Oregon. This type of environment is extremely attractive to most people. In addition to the pleasant climate, much of Europe's terrain is plains or hills that lie at relatively low elevation. These lands are easy to farm, build on, and traverse.
Cradle of Modern Civilization
The Middle East, particularly Mesopotamia, in present-day Iraq, is regarded as the "cradle of civilization." Within this area, early civilizations began to flourish several millennia BCE . These early high cultures were based primarily on plant and animal domestication, the rise of cities, and the development of strong institutions. From here, traits such as written language, mathematics, and astronomy began to spread elsewhere, including westward into Europe.
In terms of more recent cultural impact, Europe has been the primary