It's a multi-lingual continent. A volcanos violent nature thus came from the work of Hephaestus and the anger of the imprisoned gods.The ancient Greeks connection to the sea also deeply influenced their mythological beliefs. This is a main theme of The Odyssey, an epic poem written by Homer, in which these key elements of the sea both help and hurt the hero.Other cultures developed around the unique resources at their disposal. Fast Facts: France Official Name: French Republic Capital: Paris Population: 67,364,357 (2018) Note: This figure is for metropolitan France and five overseas regions; the metropolitan France population is 62,814,233 The political cartoons sought to engage in the debate surrounding Muslim extremism. These physical features allowed for early communication, travel, and agricultural development. Europe's shape is in a constant change: The Mediterranean basin is shrinking, the Alps are rising and pushing North, and Scandinavia is still rebounding after having been crushed by the weight of a thick and huge ice sheet in the ice ages. Europe is a peninsula of the Eurasian supercontinent and is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian seas to the south.Europes main peninsulas are the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan, located in southern Europe, and the Scandinavian and Jutland, located in northern Europe. It runs for 2,294 miles through central Russia. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Milan is also home to important European fashion magazines, such as Grazia, Vogue Italia, and Vera.German automotive design has a global reputation for excellence and prestige. International economic and military organizations developed on either side of the Iron Curtain. Some critics argue these attitudes are xenophobic. To read all future answers to your comment, please bookmark this page. As Ive talked about fire (volcanoes), it wouldnt be right to leave ice out of the geography facts of Europe. The northern plain contains the old geological continent of Baltica, and so may be regarded as the "main continent", while peripheral highlands and mountainous regions in south and west constitute fragments from various other geological continents. The former is of North Atlantic volcanic formation, while the latter consist of upland areas once joined to the mainland until cut off by rising sea levels. A convenient division is made by a line linking the base of the peninsula of Jutland with the head of the Adriatic Sea. The name Europe may also come from combining the Greek roots eur- (wide) and -op (seeing) to form the phrase wide-gazing.Europe is often described as a peninsula of peninsulas. A peninsula is a piece of land surrounded by water on three sides. Europe extends from the island nation of Iceland in the west to the Ural Mountains of Russia in the east. 2. Establishing fishing limits, protecting threatened habitats, and encouraging sustainable consumption habits are some efforts supported by European conservationists. The Volga River in Russia is Europe's longest river. Eastward, mainland Europe widens much like the mouth of a funnel, until the boundary with Asia is reached at the Ural Mountains and Ural River, the Caspian Sea, and the Caucasus Mountains. The debate surrounding the cartoons also intensified strained relations between the Islamic world and the West.In 2010, the French government dismantled illegal immigrant camps throughout France. Map created by National Geographic Maps. The EU accepts few candidates: member states must maintain a stable, democratic form of government, a free-market economy, and commitment to the rule of law.The rapid growth of the European Union, however, has caused a number of administrative and political tensions. The coasts of the northwestern highlandsand in particular the fjords of Norwayinvite maritime enterprise. (South of Northern Ireland is the separate country of Ireland, which gained its independence from the U.K. in 1937.) The Danubian and northern Italian lowlands are thus mountain-ringed islands. The volcanoes of Lemnos, an island in the Mediterranean, and Mount Etna, on the island of Sicily, were believed to be the forges of Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire. The Louvre is the most visited attraction in Europe This program must not only highlight the citys unique cultural heritage, but also feature new events that unite a range of cultural practices from across Europe. The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. 4. Greater relief is found in those areas in the heart of western and central Europe where uplifted and faulted massifs survive from the Hercynian orogeny, a late Paleozoic period of mountain formation. The city of Milan is regarded as a major fashion capital, hosting an international fashion week twice a year. This includes Morriscastle and Ballinesker beaches. A small troop of Barbary macaques lives on the tiny island of Gibraltar, between Spain and the African country of Morocco.The waters surrounding Europe are home to a number of organisms, including fish, seaweeds, marine mammals, and crustaceans. Some of Europe's major mountain ranges are: Land area in different classes of European mountainous terrain (classification from UNEP-WCMC): The high mountainous areas of Europe are colder and have higher precipitation than lower areas, as is true of mountainous areas in general. Above all, in southern EuropeAustria and Switzerland includedlevel, low-lying land is scarce, and mountain, plateau, and hill landforms dominate. Kazakhstan and Russia are in Asia. The 15 rivers of Europe by average discharge, including only rivers directly flowing into the World Ocean or Endorheic basins: Aegean Islands, land, Balearic Islands, Corsica, Crete, Cyprus (Adjacent to Asia), Fyn, Faroe Islands, Gotland, Great Britain, Hinnya, Iceland, Ionian Islands, Ireland, Malta, North Jutlandic Island, Saaremaa, Sardinia, Senja, Sicily, Svalbard and Zealand. Europe's highest peak, Mount Elbrus at 5,642 meters (18,510 feet), is in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia. At its largest, Rome controlled approximately 6.5 million square kilometers (2.5 million square miles) of land.The Roman approach to conquering and controlling territory is often considered to be the basis of Western imperialism. Spain is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula to the south of France and Andorra and to the east of Portugal. 5. Flora & FaunaMuch like its physical regions, Europe's plant and animal communities follow a general north-south orientation. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. Nearly 100% of Ukraine's adult population is literate. Furthermore, the Mediterranean coastlands of North Africa and southwestern Asia also exhibit some European physical and cultural affinities. In this case, the region of Western Europe includes the regions of northern Europe, southern Europe, Central Europe, and the British Isles. Reindeer herding is still an important aspect of Sami culture, which continues to thrive in northern Scandinavia and Russias Kola Peninsula.Distinct physical features had a lasting impact on how European cultures communicated with each other. The landlocked countries in Europe are: Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Liechtenstein (which is doubly landlocked), Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Moldova, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Vatican City. Europe is traditionally defined as one of seven continents. Europe Europe, second smallest of the world's continents, composed of the westward-projecting peninsulas of Eurasia (the great landmass that it shares with Asia) and occupying nearly one-fifteenth of the world's total land area. The cold water surrounding northern Britain and Scandinavia is home to unique species of cold-water corals. Europe is the western peninsula of the giant "supercontinent" of Eurasia. MLS # 1863863 Professor of Geography, University of Connecticut, Storrs. These journeys varied in length, depending on the migration patterns of specific reindeer herds. The region includes the mountains of the Alps, Pyrenees, Apennines, Dinaric Alps, Balkans, and Carpathians.High elevations, rugged plateaus, and steeply sloping land define the region. Note: Italy's capital, Rome, is the country's largest city if only the municipality (comune) is considered. Protests developed across the Muslim world, and demonstrators set fire to Danish embassies in Lebanon, Iran, and Syria. Among the alternative boundaries proposed by geographers that have gained wide acceptance is a scheme that sees the crest of the Greater Caucasus range as the dividing line between Europe and Asia, placing Ciscaucasia, the northern part of the Caucasus region, in Europe and Transcaucasia, the southern part, in Asia. Iceland, having area of 103 000 km, is larger than Ireland (84 406 km). Swiss-Italian is distinguishable from Italian.Romansch, an endangered language, is also derived from Latin. This region is sparsely populated except in the Rhine, Rhne, Elbe, and Danube river valleys.Alpine MountainsThe Alpine Mountains include ranges in the Italian and Balkan peninsulas, northern Spain, and southern France. Fr die fehlerfreie Verwendung der CORDIS-Website muss JavaScript aktiviert sein. Europes boundaries have been especially uncertain, and hence much debated, on the east, where the continent merges, without sundering physical boundaries, with parts of western Asia. In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons featuring Islamic subjects. Looking for interesting facts about Austria? Europe also supports high densities of population, concentrated in urban-industrial regions. Please enable JavaScript. [2] A prehistoric perspective would include Britain and Ireland as the core of a further very significant European peninsula prior to the post-glacial rise in sea-levels.[3]. When it comes to geographical facts about Europe, and in particular the mountains, most people will assume that the names at the top of the list will be the famous Mont Blanc or the Matterhorn. El "cambio climtico" abarca el calentamiento global, pero se refiere a la gama ms amplia de cambios que le estn ocurriendo a nuestro planeta. San Marino and Vatican City, two fully sovereign nations, are both completely surrounded by Italy. Topography is the study of the Earth's surface. The biggest part of the United Kingdom (also called the U.K.) is the island of Great Britain, which is made up of England, Wales, and Scotland. Check out this amazing list of Austria facts that include history, food, culture, and more. This article treats the physical and human geography of Europe. 3. During the harsh winter, the Sami ate all parts of the animal. The eastward limits now adopted by most geographers exclude the Caucasus region and encompass a small portion of Kazakhstan, where the European boundary formed by the northern Caspian coast is connected to that of the Urals by Kazakhstans Emba River and Mughalzhar (Mugodzhar) Hills, themselves a southern extension of the Urals. Europes largest islands and archipelagoes include Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, Svalbard, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the British Isles, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Crete, and Cyprus. A contrast exists between the configuration of peninsular, or western, Europe and that of eastern Europe, which is a much larger and more continental area. Europe's main peninsulas are the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan, located in southern Europe, and the Scandinavian and Jutland, located in Northern Europe. More than half of Europe consists of lowlands, standing mostly below 600 feet (180 metres) but infrequently rising to 1,000 feet (300 metres). An arc of uplands also exists along the northwestern seaboard, beginning in southwestern Ireland, continuing across through western and northern Great Britain, and up along the mountainous, fjord-cut spine of Norway. The map was produced using a Lambert conformal conic projection, with standard parallels at 40 degrees north . The Sami followed and cared for these herds during their grazing cycle. I think the same issue applies to Turkey, which unlike Russia sees itself as belonging more to Europe than Asia, politically and economically. The Netherlands is a country located in Northwestern Europe. The relationship between the United States, with a free-market economy, and the Soviet Union, with a communist economy, was known as the Cold War.The Iron Curtain represents Europes political geography during the Cold War. Projects are meant to stay a part of the city after 2011some pieces of sculpture may be used for athletics, for instance. These regional labels are used more for identification than for regional analysis. The U.K. also includes Northern Ireland, which is on another island. (The East and North European plains are known together as the European Plain.) Only hill masses less than 800 feet (240 metres) in height rise gently within the Russian (East European) Plain, which continues northward into Finland, westward into the North European Plain, and southward in the Romanian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian plains. Only North Korea has such high literacy rates as Ukraine. It has been somewhat problematical to pin down the biggest glacier in Europe because biggest is open to interpretation of length, depth and width, plus they can change quite dramatically in a short space of time. Not only is it pretty huge (2.5 times the size of Mount Vesuvius, which so famously buried Pompeii), but it is also one of the most active volcanoes in the world. It is home to many navigable rivers, including the Rhine, Weser, Elbe, Oder, and Vistula. As a continent with hugely diverse topography, the geographical facts about Europe are going to be an interesting collection. 3. Turku officials hope to inspire other European countries to undertake similar projects.Europe also strengthens ties between its diverse peoples and cultures by supporting multilingual education. Important highlands in this region include the Massif Central and the Vosges in France, the Ardennes of Belgium, the Black Forest and the Taunus in Germany, and the Ore and Sudeten in the Czech Republic. 5. geography of Scandinavia facts. Although this area remains heavily forested, the continent's forests were drastically reduced as a result of intense urbanization throughout human history. Mount Olympus became the first national park in Greece. Of seven continents are meant to stay a part 5 facts about europe's topography the northwestern highlandsand particular! 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