Europe can be seen both as a continent and as the peninsula that terminates the Eurasian mainland to the west. One speaks of a continent because Europe has had a continent’s significance, but its demarcation into Asia lacks the natural geographical and geological basis that is otherwise the basis for the division into continents. The perception of Europe as a continent is old, known in many varieties and has left many traces in and outside Europe.
Boundary, garden and coasts
Normally, the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains or the Many Caves north of it are considered as border with Asia. Europe’s other borders are gardens and alleys, which are easy to see in the landscape and on the map. To the east and south the Black Sea, the Bosphorus, the Marmara Sea and the Dardanelles, the Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Gibraltar Strait. To the west the Atlantic and to the north the Arctic. This demarcation separates waters, rivers, and mountain ranges, but crosses important traffic lines and significant distribution patterns. This applies to political, population and infrastructural contexts in Russia as well as to straits and sea areas that intersect rather than separate cultural landscapes, such as the Aegean Sea, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles.
Garden. Europe is in the middle of the country hemisphere, but 1/3of the land area are islands and peninsulas. The Rand Sea North Sea continues in the Danish Straits and the Baltic Sea, which cuts deep into the country. The Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the connecting waters are surrounded by the Euro-Asian-African landmass. Numerous larger and smaller bays and fjords increase the division. Straits and border gardens separate large islands such as the British Isles, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and Crete from mainland Europe. In the archipelago of the Scandinavian Peninsula and along the coasts of the Adriatic and the Ionian and Aegean seas there are swarms of larger and smaller islands. The total coastal length, usually estimated at 40,000-60,000 km, illustrates the strong division. Over large parts of Europe there are only small distances to a coast, and Europe is the lowest of the continents with an average height above sea level of 300 m. Very large parts of the continent are actually lowland; thus the Northern European Plains, which extend into a belt from the English Channel to Urals, the Hungarian Plains, Posletten and others.
The seas around Europe contain important fishing grounds, for example the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. European fishermen are also largely caught on fishing grounds far from the shores of the continent. at Newfoundland and Greenland.
The seabed’s raw materials are subject to growing utilization. Oil and gas extraction in the North Sea is a well-known, but far from unique, example. Fossil energy from the North Sea region has generated economic growth in many cities and regions, such as the Western Norway, Norway, North Holland and a number of cities on the UK’s east coast, but the oil and gas fields also contribute to the North Sea’s environmental impact.
The coasts. Highlands and mountains terminate at many European Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts by cliffs or steep rocky coasts. In long coasts that, like the Dalmatian, follow the mountain range, there are few natural accesses to the inland. Where the mountains, as on the southern Peloponnese or on many British coasts run across the coast, natural ports provide easy access to the areas behind it. Coastal landscapes, such as the northern coast of Brittany and Spain, are lowered late (rias), known on funnel-shaped estuaries. Low, exposed coasts are often offset as several French and Portuguese Atlantic coasts, the north and west-facing Baltic coasts and some stretches along the Mediterranean; many of these shores are accompanied by a dune belt. High tidal coastal landscapes have their distinctive features, as seen along the southern North Sea and the Atlantic coast of France.
World trade main roads follow European waters such as the North Sea, the Biscay and the Mediterranean, and important sea routes radiate from Europe’s major port cities. High-traffic ports are part of European metropolitan areas or their infrastructure, and states’ interest in port cities can be high. Current examples are the Kaliningrad enclave (Königsberg) in former East Prussia, which Russia holds on to, and the Bosnians’ attempt to secure a recognized access to the Adriatic Sea.
Population
According to Countryaah reports, the current population of Europe is 741.4 million. Europe’s population geography presents a vivid picture that partly shows features of the long history of the continent and partly reflects the trends of recent decades. The same applies to the current map of Europe’s languages.
The population of Europe is generally old and has low birth rates and growing death rates. Many countries experience birth deficits for shorter or longer periods, and generally the population only grows slowly. However, there are major regional differences, including with a background in the pattern of the hikes.
Religions and culture. Recent walks that include has brought many Muslims to European cities, has added an additional pattern to the well-known map of Europe’s religions. Minorities have emerged in the core areas of many European states; This is in a kind of contrast to the minorities of, for example, Frisians, Sami, Basques, Hungarians and Ukrainians living on the outskirts of the states where they are citizens.
The vast majority of Europeans are Christians and Europe’s culture is crucially characterized by Christianity. Secularization has dampened the practice of religion and weakened the importance of churches, although Christianity and other religions have come back stronger after the changes in Central and Eastern Europe. Roman Catholic Europe includes Italy, the Pyrenees Peninsula, France, the Irish Republic, Austria, Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. The Nordic countries, Estonia, Latvia and the United Kingdom are predominantly Protestant, while Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland are Catholic and Protestant. The Orthodox Church dominates in Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Macedonia. Turks and Albanians, including minorities around the Balkans, and many Bosnians are Muslims. In the Caucasus, the strategically important and contentious mountain country on Russia’s southern border, the geography of the population is very complicated. Here are a number of people, many of whom are Muslim, who speak different languages and who in different ways try to gain greater independence from Russia.
Europe’s population geography presents a vivid picture that partly shows features of the long history of the continent and partly reflects the trends of recent decades. The same applies to the current map of Europe’s languages.
The population of Europe is generally old and has low birth rates and growing death rates. Many countries experience birth deficits for shorter or longer periods, and generally the population only grows slowly. However, there are major regional differences, including with a background in the pattern of the hikes.
Religions and culture. Recent walks that include has brought many Muslims to European cities, has added an additional pattern to the well-known map of Europe’s religions. Minorities have emerged in the core areas of many European states; This is in a kind of contrast to the minorities of, for example, Frisians, Sami, Basques, Hungarians and Ukrainians living on the outskirts of the states where they are citizens.
The vast majority of Europeans are Christians and Europe’s culture is crucially characterized by Christianity. Secularization has dampened the practice of religion and weakened the importance of churches, although Christianity and other religions have come back stronger after the changes in Central and Eastern Europe. Roman Catholic Europe includes Italy, the Pyrenees Peninsula, France, the Irish Republic, Austria, Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. The Nordic countries, Estonia, Latvia and the United Kingdom are predominantly Protestant, while Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland are Catholic and Protestant. The Orthodox Church dominates in Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Macedonia. Turks and Albanians, including minorities around the Balkans, and many Bosnians are Muslims. In the Caucasus, the strategically important and contentious mountain country on Russia’s southern border, the geography of the population is very complicated. Here are a number of people, many of whom are Muslim, who speak different languages and who in different ways try to gain greater independence from Russia.
Country | Percentage of the population using the internet (percent) | Number of mobile subscriptions per 100 residents |
Albania | 72 (2017) | 94 (2018) |
Andorra | 92 (2017) | 107 (2018) |
Armenia | 65 (2017) | 121 (2018) |
Azerbaijan | 80 (2018) | 104 (2018) |
Belgium | 89 (2018) | 103 (2018) |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 70 (2018) | 104 (2018) |
Bulgaria | 65 (2018) | 118 (2018) |
Cyprus | 84 (2018) | 101 (2018) |
Denmark | 98 (2018) | 125 (2018) |
Estonia | 89 (2018) | 145 (2018) |
Finland | 89 (2018) | 132 (2018) |
France | 82 (2018) | 108 (2018) |
Georgia | 64 (2018) | 133 (2018) |
Greece | 73 (2018) | 116 (2018) |
Ireland | 85 (2018) | 103 (2018) |
Iceland | 99 (2018) | 126 (2018) |
Italy | 74 (2018) | 137 (2018) |
Kosovo | 89 (2018) | 32 (2010) |
Croatia | 73 (2018) | 106 (2018) |
Latvia | 84 (2018) | 107 (2018) |
Liechtenstein | 98 (2017) | 125 (2018) |
Lithuania | 80 (2018) | 164 (2018) |
Luxembourg | 97 (2018) | 132 (2018) |
Northern Macedonia | – | – |
Malta | 81 (2018) | 140 (2018) |
Moldova | 76 (2017) | 88 (2018) |
Monaco | 97 (2017) | 85 (2018) |
Montenegro | 72 (2018) | 181 (2018) |
Netherlands | 95 (2018) | 124 (2018) |
Norway | 96 (2018) | 107 (2018) |
Poland | 78 (2018) | 135 (2018) |
Portugal | 75 (2018) | 116 (2018) |
Romania | 71 (2018) | 116 (2018) |
Russia | 81 (2018) | 157 (2018) |
San Marino | 60 (2017) | 113 (2017) |
Switzerland | 90 (2017) | 130 (2018) |
Serbia | 73 (2018) | 98 (2018) |
Slovakia | 81 (2018) | 133 (2018) |
Slovenia | 80 (2018) | 119 (2018) |
Spain | 86 (2018) | 116 (2018) |
UK | 95 (2018) | 118 (2018) |
Sweden | 92 (2018) | 125 (2018) |
Czech Republic | 81 (2018) | 119 (2018) |
Turkey | 71 (2018) | 97 (2018) |
Germany | 90 (2018) | 129 (2018) |
Ukraine | 59 (2017) | 123 (2018) |
Hungary | 76 (2018) | 103 (2018) |
Vatican City State | – | – |
Belarus | 79 (2018) | 123 (2018) |
Austria | 88 (2018) | 124 (2018) |
Mediterranean countries
The cultural community of the Mediterranean countries is rooted in uniform natural conditions and in ancient Greco-Roman and later Moorish, Italian, Turkish and Arab culture and societies. They all contributed to today’s cultural landscape, including the destruction of soils and terrains that characterize much of the Mediterranean landscape. There are still major landscape similarities around the Mediterranean, while in European Mediterranean countries there are large differences in nature and business between the subtropical areas with “Mediterranean culture” and temperate areas with completely different cultural landscapes; Northern Italy is thus very different from southern Italy, and the Dalmatian Balkan coast is completely different from the country to the east.
Europe seen from the east
The division of the Roman Empire and the Christian Church traced the divisions of Europe. Following the conquest of the Turks in 1453 by Constantinople, present-day Istanbul, the Russians saw themselves as defenders of the Orthodox Church. Russia has since united this role and the role of the defender of the Slavic people with an imperialism which led to enlargements to the east, south and west. This position and the attempts to secure access to the sea led to long-standing competition and conflict with Turks, Austrians and the countries around the Baltic Sea. Russia’s basic geopolitical goals have remained unchanged from the Czar and Soviet times until now. An extensive Eurasian Russia is bounded to the south by, among other things, predominantly Muslim, and for the majority of Turkish-speaking languages, neighboring countries, and to the west of Ukraine, Belarus, and the three Baltic states with Russian minorities.
Central Europe
Germany, which is in the middle of Europe and dominates Central Europe (the extent of which can be discussed), was previously divided into many small states. German language and culture were early spread throughout most of present-day Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as gradually in the areas of Eastern Europe and Russia, where German immigrants settled. The German area had two centers when German nationalism caught wind in the sails of the last century; Vienna, the capital of the Habsburg Austria-Hungary, and the country around the Rhine and Main. The “Common German” Reichstag was held in Frankfurt am Main 1848. The Austro-Hungarian Empire contained large populations of non-German, primarily Slavic and Hungarian, populations. The double monarchy had dominated its part of Central Europe, Italy and the Balkans in competition with, in particular, France, Russia and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). The balance of power in Central Europe changed as Prussia began Germany’s unification and moved its center of gravity from the Rhine to northern Germany and Berlin. Prussia took over the lead in the entire German territory and followed Austria-Hungary since World War I, at the end of which the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman emperors dissolved in a number of new states. In the years before World War II, a new Central European – Great German – gathering occurred, which ended after the war in Europe’s division into two spheres, dominated by a power from outside the United States, and by a power, the Soviet Union, which considered itself European, but which also had Asian features. Germany was divided into two, and its economic center of gravity was again at the Rhine, Main and Neckar as in the time before Germany’s rally.
Central Europe is now no longer divided, and Berlin is not only Germany’s capital, but a central European center. The reunited, powerful Germany in the middle of Europe is hardly a threat like the one that once frightened smaller neighbors and nagged rulers in London, Paris and Moscow. This is because Franco-German reconciliation and cooperation; The Coal and Steel Union, the Treaty of Rome and the Western Union. The progressively growing EC and EU have both had to ensure Europe’s peace and economic recovery and development. According to Abbreviationfinder, EU stands for European Union.
Western Europe
French geopolitical interest is characterized partly by competition with the European great powers which could threaten from the south, east and north, and partly by France’s past as colonial power in Africa and elsewhere.
England’s relationship with Europe was determined for centuries by the pursuit of a favorable British interest on the continent and by the distance dictated by the global interests of the British Empire and later the Commonwealth. Britain’s decline was already evident at the beginning of the 1900s and was completed after World War II through decolonization and the successive abandonment of the “East of Suez” presence. NATO and the functioning of the alliance until the early 1990s linked Britain and Europe closely to the United States, the former colony and the present world power.
Northern Europe
After Denmark was the only Nordic EU country for a number of years, Finland and Sweden became members of the union in 1995. The polls on EU membership in Finland, Sweden and Norway (1994) showed that it was mainly the big cities that wanted membership. Resistance was strongest, and in Norway’s case decisive, in areas where large parts of the population depend on raw material production and processing. The big cities and their surroundings are characterized by service industries and close connection to the outside world. The difference between urban cultures and the existence of small towns or the open country is so pronounced in the three largest Nordic countries that important issues divide the regions regionally. The capitals and few large cities are oriented abroad, especially in Europe’s core areas, while the connection to the countryside is sometimes weakened. There is far – mentally and in time – from Oslo and Stockholm to a northern Norwegian fishing community or a northern Swedish sawmill town. In contrast, environmental and other grassroots movements have supporters in both urban and rural areas, in the north and south, drawing a different and regionally unifying pattern. Differences between core areas and the periphery, which are less pronounced in Denmark, are seen throughout Europe.
Profession
Service industries are becoming increasingly important and employ a growing part of the business sector. The commercial areas of large cities are dominated by offices, shops and entertainment rather than factories. Factories production is handled by ever fewer. Deserted industrial areas are either scarred in the city or have become residential or institutional areas due to a sought after location. I English, Dutch, Nordic and Italian cities are seen attracting homes on abandoned factory, warehouse and quay areas by harbor pools, rivers and canals. The industrial landscape continues to dominate where location and infrastructure are appropriate. Here, factories, warehouses, traffic areas and possibly mines continue to landscape. Production facilities for iron and steel, energy and means of transport are very filling, require transport facilities and characterize the landscape. The same applies to larger mines and oil fields with shaft and drill towers, pumps, waste dumps and the follow-on industry. In old industrial regions of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Benelux and Italy, older and newer industrial districts alternate. Factories along Volga and Don, in Donetsk, Minsk and Upper Silesia are examples of old, often outdated and highly polluting industries.
Agriculture. The village is the prevailing form of open land in much of Europe. The appearance and size of the villages vary – from the three to twenty farms known in the cluster and range villages of Central Europe, to, for example, the villages of Southern Italy, which can house thousands of people. Primary occupations, primarily agriculture, were previously the village’s business base. The areas around the village were cultivated by its residents, who could have far to the fields. The heavily divided areas were subsequently replaced and the farms of each farm were collected.
There is a big difference between completely open landscapes with closed villages and landscapes with a pattern of villages and single farms. The large estates and buildings of the goods for land workers or small farmers characterize large areas, which were often added to the colonies of the homestead or – east of the Iron Curtain – collective and state farming. Late cultivated areas’ farms are often scattered or in rows along roads and canals as in West Jutland and in Dutch and German polder and high bog areas. Migration from country to city led to the partial depopulation of villages in Northern and Central Europe and later in Southern Europe. Only a vanishing part of Europe’s workers are employed on the European “cultural steppe”; often from 2-3% to 6-7%, in Greece and Russia, however, about 20%.
Forest lands are partly smaller remnants of the natural forests, and partly large areas with forestry or plantations. Europe’s highly-impacted areas alternate with less changed environments; nature parks and other protected areas where the natural landscape is preserved or recreated.