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Europe

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NOTE #6: EUROPE

(Patrick Ellwood, Fall, 2011)

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NOTE #6 relates to Chapter 2 of the text. In Chapter 2 pay particular attention to the following pages: Map, p.44; Main Points, p.43; FIGURES 2.10 and 2.11, p.53; FIGURE 2.12, p.55; Wine, p.56 and 57; Europe’s Golden Triangle, p.62 and 63; The Southern Crescent, p.65; FIGURE 2.29, p.71; A “European” Identity?, p.72; FIGURE 2.34, p.75; FIGURE 2.35, p.76; FIGURE 2.36, p.77; Future Geographies, p.77; FIGURE 2.37, p.78; Main Points Revisited, p.78. Movie: "Blue Danube" 1. Physical Geography The boundaries of Europe have been determined more by politics and culture than any physical barriers like mountains and rivers. Today, the eastern boundary is the western frontier of Russia following the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. So countries like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova are considered part of Europe. These countries had been forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, but had previously been independent from Tsarist Russia since 1919. Moving westwards from Russia are some plainlands, but Europe mainly consists of a peninsula of Eurasia fragmented into smaller peninsulas (Scandinavian, Iberian, Balkan, and Italian) and large islands (Britain, Ireland, Sicily, Iceland and Sardinia). ( 1, pp.59-65 ) Europe has benefited from its location and major physical features. It has direct land and sea routes to Asia (through Southwest Asia, Middle East, and Africa (post 1488 around the Cape of Good Hope) and more recently via the Suez Canal in Egypt. The central location of European cities in the Classical Period (1000 B.C. to 500 A.D.) facilitated the movement of primary goods to Asia in exchange for finished goods from Persia, India, and China. ( 2, Ch. 5 ) The abundance of surrounding water-moderating temperatures, low-lying valleys in the Central Plateau, and good

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