Exam 1 Flashcards
What is the traditional physical dividing line between Europe and Asia?
From the Ural Mountains down to the Caucasus’s.
What are some of Europe’s locational advantages?
Contact with much of the rest of the world, nowhere far from the ocean, naviagable rivers
What are Europe’s subregions?
European Core
Northern Europe
Southern Europe
Eastern Europe
Which 4 countries alone comprise half of Europe’s population?
Germany
France
United Kingdom
Italy
What are the two belts of industrialization and urbanization near historical sources of coal and hydroelectric power?
North to South from UK to Italy
East to West from UK to Poland
Why is Europe’s population declining?
Low birth rates, fertility rate below population replacement level, Europe’s population aging faster than all other world regions
How are governments in Europe starting to view immigrants?
A financial burden on society
Threatening to unravel the social safety net of the European welfare state
Living outside mainstream european society instead of becoming integrated within it
What are some physical characteristics of Europe?
Irregular shape
high latitude
temperate climate
jagged coastal outline
_______ (tidal mouths of rivers) and ______ offer protection for shipping.
Estuaries, harbors
Why is Europe so warm?
Warm ocean currents
Westerly winds
In summer, the ocean is ______ in Europe than land so the winds have a ______ effect.
cooler, cooling
What are Europe’s 4 physiographic regions?
Western uplands
North european lowland
Central uplands (plateaus)
Alpine mountains
Where are the western uplands in Europe?
Scandinavia through western britain and Ireland
What makes up the central uplands in Europe?
Hills and plateaus
What makes up the North European Lowlands?
Southeastern Britain and central France across Germany and Denmark into Poland and Ukraine, major cities and rivers
What did glaciation do to Europe?
Created favorable sites for hydroelectric installations, left fertile deposits on most of North European Plain
What are some of Europe’s diversity of climate and vegetation?
Marine West Coast Humid Continental Short Summer (cold) Humid Continental Long Summer (warm) Mediterranean Subarctic and tundra Undifferientiated highlands
What are some of Europe’s important seaports?
London on the Thames
Antwerp on the Scheldt
Rotterdam in the delta of the Rhine
Hamburg on the Elbe
What are Europe’s major language families?
Romance (Italian, French, Spanish)
Germanic (German, English, Dutch, Danish)
Slavic (Russian, Polish, Czech)
What is Europe’s largest religious group?
Roman Catholic Church
What is the fastest growing religion in Europe?
Islam
The _____ ______ was an important global trade route in Europe, connecting China and Venice.
Silk Road
What achievements gave Europe some advantages?
Shipbuilding
Navigation
Manufacture and handling of weapons
The extension of the power of a nation through direct or indirect control of the economic and political life of other territories
Imperialism
Shift from energy-hungry, labor-costly, and polluting industries toward an economy based on services and production of high-tech goods
Europe’s postindustrial economy
Where is the European Union headquartered?
Brussels, Belgium
What did the European Union begin as?
The European Economic Community
In the European Union, what was eliminated between member states?
Tariffs on goods
Restrictions on the movement of labor and capital between member states were eased
When did the European Union acquire the name the European Union?
1993
What is the European Union/s currency?
Euro
What are some advantages of having a common currency in the European Union?
Lower transaction costs More certainty for investors Enhanced competition More consistent pricing Restrain public spending, reduce debt
What was Europe’s Big Bang?
10 nations joined the EU in 2004 Poland Czech Republic Hungary Slovakia Estonia Latvia Lithuania Slovenia Malta Cyprus
Military alliance founded after the Cold War between the US, Canada, most European countries west of the Iron Curtain and Turkey
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
What are some differences between Europeans and Americans?
Concept of social justice
Public education
Taxes on gasoline
Death penalty
Densest, most urbanized european population
Most prosperous economy
Lowest unemployment
Most productive agriculture
The European Core
How many countries voluntarily associate the British monarch as their head?
54
What is the Irish economy called?
The Celtic Tiger
10% of population died of starvation
Emigrated to North America, Australia, UK
Potato Famine of 1845-1851
What are some of the reasons for conflict in Northern Ireland?
British direct rule vs. Irish Republican Army
Catholic republicans and protestant Unionists
What is the largest city of mainland Europe and the leading urban tourist destination?
Paris
What is Europe’s dominant economy?
Germany
Rimland of countries whose interests are tied closely to and strongly influenced by those of core
The European Periphery
What are the subregions of the European Periphery?
Northern Europe
Southern Europe
Eastern Europe
Why won’t Norway and Ireland join the EU?
Fear EU fishing policies will diminish profits vital to their economies—-whaling
Which group in Europe has often been targets of discrimination and violence?
The Basques
North vs. South in Cyprus
Greek Cypriots: Greek orthodox Christians
Turkish Cypriots: Muslims
Buffer Zone
One party dictorial governments
National economies planned and directed by organs of the state
Abolition of private ownership
Principal traits of communism
Forced emigration or murder of one ethnic group by another within a certain territory
Ethnic cleansing
Also known as gypsies, largest ethnic minorities
The Roma
What is involved in the Commonwealth of Independent States?
Russia and 11 of the former Soviet states
What is the largest world region?
Russia and the Near Abroad
What is the physical geography like in Russia and the Near Abroad?
Cold temperatures Infertile soils Marshy terrain Aridity Ruggedness
Frozen ground that makes construction difficult, buildings and pipelines must be elevated and insulated
Permafrost
Russian _____ is the largest continuous area of forest on earth
taiga
Used for trade, conquest, and colonization (Russia)
rivers
Connected the white sea and baltic sea in the north, black and caspian sea in south
Volga-Don Canal
What are the main language families in Russia?
Indo-European (Slavic, Romance, Armenian)
Altaik (Turkic)
What is the order of the Tsars in Russia?
Ivan the Great
Ivan the Terrible
Peter the Great
Catherine the Great
How much did Russia sell Alaska for to the US?
2 cents per acre
Effort to implant Russian culture in non-Russian regions and to make non-Russians more like Russians
Soviet policy of Russification
The Soviet economic system was an application of the economic and social ideas of whom?
Karl Marx—Marxism
Rapid transition from command economy to capitalism widening the gap between rich and poor
Boris Yeltan’s “Economic Shock Therapy”
Export Russia’s natural resources to flood Russia with wealth. Profits will be rolled into manufacturing and high-tech industries so that Russia enjoys a more stable, diversified economy.
Putinomics
What are the 3 concentric spheres of geopolitical concern in Russia?
Within the Russian Federation (Unity of Russia itself)
Russia’s relationship with its near abroad
Russia’s relationships with the rest of the world
Functional hub of region (Russia), contains 75% of region’s people and an even larger share of its cities
“Agricultural triangle”
“Slavic Core”
The Fertile Triangle
Where did Chernobyl occur?
North of Kiev, Ukraine
What are the two transportation arteries that most Russians live along?
The Trans-Siberian Railroad
The lower Amur River
Deepest body of freshwater in the world
Lake Baikal
