Blue_Book_Exam_2.docx

9-22 ?Being Euro? (Area and Human/Physical Environment of Europe) What is the size and location of Europe?s area and population? Size of Europe is ½ of USA?s continuous 48 states, its average countries are 50,000 square miles (Arkansas) Located in what should be Eurasia, west of a line drawn from the Ural Mountains down to the Caucasus Population is over 531 million, with large and small states, but the greatest densities along the 2 belts of industrialization and urbanization 74% is urban ?birth dearth? ? not having enough births to compensate for amount of deaths, therefore there is an aging population How does the demographic transition model explain Europe?s patterns? From preindustrial high birth rates and high death rates to post industrial low birth rates and low death rates High urbanization ? increased numbers of employed and educated women ?no time for motherhood and children are too expensive? What are some of the immigration concerns of Europe? Fear they may become a minority in their own country Some immigrants come because of welfare benefits (taxes) Guest workers ? invite people in because they have too many jobs and not enough people How would one explain the various physical geography characteristics of Europe? Irregular outline (filled with peninsulas and statuaries: tidal mouths of rivers) Europe itself is a peninsula What are the typical landscapes of Europe and how do they relate to the climate and ecological regions? What is the importance of rivers to the character and development of Europe? Typical landscape: rolling plains mainly (Northern European Plain), but also has plateaus, hills, mountains and lots of water Climates: northern but temperate, warm westerly (warm ocean currents sweep up and through the country ? gulf stream and the north Atlantic drift), marine west coast, Mediterranean, humid subtropical Importance of rivers: they have maximized the use of internal rivers 2 rivers: Rhine ? most important river, goes to an economic place: industrial, and the Danube ? longest river Europe connected the 2 through the English Channel, and Europe itself is made up of a web of rivers 9-27 ?Doing Euro? (Culture, History, Economy, and Geopolitics of Europe) What are the prominent linguistic and ethnic groups of Europe? Language: Ancient: Greek and Celtic Modern: Indo-European ? Romance, Germanic (English), and Slavic All together it has 23 languages, but all together about 2/3 of documents are drafted in English Ethnic patterns: Single ethnic groups in their own country: Germans, Poles, Dutch, etc. National minorities Distinguish more by culture than ethnicity Ethno linguistic minorities - reside in an area for a very long time, by have retained cultural distinctiveness Regional ethnic minorities ? are culturally very different from the country?s other ethnic groups Recent immigrants Ethnic groups that are all across Europe, without a homeland like Jews and the Roma (gypsies) Why did European colonialism make such an impact on the world? What was the Columbian Exchange? European colonialism Lead to cultural diffusion (rising nationalism, meet needs of diverse populations, potential devolution), ethnic fragmentation, old enemies and rivalries, economic dependencies and class issues ? lecture The balance of world affairs started shifting to Europe Transfer of wealth from the colonies to Europe, the movement of great numbers of indigenous laborers to serve European interests in other lands, the settlements of Europeans in agriculturally productive colonies, and attempted to subjugate the indigenous cultures to European ones Transfer of plants and animals from one place to another Columbian Exchange ? transfer of plants and animals from one place to another (there was also disease and unwanted things involved in the exchange), started after Europe?s conquest of the Americas What is the economic geography of Europe? What are the periods of supremacy and decline? To what degree is this a postindustrial era? What new patterns indicate such? Socialism ? cooperate Capitalism ? free market, consumers, competition: drive Western Europe is wealthier than eastern Europe Decline: Because of wars (World Wars I and II in particular) Competition with other countries (like USA) Their energy dependence (trying to switch to a more high tech way) Manufacturing relocation ? moving factories to places outside of Europe (take away jobs) Supremacy: There was a steady agricultural improvement after 1500s but they aren?t self sufficient today Fishing is important, but there is a depletion of species (still world leader) Diversity is key (grows urban market) Subsidy EUCAP (European Union Common Agricultural Policy) has generated surpluses Still ranks high in productivity and affluence Has had a tremendous recovery from WWII From steam driven heavy industry to high tech Post-industrial era ? old industrial areas are in transition to deindustrialization, shifting by choice and by force away from energy-hungry, labor costly, and polluting industries toward and economy based on production of high-tech goods and services They cannot and do not employ as many people as the old manufacturing sector did (industrial unemployment) Many European nations fit the model of the welfare state ( use the resources collected through high taxation rates to provide generous social services to citizens) What are some of the current geopolitical issues? What kind of seriousness is being applied to such things as environmental pollution, economic and military cooperation? What is the European Union and why is it important? Geopolitical issues ? transition to robots, new service sector jobs, some social dislocation, fairly allocating income, joint projects (transitional companies) Looking for alternative energy sources because it is suffering from environmental pollution (addressing waste in the seas, control atmospheric pollution, clean up toxic waste, control atmospheric pollutions, address issues with genetically modified food) ?growth of EU? notes European Union ? federation of nations (similar to the United States of America), latest and largest of the various post-war European supranational organizations (member countries are united beyond the authority of any single national government and are planned and controlled by a group of nations Wanted their continent to be war-proof, war among them is impossible due to the intertwined economies, policies, etc. 9-29 ?Two of the Big Three? (The Core; the U.K. and France) What is the European Core? The British Isles, France, Germany, Benelux, Switzerland and Austria Core ? sub region that has long played a dominant role in the continent?s political, economic, and cultural development (most urbanized, most prosperous, lowest unemployment , most productive in agriculture, conservative politics, most roads, crowding, congestion, pollution) Why can the United Kingdom be defined by its highland and lowland regions? Scottish/Britain Highlands: mountains are low by most standards but many appear high because they rise from or near sea level A low lying area in the Highlands: Scottish Lowlands ? densely populated industrialized valley separating the rugged Scottish Highlands from the gentler and more fertile Southern Uplands of Scotland Account for 1/5 of Scotland?s area but more than 4/5 of its population 2 main cities: Glasgow and Edinburgh (political capital) Lowland Britain: lies in England, largest industrial and urban districts lie in the midlands and in the north How and why did the industrial revolution (centered in coal, iron, steel, and cotton) advance in the core? Why and where has the growth of cities changed the cultural landscape of Europe? Most of the modern large cities developed and remain on or near the coalfield that supplied the power for the early industrial growth More recent development is moving south, hinterland agriculture: fishing industry is important in Britain, grass was needed for milking and meat production (major rural land use), British farmers receive incentives (high and protected prices) Why is Ireland described as ?two in one?? What are the relevant historical geopolitics that have contributed to this phenomena? ?two in one? - there is a small part in the North that belongs to the UK, shouldn?t be seen as the whole island, known as the Emerald Isle England conquered Ireland in the 17th century and made it part of the UK, it was an English colony, it eventually broke away into the Irish Republic (predominantly Catholic) and the Northern part that was established as Presbyterians decided to stay with the UK Religion and the potato famine What is the Chunnel? Chunnel ? 16 mile tunnel linking Britain with the rest of the European continent, most costly project in landscape transformation ever undertaken, crosses the English Channel, takes 3 hours to get to Paris from London ? by train Why is France described as ?Natural Fortress?? How do the agricultural regions of France fit with the physical geography of France? ?natural fortress? ? because of some of the boundaries, framed by mountains and seas Superior topographic , climatic, and soil conditions Has large areas level enough for cultivation Low population density, more land Warmer temperatures ? corn (southern) Fine soils developed from loess ? wheat and sugar beets (northeastern) What factors contribute to making Paris a primate city; and what economic development is shifting the power from the core to the periphery? Primate city ? double the size of the next largest city Number one tourist destination in the world Trying to go green North has industry, south has hydro electricity and Marseilles (main port), and the west has viticulture Has the soil and climate advantage ? 35% agricultural 10-4 Germany, Benelux, the Alpine countries, Northern and Southern Europe What is the reunified Germany? How do German cities contribute to the Industrial economy of Germany? Turned petty states into a federation ? after the holy roman empire had disintegrated, then divided into 2 countries because of WWII ? east and west Germany, now brought back together (reunification of its 16 Landers ? states), rehabilitation of the east is still a great struggle Why might the Benelux countries be described as overachievers? How do ports and industrial patterns indicate this process? Trade ? specialized in few things that everyone wants and needs, Rotterdam: biggest port at the mouth or the Rhine , captures the goods that come down the river, Antwerp: diamond capital, colonial empires Industry ? minerals and oil, moving towards light and high tech industry Agriculture ? loess soil, fertilized sandy soils, labor intensive, niche products, polders Polders ? from sea to damns to windmills to drainage to islands to fertility What are the overall agricultural patterns in Benelux? What is the polder land? Agricultural patterns Polder land ? from sea to damns to windmills to drainage to islands to fertility They make dykes or dams and fill them with piled up soil, creating an interior island and pump water out using windmills, have to in order to keep it above sea level How do Switzerland and Austria compare and contrast? What provides for Swiss unity? Compare ? both are landlocked and have similar relationships with the Alpine Mountain system, same resources: forest, recreation, water (physical) Switzerland ? is doing better, national unity, neutral, in between Italy and Germany (made them go through and do what they said in WWII) Austria ? twilight of empires, chose to develop an Austria/hungary empire that didn?t work out very well, couldn?t find neutrality What is the European Periphery? What makes for the northern distinctiveness of Northern Europe? Why are the countries of Northern Europe so prosperous while have a degree of isolation from the rest of Europe? Democratic government with a socialist economy, moderate, high standards of living, specialized economy, participatory democracy and social welfare Historical interconnectedness and cultural similarities are important factors in the regional unity of regional unity of northern Europe What are some of the major country traits? How does the Mediterranean region compare and contrast to Northern Europe in the natural environment and population? What ecology and development factors contribute to the geographic character of Southern Europe? What are some of the major country traits? 10-6 ?The New Eastern Europe? (Eastern Europe) Why does Eastern Europe have a ?checkerboard? physical geography? Plains, mountains, climates and agriculture, canal connections Mixture of different topographical areas Why is Eastern Europe described as a shatterbelt? Consequences of migration of people into an area associating with the collapse of empires (culturally), left with shattered bits of populations of different kinds Rising and falling empires, What is the ?Slavic Realm?? Who are the Roma? Slavic realm ? major Slavic groups along with non-Slavic people 3 main groups: East, West and South Slavs Roma ? gypsies (non-Slavic people) What were the economic transitions at the end of the Twentieth Century for Eastern Europe? Communist industry and collectivization: one party All soviet union?s one by one held revolutions Resistance movements Regional development Privatization and outsourcing What are some of the major country traits? What is balkanization and how is it applied to other parts of the world? Major country traits ? Balkanization ? process of the devolution (coming apart of organized political units), fragmentation Break-up of Yugoslavia, countries that were once together and broke apart and now uniting again Devolution ? the dispersal of political powers to ethnic minorities and other sub national groups