Europe is divided. Forgery in geography: who invented Europe and why? Union State of Russia and Belarus

Geographical position

Western Europe occupies the western narrowed part of the Eurasian continent, washed mainly by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and only the north of the Scandinavian Peninsula is washed by the waters of the Northern Arctic Ocean. Despite the "mosaic" of the terrain Western Europe boundaries between individual countries, as well as the border separating Western Europe and Eastern Europe, runs mainly along such natural boundaries that do not create significant obstacles to transport links.

Natural conditions and resources

The territory of Western Europe lies within the tectonic structures different ages: Precambrian, Caledonian, Hercynian and the youngest - Cenozoic. As a result of complex geological history Formation of Europe within the subregion, four large orographic belts were formed, successively replacing each other in the direction from north to south (plateaus and uplands of Fennoscandia.

Central European Plain, midlands Central Europe and the Alpine highlands and middle mountains occupying its southern part). Accordingly, the composition of minerals in the northern (platform) and southern (folded) parts of the region differs significantly. In the northern part, both ore minerals (associated with the Baltic Shield and areas of Hercynian folding) and fuel minerals (concentrated in foredeeps, sedimentary cover and epicontinental zones) are widespread.

In the southern part, ore deposits prevail, and fuel resources are smaller. Although mineral resources quite diverse, the stocks of many of them are close to depletion. Thus, the coal basins of England and Germany, which served as the basis for the development of heavy industry, and the iron ore basins of France and Sweden, now play a lesser role. Great importance have reserves of brown coal in Germany, bauxite in Greece and France, zinc-lead ores in Germany, Ireland, Italy, potash salts in Germany, uranium in France, oil and gas at the bottom of the North Sea. In general, Western Europe is provided with minerals much worse than North America.

The agro-climatic resources of the region are determined by its position in the temperate and subtropical zones. In the Mediterranean, sustainable agriculture needs artificial irrigation, which is associated with a decrease in rainfall in southern Europe. Most of the irrigated land is now in Italy and Spain.

The hydropower resources of Western Europe are quite large, but they fall mainly on the regions of the Alps, the Scandinavian and Dinaric mountains.

In the past, Western Europe was almost entirely covered with a variety of forests: taiga, mixed, deciduous and subtropical forests. But the centuries-old economic use of the territory has led to the fact that natural. forests have been reduced, and secondary forests have grown in their place in some countries. Sweden and Finland have the greatest natural prerequisites for forestry, where typical forest landscapes predominate.

Western Europe also has large and varied natural and recreational resources; 9% of its territory are classified as "protected areas".

Western European countries:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Great Britain
• Germany
• Ireland
• Liechtenstein
• Luxembourg
• Monaco
• Netherlands
• France
• Switzerland

Population

In general, Western Europe (as well as Eastern) stands out for its complex and unfavorable demographic situation. Firstly, this is due to low birth rates (“demographic winter”) and low level natural increase. The lowest birth rate is in Greece, Spain, Italy, Germany (up to 10%o). In Germany, there is even a decline in population. At the same time, the age composition of the population is also changing towards a decrease in the proportion of children's ages and an increase in the proportion of older ages. All countries of Western Europe belong to the type of population reproduction.

All this led to a change in the role of the subregion in the global system of external migrations of the population. If since the time of the Great geographical discoveries Europe was the main center of emigration, now it has become the main world center of labor immigration. Immigrants are mainly involved in construction, road works and in the automotive industry.

The national composition of the population is quite homogeneous, since the vast majority of the 62 peoples of the region belong to the Indo-European language family. But the ethnic map of the subregion is not so homogeneous. There are single-national states (Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Italy), countries with a predominance of one nation, but with the presence of national minorities (Great Britain, France, Spain), binational (Belgium), with a more complex national composition(Switzerland).

In all countries of Western Europe dominant religion- Christianity. In Southern Europe, Catholicism sharply prevails, in Northern Europe - Protestantism, in Central Europe they are in different proportions. Conflicts arise on national-religious grounds in some countries (for example, in Great Britain).

Western Europe- one of the most densely populated regions of the world, the distribution of the population in it is primarily determined by the geography of cities.

The level of urbanization is 70-90%. Characteristic urbanization of Western Europe - a very high concentration of population in large cities and urban agglomerations. The largest of them are London, Paris and Rhine-Ruhr. In Europe - the birthplace of urban agglomerations in the 70s. the process of suburbanization was also born - the outflow of the population from polluted cities to the suburbs and to the countryside.

economy

The region of foreign Europe (Western and Eastern) ranks first in the world economy in terms of industrial and agricultural production, in the export of goods and services, in reserves of gold and currency, and in the development of international tourism. But the economic power of the region is primarily determined by the members of " big seven» - Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy. Of the other Western European countries, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Sweden have the greatest economic weight. The economies of these countries are less diversified and, as a rule, specialize primarily in certain industries. The small and medium-sized countries of the subregion are especially widely involved in world economic relations. The highest level of economic openness has been reached in Belgium and the Netherlands, the microstates of Western Europe (Andorra, Malta, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Monaco, Vatican City). The lowest level economic development the subregion is characterized by Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Greece.

Fuel and energy complex of Western Europe until recently, it relied on its own resources; coal dominated in the structure of these resources. Now there is a reduction in the share of coal (up to 20%) and a transition to oil and natural gas produced both in the region itself - in the North Sea (1/3 of the needs), and imported from developing countries and Russia. The share of oil and gas in the fuel and energy balance is about 45%. More than 50% of electricity is generated at thermal power plants, about 15% at hydroelectric power plants, although the hydropower potential has largely been mastered. An important place in the structure of the electric power industry - especially in France, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain - is occupied by nuclear power plants.

Metallurgical industry of Western Europe basically formed before the beginning of the era of scientific and technological revolution. Ferrous metallurgy has been developed primarily in countries that have metallurgical fuel and/or raw materials. - Germany, Great Britain, France, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg. After the Second World War, metallurgy centers began to be located in seaports with a focus on importing higher quality and cheaper iron ore. IN Lately in the iron and steel industry, there is a trend towards the construction of smaller plants (mini-mills).

Mechanical engineering and metalworking - the leading industry in Western Europe, it accounts for about 1/3 of the volume industrial products region and 2/3 of its exports. All the main branches of mechanical engineering have been developed, but the importance of transport engineering (automobile building, shipbuilding) and machine tool building is especially great.

Mechanical engineering focuses primarily on labor resources, scientific base and infrastructure. By general level development of mechanical engineering stand out primarily Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy - countries with high level development of engineering, significant exports, a number of countries with a high level of development of individual industries - Switzerland, Sweden. Netherlands, Belgium, Norway. In some countries, mechanical engineering is still poorly developed - Ireland, Portugal, Iceland.

Chemical industry in Western Europe ranks second after mechanical engineering. An important change in the structure of the industry over the past 20 years has been its reorientation to hydrocarbon raw materials. Large centers of petrochemistry are located in the estuaries of the Rhine, Thames, Seine, Elbe, Rhone; in them, this industry is combined with oil refining.

Light industry of Western Europe going through hard times, although at the beginning of the 20th century. light industry in Europe ranked first in the world. The old industrial textile regions in Great Britain, Belgium, France, Italy continue to work, but their importance is small, and in addition, light industry is shifting to Southern Europe, where there are reserves of cheap labor.

In many countries, rich national traditions are preserved in the production of furniture, musical instruments, glassware, metal products, jewelry, toys, etc.

Agriculture The subregion as a whole is highly developed, occupies a prominent place in world agriculture, producing up to 15% of grain, about 15% of meat and 30% of milk. For the main types of agricultural products, most countries fully meet their needs and export part of the products.

After the Second World War, there were changes in land ownership and land use - the universal small peasant economy was replaced by a large specialized economy, an agri-business system. But in agrarian relations and the level of development Agriculture, its specialization and marketability remain large differences between countries. Natural differences also contribute to this. Under the influence of the above factors, three main types of agriculture have developed in the subregion.

1. The northern European type is typical for Scandinavia, Finland, Great Britain. Dairy farming and fodder crop production mainly prevail here.
2. The Central European type is characterized by the predominance of dairy and dairy-meat animal husbandry, as well as pig and poultry breeding. Crop production supplies both food and feed products.
3. The South European type - stands out, in contrast to the first two, by the predominance of subtropical crop production, while animal husbandry is significantly inferior to it.
4. Fishing is an industry of international specialization in Norway, Denmark, Iceland; developed in all coastal states.

Highways of Western Europe constitute a single regional transport system. The density of traffic is very high here, the role of international and transit traffic is great. Road transport plays the main role in freight turnover, the road network is constantly growing, and the network railways is shrinking. Historically established and new sea and river routes are also of great importance. Large transport hubs arose at the intersections of land and inland waterways. Similar nodes are also large seaports, which have now turned into port-industrial complexes.

It is not easy to draw the boundaries of European sub-regions; there is no generally recognized regional division of Europe. This reflects the conditionality of regional borders in the most complex European tangle of economic, civilizational and other spatial relationships.

There are many options for the regionalization of Foreign Europe. Before the collapse of the socialist camp, it was most often divided into Western (capitalist) and Eastern (socialist). In the economic literature, it is still customary to use the term "" to denote a subregion that includes all that continued capitalist development in the post-war period. Geographers usually singled out separately, which included the Scandinavian countries, sometimes Denmark, and, and the South, where they were "listed", and. Now everything is more difficult. The name (or Central and Eastern) Europe (CEE), which unites most of the countries of the former socialist camp, comes into use. The Baltic republics are classified as both CEE countries and Northern Europe. The Republics of the former Yugoslavia, as well as, and can be attributed to both CEE and. Some geographers distinguish separately. Eastern Europe is now sometimes understood as Belarus, Russia, and even the new states of the Caucasus.

Sub-regions of Europe (according to the classification of the World Tourism Organization)

Another new factor influencing the change in approaches to the regionalization of Europe is the process of so-called federalization within the European Union. The idea of ​​the supporters of EU federalization is that the union of states is being replaced by a union of regions. Within the framework of the EU, nation-states deliberately deprive themselves of a significant part of their independence by deciding to share sovereignty with the Union. At the same time, a number of specific functions government controlled transmitted constituent parts states - lands, autonomous regions, regions. From this perspective, it no longer looks fantastic, for example, “dissolution” in a single “Franco-Germany”, obtaining the status of independent EU subjects by Catalonia, the Basque Country, Corsica or Wallonia. Will it become a reality or will it be an illusion - time will tell.

The issue of regionalization of Europe is inextricably linked with the issue of the region's external borders. The search for the most “correct” identification of Europe and its subregions has long been occupied not only by geographers, but also by geopoliticians, economists, historians, and culturologists. Views are often opposing. Thus, the well-known American geopolitician S. Huntington believes that Europe generally ends where Western Christianity is replaced by Orthodoxy and Islam. Between Europe and, in essence, an equal sign is put. In this case, for example, Greece, the cradle of European civilization, falls out of Europe. Another American scientist, L. Ferow, categorically objects to such an approach, who believes that European civilization has spread from the Atlantic to. In his opinion, only the unification of Western, Central-Eastern and of Eastern Europe, including Russia, will allow a United Europe to take advantage of its geopolitical advantages, relying on "the richness of its diversity."

Only larger than Australia. Its population is also relatively small - much smaller than Asian or African. The most ancient civilizations did not develop here either.

Nevertheless, it was Europe that was called the Old World, it was here that the springs of world history were located in the last two thousand years. From here, European travelers went to the unknown lands of Asia, Africa, and America.

European culture, as a result of numerous waves of migrations and colonizations, was carried around the world and adopted on many continents. So Europe gradually became also a kind of standard for the rest of the world.

Europe washed by the waters of two oceans (the Atlantic in the west and the Arctic in the north) and their seas (the Black, Marmara, Mediterranean), the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Lies entirely within the Northern Hemisphere. Together with Asia, it makes up the single, most big mainland our planet - Eurasia.

The area of ​​Europe is 10 million km2.

From Africa Europe it is separated by the Mediterranean Sea, from Asia by the mountain ranges of the Urals and the Caucasus, and from America by the Atlantic.

relief, climate, animal world Europe is extremely diverse.

The presence of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean has a great influence on its climate. In the northwestern part of Europe, a warm and humid climate prevails. In the south - the Mediterranean with warm and dry winds, bringing good weather, which is important for the development of tourism. In the Scandinavian Peninsula and half of the eastern part of Great Britain, the climate is much colder - with harsh winds and heavy rainfall. Drier territories are found in the Iberian Peninsula and southern Russia.

In Europe, there are several large water basins - the rivers Elbe, Rhine, Laura in Western Europe, Ebro, Rhone, Po in the Mediterranean part. The Danube is the main water artery of Western Europe. The most long river Europe's Volga (3530 km) crosses almost all of Russia from north to south. Many of the rivers are connected to canals and are of great transport and energy importance.

Large and deep lakes in Europe are Ladoga (17.7 thousand km2), Onega, Chudskoye, Venern, Balaton, Geneva, Como (the deepest in Europe is 410 m deep).

In Europe, mountains occupy about 17%. The largest of them are the Alps (Mont Blanc, height up to 4,807 m), the Carpathians, the Pyrenees, the Apennines, the northern part of the B. Caucasus (Elbrus, a height of 5,642 meters), the Urals, as well as the mountains of the Scandinavian and Balkan Peninsulas. There are active volcanoes in Europe - in Iceland and the Mediterranean.

Most of Europe is covered with forests.

In Europe there are deposits of oil, natural gas, iron ore, non-ferrous metal ores, coal, etc.

Despite its small area, approximately 14% of the population lives in Europe the globe- 733 million people. The population density is quite high - 68 people per 1 km2.

Europe ancient traditions, cultures, and unique architectural monuments. Who among us does not know about eiffel tower in Paris and the Palace of Versailles, the Roman Colosseum, the leaning Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Athenian Parthenon?

Europe is a great place for travel and tourism, and every traveler will find a vacation according to his abilities and for his soul.

Good health to all! In this article, I want to draw attention to the fact that I will talk about part of the world, and not about the whole mainland. Europe is just a part (smaller piece) of a huge continent - you will learn from this article the most important facts about geography in a concise manner. And just a little about the role of Europe in the world.

- this is part of the world (about 10 - 12 million km 2). Together with Asia it forms Eurasia.

Here general characteristics Europe, a part of the world where there is a lot of interesting things, we will consider everything in more detail.

The most extreme points of the mainland: North point - Cape Nordkin, coordinates 71° 08" N, 27° 39" E;

South point - Cape Marroki, 36° N, 5° 36" W;

Western point - Cape Roca, coordinates 38° 46" N, 9° 29" W;

East point - Polar Urals, the point with coordinates 67 ° 45 "north latitude, 66 ° 13" east longitude is considered to be the extreme point.

Large islands: Balkan, Scandinavian, Kola, Apennine, Pyrenean.

Maximum surface height- Mont Blanc (4,807 m), the minimum is the level of the Caspian Sea (28 m), the average is about 300 m. 37,900 m is the length of the coastline.

About 17% of the territory is occupied by mountains (the main ones are the Carpathians, the Apennines, the Alps, the Urals, the Pyrenees and the mountains of the Balkan and Scandinavian peninsulas), but most of the territory is predominantly flat (the large plains of the Paris Basin, Central European, East European, Lower Danube, Middle Danube). Active volcanoes in the Mediterranean and in Iceland.

Southern Europe: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vatican, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Malta, Macedonia, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro.

Northern Europe: Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Estonia.

Eastern Europe:, Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, , Czech Republic.

Western Europe:, Belgium, UK, Germany, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, France, Switzerland.

Partly in Europe: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Türkiye.

is a highly urbanized and densely populated part of the world. On the territory of Europe there are 50 countries and about 70 that develop their culture.

At the same time, the scale of the economic development of the mainland over the millennia of history is so significant that the natural landscape here has been preserved only as protected areas.

Europe is the cradle for many ancient civilizations: Roman, Greek (Illinois), Celtic, Etruscan, and also it became a region of widespread Christianity.

On the tongue Indo-European family spoken by most European peoples. These languages ​​are represented by 4 linguistic groups: Celtic, Romance, Slavic and German.

Also here live the peoples of the Semitic group of the Afro-Asian family - the Maltese, the Turkic group of the Altai family, the Finno-Hungarian group of the Ural family.

A significant part of the emigrants arriving in Europe are representatives of the Semitic linguistic group. And also in Europe, bilingualism (bilingualism) and polylingualism (multilingualism) are becoming more and more common.

This is facilitated by the growth of the level of education on the continent, the trend towards the political, economic and cultural unification of Europe, special events of international organizations and national governments, which are aimed at consolidating the multicultural pan-European space.

In the cultural and economic development of other continents, Europeans took an active part. Constantly tens of millions of people migrated to Australia, Asia, America, Africa, and also discovered new lands in world travel, Europeans have reached both poles.

In the 20th century, Europe experienced two terrible wars, in which more than 60 million people died. There were also very large losses in the economy and culture.

Now Europe plays an important role in the UN, it hosts and operates a number of interstate unions. And in general, this is a very developed, in all respects, part of the world.

Thus, the general description of Europe has given us many interesting and useful facts that can be used for a general acquaintance with this part of the world. As they say, short and clear 🙂

Europe is a part of the world, which is located in the northern hemisphere of our planet, it is washed by numerous seas and, together with Asia, forms Eurasia. In ancient Greek mythology, Europe is a Phoenician princess who was treacherously kidnapped by Zeus and taken to the island of Crete.

There is a hypothesis that this name comes from the Greek word, which the Greeks used to designate all territories located to the west of the Aegean Sea. There are other theories regarding the origin of this name.

General information

Today, more than 740 million people or 10% of the total population of the Earth live here. The total territory is more than 10 million square kilometers.

The shores of Europe are washed by two oceans: the Atlantic and the Arctic, as well as numerous seas. The coast is strongly indented, a large area is occupied by numerous peninsulas. Most of Europe is occupied by vast plains.

It flows here a large number of rivers and many large lakes. The climate is temperate, in the western part - oceanic, in the eastern part - continental. Europe is rich in minerals and other natural resources. It is here that the countries with the most developed economies are located.

This part of the world has played an important role in human history. It should be noted the great richness and diversity of European cultures.

Borders

The borders of Europe changed in different periods human history, the debate around them has not subsided to this day. The ancient Greeks considered the northern part of their country to be Europe. Gradually, people got to know their world better, and the borders gradually moved further east.

However, people mastered more and more new territories, went further to the east. The famous Russian historian Tatishchev proposed to divide the mainland at the foot of Ural mountains. This point of view was first adopted in Russia, and then by foreign geographers.

However, also in currently there are disputes regarding the exact boundaries of this part of the world. They are not global. Now there are several options for drawing borders. This issue plays an important political role, because where the border of Europe passes depends on which countries are included in it.

The border in the north runs along the coast of the Arctic Ocean, the western - along Atlantic Ocean, the eastern border - along the foot of the Ural Mountains, along the Emba River to the Caspian Sea and along the Manych and Kuma rivers to the mouth of the Don. Then the border goes along the northern coast of the Black Sea and the Black Sea straits.

According to another opinion, the border runs along the Caucasus Range. There are other options for drawing the border, which transfer it to the south of the Caucasus Mountains.

Countries that are part of Europe

Europe is often divided into Eastern and Western, Southern and Northern, although such a division is somewhat arbitrary. It has more to do with political and cultural characteristics. On the European political map you can find both large states (Russia, Ukraine, France) and very tiny ones. Several countries are only partially located in Europe.

In total, this part of the world includes (in whole or in part) 49 countries. Of these, several states are not always included in Europe. There are also several territories with undetermined status. They declared independence, but it was not recognized by the world community.

The borders of European states have changed over the centuries as a result of numerous wars and revolutions.

So, which countries are considered European today? We have prepared a list for you, dividing it into four parts: the states of Western Europe, the countries that are in its north, the countries of Southern and Eastern Europe. As well as those countries that are only partially located in this part of the world.

West Side:

1. France
2. Great Britain
3. Austria
4. Belgium
5. Germany
6. Ireland
7. Luxembourg
8. Liechtenstein
9. Monaco
10. Switzerland
11. Ireland

East End:

1. Bulgaria
2. Romania
3. Ukraine
4. Poland
5. Slovakia
6. Hungary
7. Czech
8. Moldova
9. Belarus