Download Clearly explain each of the following. Give examples as appropriate

1. Clearly explain each of the following. Give examples as appropriate.
a. Infrastructure
Infrastructure is a system of facilities that form the foundations of a society. It
comprises of urban centers; transport networks including railroads, roadways,
airports, and sea-ports; telecommunication networks including wired telephones,
and in modern times, wireless mobile phones, internet, and intranet; energy
distribution systems; farms, factories, mines; facilities such as schools, colleges,
universities, hospitals, and postal services; and police and armed forces.
Infrastructure determines the economic and social status of a community, town,
city, state, or a nation. Good Infrastructure is necessary to support economic
growth and development.
For example, Rome, in Italy, was the greatest single marketplace and the first
metropolitan sized urban center of the Roman empire in Europe in olden days.
b. Areal Functional Specialization
Areal Functional Specialization involves the process of ensuring that specialized
goods are produced by specialized people in specialized places. This
geographic principle was enforced by the Roman cultures in much of Europe
during their reign. It caused the economic and political transformation of Europe.
Farmlands, irrigation systems, mines, workshops, etc, gradually started taking
shape in post-Roman Europe, originally inhabited by isolated and rigid tribal
people. The Romans were adept at exploiting their natural resources, and to
delegate and use the diversified productive talents of their subjects far and wide.
For example, North Africa was a granary for European Rome; Elba, an island in
the Mediterranean sea was delegated to produce iron ore; Cartagena in Spain
was used to mine and export silver and lead. With such specialized delegation,
and exploitation of natural resources, the Roman Empire thrived during its time.
c. Von Thünen’s Isolated State
Von Thunen’s Isolated State is one of the world’s first geographic laboratory
models used to explain the location and spatial distribution of agricultural
activities in a commercial economy, around a single urban center.
It Incorporates four zones of agricultural land surrounding a market center. Of
these four zones, the first and innermost belt is a zone of intensive farming and
dairying; the second, an area of forest used for firewood and timber; the third, an
area of increasingly extensive field crops; and the fourth, an area of ranching and
animal products. Outside the ring of fourth zone, wilderness isolates the region
from the rest of the world.
Thus, this model assumes that a process of spatial competition allocates various
farming activities into concentric rings (zones) around a central market city. The
profit-earning capability of a particular zonal crop determines how far its
cultivation will be located from the central market.
The following assumptions were made by Von Thunen when he established his
model in 1826:
1) The soil and climate would be uniform throughout the region.
2) No river valleys or mountains would interrupt a completely flat land surface.
3) There would be a single centrally positioned city in the Isolated State, and the
Isolated State would be surrounded by an empty, unoccupied wilderness.
4) The farmers in the Isolated State would transport their own products to
market by oxcart, directly overland and straight to the central city.
d. Nation and Nation-State
A nation is a group of closely knit people with a common history, ethnicity,
language, and culture; and living according to common political establishments.
For example, Belgium is a nation.
A nation-state is a country with a great cultural homogeneity and unity amongst
its people. It is an ideal form aspired by most nations and states. It consists of a
political unit wherein the territorial state coincides with the area inhabited by a
certain national group or people, powerful and well organized. Such a national
group or people have emotional bonds visible in the state’s legal and political
system, and their ideological strength and unity.
For example, France is a nation-state. Also, Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Spain,
reunified Germany are nation-states.
e. Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces
Centripetal forces are forces that unite and strongly bind a country together.
These forces comprise of a strong national culture, and common ideological
objectives and faith. Such forces ensure a commitment to the governmental
system. Often, the charismatic qualities of a great state leader can act as a
centripetal force. For example, Jawaharlal Nehru in India, Charles de Gaulle in
France, Juan Peron in Argentina, and Ma Zedong in China, were great leaders
who succeeded in strongly binding their states by the centripetal force of their
charismatic qualities.
Centrifugal forces are forces are forces that divide and disunite a country. These
forces comprise of internal religious conflicts, linguistic conflicts, ethnic conflicts,
racial conflicts, ideological conflicts, etc. Some examples of centrifugal forces
are: the Vietnam war (1959-1975) and its centrifugal effect in the United States;
the Baifra conflict in 1960 in Nigeria; the breakups of Soviet Union in 1991,
former Yugoslavia in 1991, and Czechoslovakia in 1993; the revolutionary
internal change in Iran after the ouster of Shah of Iran, and the revolutionary
change in Cuba after Fidel Castro’s victory.
f. Complementary
Complementary is one of the spatial interaction principles in geography.
‘Complementary’ literally means balancing in harmony with the opposite. The
text uses the term ‘Complementarity’ to explain the phenomena of a commodity
surplus of one area demanded by another area. It arises from regional variations
in the supply and demand of natural and human resources, such as raw
materials and finished products. A mutually satisfying exchange of these
requirements results in complimentarity.
For example, complimentarity exists between Italy and northwest European
countries, such s Poland. Italy exports and Poland imports Italian fruits and
wines, while Poland exports and Italy imports Polish coal.
g. Intervening Opportunity
Intervening Opportunity is yet another spatial interaction principle of geography.
It explains that potential trade between two places can develop only if there is no
other closer, intervening source of supply. Even if the conditions of
complementarity and transferability are satisfied between two places, trade
cannot succeed if there exists another closer, intervening supply source. Thus,
the presence of nearer opportunities greatly diminishes the attractiveness of
opportunities located farther away.
For example, between Italy (exporter of fruits and wines, and importer of coal)
and northwestern Europe’s Poland (exporter of coal, and importer of fruits and
wines), there are no other intervening sources of opportunity to supply these
specific items of export and import. Hence the mutual trade of these
commodities between these countries has been thriving over a long period of
time.
h. Transferability
Transferability, a spatial interaction principle of Geography, is the ease with
which a commodity can be successfully transported between two places. It takes
into consideration the capacity of an entity or a place, to move a commodity from
one place to another at an affordable cost. Transferability can be a limiting factor
of complimentarity.
For example, one of the major obstacles in the development of the vast eastern
interior provinces of Russia, east of the Ural mountains, has been the lack of
proper transferability, the sheer vast distances of the inhospitable remote frigid
tundra lands, and the cost of money and time involved in such unprofitable
movements.
i. Primate City
A primate city is defined as a country’s largest leading city, disproportionately
large, and above all other urban hierarchies; highly expressive of its national
culture; and often the capital city of that country.
Paris in France, London in England, Vienna in Austria, Warsaw in Poland,
Stockholm in Sweden, Athens in Greece, etc, are some examples of primate
cities.
j. Devolution
Devolution is a powerful centrifugal process whereby regions and people within a
state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense
of the central government, either by negotiation or by active rebellion.
The process of devolution starts when one of the key centripetal forces viz.,
national unity with a sense of commitment to the leader and the governmental
system wears down, and the country slides down toward separatism, sowing the
seeds for a regional secession movement. The downslide towards separatism
occurs mainly in countries whose governments failed to create a practical nationstate. Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia are two examples of devolution.
k. Site and Situation
Site is defined as the internal characteristics of the location of an urban center.
This includes its local spatial arrangement and physical surroundings.
For example, a construction site in a city.
Situation is defined as the external characteristics of the location of an urban
center. It indicates the relative location of the urban center with reference to
other non-local surrounding areas, towns, and cities of productive capacity.
Situation of a place deals with factors like barriers to access and movement,
including other aspects of the greater regional framework in which it lies.
For example, a construction site in a city can be referenced by its relative
location to some other place in that urban center.
l. Regional State
A regional state is a “natural economic zone” that defies political boundaries. It is
shaped by the global economy of which it is a part. The leaders of such a
regional state deal directly with foreign partners. They negotiate the best terms
possible with the national governments under which they operate. For example,
Poland is a regional state.
m. Supernationalism
Supernationalism is the voluntary association of three or more independent
states in economic, political, or cultural spheres. These states willingly yield
some measure of sovereignty for mutual benefits. The European Union is an
example of Supernationalism.
n. Conurbation
Conurbation is a large multi-metropolitan complex formed by the growing
together of two or more major urban areas. For example, Amsterdam,
Rotterdam, and The Hague, are three cities collectively forming a conurbation.
On the Atlantic coast of northeastern U.S.A., the Megalopolis extending from
southern Maine to Virginia, forms a Conurbation as well.
o. Break-of-Bulk Point
Break-of-Bulk Point is a location along a transport route, a place where large
quantities of goods are collected and stored to be transshipped. In modern
times, some Break-of-Bulk Points have extensive high-speed infrastructure which
ensures JIT(Just In Time) delivery of cargoes. Such an infrastructure enables
direct transshipment of cargo from one carrier to another, without any need for
storage. This reduces the cost of collection and storage. In a sea-port, the
cargoes of oceangoing ships are unloaded and put on trains, trucks and smaller
river boats for inland distribution.
Copenhagen in Denmark is a great example of Break-of-Bulk Point for the Baltic
Sea. Other examples being Singapore in the Far East, and Al Fujayrah in United
Arab Emirates.
p. Entrepôt
Entrepot is a term assigned to a place, usually port city, where goods are
imported, stored and transshipped, such as a Break-of-Bulk Point. Copenhagen
in Denmark is an example of Entrepot, making it a leading port in lower Baltic.
q. Shatter Belt
Shatter belt is a region caught between stronger, colliding external culturalpolitical forces, under constant stress, fragmented by aggressive rivals bent on
relentlessly splintering and fracturing it. Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia are
two classic examples.
r. Balkanization
Balkanization is the breakup or fragmentation of an established order in a region
in to smaller regions. Often these smaller fragmented regions are hostile
political units. Eastern Europe, with its horrors of ethnic cleansing, is a classic
example of Balkanization.
s. Exclave
Exclave is a bounded (non-island) piece of territory that is part of a particular
state but lies separated from it by the territory of another state. Alaska is an
exclave of the United States. Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave that lies wedged
between Lithuania and Poland, facing the Baltic Sea, is yet another example.
t. Irrendentism
Irrendentism is a policy of cultural extension and probable political expansion by
a state aimed at a community of its nationals living in a neighboring state. It is
the supportive interest shown by a nation towards its cross-border buddies. In
present times, irendentism is a global geographic phenomenon. This is due to
minorities located across borders in all parts of the world.
For example, irrendentism existed in nineteenth century between Italy and
Austria. There were many Italians in Austrian territory. Hence, Italy pushed a
policy of incorporating an Italian-speaking area in Austria.
2. Briefly describe the physical landscapes and regions of Europe. You should
become thoroughly familiar with the map in Figure 1-4 (page 45).
The European realm lies on the western extremity of the Eurasian landmass. Its
location gives it maximum advantage for contact with the rest of the world. For a
small landmass, Europe has a complex and varied landscape, with a large
number of physiography regions. It is bounded on the west, north, and south by
Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, and the Mediterranean sea, respectively.
Geographically, Europe has a broad regional pattern consisting of four units: the
great North European Lowland, the Western Uplands, the Central Uplands, and
the Alpine Mountains in the south. However, its eastern boundary is disputed.
Some say it ends at Ural Mountains deep inside Russia, dividing Russian
territory into a European half and an Asian half. Others see no point in this
boundary. But the text defines this boundary.
The great North European Lowland:
The great North European Lowland extends in a gigantic arc from southern
France passing through the Low Countries across northern Germany and
eastward through Poland, fanning out deeply into southwestern Russia. Often
called the Great European Plain, it also includes southeastern England,
Denmark, and the southern tip of Sweden. Differing in remaining factors, it has a
common topography generally sloping down to 500 feet in elevation, with local
relief rarely exceeding 100 feet.
The soils and climates vary in this highly productive agricultural area which has
withstood the test of extensive migrations and wars. Agricultural diversity and
intensive farming are the norm here. A multitude of navigable rivers, such as, the
French rivers of Garonne, Loire, and Siene; the Dutch Rhine-Meuse (Maas) river
system serving Europe’s most productive industrial and agricultural areas, and
reaching the sea via the Netherlands; the Weser, Elbe, and Oder across northern
Germany; and the Vitsula river across Poland, and Danube flowing across
southeastern Europe are a few of the assets of this Great European Plain. North
of Alpines, Europe’s major rivers generate a radial pattern outward, flowing from
interior highlands outwards and down towards the sea. These natural waterways
connected with artificial canals, together with a good infrastructure on land make
this region highly favorable for trade and traffic.
The French topography includes the basins of three major rivers – Garonne,
Loire, and Siene. The Dutch topography consists of land reclaimed from the sea,
enclosed by dikes and below sea level, making it prone to floods. The
topography in other higher areas of Netherlands, southeastern England, northern
Germany and Denmark, southern Sweden, and farther eastward, bear the marks
of Pleistocene glaciation.
The Western Uplands:
The Western Uplands are quite rugged and comprise of Scandinavia, Scotland,
Ireland, Brittany of France, the Iberian Peninsular regions of Portugal and Spain,
Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, and the western longitudinal half of England and
Wales. These highlands are a result of ancient geologic mountain building.
Scandinavia’s uplands have old crystalline rocks that bear the mark of
Pleistocene glaciation. Still older rocks, worn down to a tableland, are found in
Spain’s central plateau, the Meseta.
The Central Uplands:
Flanked on the south by the Alpine Mountains and to the west, north, and east by
the North European Lowland, the Central Uplands consist of hills and small
plateaus, with forest-clad slopes and fertile valleys. The raw material rich belt
extending across middle Europe from England to Ukraine, including a majority of
coal fields lie in this region. The Industrial Revolution converted many of its
towns to cities, and many of its farmlands to mines and factories.
The Alpine System:
The Alpine system of mountains consist of the famous Alps and its associated
mountain ranges. The Alpine system includes the Pyrenees between Spain and
France, the Appennines of Italy, the Dinaric Ranges of Yugoslavia, the
Carpathians of Romania extending across Eastern Europe, and further extending
into North Africa (as the Atlas Mountains), and eastward into Turkey and beyond.
In spite of the rugged and imposing features of the Alps, human traders have
conquered them and traversed across these mountain passes for hundreds of
years.
Also included in this system are the Balkan, Rhodope, and Pindus Mountains of
the Balkan Peninsula; Crete island of Greece and the island of Cyprus; Malta,
Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica islands in the Mediterranean Sea; Seirra Nevada
region of southern Spain ; and the southern Crimean Peninsula in Black Sea, as
shown in the map in Figure 1-4.
3. Identify and explain "the four motors of Europe".
The Four Motors of Europe are as follows:
Rhone-Alpes region (anchored by Lyon) in southeastern France; Lombardy
(Milan) in northern Italy; Catalonia (Barcelona) in northeastern Spain; and BadenWurttemberg (Stuttgart) in southern Germany.
Each of these regions are high-technology-driven regions with exceptional
industrial vitality and economic success on a global scale. These four motors of
Europe have developed direct linkages and relationships with one another,
thereby bypassing the capital cities and central governments of their respective
countries. Also, these four motors are expanding their business with direct
economic ties with business centers worldwide. Each of these four motors are
setting a text book example of a regional state, a concept introduced by a
Japanese economist. According to him, a regional state is a natural economic
zone defying old borders and shaped by global economy; its leaders dealing
directly with global partners to negotiate the best business terms possible.
4. Briefly give the main features of the physical, cultural, and economic
geography of each of the following European regions. Stress those features
that make each region unique. A short paragraph should suffice for each
region.
a. British Isles (What is the correct and complete name of the country
whose capital is London?)
The British Isles comprises of two major islands surrounded by a group of tiny
ones. It is a distinct region of the European realm, off the coast of mainland
Western Europe.
The larger island is called Britain and the smaller one is called Ireland. The
British Isles constitutes two countries, viz., The United Kingdom, and The
Republic of Ireland.
The U.K. comprises of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain is further divided into five sub-regions: a)
Southern England centered on London area; b) Northern England including
Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham; c) Wales towards the west of England;
d) Scotland in Britain’s far north; and, e) Northern Ireland across the Irish Sea.
Southern England is the economically most affluent region of U.K. Northern
England was the scene of Industrial Revolution. It includes ports like Liverpool,
industrial centers like Birmingham, Sheffield, and Leeds. Presently, Northern
Europe is plagued by social and economic problems. Wales boomed during the
Industrial Revolution with its coal reserves, but its fortunes slid down when these
reserves were exhausted. Scotland, once renown for its ship-building industry, is
now booming again with major reserves of oil off its east coast beneath the North
Sea. Northern Ireland has been a scene of severe ethnic, cultural and political
problems depending on economic assistance from U.K., with mounting costs of
policing its conflicting people.
Since 1921, London exerts control over a small part of Northern Ireland to protect
its British Protestant religious subjects settled there. That part of Northern
Ireland remained officially a British political territory. Northern Ireland with its
British Protestants and Irish Catholics is a zone of potential ethnic trouble.
The smaller island of The Republic of Ireland, has a moist and cool environment
in its interior lowlands that open towards the sea. The capital city, Dublin is on
the eastern coast facing the Irish Sea. Cork, another port, is located south in St.
George’s Channel, while ports of Limerick and Galway are located westward on
the Atlantic Coast. The suitable Irish climate enabled abundant potato farming a
few centuries ago, but heavy rains from 1840s ruined this crop’s success. The
resulting floods and loss of life caused people to emigrate.
The population of The Republic of Ireland is 3.8 million. The conservative and
rigid religious Irish culture, coupled with its economic limitations, resulted in many
people leaving its shores in search of a better life elsewhere from 1840s until mid
1990s. Thence, an economic boom has made Irish people return home. To
keep up with labor shortages, non-Irish immigrant work force are being recruited
as well, causing new social problems in a closely knit isolated society.
Despite the climatic and agricultural disasters of 1840s, Ireland has bounded
back remarkably since the mid 1990s. European telecommunications service
industries channelised the labor and locational opportunities in Ireland to make it
Europe’s leading call center by rapidly expanding its toll-free telephone market.
The success of this market encouraged other service industries to follow suit.
Tourism also played its part in buoying the rising Irish economy. Full use was
made of the well educated but inadequately paid Irish labor pool. By the turn of
the millenium, Ireland became a growing, booming service-based economy,
producing noticeable annual economic surpluses, rewarding it with the sparkling
image of a Celtic Tiger. Ireland is a fully committed member of the European
Union and has already joined the European Monetary Union.
The correct and complete official name of the country whose capital is London is
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, briefly, U.K..
b. Western Europe
Western Europe is considered to be the core of the European realm, the focus of
its economic power, and a key role player in the creation of the European Union.
This region of Europe is dominated by two European giants, Germany and
France, with the three Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and
Luxembourg) flanking it on the northwest, and the three Alpine states
(Switzerland, Austria, and Liechtenstein) flanking it on the east. These eight
countries, with a combined population of about 184 million, make Western
Europe a formidable international economic force.
{
Countries of Western Europe:
Germany was originally divided into western capitalist and eastern communist
parts, but became reunited in 1990. This erased the border and the Berlin Wall.
Devastated very severely by World War II, Germany’s physical geography was a
key for its economic miracle after the war. Germany borders most Western
European countries and has one of the best surface transport systems.
Germany is Europe’s most populous country with 81.9 million people, over 7
million foreigners, and 4 million ethnic Germans born outside. It has problematic
issues of right-wing extremist activities and attacks on foreigners, mainly the
Turks.
France, the oldest West European giant, had also been instrumental in creating
the European Union. France has bigger territory compared to Germany, and an
excellent relative location with coastlines on Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean,
and also a window to North Sea at Calais. Its topography consists of a wide
range of soils and climates, its farms produce diverse products like French wines
and French cheese renown the world over. On the downside, France is devoid
of good natural harbors, preventing ocean-going ships from navigating in its
inland waterways. France’s core area comprises of Paris, a centrally populated
dominant city of 9.6 million people. The Seine River, together with the Oise,
Marne, and Yonne navigable tributaries, and canals extending these waterways
even further, linked Paris to as far as the Lorraine industrial area and Belgium.
Napoleon’s idea of a radial system of roads and railroads connecting Paris from
all of France ensured its economic success and dominance. A fertile agricultural
hinterland also contributed to the primacy of Paris. During the 1950s, France
was a global colonial empire. Modern France includes 3 million immigrants from
former colonies. Political and social crisis in former colonies tend to spill over
into France. The 1990s struggle between Islamic extremists and government in
Algeria led to terrorist acts in some French cities. The French still actively retain
whatever they can of their former colonies. But the French public opinions vary
in many matters with the governmental policies. The French economy is boosted
by its diverse farm products and its new high-tech industries of
telecommunications and transportation. Its nuclear power grid takes care of
more than 75% of country’s electricity reducing its dependence on imported oil.
The three Benelux countries of northwestern Western Europe, Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Luxembourg, possess a topography of flat, low-lying land near
sea-level. The land is below sea-level in the Netherlands. In Luxembourg and
eastern Belgium’s Ardennes, hill-and-plateau landscapes with elevations of 1000
feet exist. Belgium is renown for its coal and a manufacturing sectors.
Netherlands is renown for its agricultural products. These Benelux countries are
among the most densely populated on Earth. International trade is a productive
activity in these countries. Brussels, the capital of Belgium is a co-capital of the
European Union, headquarters of NATO, and administrative center of hundreds
of multinational corporations and international economic organizations. This
makes it a strong financial center and commercial-industrial complex.
The Alpine States of Switzerland and Austria are landlocked in the Alps. Austria
has a extensive cultivable land, a substantial range of cultivable raw materials
including oil, is twice the size of Switzerland, has a greater population, a
monolingual society, a large primate city Vienna, and is a member of the
European Union. Switzerland has somewhat cultivable land, no domestic raw
materials, is half the size of Austria, has a smaller population, a multicultural
society, smaller cities of Zurich, Berne and Geneva, and is not a member of the
European Union. In spite of these contrasts, Switzerland has a higher per capita
GNP.
}
c. Northern (Nordic) Europe
Northern (Nordic) Europe comprises of six disconnected group of countries viz.,
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, and Iceland, inhabited by 25
million people on a land area the size of the European core. The core-periphery
contrasts are prominent in this region of difficult environments, cold climates,
poor soils, limited mineral resources, and long distances. The core areas of this
region are located southwards in the capital cities, such as, Helsinki, Stockholm,
and Oslo. Northern Europe has a peripheral situation. Apart from environmental
reasons, there are no major shipping lanes connecting it to other productive
areas of the world. Also, only Denmark and Estonia are physically connected to
the European mainland. Thus, Nordic Europe is isolated at all levels of spatial
generalization. The positive effect of this isolation due to remoteness and
environmental severity is the freedom from wars so far in these countries.
Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians speak a mutually intelligible language and all
Nordic countries except Estonia, follow the same Lutheran Church. There is
strong protection for individual rights and social welfare with a well established
democratic political system. Women’s participation in government and politics is
most prominent in these countries.
{ Countries of Northern (Nordic) Europe:
Sweden has the largest territory and population. Its southern part has evergreen
forests, moderate climate, contains the capital city core area with industrial
districts, including agricultural areas, and inhabited by most Swedes. It has
evolved from exporting raw materials to finished products. It faces the Baltic Sea
and has a varied topography. It has pioneered nuclear power plants for
electricity.
Norway has its core on a fjorded coastal topography that looks like a necklace
whose beads are joined by the thin strands. It has limited patches of cultivable
soil, high relief and extensive forests. It does not need nuclear power for it sits
on the North Sea oil bed. Its economic good times are assured by the North Sea
oil; additionally it has cultivated highly efficient fish farms adding to the economic
boom. Norway is a leader in a merchant marine industry that spans the world.
Norwegians possess a strong national spirit of freedom.
Denmark has a small territory but the second largest population in Nordic region.
Its topography consists of Jutland Peninsula and adjacent eastern islands. Its
climate is mild, moist, and agriculture is sustained by level and good soils. Its
economic prosperity is dependent on exports of dairy products, meats, poultry
and eggs. Its capital, Copenhagen, is an entrepot break-of-bulk point cargo
transshipment center, making it a key port in lower Baltic Sea. The Oresund
bridge-tunnel that enables road and rail traffic connections to Sweden further
enhance Denmark’s spatial advantages.
Finland is as large as Germany, but has only 5.2 million people mostly living in
southern core areas of Helsinki, Tampere, and Turku. It has evergreen forests
and glacial lakes. Its economy is sustained by export of wood, wood products,
textiles, manufacture of machinery and telecommunications equipment, staple
crops, and shipbuilding. Finns are not Scandinavians, having linguistic and
historic links with Estonians instead.
Estonia is part of Nordic Europe due to its ethnic and linguistic ties to Finland.
Soviet control from 1940-1971 changed its demographic structure drastically.
30% of its population is Russian. It has a free trade zone at Muuga harbor for
trade with Russia. Busy traffic steams the Gulf of Finland between Tallinn in
Estonia and Helsinki in Finland.
Iceland is a volcanic glacier-studded island in the frigid North Atlantic waters
south of the Arctic Circle. Its Scandinavian ancestry population of 285,000 is
mostly urban, with the capital Reykjavik inhabiting half of these. Its economy is
dependent on seafood harvests. It has a high standard of living, but at the cost
of overfishing. This has lead to disputes over fishing grounds and quotas.
Iceland and its neighboring Westermann Islands lie on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge,
where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates are diverging to form
new land. This phenomenon is of spectacular interests to global scientists.
Greenland is physically nearer to North America, but has historical, political, and
economic links with Denmark in Nordic Europe.
}
d. Mediterranean Europe
Six countries constituting the Mediterranean region lie on the southern side of
Europe’s core. They are: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
The Mediterranean region is a discontinuous region of peninsulas with significant
core-peninsula contrasts. A cultural continuity is visible in its religions,
languages, life ways, and landscapes. The climatic pattern is dry, hot summer.
There is a dearth of raw materials, large scale deforestation, rugged topography,
a population of 119 million, and a limited supply of seasonal water that limits
hydroelectric opportunities. Major concentrations of population are in coastal
lowlands and fertile river basins, and the level of urbanization and living
standards are not as high as in western and northern Europe.
Countries of Mediterranean Europe:
Italy is centrally located, most populous and economically advanced, and best
connected to the European core, compared to other Mediterranean states. It has
20 administrative regions, some of which are powerful economic entities, e.g.
Lombardy (Milan) and Veneto (Venice). Italy is economically progressive in north
and stagnant in south, divided in between by historic capital Rome via a
transition zone called as Ancona line.
Spain and Portugal, past colonialists and modern democracies, comprise the
Iberian Peninsula at the western end of Europe. The landscape has a historic
Roman flavor of the Roman Empire reflected in its ports, cities, roads, and crops.
Spain, inhabited by 39.5 million people, has 17 decentralized geo-political
regions called Autonomous Communities (AC), each having its own parliament
and administration that control planning, public works, cultural affairs, education,
environmental matters, and international commerce. Catalonia, in Barcelona, is
Spain’s leading industrial area contributing to the prosperity and productivity of
the nation. It has its own language and culture, a fierce nationalism, and is
economically one of the Four Motors of Europe. It has raw materials in northwest
and industrial development in northeast. Madrid, its prosperous capital, is at its
geographic center. Tourism and wine growing are the profitable industries on the
Mediterranean coast.
Portugal, inhabited by 10 million people, is poorer than Spain, but benefits from
European Union participation. Its capital, Lisbon, is undergoing transformation
with a massive renovation project. EU funds are instrumental in the process of
modernization of its surface transport routes. Its people are spread all around in
clusters on its interior plateau as well as its coastal lowlands. It is mostly rural
country, but the farms are small and inefficient, resulting in imports of foodstuffs.
It exports textiles, wines, corks, and fish. In spite of all this, its economy is
running in deficit.
Greece lies at the eastern edge of Mediterranean Europe. It has 2000 islands
offshore, and is a member of EU. It has geo-political borders with Turkey,
Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Albania. Previously under the Roman Empire, then
controlled by Turks from fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, later ravaged by the
Germans in World War II, Greeks have a quarreling history with the Turks,
Albanians, and Macedonians as well. Athens, its capital city, contains 40% of its
10.6 million population. Piraeus, a busy sea-port in Athens, contributes to its
congestion and pollution. Tourism is a source of revenue with monumental
architectures of ancient Greece prominent on the cultural landscape, its
limestone topography and Mediterranean climate. It is self-sufficient in staple
foods, imports livestock, exports fruit, and is the poorest EU country in terms of
GNP.
Cyprus, with a pre-dominantly Greek population, lies at far northeast corner of
the Mediterranean Sea, closer to Turkey than to Greece. It has a history of
Greek and Turk ethnic violence. Greek and Turk divided populace, and geopolitical territorial conflicts linger to this day.
}
e. Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the largest territorial region in Europe, with the maximum
number of countries (17), compared to any other region. Most of Eastern Europe
is outside the core areas of Europe, and suffers from peripheral effects. It is a
region of physiographic, cultural, and political fragmentation. Ethnic and cultural
conflicts with epic battles between Illyrians, Slavs, Turks, Hungarians and others;
tumultuous migration, foreign invasions, and imperial episodes; have ravaged
this region over time. This region is viewed upon as a shatter belt with prominent
effects of Balkanization.
{
Countries of Eastern Europe:
Poland, on Baltic Sea, with lowland topography, was traditionally agrarian, but
became industrialized under communist rule. Coal industries, manufacturing
factories, and the concept of collective farming with pre-historic equipment
pushed by the Soviets, were responsible for unchecked environmental
degradation including, air, stream, groundwater pollution, and a disgruntled
populace. Warsaw, the historic capital and primate city, lies on the banks of the
highly navigable Vitsula River, with a productive agricultural hinterland.
Adequate surface transport to port cities of Gdansk, Gdynia, and Szczecin, keep
the economy churning. The 38.6 million Poles are mainly Roman Catholics with
one common Polish language, but it still faces problematic issues of communist
legacy, poor infrastructure, rural backwardness, and strong urban-rural contrasts.
Lithuania, with 3.7 million people, has Poland to its south but with a Russian
exclave of Kaliningrad in between, all facing the Baltic Sea. Once upon a time,
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ruled a vast empire from the Baltic to the Black
Sea. Russian, German, and Polish encroachments over time, made that empire
a history. Its capital, Vilnius, is situated near Belarus, which is pro-Russian.
Lithuania holds a trump card with over-land access to Russian exclave territory of
Kaliningrad. It is a prospective EU member.
Latvia, Eastern Europe’s northernmost state is inhabited by only 2.4 million
people, 54% being Latvians, and remaining mostly Russians. Its capital Riga is a
port in Gulf of Riga opening into the Baltic Sea, and is considered a safe haven
for Russians seeking offshore Banking. Russian influence and organized crime
are prominent in this city. Latvia holds a trump card with access to the oil
pipeline from Russia to the port of Ventspils, the major northern route for Russian
oil exports.
Belarus is landlocked with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia on its west and northwest. It
has no coast. Its population is 9.9 million, 80% of these are West Slavic
Belarussians, and the rest, mostly East Slavics. It has a large capital city Minsk.
Belarus was devastated by Germans in World War II, with a mass genocide.
Postwar, with a weak economy, it has become Russia’s loyal ally. The Soviets
made Belarus a machine fabricating center, and Minsk, a large industrial city. Its
greatest asset is its relative location, with the Druzba oil pipeline and the
Northern Lights gas pipeline across its territory enroute to other parts of eastern
Europe. Belarus border is only 65 miles from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad,
giving its ally Russia and Moscow, a window to the warm waters of the Baltic
Sea, a privilege not available to Russia around its other cold coastal areas.
Belarus is keen on Russia-Belarus relationship, but Moscow is cold due to its
own economic weakness.
Kaliningrad, the critical Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, lies wedged between
Lithuania and Poland. It has a gigantic naval port strategic to Russia. Its 1
million people are 90% Russians. German influence of pre-World War II, is still
visible in its cultural landscape. The geo-political future of Kaliningrad is
uncertain. In 2001, it remained a crucial military base for Russia.
The Czech Republic is in a landlocked central European region, and the western
half of former Czechoslovakia prior to the 1993 separation between Czech and
Slovak Republics. It consists of three regions: Bohemia, Moravia, and Ostrava,
with a population of 10.3 million, including ethnic gypsies. Its capital, Prague,
located in the basin of Elbe river in core Bohemia is cosmopolitan and Western in
every way. Elbe provides an outlet through Germany to the North Sea. Prague
is a primate and an industrial city with a traditional Czech cultural landscape,
encircling mountains and many small town valleys. Fabricating high quality
goods, Czechs exported technology and engineering machinery worldwide even
during the communist period. Their economic growth declined in 1990s due to
labor problems and heavy floods in 1997.
Slovakia, the eastern half of the former Czechoslovak Republic, is inhabited by
5.4 million people, 11% of which are ethnic minority Hungarians, and SlovakHungarian ethnic tensions exist in the wake of Slovak dominated government
after the separation. Slovakia has a traditional Soviet economic system
background, is more rural, and exhibits communist-era traits. Its capital is
located in Bratislava.
Hungary shares this landlocked central European region together with Czech and
Slovak Republics. It has Austria on its west and Romania on its east. It is
inhabited by 10 million people. Its capital Budapest comprises of twin cities Buda
and Pest astride the famous Danube river that borders many an East European
country. It is a politically stable country with former communists re-running the
office after 1994 under a socialist flag. This has helped it keep its economy in
check. People of Hungarian ethnic origin are spread around in Slovakia,
Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, and Yugoslavia, much which was ruled by the
Hungarians in the past. To keep these Hungarians abroad happy, the Hungarian
government supports them by irredentism, a practice which has become a global
phenomena. Hungary is a world class exporter of bauxite and has diminishing
coal reserves that still help it for electricity production. It also has oil and natural
gas reserves, and uranium ores to supply its nuclear power plants. Loaded with
raw materials from manganese to copper, it has a bright future with a skilled and
well-educated labor force adept at manufacturing and exporting precision
equipment like microwaves and hi-fi television sets. In 2001, it was a bright
candidate for the European Union.
Ukraine, on the Black Sea coast is East Europe’s largest territory with a leading
population of 48.9 million, including 22% Russian minority. Its major historic,
political, and cultural focus is centered on its capital city, Kiev. Agrarian in the
past, but turning highly industrial under the Soviet regime, it is regionally
subdivided into several parts by the winding Dnieper river. Its famous productive
coal mines during the Czarist regime brought it in economic limelight. Moscow’s
intervention in Ukraine for economic reasons has caused political instability and
economic turmoil in Ukraine. Thus, it is a country which in spite of enviable
assets, such as, sea-ports; educated, experienced, and skilled labor; large
domestic market; and, massive productive farms; has not risen to limelight due to
a history of dependence on the Russian regime, dictatorial rule, and present day
mismanagement.
Moldova is a small country with 4.3 million people, Romanian ethnic majority, and
an agrarian economy. It belonged to Romania in the past, until the Soviets
grabbed it in 1940. After the collapse of the communist regime in 1990s,
Moldova voted to remain unattached to Romania.
Romania hosts the famous Danube river and the resource-rich Carpathian
Mountains. Its topography has a broad mountain arc and the Transylvanian Alps
define the lower Danube Basin. It had oil in the south, and still has gas reserves
that have assured its exports for a long time. Its core is in the southeast and its
capital city is Bucharest. With a population of 22.4 million people, including 9%
Hungarian minority, its economic geography is in doldrums due to multiple evils
of political infighting, instability, factionalism, corruption, and crime. Former and
executed President Ceausescu’s regime squandered the tax-payer’s money on
grandiose development and urbanized construction schemes landing itself in
debts and huge loans with the capitalized West. That regime then resorted to
exporting the nation’s oil and food to pay the bills without caring for its own
citizens who did not have enough food or oil. The ruins created by that regime
have hampered the country’s economic progress to this day.
Bulgaria, with a population of 8.1 million, majority of which are Slavic Bulgars,
has borders with Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, and Yugoslavia. It has a troubled
ethnic past with the Turkish minority. It has a rugged topography and the famed
Danube flows through this country as well. Its physiography is dominated by the
Balkan Mountains that separate the Danube and Maritsa drainage basins. It is a
strategically located country, with Black sea entrance, Danube river, and key land
routes between Europe and southwest Asia. Transformed by the Soviets from a
peasant to an industrial society, it has a collectivized agriculture landscape, and
the manufacturing capital Sofia, reflects the Soviet influence all around. Russia
is its leading trade partner, but economic reforms are slow.
Yugoslavia is on the Adriatic Sea. It was formerly Yugoslavia, but since then it
has been a country devastated and ravaged by horrifying ethnic cleansing
massacres leading to birth of new countries like Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia,
Macedonia, Kosovo, and Serbia. Powerful European countries watched as
bystanders, while ethnic massacres devastated former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
An estimated 250,000 people were massacred, 2 million dislocated, and much of
cultural heritage and infrastructure of this Slavic nation was destroyed.
Albania, Yugoslavia’s neighbor on the Adriatic Sea, has been lucky to escape the
ethnic devastation faced by Yugoslavia. It is the only dominant Muslim state in
Europe, with 70% Muslim majority. Although Europe’s poorest country with the
fastest growing population, its importance lies in being a potential Muslim
gateway to Eastern Europe. Inhabited by 3.5 million people, with ethnic affinity to
minorities in Kosovo and Macedonia, livestock herding and farming are traditional
occupations. Its topography is earthquake prone with rocky mountains, a small
wonder why many Albanians try to cross the Adriatic Sea to reach Italy, with
probable better prospects in the European Union.