Download Europe

C.L.I.L. (English-Geography)
Class: I BL
School Year 2007\2008
Teachers: M. Rosaria Barbarito – Emilia Esposito
Europe
Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the
Earth. Physically and geologically, Europe is the
westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west of Asia. Europe
is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west
by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean
Sea, to the southeast by the Caucasus Mountains and the
Black Sea and the waterways connecting the Black Sea
to the Mediterranean. To the east, Europe is generally
divided from Asia by the Ural River, and by the Caspian
Sea.[1]
The only continent smaller than Europe is Australia. Of
Europe's 48 countries, Russia is the largest by both area
and population, while the Vatican is the smallest. Europe
is the third most populous continent after Asia and Africa
with a population of 710,000,000 or about 11% of the
world's population
Physical geography
Europe
Area
10,180,000 km²
(3,930,000 sq mi)
Population
712,000,000
Density
70/km² (181/sq mi)
Demonym:
European
48 countries, 27 of which
Government are in the European
Union
Land relief in Europe shows great variation within
relatively small areas. The southern regions, however, are more mountainous, while moving north
the terrain descends from the high Alps, Pyrenees and Carpathians, through hilly uplands, into
broad, low northern plains, which are vast in the east. This extended lowland is known as the Great
European Plain, and at its heart lies the North German Plain. An arc of uplands also exists along the
north-western seaboard, which begins in the western parts of Britain and Ireland, and then continues
along the mountainous, fjord-cut, spine of Norway.
This description is simplified. Sub-regions such as the Iberian Peninsula and the Italian Peninsula
contain their own complex features, as does mainland Central Europe itself, where the relief
contains many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate the general trend. Sub-regions like
Iceland, Britain and Ireland are special cases. The former is a land unto itself in the northern ocean
which is counted as part of Europe, while the latter are upland areas that were once joined to the
mainland until rising sea levels cut them off.
A VIRTUAL TOUR OF SOME EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
NORTH OF EUROPE
Denmark
The Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries. The mainland is
bordered to the south by Germany; Denmark is located to the southwest of Sweden and the south of
Norway. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea. Denmark is a constitutional monarchy
with a parliamentary system of government. It is a member of NATO and the European Union. The
national capital and the largest city is Copenhagen. Denmark is considered as "the happiest place in
the world," based on standards of health, welfare, and education. In 2007 Copenhagen was ranked
the third most liveable city in the world by Monocle magazine
Iceland
Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland is a country in northern Europe, comprising the island
of Iceland and its outlying islets in the North Atlantic Ocean between the rest of Europe and
Greenland.[1] It is the least populous of the Nordic countries and the second smallest; it has a
population of about 313,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is
Reykjavík.
Iceland is volcanically and geologically active on a large scale; this defines the landscape in various
ways.
Finland,
officially the Republic of Finland is a Nordic country situated in the Scandinavian region of
Northern Europe. It has borders with Sweden to the west, Russia to the east, and Norway to the
north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland. The capital city is Helsinki
The Archipelago Sea, between the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland, is the largest
archipelago in the world by number of islands; estimates vary between 20,000 and 50,000.
Norway,
officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country and constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe
that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. It is bordered by Sweden, Finland,
and Russia. . The country's extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean is home to its
famous fjords.
Norway is now amongst the wealthiest countries in the world because it has a lot of oil and gas
reserves off its coast. Norway is considered the most peaceful country in the world.
.
Lithuania
The Republic of Lithuania is a country variously defined as being part of Eastern or Northern
Europe. Situated along the south-eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, sharing borders with Latvia to the
north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and Russia to the southwest. Lithuania is a member of
NATO and of the European Union. The population is 3.4 million, the largest city and the capital is
Vilnius.
Present-day Lithuania has one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union.
The angel statue
Benelux
The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe that includes three neighboring monarchies,
Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, which lie in the north western European region
between France and Germany. The name is formed from the beginning of each country's name.
Belgium
The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the
European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international
organizations, including NATO.
Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north, and the
French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, although officially
bilingual, is mostly French-speaking. A small German-speaking Community exists in eastern
Wallonia.
LUXEMBOURG
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a small country in western Europe,
bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. Luxembourg has a population of under half a million
people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres .
Luxembourg is a parliamentary representative democracy with a constitutional monarchy, ruled by
a Grand Duke. The country has a highly developed economy.
Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, Benelux,
and the Western European Union, reflecting the political consensus in favour of economic, political,
and military integration. The city of Luxembourg, the capital and largest city, is the seat of several
institutions and agencies of the European Union.
Netherlands.
The Netherlands is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the
Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean. The Netherlands is a
constitutional monarchy, located in Western Europe. It is bordered by the North Sea to the north
and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east.
The Netherlands is often called Holland. This is formally incorrect as North and South Holland in
the western Netherlands are only two of the country's twelve provinces. As a matter of fact, also
many Dutch people colloquially call their country Holland.Netherlands is a geographically lowlying and densely populated country. It is popularly known for its traditional windmills, tulips,
cheese, clogs (wooden shoes), delftware and gouda pottery, for its bicycles, its dikes and surge
barriers, and, on the other hand, traditional values and civil virtues such as its classic social
tolerance. But primarily, the Netherlands is a modern, advanced and open society. An old
parliamentary democracy, the country is more recently known for its rather liberal policies toward
recreational drugs, prostitution, homosexuality, abortion, and euthanasia. The Netherlands is also
one of the most densely cabled countries in the world; its internet connection rate is 87.8%, the 2nd
highest in the world.[1]
The Iberian Peninsula,
or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes Spain, Portugal, Andorra
and Gibraltar and very small part of France. It is the western and southernmost of the three southern
European peninsulas (the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas). It is bordered on the south and
east by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean. The Pyrenees form
the northeast edge of the peninsula, connecting it to the rest of Europe . In the south, it approaches
the northern coast of Africa. It is the second largest peninsula in Europe.
Spain :
officially Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España), is a country located in southwestern Europe on
the Iberian Peninsula. The Spanish mainland is bordered to the south and east almost entirely by the
Mediterranean Sea (except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar); to the north by France,
Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal. Spanish
territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic
Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that
border Morocco. Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe (behind France) and with an
average altitude of 650m, the second highest country in Europe (behind Switzerland).
Spain is a constitutional monarchy organised as a parliamentary democracy, and has been a member
of the European Union since 1986.
BARCELONA
Portugal,
officially the Portuguese Republic is a country in southwestern Europe,[4] on the Iberian Peninsula.
Being the westernmost country of mainland Europe, Portugal is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to
the west and south and by Spain to the north and east. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and
Madeira are also part of Portugal.
Portugal is a developed country, with a good quality of life.[6] It is a member of the European Union
(since 1986) and the United Nations..
The Balkans are adjoined by water on three sides: the Black Sea to the east and branches of the
mediterranean to the south and west (including the Adriatic, Ionian, Aegean and Marmara seas).
The region takes its name from the "Balkan" mountain range in Bulgaria (from the Turkish balkan
meaning "a chain of wooded mountains").[
In most of the English-speaking, western world, the countries commonly included in the Balkan
region are:










Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Montenegro
Greece
Macedonia (name disputed by Greece)
Serbia
Kosovo (sovereignty disputed; not a UN member)
Turkey, but only the European section of it (traditionally called Rumelia or Eastern
Thrace)[citation needed]
Some other countries are sometimes included in the list as well:




Moldova (seen mostly as a part of Eastern Europe, but with historical, political and
ethnic links with neighbouring Romania)
Romania (variously described as being in Central Europe, Southern Europe and Eastern
Europe)
Slovenia (variously described as being in Central Europe and Southern Europe)
Hungary (sometimes located in Southeastern Europe)
Albania, officially the Republic of Albania . Albania is bordered by Greece to the south-east,
Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, and the Republic of Macedonia to the east. It has
a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. From the Strait of
Otranto, Albania is less than 100 km (60 miles) from Italy. The capital is TIRANA.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country on the Balkan peninsula of Southern Europe . Its 2007
residential population is estimated at approximately 4 million.
Formerly one of the six federal units constituting the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina gained its independence during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Bosnia
and Herzegovina can be described as a federal democratic republic. The country is home to three
ethnic "constituent peoples": Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. Regardless of ethnicity, a citizen of
Bosnia and Herzegovina is often identified in English as a Bosnian. The capital is Sarajevo.
the Republic of Bulgaria
bordering five other countries: Romania to the north (mostly along the Danube), Serbia and the
Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south. The Black Sea defines the
extent of the country to the east. Bulgaria functions as a parliamentary democracy
Sofia is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Bulgaria
Croatia (IPA: /kroʊˈeɪʃə/) (Croatian: Hrvatska), officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country at
the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Central Europe, and the Balkans. Its capital is Zagreb. Croatia
borders with Slovenia and Hungary to the north, Serbia to the northeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina to
the east, and Montenegro
Montenegro is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the
south and borders Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia and its
partially recognized breakaway southern province of Kosovo to the northeast and Albania to the
southeast. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica.
Greece ,officially the Hellenic Republic is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the
southern end of the Balkan Peninsula. It has borders with Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east and
south of mainland Greece, while the Ionian Sea lies to the west. Both parts of the Eastern
Mediterranean basin feature a vast number of
islands
The Republic of Macedonia often referred to as Macedonia, is a landlocked country on the
Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Serbia and its partially recognised
breakaway province of Kosovo to the north, Albania to the west, Greece to the south, and Bulgaria
to the east. It was admitted to the United Nations in 1993 under the provisional reference the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,[2]
Skopje is the capital.
SERBIA is in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. Serbia is bordered by Hungary to the
north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; the Republic of Macedonia and Albania[1] to the south; and
Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to the west. The capital is Belgrade.
The Republic of Kosovo commonly referred to as Kosovois a partially recognized state in the
Balkans, claiming the Kosovo region
Pristina is the capital
Turkey known officially as the Republic of Turkey is a Eurasian country that stretches across the
Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and Thrace (Rumelia) in the Balkan region of southeastern
Europe. Turkey borders eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west, Georgia to
the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhichevan), and Iran to the east; and Iraq and
Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea and
Archipelago are to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. Separating Anatolia and Thrace are
the Sea of Marmara and the Turkish Straits (the Bosporus and the Dardanelles), which are
commonly reckoned to delineate the border between Asia and Europe, thereby making Turkey
transcontinental.[5]
The capital is Istanbul
Moldova, or, in full, the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located
between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south. The country is a
parliamentary democracy with a President as its head of state and a Prime Minister as its head of
government.
Capital: Chişinău (IPA: [ki.ʃi.'nəw]) also known as Kishinev
Romania is a country located in South-East Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the
Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea.[2] Almost all of
the Danube Delta is located within its territory. It shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the
west, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the south.
Bucharest is the capital city and industrial and commercial centre of
Romania.
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia is a country in southern Central Europe bordering
Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the
northeast, and Austria to the north. The capital of Slovenia is Ljubljana.
Hungary ,officially in English the Republic of Hungary , literally, is a landlocked country in the
Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia,
Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe and a member state of the European
Union. The country has borders with Poland to the north, Germany to the northwest and southwest,
Austria to the south, and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague (Czech: Praha),
a major tourist destination. The country is composed of the historic regions of Bohemia and
Moravia, as well as parts of Silesia.