Subregions of Europe. The principle of dividing Europe into subregions. Western Europe Western Europe borders

EUROPE, part of the world in the Northern Hemisphere, the western part of the Eurasian continent.

General information

Area 10.2 million km2. Population 583.2 million people (2005, excluding Russia). Extreme continental points: northern - Cape Nordkin (71°8' north latitude) on the Scandinavian Peninsula, southern - Cape Marroki, 36° north latitude, western - Cape Roca, 9°34' west longitude (both on the Iberian Peninsula), eastern - 67°20' east longitude (eastern foot of the Polar Urals, near Baydaratskaya Bay). Traditionally, the main watershed, or the eastern foot of the Urals, the Ural River valley, the Caspian Sea, the Kuma-Manych depression and the Kerch Strait (sometimes the axial part of the Greater Caucasus), the Azov, Black and Marmara seas, the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits are taken as the border of Europe and Asia. Europe is separated from Africa by the Straits of Gibraltar and Tunisia. It is washed by the Atlantic Ocean (in the west) and its seas - the North and Baltic in the central part, the Mediterranean, Black and Azov - in the south; in the north - the Arctic Ocean and its seas (Norwegian, Barents, White, Kara). In terms of the degree of ruggedness of the coastline, Europe occupies a leading place among all parts of the world. Up to 1/4 of Europe's area is on peninsulas; the largest: Scandinavian, Jutland, Kola, Kanin - in the north, Brittany - in the west, Pyrenean, Apennine, Balkan, Crimean - in the south. Europe includes numerous islands and archipelagos with a total area of ​​about 730 thousand km2: Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the British Isles - directly in the Atlantic Ocean; Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Crete, Balearic, Ionian Islands, etc. - in the Mediterranean Sea; archipelagos Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya - in the Arctic Ocean. Within Europe there are located (in whole or in part) 46 states (2007).

In Europe, the following large physical and geographical regions are distinguished: Eastern Europe (East European Plain, Urals, Crimean Mountains); Iceland; Northern Europe (Fennoscandia); Central Europe (British Isles, Central European Plain, Central European Middle Mountains, Alpine-Carpathian mountainous country); Southern Europe, or the European Mediterranean (Iberian, Apennine and Balkan peninsulas).

The location of Europe on the western edge of the huge continent of Eurasia determines many features of the formation of its landscapes. On the territory of Europe, arctic, subarctic, temperate and subtropical geographic zones are successively replaced, within which zones of humid and extra-humid (western oceanic) sectors are abnormally widely developed (see map Geographical zones and zones). Among parts of the world, Europe stands out for the duration and scale of anthropogenic transformation of natural ecosystems and the predominance of anthropogenically modified landscapes, occupying up to 85% of its territory.

Nature

Relief. In terms of average height (about 300 m), Europe is inferior to all parts of the world with the exception of Australia. About 60% of its territory is located at an altitude of up to 200 m. The dominance of flat relief types in Europe (see Physical map) is associated with the wide distribution of platform structures.

In Eastern Europe and northern Central Europe, stratified plains predominate. Most of the territory of Eastern Europe is occupied by the vast East European Plain, the topography of which is characterized by alternating structural uplands (Timan Ridge, Northern Uvaly, Verkhnekamsk, Bugulminsko-Belebeevskaya, Central Russian, Volga, Podolsk, etc.) and accumulative lowlands (Priazovskaya, Black Sea, Pechora , Caspian, etc.) with a height of 100-150 m, in the south-eastern part falling below sea level (up to -27 m in the Caspian lowland). The western continuation of the East European Plain is the lowland Central European Plain with hilly-valley and undulating-depression relief. In the eastern and central parts of Fennoscandia, basement denudation plains and hills (Norland, Småland, Suomenselkä, Maanselkä, etc.) with a height of 300-500 m and block mountains with a height of up to 1200 m (Khibiny) are common.

In northern Europe, in the areas of Pleistocene glaciations, the surface of the plains and hills is complicated by moraine ridges, eskers, kamas, lake basins, etc. The primary moraine plains of the Valdai, or Würm, glaciation region have preserved fresh traces of glacial relief (terminal moraine ridges of the Baltic ridge, Salpausselkä). To the south of the primary moraine plains there are outwash and secondary moraine plains, composed of sands and washed-out moraines of earlier stages of glaciation. In the northeastern part of the Kola Peninsula and the East European Plain, in the area of ​​permafrost, frozen landforms are developed.

From the northwest, east and south, the plains are bordered by mountain systems. In the north-west of Europe, the folded-block and block Scandinavian mountains rise, formed on the Caledonian folded structures. They consist of separate massifs (Jutunheimen, Jostedalsbreen, Telemark, etc.), the maximum height is 2469 m (Mount Gallhöpiggen). The flattened summit surfaces of the mountains (fjelds) are dissected by deep trough-shaped valleys. The Scandinavian mountains have a steep western macroslope, indented by fjords, and a gentle eastern one, descending stepwise towards the Gulf of Bothnia. The North Scottish Highlands with a height of up to 1343 m (Mount Ben Nevis) and the South Scottish Highlands in the north of the island of Great Britain have a similar relief.

To the south of the Central European Plain, the relief is represented by a complex mosaic of rejuvenated blocky-folded mid-altitude mountains and massifs, united by the common name Central European Middle Mountains (Rhine Slate Mountains, Vosges, Black Forest, Harz, Sudetenland, Šumava, etc.). The mountain ranges inherit the projections of the basement of the Epihercynian platform, have peneplanated or dome-shaped peaks and steep fault slopes. The western and southwestern continuation of the Central European Middle Mountains form the Normandy Upland and the Massif Central. The Pennine and Cambrian Mountains on the island of Great Britain, the Cordillera Central and the Iberian Mountains on the Iberian Peninsula have similar terrain. Among the mountains there are denudation plains and plateaus with cuesta relief - the Parisian, London, Swabian-Franconian, Thuringian basins, the Old Castilian and New Castilian plateaus.

In the extreme east of Europe there are the block-folded Ural Mountains (height up to 1895 m, Mount Narodnaya), formed on Hercynian folded structures, represented by a system of submeridional ridges and longitudinal depressions occupied by river valleys. Modern alpine landforms are developed within the Polar, Subpolar and Northern Urals.

In the southern and southeastern parts of Europe, young folded and block-folded highlands and midlands, formed within the Alpine folded structures, predominate. From the central rise - the Alps (altitude up to 4807 m, Mount Mont Blanc) mountain ranges diverge in different directions: in the north-west the Jura ridge adjoins the Alps, in the east - the Carpathians and Stara Planina, arched in plan; in the southeast - the Dinaric Highlands, the orographic continuation of which on the Balkan Peninsula is the Pindus Mountains, the mountains of the Peloponnese Peninsula and the island of Crete; in the south - the Apennines. The mountain systems of Alpine age also include the Pyrenees, Andalusian Mountains, and the Crimean Mountains. The highlands are characterized by alpine relief forms (mainly relict, in the Alps and Pyrenees - modern); landslide processes are active. Karst is widely developed. Southern Europe also contains numerous block and folded-block mountains and plateaus formed as a result of the neotectonic uplift of the Hercynian massifs: the Rhodope Mountains, the Macedonian Mountains, the Calabrian Apennines, etc. In the foothill and intermountain depressions, extensive accumulative-denudation and accumulative plains were formed - the Middle Danube and Lower Danube lowlands, Padan plain, Andalusian lowland, etc.

E. P. Romanova.

Geological structure. The ancient core of Europe is the East European Platform, which is surrounded by folded structures of different ages and young platforms (see Tectonic map). The East European Platform has an Archean-Early Proterozoic crystalline basement (age 3.9-1.6 billion years), partially reworked in the west (North Norwegian zone) during the Grenville era of tectogenesis about 1 billion years ago. The foundation has a block structure (Archean and Early Proterozoic blocks are distinguished); protrudes to the surface within the Baltic shield and the Ukrainian shield. In the rest of the territory, called the Russian Plate, the foundation is covered by a Riphean-Phanerozoic platform cover and lies at depths from 0-2 km in the arches of the anteclises (Belarusian, Voronezh, Volga-Ural) to 3-5 km in the central parts of syneclises (sedimentary basins), the largest of which are Moscow, Mezen, and Ukrainian. At the base of the deep (over 20 km) Caspian syneclise in the southeastern part of the platform, a number of researchers identify the Late Proterozoic South Caspian orogen and a Paleozoic back-arc basin with oceanic-type crust. The South Barents-Timan fold system of Baikal age stretches along the northeastern border of the East European Platform, the formations of which come to the surface on the Rybachy and Kanin peninsulas, in the Timan Ridge. The young Barents-Pechora platform located to the north has mainly a Baikal (in the north - Grenville) folded foundation, overlain by a Phanerozoic sedimentary cover. In the east, the East European and Barents-Pechora platforms, through the Cis-Ural foredeep (Late Paleozoic molasse basin), border on the Hercynian folded structures of the Urals and the Early Mesozoic ones - Pai-Khoi and Novaya Zemlya. On the territory of Europe there is a megazone of the western slope of the Urals, underlain by a submerged platform foundation. In the south, the East European Platform is framed by the Late Paleozoic Donetsk-Caspian folded zone and the young Scythian platform with a Hercynian folded base; in the southwest it is limited by the Paleozoic-Mesozoic Dobrudzhan fold system, to the west of which there is a young Moesian platform with a Late Proterozoic basement.

In the northwest, the Caledonides of Scandinavia are thrust onto the East European Platform, continuing north towards Spitsbergen and southeast in the northern part of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. The Caledonian folded structures of the central part of the island of Ireland, the southern parts of the island of Great Britain, northern Germany and most of the North Sea are distinguished by a number of researchers as the Early Paleozoic orogen of Eastern Avalonia, stretching in a south-easterly direction, along the so-called Taceira-Tornquist line, which is the border between the East European platform and the European Caledonides. Within the British Caledonides there is the Midland massif with a Late Proterozoic (Cadoma) folded-metamorphic base; superimposed depressions and rift troughs (Devonian molasse basins) filled with continental clastic, partly volcanogenic, rocks (Old Red Sandstone) are known. The extreme northwestern part of the island of Great Britain and the Hebrides belong to the Hebrides Platform with an Early Precambrian basement, possibly reworked during the Grenville tectogenesis. According to some scientists, the Hebridean Platform continues into the Rockall Submarine Plateau.

To the south of the European Caledonides there is an area of ​​younger (Hercynian) consolidation. The Hercynides band crosses Western Europe from southern Ireland in the northwest and the Iberian Peninsula in the southwest to the Oder River in the east, where it plunges beneath the alpine structures of the Carpathians. The Hercynian complex is mostly covered by a cover of Meso-Cenozoic sediments of the young West European Platform and comes to the surface, forming the following massifs: Armorican, Central French, Vosges, Black Forest, Czech (Bohemian); he also performs in the Ardennes, the Rhine Slate Mountains, the Harz, the Thuringian Forest, the Ore Mountains, the Sudetenland and the western and central parts of the Iberian Peninsula. Within the Hercynides, outcrops of more ancient (including Cadomian) basement are observed. In the central part of Western Europe, 3 structural zones are distinguished (from south to north) - Moldanubian, Saxothuringian and Rhenohercynian, separated by thrusts and nappes and distinguished by the age of folding, which becomes younger in the northern direction. A similar zonation of the Hercynides is established on the Iberian Peninsula. Late Paleozoic molasse basins in the area of ​​the Hercynian fold are represented by a chain of foredeeps along the northern thrust front and numerous intermountain troughs of medium and small size. Within the Western European young platform, the largest sedimentary basins are: North Sea-Central European, Anglo-Paris and Aquitaine.

In the south, the European Hercynides are overlapped by the alpides of the Alpine-Himalayan mobile belt, which is divided into 4 branches of fold-cover structures. In Europe, the 1st branch includes the Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians, Balkanids; to the 2nd branch - Mountain Crimea; to the 3rd branch - the Apennines, Calabrids (south of the Apennine Peninsula), structures of Northern Sicily, Andalusian mountains (Cordillera-Betica), Balearic Islands; to the 4th branch - Dinarides, Hellenids, structures of the southern Aegean Sea, the Cretan island arc. At the front of fold-cover structures there are forward troughs (Pre-Pyrenees, Pre-Alpine, Cis-Carpathian, etc.); there are large intermountain troughs, often of a riftogenic nature (for example, the Pannonian). All troughs are filled with thick clastic strata and represent alpine molasse basins. In the Adriatic Sea, the Adriatic Platform (or Adria) is distinguished with a Late Proterozoic foundation. This platform, according to most scientists, is an “outcast” of the African continent. The depressions of the western part of the Mediterranean Sea (Algerian Basin, Tyrrhenian Sea) are Cenozoic back-arc basins with oceanic crust or continental crust greatly thinned by extension; the eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea (Ionian and Levantine basins) are a relict basin of the Meso-Cenozoic Tethys Ocean; The Eastern and Western Black Sea basins are Mesozoic back-arc basins.

Europe is characterized by rifts of different ages, over many of which large sedimentary basins were formed during post-rift subsidence. Riphean paleorifts include Pachelmsky, Kama-Belsky, etc. on the East European Platform; to the Paleozoic paleorifts - Dnieper-Donetsk, Pripyatsky, Oslo, etc. on the same platform, as well as Pechoro-Kolvinsky, East and South Barents on the Barents-Pechora platform. At the base of the North Sea basin there is a Mesozoic paleorift. In the 2nd half of the Cenozoic, the Western European rift system (Rhine and Rhone grabens) arose and continues to develop. At the same time, an outbreak of volcanic activity occurred, covering not only the grabens, but also the Central French and Czech (Bohemian) massifs. On the northern and western periphery of Europe, the shelf seas of its passive margin are widely developed. On the southwestern and southeastern margins the shelf width is insignificant. In the south there is a section of the active margin, where in the subduction zones of the Eastern Mediterranean (Calabrian, Aegean and Cyprus) the relict crust of the Tethys Ocean continues to move under Europe, and accretionary prisms are formed; Volcanic arcs develop over the Calabrian and Aegean subduction zones. A feature of modern geodynamics of Europe is the development of zones of increased seismicity on its active margin and in inland areas (West European rift system).

Minerals. Europe ranks 1st in the world in reserves of mercury ores, 2nd in manganese ores. There are also significant reserves of iron, lead, zinc, and silver ores (table).

In Europe, oil and gas basins are mainly localized within platforms. Most of the oil and natural combustible gas reserves in Western Europe are concentrated in the Central European oil and gas basin (the North Sea), as well as in the Aquitaine oil and gas basin, the Adriatic-Ionian oil and gas basin, the Cis-Carpathian-Balkan oil and gas basin and the Baltic oil region; in Eastern Europe - in the Barents-North Kara oil and gas province (partially), the Volga-Ural oil and gas province, the Timan-Pechora, Caspian (partial) oil and gas provinces, the Dnieper-Pripyat gas and oil province.

Norway has the largest oil reserves (a number of the world's largest fields are located on its territory, including Nurne, Snurre, Ekofisk, etc.) and Great Britain (Brent); The leaders in flammable gas reserves are Norway, the Netherlands (giant Groningen field) and the UK. Most of the coal deposits in western Europe are associated with deposits of Carboniferous age; the largest coal basins are the South Wales, Yorkshire, South and North Scottish (Great Britain), Lower Rhine-Westphalian, Saar (Germany), Upper Silesian coal basin, Lublin (Poland), Lorraine, Nord-Pas-de-Calais (France) ), Asturian coal basin (Spain), Ostrava-Karvina (Czech Republic), Dobrudzhansky (Bulgaria), Spitsbergen (Norway). Large basins and deposits of brown coals and lignites of Eocene-Pliocene age are known: in Germany, Serbia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria. Coal basins of the eastern part of Europe: Pechora, Podmoskovny (Russia), Donetsk coal basin (Ukraine, Russia), Dnieper coal basin, Lviv-Volyn (Ukraine). The largest reserves of hard coal are found in Great Britain, Germany, Ukraine, and Poland; brown coals - Germany, Serbia, Ukraine, Poland.

Large deposits of ferruginous quartzites, confined to the Precambrian greenstone belts of the basement of the East European Platform, are known in Russia (Kursk magnetic anomaly, Olenegorsk and Kostomuksha deposits) and Ukraine (Krivoy Rog iron ore basin, Kremenchug magnetic anomaly). Magnetite deposits in Precambrian crystalline rocks of the Baltic Shield are located in Sweden (Kiruna), in alkaline ultrabasic intrusions in Russia (Kovdor deposit), as well as in Finland. Sedimentary iron ores are the main source of iron in France, Belgium, Luxembourg (Lorraine iron ore basin), and also in Great Britain. In the Nordic countries there are magmatic titanomagnetite deposits with tungsten (Telnes in Norway, Otanmäki in Finland, Ruotivare in Sweden). Iron-nickel deposits in Poland, Albania, Greece, Serbia, and Macedonia, which also contain significant reserves of cobalt, are associated with lateritic weathering crusts. Iron ore deposits of other geological and industrial types are found in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries. Primary, residual and placer deposits of ilmenite have been identified in Ukraine. The main reserves of manganese ores are contained in sedimentary deposits of Ukraine (mostly in the Nikopol manganese ore basin), confined to Oligocene deposits; significantly smaller reserves are concentrated in the fields of Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.

Deposits of lead-zinc ores (pyrite-polymetallic, stratiform, quartz-polymetallic) are known in most European countries. The largest reserves of lead-zinc ores are found in Spain, Poland, Ireland, Portugal, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Very significant reserves of copper ore are concentrated in deposits of cuprous sandstones in Poland (Lubin and others), as well as in Germany. Quite large copper-pyrite deposits are found in Portugal, Spain, Sweden, etc., and porphyry copper deposits are found in Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. The copper-nickel deposits of Finland (in the so-called Main Sulfide Belt) and Russia (Pechenga group, Monchegorsk deposit) are of great importance. Aluminum ores are represented mainly by bauxite, large deposits of which are confined to the Mediterranean bauxite province in Greece, Croatia, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, and Albania. The deposits of Spain, Italy, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia and Ukraine are of minor importance.

Tungsten ore reserves in Europe are relatively small. The main part of them is contained in hydrothermal wolframite deposits in Portugal (Panasqueira), France (Anguiales), as well as in Great Britain (Hemerdon), Spain; skarn wolframite deposits of France (Salò), Austria (Mittersill), Spain (Morillier ore district), Bulgaria; in greisen deposits with tungsten mineralization in Germany (Altenberg) and the Czech Republic (Cinovec). Most of the listed deposits are characterized by complex tin-tungsten mineralization. There are actually tin deposits in Spain (within the so-called tin belt), as well as in Great Britain (Whale Jane, South Crofty). Deposits of molybdenum ores are very few in number; belong to the vein-disseminated type (the Medet copper-molybdenum deposit in Bulgaria is of industrial importance). In Europe there are unique deposits of mercury ores - Almaden in Spain and Idrija in Slovenia, as well as numerous smaller deposits in Italy (Monte Amiata), Ukraine (Nikitovskoe), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, etc. Strontium deposits are also known in Europe ores (in Great Britain, Spain), antimony veinlet-disseminated ores (in Austria, Italy, Spain) and vein ores (in Serbia, Macedonia, Slovakia). Deposits of ores of rare metals and rare earth elements, confined to massifs of alkaline rocks, are available in Russia (Lovozerskoye, Khibiny group), Ukraine (Azovskoye); associated with carbonatite complexes have been identified in Finland (Sokli, Silinjärvi), Norway (Søve). Deposits of uranium ores of the endogenous and exogenous series are located in Germany, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovenia, Greece, Ukraine, as well as Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and Sweden.

Deposits of gold, silver, platinum and platinum group metal ores in Europe are relatively rare. Gold and silver are present in varying concentrations in copper, polymetallic, and copper-nickel ores of most sulfide deposits. The largest reserves of silver are contained in the deposits of Poland (mostly in the Lubin deposit); much smaller - Spain, Sweden, Portugal, etc. Platinum and platinum group metals are known in copper-nickel deposits in Finland (Vammala, Kotalahti, Hitura, etc.) and Russia (Pechenga group, Monchegorsk deposit).

Diamond deposits are localized only in the European part of Russia (primary deposits in the Arkhangelsk region and placer deposits in the Perm region). In the Czech Republic, Andorra, and Finland there are known deposits of rubies, sapphires, and garnets. Large deposits of rock and potassium salts are confined to the Central European Zechstein salt-bearing basin (Germany, Denmark, Poland), the Carpathian (Ukraine, Romania), the Pripyat (Belarus), and the Caspian (Russia) potassium basins. Significant reserves of phosphates are concentrated in apatite ores, deposits of which are located in Russia (Kola Peninsula), Ukraine and the countries of Northern Europe. Phosphorite deposits are also known: Vyatsko-Kama, Yegoryevskoye in Russia, as well as in the Baltic phosphorite-bearing basin in Estonia and Russia. The main sulfur deposits are located in the Mediterranean sulfur-bearing province (Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Romania, Ukraine). The largest deposits of fluorite have been discovered in France (Morvan region), Great Britain, Italy, Germany, and Sweden. Significant reserves of barite are concentrated in the depths of Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Greece, and Croatia. Deposits of various types of mica (muscovite, phlogopite, vermiculite) are located on the territory of Russia in the Murmansk region (Kovdorskoe) and in Karelia (Belomorskaya mica province). In Europe there are also deposits of ceramic feldspar (in Finland, Sweden, Russia), graphite (in Sweden, Norway, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany), asbestos (in Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Italy), magnesite (in Austria, Greece, Slovakia), talc (in France), various natural building materials.

A. M. Nikishin.

Climate. Almost everywhere over the surface of Europe, located mainly in temperate latitudes, westerly air transport in systems of Atlantic cyclones dominates all year round. Important climate-forming factors are the virtual absence in Europe of mountain barriers to air circulation flows from the Atlantic Ocean and the highly rugged coastline. Seas and bays protrude deeply into the land, further moistening the area and softening the climate. The North Atlantic Current, which brings abnormally warm waters to the shores of Europe, has a significant warming effect on climatic conditions, especially in winter.

In winter, the strongest Icelandic depression develops over the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Azores anticyclone develops in the area of ​​the Azores. The frontal zone between them crosses the entire Central Europe, reaching the Urals in the east. The movement of air in the system of warm and humid Atlantic cyclones is the main circulation process in the winter season for most of Europe. Local cyclones arise over the warm Mediterranean Sea in winter, abundantly moistening the entire Southern Europe, especially the windward slopes of the Apennines, the southeastern part of the Alps and the Dinaric Highlands. The warming effect of the Atlantic Ocean and its inland seas and bays explains the unusual location of the January zero isotherm: in the extreme west of Europe it rises north to a latitude of 70-72°, then follows strictly south along the western foothills of the Scandinavian mountains to the southern foothills of the Alps and, only after rounding them, acquires a southeastern direction (see map Average air temperature, January). To the west of this isotherm, average January temperatures are positive; snow cover is retained only in the mountains. The highest average January temperatures (10-12°C) are observed in the Mediterranean. In the eastern part of Fennoscandia and in the north of the East European Plain, in winter there are frequent breakthroughs of arctic air, bringing severe frosts: average January temperatures in northeastern Europe drop to -20°C in the Pechora River basin and to -24°C in Franz Josef Land . Snow cover lasts from 1 month in the south of the East European Plain to 7-9 months in the north.

In summer, the Icelandic depression is greatly reduced, but the influence of the Azores anticyclone covers the entire Mediterranean and part of Central Europe. Tropical air dominates in the Mediterranean, arctic air dominates over the Arctic, and polar air dominates over the rest of Europe. The intensity of the cyclonic westerly transport decreases somewhat. Atlantic cyclones in western Europe reduce summer air temperatures and bring precipitation, especially to the windward slopes of the mountains. In Eastern Europe, cyclones arrive weakened, and convection processes develop here with thunderstorms and elevated temperatures. July isotherms generally have a sublatitudinal direction (see map Average air temperature, July): average temperatures reach maximum values ​​in the Mediterranean (28-30°C) and in the Caspian lowland (24-26°C), minimum (2-4°C ) - on the Arctic islands.

Annual precipitation amounts generally decrease from west to east (see map Annual precipitation). On the plains of Central Europe, 1000-2000 mm of precipitation falls per year, on the windward slopes of the mountains (south-eastern slopes of the Alps, western slopes of the Dinaric Highlands) - up to 3500-4000 mm. In Eastern Europe, especially in the south and southeast, the amount of precipitation decreases to 300-500 mm per year, and in the Caspian lowland - to 200 mm or less. The precipitation regime depends on the circulation of air masses: in the Mediterranean and on the southern coast of Crimea, heavy rain falls in winter, and summer is dry and sunny; in the Atlantic regions of Central Europe and Northern Europe, precipitation falls all year round, with a slight winter maximum; on the East European Plain, maximum precipitation occurs in summer. In most of Europe, the amount of precipitation exceeds the amount of evaporation, so moisture is sufficient or excessive. In the southern and southeastern regions of Eastern Europe, moisture is insufficient. In the Mediterranean in summer there is a strong deficit of atmospheric moisture with a precipitation amount of 400-500 mm per year.

Europe is located within the arctic, subarctic, temperate and subtropical climate zones. The archipelagos of Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land, and Novaya Zemlya are characterized by a harsh arctic climate with long frosty winters and short cold summers; precipitation falls in the form of snow. The subarctic climate of Iceland, the northern parts of the Scandinavian Peninsula and the East European Plain is characterized by warmer summers (average July temperatures up to 10-12°C). Winter in the western regions is mild, in the eastern regions it is frosty; precipitation per year ranges from 1000 mm in the west to 400 mm in the east. Excessive moisture. Most of Europe's territory is located within the temperate climate zone. In the north of Central Europe there is a colder boreal climate, in the southern part of Europe there is a warmer subboreal climate. In the far west of Europe, the climate is maritime, with small annual temperature ranges, heavy rainfall all year round, and sufficient and excessive moisture. Summers are warm in the south and cool in the north. Winters are mild and stable snow cover does not form on the plains. Within the central part of the East European Plain, the climate is temperate continental, annual temperature amplitudes increase, summers are warm in the north and hot in the south; winters are frosty and snowy. In summer, moisture deficiency occurs in the southeastern regions. Southern Europe is dominated by a subtropical Mediterranean climate with mild and warm but rainy winters and hot, dry summers. The western outskirts of the Iberian, Apennine and Balkan peninsulas are characterized by a marine type of climate (with less pronounced summer drought), while the southern and eastern regions of Southern Europe are characterized by a continental type of climate with prolonged summer drought and severe moisture deficiency.

The area of ​​modern glaciation in Europe is 89.9 thousand km 2. The height of the snow line varies from 200 m in the northeastern part of Spitsbergen to 3000-3500 m in the interior and east of the Alps. Glaciation has developed on the archipelagos of Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, and the island of Iceland. The largest area of ​​glaciation in mainland Europe is the Scandinavian Mountains; There are mountain glaciers in the Alps, in the Polar, Subpolar and Northern Urals, and in the Pyrenees. The area of ​​mountain glaciation in Europe tends to decrease.

Inland waters. In terms of the volume of total river flow (2860 thousand km 3 per year), Europe surpasses only Australia and Antarctica, but in terms of the average value of the runoff layer (about 295 mm) it ranks 2nd among all parts of the world (after South America). Throughout Europe, the flow is distributed unevenly, generally decreasing from west to east and increasing in the mountains (see map River flow). Most of the territory of Europe belongs to the basin of the Atlantic Ocean and its seas; main rivers: Danube, Dnieper, Don, Dniester, Rhine, Elbe, Loire, Vistula, Western Dvina, Tagus. The rivers of the northern parts of Fennoscandia and the East European Plain - Pechora, Northern Dvina, Mezen, etc. - flow into the seas of the Arctic Ocean. A vast part of the East European Plain, drained by the Volga River (the largest river in Europe), belongs to the internal drainage basin (Caspian Sea) .

The lowland rivers of Eastern Europe are fed by snow and partly by rain, with spring floods and winter low water. Freeze-up lasts from 1.5-3 months in the south to 7-7.5 months in the north. On the Scandinavian Peninsula, the rivers are short, rapids, predominantly snow-fed and have significant hydroelectric potential, but they freeze for 2-3 months in the southern part of the peninsula to 7 months in the north. In the Atlantic regions of Central Europe, rivers (Seine, Thames, Loire, Severn, etc.) are fed by rain and practically do not freeze. Their flow is uniform throughout the year. The rivers Rhine, Elbe, Vistula and others are fed by rain and snow; the maximum runoff shifts to spring, when high water is observed, and low water sets in in summer. In the mountains (Central European midlands, Carpathians, etc.) a lot of snow accumulates in winter; on rivers, spring floods or autumn floods are often stormy, accompanied by floods. The upper reaches of the Rhine, Rhone, left tributaries of the Po, and right tributaries of the Danube are fed by meltwater from Alpine mountain glaciers, which makes these rivers full of water in summer. The mountainous terrain and high fall of the riverbeds increase the hydroelectric potential of these rivers. The rivers of Southern Europe (Tajo, Duero, Guadiana, Tiber, Arno, etc.) have a pronounced seasonal flow with significant intra-annual fluctuations: rapid rises in water levels in autumn and winter and very strong low-water periods in summer, when small rivers dry up, are characteristic. The basins of many European rivers are connected by shipping canals: the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the Volga-Baltic Waterway, the Volga-Don Canal (Russia), the Central German Canal (Germany), the Göta Canal (Sweden).

Over 4,500 reservoirs have been created, including more than 2,500 large ones, with a volume of over 1 million km 3 (of which about 60 are in the European part of Russia). The largest in volume and area is the Kuibyshev Reservoir. On the Volga, Kama, Dnieper, Don, Danube, Loire, Tagus and other rivers there are cascades of reservoirs for complex purposes (flow regulation, hydropower generation, irrigation, municipal water supply, improvement of water transport conditions, etc.). The role of reservoirs in preventing floods and floods, common in the western regions of Europe, is significant.

There are many lakes of different origins in Europe. Most lakes are located in areas of Pleistocene glaciations. The largest lakes in Europe are glacial-tectonic: Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega, Vänern, Wettern, Inari, Imandra, etc.; This type also includes regional lakes dammed by moraine ridges at the foot of the Alps - Geneva, Constance, Lago Maggiore, Como, Garda, etc. In areas of development of terminal moraine relief in Fennoscandia, on the East European and Central European plains, in intermoraine depressions formed extensive clusters of small lakes (Lake District of Finland, Masurian, Pomeranian, Mecklenburg and other lake districts). In other areas of Europe there are lakes of tectonic origin - Balaton on the Middle Danube Plain, Ohrid and Shkoder on the Balkan Peninsula; There are also numerous small lagoon, delta and karst lakes. The lakes of Europe are mainly fresh; mineralized lakes are found in the arid southeastern regions of Europe (Elton, Baskunchak). On the border with Asia is the largest closed lake in the world - the Caspian Sea.

Groundwater resources are significant: only up to a depth of 100 m, about 200 thousand km 3 of water reserves have been discovered. In general, over 75% of public water supply needs in Europe are met from groundwater. Groundwater is used especially actively in the southern and eastern regions of Europe, which experience seasonal or permanent moisture deficits. In the southeastern part of the East European Plain and in the coastal lowlands, groundwater is mineralized to varying degrees.

Soils. The composition and distribution of soils in Europe is subject to bioclimatic patterns: several soil regions change from north to south and from west to east. In the archipelagos of the Arctic Ocean (Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya), thin arcto-tundra soils are developed on ice-free surfaces. In Iceland and the Faroe Islands (Denmark), under conditions of excessive moisture and mild winters, soddy subarctic coarse humus soils are common. The far north of the East European Plain is occupied by tundra gley and bog soils. Under the taiga forests of Fennoscandia and the northern part of the East European Plain, podzolic, alpha-humus and bog soils were formed, giving way to soddy-podzolic soils in the southern subzone of the taiga. The soil composition shows differences in soil-forming rocks: on the plains of Fennoscandia, illuvial-humus podzols and podburs predominate on thin sandy and rocky moraines; in areas of the East European Plain composed of thick clayey moraines and cover loams, podzolic soils are formed; Illuvial-ferruginous podzols are common on sandy deposits of outwash plains (within the Central European Plain, Meshchera Lowland, etc.).

Mountain variants of alpha-humus soils are developed in the Urals, in the Scandinavian mountains and on the plateaus of Scotland.

Most of the territory of Central Europe belongs to the region of brown soils. Typical brown soils are confined to carbonate sediments, and on non-carbonate loose sediments, loessified or podzolized brown soils with reduced natural productivity have formed.

In the forest-steppe zone under meadow steppes (Middle Danube and Lower Danube plains, Central Russian Upland), podzolized and leached chernozems are formed; to the south, in more arid conditions, there are typical chernozems - one of the most fertile soils in the world (humus content 8% or higher). In the dry steppes of the East European Plain, typical chernozems are replaced by southern chernozems and chestnut soils. In the most arid regions of the Caspian lowland, under sparse semi-desert vegetation, brown desert-steppe soils are developed, alternating with solonetzes and sand massifs.

For Southern Europe and the southern coast of Crimea, brown soils containing up to 4-7% humus and a high content of carbonates are typical. On the products of weathering of carbonate rocks (“terra rossa”), brown red-colored soils are developed, and on the outcrops of basic rocks there are dense low-humus slitozems. With height in the mountains, brown soils are replaced by mountain brown soils and mountain meadow soils.

Vegetation. According to the floristic composition, the vegetation of Europe belongs to the Holarctic region. The flora includes about 10 thousand species of higher plants (excluding Russia); characterized by a large number of families, genera and species of plants common to Asia, Africa and North America; the level of endemism is generally low (endemic species are distributed mainly in the mountains).

The influence of climatic conditions (increasing heat in the south, decreasing humidity in the southeast) determines the consistent change in zonal types of vegetation across Europe (see map Geographical zones and zones).

In the Arctic zone (the archipelagos of Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya), significant areas are occupied by glaciers and rocky surfaces, almost devoid of vegetation. On coastal, ice-free surfaces and in valleys, coastal meadows, swamps, fragments of arctic deserts and tundras with a relatively rich flora of terrestrial algae, lichens, liverworts, mosses and flowering plants are widely represented. Plain subarctic tundras - shrub-moss-lichen, shrub-moss, grass-moss with the participation of willows, dwarf birch, etc. - stretch in a narrow strip in the north of the East European Plain along the coast of the Barents, Pechora and Kara seas (the so-called Malozemelskaya and Bolshezemelskaya tundra), from the Kanin Peninsula to the Polar Urals. On the plateaus and plateaus of the island of Iceland, Fennoscandia and the Polar Urals, mountain variants of shrub-moss-lichen tundras with a small participation of grasses and shrubs and fragments of lowland swamps in relief depressions are common. In the north of Europe, along the southern border of the subarctic shrub tundras and their mountain analogues, there is a strip of forest-tundra, represented by birch (in Fennoscandia) and spruce woodlands and woodlands. In the southwest of the island of Iceland, forb-grass meadows have formed. Reindeer are mainly grazed in the tundras, and livestock are grazed in the meadows of southwestern Iceland.

In most of Europe, vegetation types of the temperate zone are developed, subdivided into the boreal and subboreal subzones. The northern part of Europe is occupied by boreal taiga forests, consisting of spruce and pine in Fennoscandia, and spruce, fir and larch on the East European Plain. Pine forests predominate on rock outcrops, sandy deposits and in conditions of deficiency of nutrients in transitional and raised bogs. Significant areas of primary boreal forests in Europe, especially in Russia, are occupied by secondary forests - birch, aspen, alder, and pine. In the Scandinavian mountains and the Urals, taiga forests form the lower belt of mountain vegetation. Relatively large areas within the boundaries of the taiga zone of Europe are occupied by swamps (upland, transitional, lowland) - forested and treeless. In foreign Europe, taiga forests have been preserved well, but in the eastern sector they are subject to heavy cutting. To the south of the taiga there are mixed forests, in the west - coniferous-broad-leaved forests (with an admixture of oak, maple, linden, ash, etc.), in the east - coniferous-small-leaved forests (with birch and aspen). In the western and eastern directions, the strip of mixed forests thins out, reaching its maximum width in the center of the East European Plain. These areas have been actively developed by humans for thousands of years and now, in addition to forests, swamps and floodplain meadows, arable lands and post-forest meadows (natural hayfields and pastures) are widely represented here.

The zone of broad-leaved forests stretching from the English Channel coast to the Urals underwent maximum anthropogenic transformation. In the past, as the main type of indigenous vegetation of foreign Europe, broad-leaved forests of beech and oak with an admixture of maple, linden, ash, hornbeam, chestnut and other deciduous species occupied a wide strip between the Baltic and Mediterranean seas. The structure of modern forest cover is dominated by artificial plantings, including those with the participation of alien tree species. Forest cover in Western Europe is 35%, Central Europe - 24%. On the plains, broad-leaved forests are everywhere replaced by intensively reclaimed (irrigated and fertilized) arable lands, cultivated meadows (mainly in western Europe) and pastures; on the slopes of the Alps, Carpathians, mountain ranges of the Central European Middle Mountains - pastures or artificial forest plantations. Along the coasts of the North Sea, saline meadows and marshes are widespread; on sandy soils there are heaths, heaths, grass and grass-moss bogs.

On the East European Plain, the zone of broad-leaved forests narrows significantly in the northeast direction and borders on forest-steppe, where previously areas of oak forests were combined with meadow steppes. In the Middle Danube and Lower Danube lowlands, in the south of the East European Plain, the indigenous vegetation is represented by forb-grass meadow and true steppes, which, as the climate becomes more arid, turns into arid grass steppes in the south of the East European Plain, and into grass-shrub deserts in the Caspian Lowland steppes and deserts. In the process of thousands of years of agricultural development, the vegetation of these zones was significantly transformed, replaced by endless fields of grain, corn, sugar beets, sunflowers and other agricultural crops. Semi-deserts and deserts are used as pastures, mainly for grazing sheep. The vegetation of steppes and semi-deserts, close to natural, is represented mainly in nature reserves and national parks.

In the subtropical zone of Europe, under conditions of hot and dry summers and wet, warm winters, the zonal type of vegetation is represented by hard-leaved evergreen forests and shrubs. Indigenous xerophilous evergreen forests of various types of oaks (holm, Macedonian and cork), Lebanese and Atlas cedars, Aleppo, maritime and Italian pines in Southern Europe were cleared many centuries ago. Nowadays, indigenous vegetation is everywhere replaced by secondary shrub communities and small tracts of artificial plantings and secondary forests (forest cover does not exceed 20%). A variety of derived shrub communities are widely represented: maquis (strawberries, wild olive, pistachio, bay laurel, filirea, myrtle, cistus, etc.), distributed mainly in the west of the Iberian and Apennine Peninsulas, on the Balearic and Dalmatian Islands; in drier habitats, garigue with shrubby kermes oak dominates; The southern coast of Crimea and the northern part of the Balkan Peninsula are characterized by a shibliak consisting of predominantly deciduous shrubs (cracker tree, hornbeam, wild pear) with an admixture of some evergreen species; On limestone outcrops within the Balkan Peninsula, freegan communities with low thorny bushes and tough grasses are common. All of them suffer from overgrazing, fires and tourism. The plains of Southern Europe are completely developed for irrigated arable land or plantations, built up with cities and rural settlements, recreational complexes, roads and canals are laid along them.

The vegetation of the European mountain ranges, especially within the subalpine and alpine altitudinal belts, represented by bush thickets, meadows, heaths and rocky placer communities, has undergone less transformation; it is intensively protected in numerous nature reserves and national parks. Almost all areas of natural vegetation in Europe are included in the network of Key Botanical Areas of Europe, botanical reserves, etc.

E. P. Romanova.

Animal world. According to biogeographical zoning, the territory of Europe is included in Arctogea, which unites the Arctic circumpolar, European and Mediterranean regions. In zoogeographical terms, Arctogea is distinguished by the relative poverty and low endemism of the fauna, the youth of faunal complexes formed in their modern form after the last glaciation in the late Pleistocene and at the beginning of the Holocene, when there was a mass extinction of large mammals of the so-called mammoth fauna (during this period about 40% of them died out genera), as well as as a result of the unprecedented anthropogenic transformation of ecosystems in recent millennia. Among several dozen species of mammals and birds that have become extinct in historical times are the great auk, the aurochs (one of the ancestors of cattle) and the tarpan (one of the ancestors of horses). In recent centuries, the bison, brown bear, lynx, wolf, otter, elk, capercaillie, and black grouse have disappeared from most of Western and Southern Europe in recent centuries. As a result of runoff regulation, water pollution and high fishing pressure, many fish species (sturgeon, salmon and whitefish) have disappeared from the fresh waters of Europe. A relatively favorable situation with the preservation of natural fauna is observed in the north and in the highlands of Europe, where natural ecosystems have been preserved. Most of the plains and mountains are covered by derivative ecosystems (secondary restored forests and forest plantations, post-forest meadows, dry shrubby woodlands, etc.) and agricultural landscapes, developed by modern fauna, adapted to life in close proximity to humans. In connection with anthropogenic changes in natural habitats, the composition of modern fauna noticeably includes the participation of alien species (mainly fish and birds) and representatives of the hunting fauna bred as a result of protective protection (European roe deer, red deer, brown hare, gray partridge, pheasant, etc.).

In Europe there are over 1000 species of vertebrates and several hundred thousand species of invertebrates. In European countries (with the exception of Russia), the number of bird species ranges from 300 to 506 (France, Spain) and even up to 590 species (Great Britain), mammals - from 60 to 100 species (Germany, Italy), fish - from 30 to 300 species . The species richness of the fish fauna of the Mediterranean (over 400 species), Black (160 species) and Baltic (50 species) seas continues to grow due to alien, mainly southern, species. The shallow waters of the North Sea serve as a mass wintering site for waterfowl of the Eurasian North.

Fundamental changes in ecosystems by humans in historical times have led to a significant unification of the fauna in most of Europe and a smoothing of the zonal boundaries of its distribution. The exceptions are the Arctic archipelagos and islands, some northern regions of Fennoscandia, the northern taiga and the Eastern European tundra, the fauna of which remains close to its natural state, although it is experiencing anthropogenic pressure.

In the European sector of the Arctic, various species of cetaceans (bowhead whale, beluga whale), pinnipeds (Atlantic walrus, ringed seal) and predators (polar bear, arctic fox) are widely represented. Among the seabirds that form bird colonies on the coast are guillemots, guillemots, kittiwakes, puffins, little auks, and various species of gulls. The faunal complex of the European tundra includes mammals: reindeer (several subspecies, including Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya), Norwegian lemming, white hare, arctic fox, wolverine, ermine; of birds - skuas, peregrine falcon, snowy owl, common eider, geese, geese, ducks, swans, waders, Lapland plantain and bunting. In areas of reindeer herding, the wolf is common.

The fauna of the dark coniferous taiga of Europe, represented in the north of Fennoscandia and the European part of Russia, has been significantly changed as a result of the spread of derivatives (after logging and fires) of small-leaved forests. A typical complex is trophically associated with spruce: squirrel, wood mouse, voles, capercaillie, crossbills, tits, woodpeckers, as well as animals that carry out daily and seasonal food migrations between forests and open spaces (floodplains, swamps, meadows) - brown bear, lynx, pine marten, elk, forest reindeer, black grouse, hazel grouse, owls, etc.

Over the course of historical time, the coniferous-deciduous and broad-leaved forests of Europe were almost completely destroyed, and their fauna underwent significant changes. In its modern form, it is represented by roe deer, red deer, fallow deer, wild boar, fox, common and stone martens, ferrets, badger, mice, dormouse, voles, moles, bats; from birds - blackbirds, flycatchers, warblers, warblers, woodpeckers. In some reserves and national parks in Europe, the European bison and the European forest cat are protected. In recent decades, due to the degradation of agriculture and overgrowing of fallow lands on the East European Plain, there has been an active spread of the brown bear along the southern border of its range.

The fauna of the steppes and semi-deserts of Europe was completely changed during the period of its development by nomadic tribes. In most of the territory, ungulates (tarpan), large predators and rodents have disappeared due to the impact of steppe fires and high grazing loads. Modern steppes and semi-deserts of Europe have been almost completely transformed by plowing and grazing. Natural faunal complexes have been preserved in the valleys of some rivers, on relatively steep slopes, as well as in sparsely populated areas of the Caspian lowland. In general, the fauna was formed from species of mammals and birds adapted to living in the agricultural landscape. Rodents (gophers, common hamster, marmot, large jerboa, mole rat, gerbils, voles, mice) and carnivores (fox, corsac fox, ferret, badger; in large livestock complexes - wolf) are relatively widespread. The European part of the saiga population was on the verge of extinction due to poaching in the 1990s, the number of which has decreased 15 times over the last decade (to 17-20 thousand animals). Along with other European steppe species (banded eagle, steppe eagle, imperial eagle, bustard, little bustard, etc.), the saiga is included in the IUCN Red List.

For Southern Europe - the area of ​​​​the former distribution of subtropical and low-mountain broad-leaved forests, replaced by dry woodlands and shrubs - a depleted composition of the Mediterranean fauna is typical (fallow deer, bezoar goat, chamois, mouflon, jackal, polecat, fox, mountain jackdaw, blue magpie, swifts, warblers , Mediterranean tortoise, snakes, foot and mouth diseases, lizards and geckos). Endemism is developed in the Pyrenees (Pyrenean muskrat, genet, tailless macaque), as well as on numerous islands of Southern Europe. The wintering grounds of many species of migratory birds in Europe are concentrated in the Mediterranean.

The fauna of Europe is the object of protection of numerous international agreements (Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species, Berne Convention on the Protection of Habitats of Rare Species of Animals, agreements on the protection of migratory birds of the Afro-Eurasian Flyway, on the protection of bats of Europe, the conservation of cetaceans of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, etc. ).

A. A. Tishkov.

Main environmental problems and protected natural areas. According to the European Environment Agency (2005), the main environmental problems in Europe are air pollution, depletion of water resources and pollution of surface and groundwater, waste disposal, land degradation, loss of biodiversity, etc.

European countries account for 25% of global emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, causing acid rain, which affects vegetation and soils on an area of ​​over 60% of Europe; 25% of global emissions of carbon dioxide and 16% of methane, which is 4-5 times higher than the supply of these greenhouse gases from natural sources. Photochemical smog in summer and air pollution from transport and chemical emissions are recorded in the 60 largest cities in Europe with a total population of over 100 million people.

Every year in Europe, about 600 km 3 of clean water is withdrawn from water sources, which amounts to 26% of the volume of river flow in Europe. The annual wastewater discharge is estimated at 300 km 3 . A sharp tension in water use arises in the countries of Eastern Europe, and in the summer in the countries of Southern Europe, where there is not enough natural water, but everywhere, even in the most humid areas of foreign Europe, enormous water resources are required for wastewater treatment. The most tense situation with water quality is observed in the largest European countries (Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Bulgaria, etc.) and affects 46% of the European population.

Within Europe, up to 9 billion tons of solid waste are generated annually, including about 7 billion tons of agricultural, mining waste, as well as waste from energy facilities and treatment facilities, 1.5 billion tons of industrial waste (including 300 thousand tons of highly hazardous waste) , 0.5 billion tons - household waste. About 60% of municipal solid waste and about 70% of highly hazardous waste are stored in landfills and are not recycled.

As a result of long-term and often irrational development, including the expansion of cities and industrial facilities, road construction, waste storage, as well as under the influence of atmospheric pollution, the soils of Europe are subject to many degradation processes, among which the most developed are planar and linear erosion, compaction, acidification, pollution , dehumification, destructuring, etc. The introduction of soil-saving agricultural technologies is happening very slowly.

In Europe, 250 species of mammals (42% of the total), 520 species of birds (15%), 200 species of reptiles (45%), 227 species of fish (52%), 1250 species of plants (21%) are threatened with extinction. The ranges of many large mammals (brown bear, lynx, etc.) have sharply decreased, many species have completely disappeared from the territory of Europe.

In Europe, the first protected natural areas began to be created in the mid-19th century (for example, Fontainebleau in France in 1853). In Europe (excluding European CIS countries), over 12 thousand protected natural areas have been created with a total area of ​​109.3 million hectares, of which a significant proportion are territories with a low protection status (various types of reserves, natural monuments, protected land and sea landscapes); fully protected areas (reserves, national parks, etc.) - a total of 615 with a total area of ​​47.7 million hectares; In terms of the share of area of ​​protected natural areas (over 20% of the territory), Denmark, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Great Britain are the leaders among European countries (2006). The CIS countries within the borders of Europe have at least 6-7 thousand protected natural areas of various categories. In the European part of Russia (excluding the Caucasus) there are 44 state nature reserves, 25 national parks and several thousand natural areas with a lower protection status (2007).

In foreign Europe there are 169 UNESCO biosphere reserves, including 20 in the European part of Russia (excluding the Caucasus); 753 wetlands of international importance (2006). The World Natural Heritage Sites include: the Aeolian Islands (Italy), the fjords of Western Norway - Nordfjord and Eirangerfjord, the Kvarken archipelago and the High Coast (Finland, Sweden), the coasts of Dorsetshire and East Devonshire, "Giant's Causeway" (Great Britain), Bernese Alps (Jungfrau, Aletschhorn, Bichhorn) and Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland), Agtelek cave area (Slovak Karst; Hungary, Slovakia), Škocian caves (Slovenia), Danube delta (Romania), Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Poland, Belarus) ), fossil finds in the Messel quarry (Germany); as well as national parks Durmitor (Montenegro), Plitvice Lakes (Croatia), Doñana (Spain), Pirin, Srebarna reserve (Bulgaria); in Russia - the Virgin Forests of Komi (Pechora-Ilychsky Reserve and Yugyd Va National Park) and the Curonian Spit (shared with Lithuania). According to natural and cultural criteria, the World Heritage List includes: the monasteries of Meteora and Mount Athos (Greece), the islands of St. Kilda (Great Britain), the island of Ibiza (Spain), the island of Corsica (France), Lapland (Sweden), the city of Ohrid and Lake Ohrid (Macedonia), Monte Perdido mountain in the Pyrenees (Spain, France).

In Europe, especially since the early 1990s, many transboundary protected areas have been created. The European Union actively supports the formation of a unified ecological network in Europe, carried out in accordance with the Pan-European Strategy for the Conservation of Landscape and Biological Diversity, the European Union Nature 2000 program, the Emerald network of the Berne Convention, the Ramsar Convention, the European protected sites", the Convention on the Protection of the Alps, etc. Most European countries have national programs for the development of a network of protected natural areas, which are widely used in the system of environmental education and training, tourism and recreation.

E. P. Romanova, A. A. Tishkov.

Lit.: Dobrynin B.F. Physical geography of Western Europe. M., 1948; Climates of Western Europe. L., 1983; Soil map of the European communities. Luxembourg, 1985; World map on status of human-induced soil degradation. Nairobi, 1990; Romanova E. P., Kurakova L. I., Ermakov Yu. G. Natural resources of the world. M., 1993; Europe's environment. The Dobfis assessment. Cph., 1995; Romanova E. P. Modern landscapes of Europe. M., 1997; Antipova A.V. Geography of Russia. M., 2001; Khain V. Europe Tectonics of continents and oceans (year 2000). M., 2001; Global Ecological Perspective - 3. M., 2002; Biogeography with basics of ecology. 5th ed. M., 2003; Map of the natural vegetation of Europe. Bonn, 2003. Vol. 1-3; Protecting the European environment: third assessment. Luxembourg, 2004; Gennadiev A. N., Glazovskaya M. A. Geography of soils with fundamentals of soil science. M., 2005; The European environment: state and outlooks 2005. Cph., 2005; World resources. Annual report. 2005. http://www.wri.org/pubs/; Mineral resources of the world at the beginning of 2005. M., 2006.

Formation of European civilization

It is assumed that man entered Europe about 800 thousand years ago (see the article Anthropogenesis) from Africa through the Strait of Gibraltar (Atapuerca, Ceprano). 40-28 thousand years ago, modern humans (Homo sapiens) settled across Europe from Western Asia, displacing the Neanderthals who had previously lived here. Hunting for large inhabitants of the periglacial tundra, which covered most of Europe in the Paleolithic, gave man the opportunity to lead a relatively sedentary lifestyle, as evidenced by the semi-dugout dwellings common in Central and Eastern Europe. In the Upper Paleolithic, fine art appeared and flourished: rock paintings (especially in the Pyrenean region in the south of France and northern Spain - Altamira, Lascaux, Font-de-Gaume, Tuc d'Auduber, Three Brothers Cave, etc.), carvings stone, mammoth tusk, bone (Willendorf-Kostenki cultural unity, etc.), clay sculpture (Dolní Vestonice). By the beginning of the Mesolithic (13-10 thousand years BC), most of Europe was inhabited. The main occupations of the inhabitants of the forested part of continental Europe were hunting, lake and river fishing, sea fishing along the sea coasts, and marine gathering along the shores of the North Sea. In the 6th millennium BC, agriculture and animal husbandry spread on the Balkan Peninsula (Argisa, Sesklo, etc.) and in the Danube region (Starcevo), and a typical early agricultural Neolithic culture developed (telli settlements, female figurines, and later painted ceramics). In the 6th-4th millennia BC, agriculture and animal husbandry appeared in the forest zone of Western and Central Europe. The Neolithic culture of these areas (linear-band ceramic culture) is characterized by relatively short-term settlements, frame long houses, etc. On the shores of lakes in the foothills of the Alps, agricultural pile settlements arose in the 4th millennium BC. The first farmers of Europe settled along the banks of reservoirs, where the soil was fertile and easy to cultivate. With the spread of the plow in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, inland forest areas began to be developed, and slash-and-burn agriculture spread. In the south of Scandinavia, agriculture and animal husbandry appeared in the 4th millennium BC (funnel beaker culture, etc.). In the 5th-4th millennia BC, the productive economy spread in the south of Eastern Europe up to the Middle and Lower Volga region, and mainly mobile cattle breeding developed east of the Dnieper. By the end of the Bronze Age (late 2nd millennium BC), a classical culture of nomadic pastoralists had developed in the steppes of Eastern Europe. The northeast of Europe in the Neolithic was still inhabited by hunting tribes (pit-comb ceramics cultural and historical community, pit-comb ceramics culture, Volga-Kama culture, etc.). A new stage in European history began in the 3rd millennium BC, when the oldest urban civilization in Europe (Aegean culture), closely connected with the civilizations of Western Asia, was formed in the Eastern Mediterranean. Similar processes took place in Western Europe: the spread of megalithic cultures and barrow burials testifies to social differentiation and the formation of an elite.

From the pre-Indo-European population of Western Europe, only the Basque language has now been preserved. The Finno-Ugric peoples go back to the ancient population of Northern and Eastern Europe. In the 2nd-1st millennia BC, Indo-Europeans settled almost everywhere in Europe (except the northeast). The most ancient Indo-European tribes of Europe appear in the south of the Balkan Peninsula (Pelasgians, Carians, Leleges, etc.). Later, Greeks, Illyrians, Thracians, Italics, etc. were known in the south of Europe. In the 1st millennium BC, the Celts lived in most of Western Europe, occupying almost the entire territory of modern France (Gauls), the Netherlands and Belgium (Belgi), then British islands (Britons, Scotts). The south of Eastern Europe was occupied by the Iranian tribes of the Scythians and Sauromatians.

In the 1st half of the 1st millennium BC, Phoenician, Greek, Etruscan and Latin city-polises arose in the Mediterranean. Since the era of the Great Greek colonization (8-6 centuries BC), the Northern Mediterranean and Black Sea region came under the influence of the culture of Ancient Greece, on the basis of which an ancient civilization emerged, which largely determined the nature of the cultural development of Europe. One of the Latin cities, Rome, first subjugated the territory of modern Italy, and from the end of the 3rd century BC - other regions of Europe, became the center of the powerful Roman state (see Ancient Rome). By the 1st century BC, the territory of the Roman Empire had formed, which included in Europe the lands west of the Rhine and south of the Danube, as well as most of Great Britain. In the western part of the Empire, the main language of the population became folk Latin, in the eastern (on the Balkan Peninsula) - Greek (by the end of the 4th century AD, the division of the Empire into Western and Eastern took shape politically). The areas north and east of the Empire's borders (limes), inhabited by Celtic (in Britain), Germanic (on the Rhine) and Thracian (on the Danube) tribes, were less subject to Romanization.

The new ethnic appearance of Europe was given by the mass migrations of Germanic, Slavic, Turkic, Iranian and other tribes that took place since the 4th century AD (the Great Migration). The Germans, having conquered the western half of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, settled widely throughout Western, Southwestern and Southeastern Europe. In heavily Romanized parts of Europe (Gaul, Iberia, Italy) various dialects of folk Latin were preserved, and the Germans assimilated over time. Further to the north and east, where the cultural influence of the Romans was weaker, Germanic languages ​​prevailed. In the British Isles they almost completely absorbed the pre-Germanic Celtic substrate. In the area of ​​the North Germanic languages ​​- in Scandinavia, Denmark, and later in Iceland and the Faroe Islands - an ethnocultural community of Scandinavian peoples was formed. The territories from the Elbe in the west and the Balkan Peninsula in the south to the Middle Don and Middle Volga region in the east and the Volga region in the north were occupied mainly by the Slavs, who interacted with the Balts, Eastern Romanes (Vlachs), Finno-Ugric and Turkic (Huns, Avars , Proto-Bulgarians, Khazars, etc.) peoples; later the Slavs west of the Oder were largely Germanized, their descendants being the modern Lusatians.

The collapse of ancient civilization was accompanied by a sharp decline in the population of Europe and the desolation of cities. At the same time, new forms of culture, social relations, law (see Barbarian Truths), art, etc. were formed from the fusion of late antique and barbarian elements. An important consolidating factor was the spread of Christianity in Europe, with the western part of Europe being united under the rule of the Bishop of Rome (the pope), and the eastern part, populated mainly by Greeks, southern and eastern Slavs, under the Patriarch of Constantinople. Despite the deepening schism between the Western and Eastern churches (finally in 1054), political, ecclesiastical and cultural ties with Byzantium were of utmost importance for Europe throughout the Middle Ages. With the Arab conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (8th century), the long-term influence of Arab-Muslim culture on Europe (in the field of philosophy, science, art, etc.) began. Eastern Europe maintained connections with the Arab-Muslim world through the Caucasus and Volga; through the Vikings (Varangians) these connections reached Northern Europe.

At the end of the 5th-9th centuries, most of Western and Central Europe was included in the Frankish state. With its division under the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the East Frankish and West Frankish kingdoms arose between the grandchildren of Charlemagne I - the basis of the future Germany and France. The unification of England was completed in the 9th century. In Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, new states are also emerging - the Avar and Khazar Khaganates, Bulgaria, the Great Moravian Empire, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Kievan Rus, Volga-Kama Bulgaria. Thus, by the 11th century, the basis of the modern political division of Europe was formed. At the same time, demographic and economic growth is emerging, leading to the flourishing of old and the emergence of new European cities. In the West, a vassal-feudal system of land tenure was emerging, which became the basis of the classical European form of feudalism. During the era of the Crusades, feudal Europe reached economic and cultural prosperity; Cities are developing, new schools of philosophy (scholasticism) and art (Gothic) are being formed under the influence of the East, and everyday culture is becoming more complex. At the same time, Europe is again subject to invasions from the east: the Mongol-Tatar invasion in the 13th century, which destroyed the Volga-Kama Bulgaria and subjugated the Russian principalities, and the Ottoman conquest in the 14th-15th centuries, which put an end to the Byzantine Empire. The period of subjugation of the Balkan Peninsula and the Danube region by the Ottoman Empire is associated with the penetration of Muslim culture into the southeast of Europe. A new spiritual movement is developing - Renaissance. By the end of the 15th-16th century, political centralization was completed in many states (England, France, Spain, Sweden, Russia, etc.). Modern European nations are being formed within the framework of the new states. Multi-ethnic empires arose in Central and South-Eastern Europe - Habsburg, Ottoman, etc. (collapsed after World War I). With the discovery of America (1492) and the beginning of the Great Geographical Discoveries, European countries (Spain, Portugal, then England, the Netherlands, France) took possession of gigantic territories in America, Asia and Africa, from which enormous material wealth flowed to Europe and new cultural phenomena penetrated into including in household culture (distribution of potatoes, corn, tobacco, tea, coffee, cotton, rubber, etc.). Capitalist relations began to take shape.

Religious movements of the late Middle Ages (heresies, monastic mendicant orders) in the 14th century took the form of the first attempts to reform the Catholic Church (the teachings of J. Wycliffe, J. Hus, etc.). In the 16th century, the Reformation split Western Europe into Catholic and Protestant countries. In modern times, traditions of religious free-thinking and rationalism developed; figures of the Enlightenment formulated theories of natural law, social contract, popular sovereignty, etc., which formed the basis of the modern concept of human rights. At the same time, the principles of economic liberalism (A. Smith) are put forward, which form the ideological basis of European capitalism. The industrial revolution of the 18th-19th centuries led to the formation of an international urban industrial European civilization. At the same time, with the victory of the revolutions that overthrew the old monarchies, the concept of the nation was finally formed. The peoples of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire experienced a period of national and cultural revival, which gave impetus to the development of local languages ​​and culture.

In the 19th century, contradictions between European states intensified, mainly based on rivalry in the colonies, leading to a new series of wars and revolutions. In the 20th century, Europe became the epicenter of the most destructive civil conflicts and world wars in human history. After World War II, a desire arose for the consolidation of the peoples of Europe, which manifested itself, in particular, in the creation of the European Union in 1993. The ethnic appearance of Europe has been changing since the mid-20th century under the influence of immigration from Asia and Africa: Arabs, Berbers, Turks, Kurds, Indians, Pakistanis, etc. The largest number of people from the Arab world live in France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany; Turks are the largest ethnic group of foreign workers in Germany, the Netherlands and the second largest in Austria, while people from India and Pakistan, former British colonies in Africa and the West Indies predominate in Britain. Intra-European migrations (to France, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden) increase ethnic diversity. The consolidation of the multicultural space of Europe is facilitated by special measures of national governments and international organizations.

The models of economic, technical, social, political and cultural development that have emerged in Europe, which together form European civilization, influenced the development of peoples around the world and became the basis of modern urban culture.

Peoples

Ethnographic sketch. In modern Europe there are over 70 nations (see the Nations map). Europe is a single historical and cultural region, the population of which, over the course of centuries of history, has developed common cultural characteristics.

Anthropologically, the modern population of Europe is becoming increasingly complex due to intensive mixing of populations and gradually increasing migrations from other parts of the world. The majority of the indigenous inhabitants of Europe, in terms of their physical appearance, belong to the large Caucasian race: in the north, light-pigmented (Atlanto-Baltic race and White Sea-Baltic race) predominate, in the south - darkly pigmented (Balkan-Caucasian race and Indo-Mediterranean race) types, most of the inhabitants of Europe belongs to the transitional Central European race. The Komi, Mari, Mordovians, and Udmurts show an admixture of the Uralic race, while the Sami are mainly represented by the Laponoid race. The penetration of elements of the North Asian race is noted in the Volga basin.

Europe is an economically highly developed region with a very high degree of urbanization. In modern post-industrial European society, traditional forms of economy have hardly been preserved; folk traditions are cultivated as folklorisms. Traditional culture, which developed mainly in the 16th - early 19th centuries under the strong influence of urban life, has features common to many European peoples (forms of clothing: shirt with a turn-down collar, long or knee-length pants, a vest or jacket, a hat with a brim, often a neck headscarf - for men; shirt or jacket, skirt, corsage, apron, cap - for women; housing: arrangement of residential and utility rooms under one roof, use of stone, timber frame technology, tiles, heating with a fireplace, etc.). Regional features make it possible to distinguish historical and ethnographic regions (HEO) in Europe: Western European, Central European, Northern European and South-Eastern Baltic, Southern European, South-Eastern, Eastern European (with subregions - East Slavic, European North and North-West Russia, Ural-Volga region) .

In the Western European, or Atlantic, IEO (Great Britain, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium) there are German-speaking (English, Scots, Irish, Dutch, Flemings, Alsatians and Lorraineers, Frisians) and French-speaking (French, Walloons) peoples. Bretons, Welsh and Gaels speak Celtic languages. The French, Flemings, Walloons, Bretons, Irish, and Gaels are mostly Catholic. Protestantism is represented mainly by Calvinism - Reformed (Dutch) and Presbyterianism (Scots), as well as Anglicanism (English, Welsh).

The traditional branch of the economy is commercial cattle breeding. Agricultural crops: wheat, rye, sugar beets, from the 2nd half of the 16th century - potatoes imported from America; Barley and oats are traditionally grown in the UK. For traditional Western European urban and rural architecture, the half-timbered frame technique is typical. Buildings of the Middle and Low German, Lorraine, Frisian, South Limburgish, North French, Picard and other types are common; in the south of France - the Mediterranean type. Traditional women's clothing is characterized by bizarrely shaped caps, shawls with crossed ends on the chest, wide skirts, wooden shoes (klomps among the Dutch, clogs among the French); Walloons and women from Northern France wore narrow striped skirts, Flemish and Dutch women wore several lace skirts layered on top of each other, black shawls, etc. In the traditional men's clothing of the Gaels, skirts (kilts) have been preserved. In traditional cuisine, cheese (French, Dutch, Walloons), meat (English), salted fish (Dutch, Walloons, Flemings), oysters, mussels and other seafood (French, Bretons, Walloons), potatoes and vegetables (Irish, Walloons) are widely used ), cereal dishes (English, Scots, Irish).

In the Central European IEO (Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary) live German-speaking (Germans, Walsers, Austrians, Luxembourgers, Liechtensteiners, German-Swiss, Tsimbres, Mohen) and Romance-speaking (French-Swiss, Italian-Swiss, Romansh people) s, Western Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians), small groups of Western Ukrainians (Rusyns), and Ugric-speaking Hungarians. Believers are Catholics and Protestants (Lutherans and Reformed).

Agriculture is based on highly productive farming and animal husbandry (in the Alpine belt - transhumance), mainly dairy farming. The characteristic layout of old cities: the central square with the city cathedral and the Town Hall; often separately in an elevated part (on the castle hill) - a fortress of a local feudal lord, usually also with a cathedral. The layout of a number of Central European cities - a circular arrangement of streets or a long central street with cross streets branching off to the sides - indicates their origin from rural settlements. The peasant dwelling of the Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, and French-Swiss was made of logs, later also framed, one-story, 3-chamber (living room, hallway-kitchen, pantry), with a central or side entryway. The Pannonian house, typical of Hungary and northern Croatia, is made of adobe, with a thatched roof and an external longitudinal gallery on pillars. In the north of Germany, in the east of the Netherlands, in the south of Denmark, and on the Baltic coast, the Low German, or Saxon, house is common - one-story, with stalls for livestock, living and utility rooms surrounding a covered courtyard (dile, halle); in the corner at the back of the house there was a living room (flett). The Middle German (Franconian) house, typical for the southern and middle regions of Germany, as well as for Austria, is usually 2- or 3-story (usually with a stone lower floor and half-timbered upper floors), located with its end facing the street or road, the entrance is through the central heated vestibule, on one side of which there is a living room with a stove (shtube), on the other there are storage rooms and a stable. The Alpine house, common in the mountainous regions of Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, had a lower stone floor, an upper one made of wood (half-timbered or log frame), with an entrance from the front side through a narrow vestibule, with living and utility rooms in the front parts (at the bottom - a heated living room - shtube and kitchen, at the top - storage rooms and bedrooms), a stable, a threshing floor and a barn - in the rear part; the roof is low, gabled, balconies or open galleries rest on pillars; the details are covered with rich carvings. The Black Forest type of house is close to the Alpine one: in the front part there are living quarters with balconies, in the rear part there is a threshing floor, a barn and a stable; entrance - in the middle part through a heated kitchen (sometimes the kitchen was located between two rooms in the front part); the high hip thatched low sloping roof rests on pillars supporting the ridge sill. Women's clothing is characterized by a jacket with puffy sleeves, a bodice, and a fluffy knee-length skirt (Hungarians, Czechs and Slovaks often have a large number of petticoats). In central Slovakia, a tunic-like shirt and an unstitched garment consisting of two aprons have been preserved. A unique men's suit with very wide flared white pants is found in Slovakia, Western Hungary, and Northern Croatia. Characteristic are flour dishes, soups with dumplings and noodles (especially in southern Germany and Austria). In the north they eat a lot of potatoes. In areas of alpine cattle breeding, dairy products are common. German cuisine is famous for sausages, sausages, Austrian - for pastries (Viennese bread, apple strudel). The most popular drinks are beer, and in the Rhineland and Hungary - grape wines. Pair dances are typical (including the Austrian Ländler).

Residents of the Northern European IEO (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland) and the South-Eastern Baltics (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) speak North Germanic (Danes and Faroese, Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders), Baltic (Lithuanians and Latvians) and Finno- Ugric (Finnish, Estonian, Sami) languages. Protestants (mostly Lutherans) predominate among believers.

Traditional farming is associated with the use of forest and biological resources (forestry, whaling, fishing). In agriculture, livestock farming is developed (meat and dairy, pig farming, poultry farming). Horses are used as draft animals. Until the end of the 19th century, slash-and-burn agriculture was maintained. Traditional crops are barley, rye, oats, flax. Type of rural settlement - farm. Timber-framed one-story three-chamber houses are common (heated living space, canopy, storage room; the living part in the north is located on the side, in the south - in the center of the building). Woolen clothing: skirts with woven striped or checkered patterns, bodices, knitted sweaters, sweaters, stockings. In Norway and in some counties of Sweden, sleeveless clothing such as a sundress is known. Men's clothing is close to Central European. The food is dominated by porridge, fish, milk, cheese (mainly hard varieties). The main type of bread is sour rye. Among the holidays, the periods of winter (Scandinavian July) and summer (Midsummer's Day) solstice are distinguished. Winter sports and choral singing are popular.

The Southern European (Mediterranean) IEO (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Andorra, San Marino, Vatican City, Malta, Monaco, Gibraltar) is inhabited predominantly by Romance peoples (Portuguese, Galicians, Fala, Spaniards, Catalans, Mirandes, Andorrans, Sanmarinis, Italians , Sardinians, Corsicans), as well as Greeks, Basques and Semitic-speaking Maltese. The believers are mostly Catholic; Greeks are Orthodox.

The traditional economy, typical of the entire Mediterranean (Southern and South-Eastern Europe), is characterized by the development of horticulture (fruit, citrus, olive trees) and viticulture; in addition to traditional grains (wheat, rye) and legumes, corn imported from America in the 15th century is widespread; In the mountainous regions, transhumance (sheep, goats) is developed, as are oxen and donkeys. Traditions of urban planning and types of rural housing go back to antiquity. Stone houses of the Mediterranean type predominate: 2-, less often 3-story, with living quarters at the top, where an external staircase often leads; characteristic patios. The basis of traditional food is wheat bread, legumes, rice, tomatoes, fruits, cheese, fish and seafood; fats include olive oil; The Italians are known for thick corn porridge (polenta). Women's clothing is characterized by a tunic-like shirt and a long wide skirt, while men's clothing is characterized by a wide-brimmed hat (the Portuguese and Spaniards have a sombrero) or a beret. Traditions of extensive kinship and nepotism (compadrazgo) were preserved. The holiday culture is based on the Catholic cult. The custom of bullfighting dates back to ancient times.

IEO of South-Eastern Europe, covering the territory of the Balkan Peninsula and the lower Danube (Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Romania, Moldova), is inhabited by South Slavs (Bulgarians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Croats, Bosniaks , Slovenes), Eastern Roman peoples (Romanians, Moldovans, Aromanians-Vlachs, Istro-Romanians, Istriots, Meglenites), as well as Albanians, partly Greeks and Turkic-speaking Gagauz. Most of the residents profess Orthodoxy; Croats, Slovenes - Catholics; Most Albanians, Bosniaks and other small groups of Slavs are Muslims.

Peasant buildings are made of stone (Mediterranean type on the coast), log buildings (in mountain forest areas). A one-story, two-chamber house with a vestibule is common. In 3-chamber houses, either the canopy located in the center (Serbia, Croatia, southern Romania and Moldova, Danube Bulgaria) or the side living spaces (Belarusian-Ukrainian type - northern Romania and Moldova) are heated. In the mountains and on the coast (Montenegrin and Croatian Littoral, Macedonia, Albania, etc.) 2-story houses with living quarters at the top are typical. Traditional food is characterized by pita bread, corn bread and thick porridge (mamalyga), puff pastry with sheep's cheese, and grilled meat dishes. The basis of folk clothing is a tunic-shaped shirt (Montenegrin and Croatian Littoral, Macedonia, central Bulgaria, Romania) or with shoulder inserts, similar to the East Slavic (Dinaric Highlands in Croatia and Bosnia, northern Bulgaria), for women - a full skirt, now often pleated, an apron , short sleeveless vest.

In Northern Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, and Moldova, unstitched clothing made from 2 panels is common; in Central Bulgaria and eastern Greece, sleeveless clothing such as a sundress is common. Muslim women in Bosnia wear trousers, a long shirt, an apron, and large headscarves. Men's waist clothing - black or white tight pants made of canvas or wool. The men's costume adopted by the Turks is typical: trousers with wide legs, a wide belt, a short sleeveless vest, and a fez. Shoes made of rawhide like postols (among Bulgarians, Serbs, Albanians, Moldovans). Until the 20th century, the southern Slavs maintained a large patriarchal family - the zadruga; a family holiday is still celebrated in honor of the patron saint of the family (slava). Circular kolo dances with counterclockwise movement are typical.

Eastern European IEO (European part of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus). The Finno-Ugric peoples living in the north and east (Sami, Karelians, Vepsians, Vodians, Izhoras, Komi, Komi-Permyaks, Udmurts, Besermyans, Mordovians, Maris) go back to the most ancient ethnic layer. In the northeast live Samoyed-Nenets, in Crimea - Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatars, Krymchaks and Karaites, in the Ural-Volga region Chuvashes, Tatars, Kryashens and Nagaibaks, Bashkirs and Mongol-speaking Kalmyks. Eastern Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians) are settled throughout the territory. The main religion is Orthodoxy, including among some Russians, Komi and others - the Old Believers. There are Greek Catholics in Western Ukraine. Tatars and Bashkirs profess Sunni Islam, Kalmyks profess Buddhism (Lamaism).

The main traditional occupation was agriculture: in the north rye, barley, and oats were cultivated, in the south - wheat, millet, and buckwheat. Forestry and hunting in some places remained important, on the northern coast - fishing and hunting (Sami, Pomors), in the tundra and forest-tundra - reindeer husbandry (Sami, Nenets, Komi-Izhemtsy), in the forest-steppes and steppes of the Volga and Urals regions - semi-nomadic and nomadic cattle breeding (Bashkirs, Kalmyks). The main type of dwelling is 3-chamber (izba - canopy - cage, in Ukraine and Belarus also izba - canopy - hut), in the north and east - log house (izba), in the south - log house, adobe or turluchnoe (hut). Specific features are the presence of a “Russian” stove, benches and beds built into the walls, a strictly traditional interior layout, and the orientation of the sacred center of the house with a table and icons (red corner) diagonally from the stove. The houses of the Tatars and Bashkirs are located in the depths of the courtyard; typical divisions into male and female halves, a stove with a built-in boiler, bunks along the front and side walls (Tatar - syake, sike). The layout of East Slavic cities is characterized by a radial-ring layout, the presence of a fortified detinets (Kremlin), the city itself and a craft and trading settlement.

The general type of women's clothing is a shirt (tunic-shaped - among the peoples of the North-West and Volga region, with oblique skirts - among Russians and Ukrainians, with straight ones - among Belarusians). Over it they put on an unstitched skirt (Southern Russian poneva, Ukrainian derga and plakhta, etc.) or shoulder-length, sleeveless, closed clothing such as a sarafan (among northern Russians, Vodi, Karelians, Komi), and an apron. Men wore a shirt (Ukrainians and Belarusians - with a straight slit, Russians - with a slit on the left, Udmurts, Mari - on the right), untucked (Russians, Belarusians, peoples of the Volga region) or tucked (Ukrainians) into pants with a narrow (Russians, Belarusians) or wide (Ukrainians, Tatars, Bashkirs) at a walk. The clothing of the Tatars and Bashkirs, partly the Chuvash, is characterized by an unbelted shirt, a sleeveless camisole, a robe belted with a sash, and for women - a large number of metal jewelry. Men's headdresses of the peoples of Eastern Europe are fur and felt hats; the Tatars and Bashkirs have skullcaps. Girls' and women's headdresses differ: for girls - a wreath, ribbon or hemispherical cap (among the Vodi, the peoples of the Volga region), for married women - a multi-component headdress that hides their hair (Russian kokoshnik, kika, soroka, etc., Ukrainian ochipok, Belarusian namika and etc.). Later, the headscarf became a women's headdress. The main food is leavened bread, in some places (Carpathians, Volga region) also unleavened. Bread, as well as flour and cereal dishes (pies, pancakes, porridges) are the main festive and ritual food. Until the 19th century, the most common vegetables were turnips, cabbage, beets, and then potatoes. For cattle breeders, meat was of great importance; for fishermen, fish was of great importance. The traditional culture of Western groups of Ukrainians and Belarusians has much in common with the peoples of South-Eastern and Central Europe, the Volga region pastoralists - Central Asian nomads, and in the Far North elements of the culture of tundra reindeer herders are preserved (see the section Peoples and Languages ​​in the volume “Russia”).

Lit.: Peoples of the European part of the USSR. M., 1964. T. 1-2; Peoples of foreign Europe. M., 1964-1965. T. 1-2; Types of rural housing in foreign European countries. M., 1968; Calendar customs and rituals in foreign European countries. M., 1983; Ethnic processes in Central and South-Eastern Europe. M., 1988; Davis N. History of Europe. M., 2006.

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 by the waters of the Arctic Ocean. Despite the “mosaic” nature of the terrain of Western Europe, the borders between individual countries, as well as the border separating Western Europe and Eastern Europe, run primarily along natural boundaries that do not create significant obstacles to transport links.

Natural conditions and resources

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

Central European Plain, midlands of Central Europe and alpine highlands and midlands 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 the Hercynian fold) and fuel minerals (concentrated in marginal troughs, sedimentary cover and epicontinental zones) are common.

In the southern part, ore deposits predominate, and fuel reserves are smaller. Despite the fact that mineral resources are quite diverse, 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. Of great importance are the reserves of brown coal in Germany, bauxite in Greece and France, zinc-lead ores in Germany, Ireland, Italy, potassium salts in Germany, uranium in France, oil and gas at the bottom of the North Sea. In general, Western Europe is provided with mineral raw materials much worse than North America.

The region's agroclimatic resources are determined by its position in the temperate and subtropical zones. In the Mediterranean, sustainable agriculture requires artificial irrigation due to decreased rainfall in southern Europe. The most irrigated land is now in Italy and Spain.

The hydropower resources of Western Europe are quite large, but they occur mainly in the regions of the Alps, 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 centuries-old economic use of the territory has led to the fact that natural. forests have been cleared, 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 diverse natural and recreational resources; 9% of its territory is classified as “protected areas”.

Western European countries:

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

Population

In general, Western Europe (like Eastern Europe) is distinguished by a complex and unfavorable demographic situation. Firstly, this is explained by low birth rates (“demographic winter”) and low levels of natural increase. The lowest birth rates are in Greece, Spain, Italy, and Germany (up to 10%). In Germany there is even a population decline. At the same time, the age composition of the population is changing towards a decrease in the proportion of children and an increase in the proportion of older people. 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 population migrations. If since the time of the Great Geographical Discoveries Europe has been the main hotbed of emigration, now it has become the main global hotbed of labor immigration. Immigrants are mainly attracted to construction, road work and automobile manufacturing.

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, the dominant religion is Christianity. In Southern Europe, Catholicism sharply predominates, 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.

Urbanization level - 70-90%. A characteristic feature of the urbanization of Western Europe is 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 also began - the outflow of population from polluted cities to the suburbs and rural areas.

Farm

The region of foreign Europe (Western and Eastern) ranks first in the world economy in terms of industrial and agricultural production, exports of goods and services, gold and currency reserves, and development of international tourism. But the economic power of the region is primarily determined by the members of the G7 - Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy. Of the remaining countries of Western Europe, 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. Small and medium-sized countries of the subregion are especially widely involved in global economic relations. The openness of the economy reached its highest level in Belgium and the Netherlands, microstates of Western Europe (Andorra, Malta, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Monaco, Vatican). Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, and Greece are characterized by the lowest level of economic development in the subregion.

Fuel and energy complex of Western Europe Until recently, it relied on its own resources; coal predominated in the structure of these resources. Now there has been 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 needs), and imported from developing countries and Russia. The share of oil and gas in the fuel and energy balance is about 45%. Thermal power plants generate more than 50% of the electricity, and hydroelectric power plants - about 15%, although the hydropower potential has largely already been developed. Nuclear power plants occupy an important place in the structure of the electric power industry - especially in France, Belgium, Germany, and Great Britain.

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

Mechanical engineering and metalworking - the leading industry in Western Europe, accounting for about 1/3 of the region's industrial output and 2/3 of its exports. All major branches of mechanical engineering have developed, but transport engineering (automotive, shipbuilding) and machine tool building are especially important.

Mechanical engineering focuses primarily on labor resources, scientific base and infrastructure. In terms of the general level of development of mechanical engineering, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy stand out first of all - countries with a high level of development of mechanical 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 towards hydrocarbon raw materials. Large petrochemical centers are located in the estuaries of the Rhine, Thames, Seine, Elbe, and Rhone; they combine this industry with oil refining.

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

Many countries maintain rich national traditions in the production of furniture, musical instruments, glass, metal, jewelry, toys, etc.

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

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

1. The Northern European type is typical for Scandinavia, Finland, and Great Britain. Dairy farming and forage crop farming predominate here.
2. The Central European type is characterized by the predominance of dairy and dairy-meat livestock farming, as well as pig and poultry farming. Crop production supplies both food and feed products.
3. The South European type is distinguished, in contrast to the first two, by the predominance of subtropical crop production, while livestock farming is significantly inferior to it.
4. Fishing is a branch of international specialization in Norway, Denmark, Iceland; developed in all coastal states.

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

Europe is the smallest and at the same time the most “cramped” part of the world in the world. Its closest neighbor is Asia, and together they form the largest continent - Eurasia. But today the focus is on Foreign Europe.

General information

There are different approaches to dividing Europe into regions. Until the end of the 80s of the last century, in history and geography, the term “Western Europe” was understood as a set of independent European states that, after the end of the Second World War, continued capitalist development. There were 32 of them, and the countries of the socialist camp - Eastern Europe - served as a counterweight to them. In 1991, after the collapse of the USSR and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a new concept of “Foreign Europe” appeared.

It unites 40 countries located in Europe, except those that are part of the CIS.

Geographical location of Foreign Europe

Speaking about the physical and geographical position of Foreign Europe, it should be said that it occupies a fairly compact territory on a global scale: its total area is 5.4 million square meters. km. The island of Spitsbergen is the extreme point in the north, and the island of Crete is in the south. The length of the region from north to south is 5,000 km, and from west to east - 3,000 km. Foreign Europe is washed on three sides by the waters of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans and their seas. The coastline is very indented. Most of the territory is dominated by plains, and only about 17% is occupied by mountains. Among them the main ones are the Alps, Pyrenees, Apennines, Carpathians, mountains on the Balkan and Scandinavian peninsulas. This region is dominated by four climatic zones, which gradually replace each other from north to south:

• arctic (Arctic islands of Europe): the maritime arctic climate “rules” here with very frosty winters and cold summers;
• subarctic (Iceland and northern coast of mainland Europe): characterized by the predominance of a marine subarctic type of climate with cold, sometimes mild winters and cool summers with strong westerly winds;
• moderate (British Isles, most of mainland Europe): There are two types of climate here - maritime temperate and continental temperate.
• subtropical (southern Mediterranean part of Europe): the typical climate type for these latitudes is Mediterranean with warm winters and dry, hot summers.

Rice. 1 Regions of Foreign Europe

Regional division

Geographically, Foreign Europe is divided into four regions according to the cardinal points: Northern, Southern, Western and Eastern. However, recently, in addition to Northern, Southern and Western Europe, new terms have appeared in the everyday life of geographers - Central-Eastern and Eastern Europe. The latter includes Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Russia - countries that are part of the CIS. How many states, and which regions of Overseas Europe are “credited”, are summarized in the following table:

Rice. 2 Modern leaders of the G7 countries

Economic development

Overseas Europe is one of the most economically developed areas in the world. Both politically and in the sectoral and territorial structure of the region’s economy, there is diversity and richness. If Foreign Europe is imagined as a large four-story apartment building, then the countries with transition economies will be at the bottom: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia. In the second and third are developed countries with market economies: Spain, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and others. However, their level of economic and social development has not yet reached the high level of the leaders, which include their “neighbors” from the top floor - Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy. They account for about 70% of total GDP. They are also members of the “Group of Seven” or “Big Seven” - an association of seven leading economically developed countries (USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan.

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The leaders of these states gather annually to discuss not only the problems of Foreign Europe, but the pressing issues facing humanity: political, military (general security, terrorism, causes of exacerbation of local conflicts), social (protection of human rights, support and conditions for cooperation with developing countries) , environmental (global warming, climate change) and economic (science and finance, market regulation, import and export volumes).

Peculiarities

Among the many features of Foreign Europe, one important thing is worth noting - the presence of a “Central Axis of Development”. This term refers to the Western European part with a length of 1600 km, which, in fact, is the center, the core of the Old World with the greatest concentration of population (300 people per 1 km2) and the main economic sectors. The conditional border of the “axis” originates from Manchester, then “rushes” through Hamburg, Venice, Marseille and returns to Hamburg again, forming a loop shaped like a banana. It covers a large area of ​​Europe, including the following parts: regions of Great Britain, the western states of Germany, northern and southern France, Switzerland and northern Italy.

If you look at a map of Europe, you can see that on the territory of the “Central Axis of Development” there are “world centers” - London and Paris, each of which houses about thirty headquarters of the largest corporations. In addition, it is the location where more than half of Europe's entire industrial potential is concentrated: coal and metallurgical enterprises, general mechanical engineering, automotive industry, chemical industry enterprises, the latest high-tech industries, port-industrial complexes and much more.

Rice. 3 “Central development axis” of Europe

What have we learned?

The peculiarities of Foreign Europe are under the radar of our attention. After considering this topic in geography for grades 10 and 11, we come to the following conclusion: a relatively small territory on a huge continent is one of the most successful, developed in terms of the quality of life of the population, the structure of production, the scale of economic activity and the level of technological development. Many factors contributed to this: geographical location, favorable natural conditions, small size of countries and their close proximity, and much more.

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Europe is the part of the world that lies in the western part of the Eurasian continent in the Northern Hemisphere, and together with Asia forms a single continent. Its area is 10 million km 2, about 20% of the total population of the Earth (743 million people) lives here. Europe is the largest economic, historical and political center of great importance throughout the world.

Geographical position

Europe is washed by the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, its coastline is significantly rugged, the area of ​​its islands is 730 thousand km 2, ¼ of the total area is occupied by peninsulas: the Kola, Apennine, Balkan, Iberian, Scandinavian, etc. The border between Europe and Asia is conventionally along the eastern coast of the Ural Mountains, the Emba River, and the Caspian Sea. Kuma-Manych depression and the mouth of the Don.

Main geographical characteristics

The average surface height is 300 meters, the highest point is Mount Elbrus (5642 m, Caucasus Mountains in Russia), the lowest is -27 m (Caspian Sea). Most of the territory is occupied by plains (East European, Lower and Middle Danube, Central European), 17% of the surface is mountains and plateaus (Urals, Carpathians, Pyrenees, Alps, Scandinavian mountains, Crimean mountains, mountains of the Balkan Peninsula), Iceland and the Mediterranean islands are in a zone of seismic activity.

The climate of most of the territory is temperate (the western part is temperate oceanic, the eastern part is temperate continental), the northern islands lie in the Arctic and subarctic climate zones, Southern Europe has a Mediterranean climate, and the Caspian lowland is semi-desert.

The amount of water flow in Europe is about 295 mm, this is the second largest in the world after South America, however, due to the significantly smaller area of ​​​​the territory, the volume of water flow (2850 km 3) exceeds the readings of Africa and Antarctica. Water resources are distributed unevenly across Europe; inland water flow decreases from north to south and from west to east. Most of the rivers belong to the Atlantic Ocean basin, a smaller part to the Arctic Ocean basin and the internal drainage basin of the Caspian Sea. The largest rivers in Europe are located mainly in Russia and Eastern Europe; there are also large rivers in Western Europe. The largest rivers: Volga, Kama, Oka, Danube, Ural, Dnieper, Don, Dniester, Rhine, Elbe, Vistula, Tagus, Loire, Oder, Neman. The lakes of Europe have a tectonic origin, which determines their significant depth, elongated shape and highly indented coastline; these are the flat lakes Ladoga, Onega, Vättern, Imandra, Balaton, and the mountain lakes Geneva, Como, Garda.

In accordance with the laws of latitudinal zonation, the entire territory of Europe is located in different natural zones: the far north is the zone of arctic deserts, then there is tundra and forest-tundra, the zone of deciduous and mixed forests, forest-steppe, steppe, subtropical Mediterranean forest vegetation and shrubs, the far south is the semi-desert zone .

Countries of Europe

The territory of Europe is divided between 43 independent states officially recognized by the UN, there are also 6 officially unrecognized republics (Kosovo, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, LPR, DPR) and 7 dependent territories (in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans). Due to their very small size, 6 states are classified as so-called microstates: Vatican City, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino. Partially in Europe there are territories of such states as Russia - 22%, Kazakhstan - 14%, Azerbaijan - 10%, Georgia - 5%, Turkey - 4%. 28 European countries are united in the national union European Union (EU), have a common currency, the euro, and common economic and political views. According to cultural, geographical and political characteristics, the entire territory of Europe is conventionally divided into Western, Eastern, Northern, Southern and Central.

List of countries in Europe

Major European countries:

(with detailed description)

Nature

Nature, plants and animals of Europe

The presence of several natural and climatic zones on the territory of Europe determines a rich and diverse flora and fauna, which, under the influence of human economic activity, have undergone a number of changes, which has led to a decrease in their biodiversity and even to the complete disappearance of some species...

In the Far North, in the Arctic climate, mosses, lichens, polar buttercups, and poppies grow. Dwarf birches, willows, and alders appear in the tundra. To the south of the tundra there are vast expanses of taiga, which is characterized by the growth of such typical coniferous trees as cedar, spruce, fir, and larch. Due to the temperate climate zone prevailing in most of Europe, significant areas are occupied by huge forests of deciduous and mixed species (aspen, birch, maple, oak, fir, hornbeam). In the zone of steppes and forest-steppes grow oak forests, steppe grasses, cereals, and shrubs: feather grass, irises, steppe hyacinths, blackthorn, steppe cherry, and wolfberry. The Black Sea subtropics are characterized by the predominance of forests of fluffy oak, juniper, boxwood, and black alder. Southern Europe is characterized by subtropical vegetation, palm trees and vines are found, olives, grapes, citrus fruits, magnolias, and cypresses grow.

The foothills of the mountains (Alps, Caucasus, Crimea) are characterized by the growth of coniferous trees, for example, relict Caucasian plants: boxwood, chestnut, Eldar and Pitsunda pines. In the Alps, pine and spruce trees give way to subalpine tall grass meadows; on the peaks there are alpine meadows, striking in the beauty of their emerald greenery.

In the northern latitudes (subarctic, tundra, taiga), where human influence on the environment is less pronounced, there are more predators: polar bears, wolves, arctic foxes. Reindeer, polar hares, walruses, and seals live there. In the Russian taiga you can still find wapiti, brown bears, lynxes and wolverines, sables and ermines; wood grouse, hazel grouse, black grouse, woodpeckers, and nutcrackers live here.

Europe is a highly urbanized and industrialized region, so large mammals are practically absent here; the largest inhabitants of European forests are deer and fallow deer. Wild boars and chamois still live in the Alps, Carpathians and the Iberian Peninsula; mouflons are found on the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, Poland and Belarus are famous for their relict animals from the bison genus, bison, which are listed in the Red Book and live exclusively in nature reserves. The lower tiers of deciduous and mixed forests are inhabited by foxes, hares, badgers, ferrets, weasels, and squirrels. Beavers, otters, muskrats and nutria live on the banks of rivers and reservoirs. Typical inhabitants of the semi-desert zone: goitered gazelles, jackals, a large number of small rodents, snakes.

Climatic conditions

Seasons, weather and climate of European countries

Europe is located in four climatic zones: Arctic (low temperatures, in summer no higher than +5 C 0, precipitation - 400 mm/year), subarctic (mild maritime climate, January - +1, -3°, July - +10°, the predominance of cloudy days with fogs, precipitation - 1000 mm/year), temperate (sea - cool summers, mild winters, and continental - long winters, cool summers) and subtropical (hot summers, mild winters)...

The climate of most of Europe belongs to the temperate climate zone, the west is influenced by Atlantic oceanic air masses, the east by continental air masses, the south by Mediterranean air masses from the tropics, and the north is influenced by arctic air. The territory of Europe has sufficient moisture, precipitation (mainly in the form of rain) is distributed unevenly, its maximum (1000-2000 mm) occurs in Scandinavia, the British Isles, the slopes of the Alps and Apennines, the minimum is 400 mm in the east of the Balkan Peninsula and the southeast of the Pyrenees .

Peoples of Europe: culture and traditions

The population living in Europe (770 million people) is diverse and has a variegated ethnic composition. In total there are 87 nationalities, of which 33 are the national majority in any given independent state, 54 are a minority (105 million or 14% of the total population of Europe)...

In Europe there are 8 groups of peoples, the number of which exceeds 30 million, together they represent 460 million people, which is 63% of the total European population:

• Russians of the European part (90 million);
• Germans (82 million);
• French (65 million);
• British (55-61 million);
• Italians (59 million);
• Spaniards (46 million);
• Ukrainians (46 million);
• Poles (38 million).

About 25 million European residents (3%) are members of the diaspora of non-European origin, the EU population (approximately 500 million people) accounts for 2/3 of the total population of Europe.

Here is a map of countries in Russian and a table with sovereign states, as well as dependent territories. They include completely independent states and territories dependent on various European countries. In total, in the European part of the world there are 50 sovereign states and 9 dependent territories.

According to the generally accepted geographical definition, the border between and Europe runs along the Ural Mountains, the Ural River and the Caspian Sea in the east, the Greater Caucasus mountain system and the Black Sea with its outlets, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles in the south. Based on this division, the transcontinental states of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey have territories in both Europe and Asia.

The island of Cyprus in Western Asia is close to Anatolia (or Asia Minor) and lies on the Anatolian Plate, but is often considered part of Europe and is a current member of the European Union (EU). Armenia is also entirely in Western Asia, but is a member of some European organizations.

Although providing a clearer separation between and Europe, some traditionally European islands, such as Malta, Sicily, Pantelleria and the Pelagian Islands, are located on the African Continental Plate. The island of Iceland is part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which crosses the Eurasian and North American plates.

Greenland has socio-political ties to Europe and is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but is geographically closer to. Sometimes Israel is also seen as part of the geopolitical processes of Europe.

Other territories are part of European countries but are geographically located on other continents, such as the French overseas departments, the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the African coast, and the Dutch Caribbean territories of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius.

There are 50 internationally recognized sovereign states with territory located within the general definition of Europe and/or members in international European organizations, of which 44 have their capitals within Europe. All but the Vatican are members of the United Nations (UN), and all but Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Vatican are members of the Council of Europe. 28 of these countries have been members of the EU since 2013, meaning they are highly integrated with each other and partially share their sovereignty with EU institutions.

Political map of Europe with country names in Russian

To enlarge the map, click on it.

Political map of Europe with names of states/Wikipedia

Table of European countries with capitals