Northern & Southern Europe Physical Geography

Northern & Southern Europe – Physical Geography

Landforms and Waterways

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Much of Northern Europe is a land of rugged mountains, rocky soils, and jagged coasts. The coast of Southern Europe is dominated by the Mediterranean Sea. The table below lists the countries in both regions.

Northern Europe

Southern Europe

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Two peninsulas make up most of Northern Europe. A peninsula is an area of land surrounded on three sides by water. Jutland extends northward from Germany and includes most of Denmark. The Scandinavian Peninsula is made up of Norway and Sweden. Finland is the large landmass east of Sweden. Northern Europe also has many islands. Iceland is a large island near the Arctic Circle, and Denmark has about 400 islands.

In the north, the Scandinavian Peninsula contains a spine of rugged mountains. It also has mountains and plateaus carved by glaciation. Glaciation occurs when glaciers, or moving masses of ice, cover the land and cause weathering and erosion. Iceland’s rugged terrain was formed by volcanoes. Iceland has more than 200 volcanoes and Europe's largest glacier.

Northern Europe has few important rivers, but it has a long coastline with many seas and bays. Much of Norway’s west coast is dotted by fjords, or narrow, water-filled valleys formed by glaciers. The Baltic Sea borders Sweden and Finland.

Scandinavian Peninsula & Jutland Peninsula

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In Southern Europe, Spain and Portugal are part of the Iberian Peninsula.

Most of Italy is on the long, boot-shaped Italian peninsula. East of Italy, the larger Balkan Peninsula includes several Eastern European nations, with Greece on its southern tip. The islands of Southern Europe include the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia and the Greek island of Crete. Malta is made up of several islands. The island of Cyprus contains both the independent nation of Cyprus and the Turkish territory of North Cyprus.

In the south, the Pyrenees mark the boundary between France and the Iberian Peninsula. The Alps form the northern boundary of Italy, while the Apennines extend along Italy’s length. Greece has rugged highlands. Most of Spain lies on a plateau called the Meseta Central. The Tagus River divides Portugal into areas of rolling plains and hills and valleys.

The most important body of water in Southern Europe is the Mediterranean Sea. It stretches almost 2,500 miles (4,023 km) from the southern coast of Spain to the west coasts of Greece, Turkey, and parts of Southwest Asia. Important rivers in Southern Europe include the Po in Italy, the Ebro in Spain, and the Tagus on the Iberian Peninsula.

Iberian Peninsula

Italian Peninsula

Balkan Peninsula

Northern and Southern Europe – History

Early History of the Regions

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In ancient Greece, separate communities called city-states formed. Each city-state was an independent political unit linked to other city-states by Greek language and culture. Although often jealous of each other, they joined forces to fight a common enemy.

In 490 B.C., the Persian army invaded, and the city-states of Athens and Sparta joined together to defeat the mighty Persian army. After the Persian Wars, Athens emerged as the most developed city-state. It became the first-known democracy, and philosophy and art flourished there.

Years of war eventually weakened the Greek city-states. The king of Macedonia took over Greece. His son, Alexander the Great, then conquered Asia Minor, Persia, Egypt, and other kingdoms. He created an empire that would last another 300 years.

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While Greek city-states were at their height, the city of Rome was slowly gaining power and became the Roman Republic. It was run by consuls who were elected to office annually.

By 275 B.C., Rome controlled the Italian Peninsula. It then conquered Spain, Sicily, Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor. After the military leader Julius Caesar was assassinated, there were a series of emperors in Rome. The Roman Republic became the Roman Empire.

In A.D. 330, the Emperor Constantine moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium in what is now Turkey. The new capital, renamed Constantinople, was closer to trade routes and farther away from the barbarians attacking the Roman Empire in the west.

In A.D. 476, German invaders took control of Rome and ended the Roman Empire. The eastern empire lasted until 1453, when it fell to the Ottoman Turks. The Turks changed the name of the capital from Constantinople to Istanbul.

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In the A.D. 700s, ships carried warriors from Scandinavia to Western Europe. These pirates, called Vikings, raided the coasts and spread fear and destruction. They conquered parts of Britain, as well as Ireland and what is now Normandy in France.

The Vikings eventually turned to trading and exploring. They used their longships, which were powered by oar and wind, to travel great distances. They crossed the Atlantic and founded settlements in Iceland and Greenland. Around A.D. 1000 Leif Eriksson led the Vikings to Vinland, which is Newfoundland in Canada. He was the first European known to have reached North America.

The Vikings followed a pagan religion, which was based on ancient myths and had a number of gods. After about A.D. 1000, Viking groups began converting to Christianity. More Scandinavians stayed home and the threat of Vikings went away. The Scandinavians helped build the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

Discovery and “Rebirth”

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During the period known as the Middle Ages, many important scientific discoveries of the ancient Greeks were largely forgotten in the West. Many important manuscripts were taken to the East.

When the Byzantine Empire fell in 1453, scholars took many ancient Greek manuscripts west. There the manuscripts were printed on a printing press, which had just been invented by Johannes Gutenberg. People could now own and read these books. These breakthroughs resulted in the Renaissance, a period of artistic and intellectual activity. It began in Italy and spread throughout Europe.

In 1609, Italian astronomer Galileo designed a telescope to see the moon and planets. His work helped prove the theory that the planets orbit the sun.

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By the 1400s, Europeans wanted to do more business with China and India, but travel by land was long and dangerous. European rulers encouraged sailors and navigators to look for a sea route to Asia. The table below shows some of these explorers and their accomplishments.

Through its trips to the Americas, Spain became the most powerful country in Europe. Spain built an empire in Mexico, Central America, and South America. In addition, contact between Europe and the Americas led to an exchange of goods called the Columbian Exchange. Europeans brought wheat, coffee, sugar, horses, and sheep to the Americas. They took tomatoes, corn, potatoes, and squash back to Europe.

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Meanwhile, Christianity had become identified with Europe, particularly Rome. When the Roman Empire split, so did Christianity. The western branch became the Roman Catholic Church. The eastern branch became the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Other religions spread into Europe, too. In the A.D. 700s, the Moors invaded Spain from Northern Africa. They brought the religion of Islam with them. In 1453, the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks, another Muslim people. During the 1520s, the ideas of Martin Luther led to the Protestant Reformation. Kingdoms across Northern Europe broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and set up Protestant churches.

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After World War II, there were many political changes. Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece became democracies. Greece also fought a civil war between Communists and anti-Communists.

Beginning in the 1990s, the nations of Northern and Southern Europe developed closer ties with one another and with other European countries as they joined the European Union.