The european culture area a systematic geography

Human Alteration of the Environment Human Modification of Lands and Waters The Special Case of the Netherlands Human Modification of the Atmosphere Human Impacts on Forests Green Europe

The European Culture Area

A Systematic Geography

Sixth Edition

ALEXANDER B MURPHY,

TERRY G JORDAN-BYCHKOV,

AND BELLA BYCHKOVA JORDAN

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham • Boulder • New • York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK

Published by Rowman & Littlefield

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All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or

mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without writtenpermission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Murphy, Alexander B., 1954–

The European culture area : a systematic geography / Alexander B Murphy, Terry G.Jordan-Bychkov, and Bella Bychkova Jordan.—Sixth edition

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN 978-1-4422-2345-5 (cloth : alk paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-2346-2 (pbk : alk.paper)—

ISBN 978-1-4422-2347-9 (electronic) 1 Europe—Geography 2 Europe—Descriptionand

travel I Jordan-Bychkov, Terry G., 1938-2003 II Bychkova Jordan, Bella III Title

D907.J67 2014

914 dc23

2013048229

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American

National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed LibraryMaterials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992

Alec Murphy and Bella Bychkova Jordan dedicate this book to Susan N Gary and to the memory of Terry Jordan-Bychkov— partners who made Europe, and so much more,

come alive for us.

List of Illustrations

Preface

A Note about Place Names

1 What and Where Is Europe?

Europe as a Physical Entity

Europe as a Human Entity

This Book’s Approach

Why Study Europe?

Sources and Suggested Readings

Minor Climate Types

Vegetation and Soils

Forests

Treeless Areas

Human Alteration of the Environment

Human Modification of Lands and Waters

The Special Case of the Netherlands

Human Modification of the Atmosphere

Human Impacts on Forests

Green Europe

Sources and Suggested Readings

3 Demography

Population Distribution and Density

Population Growth Rates

Natural Increase

Migration

Major Influences on Population Geography

The Role of the Environment

Socioeconomic and Political Context

Population Policies

Scale Differences

Sources and Suggested Readings

4 The Pattern of Languages

Languages and Language Families

The Diffusion of Indo-European Tongues into EuropeThe Three Major Subfamilies of Indo-EuropeanRomance Languages

5 The Geography of Religion

The East–West Divide

Uniate and Armenian Churches

Sources and Suggested Readings

6 The European State System

The General Picture

The Emergence of the European State Pattern

The Twentieth-Century European State

Case Studies

France: The Quintessential Unitary State

Germany: Federalism in the European Core

The United Kingdom: Core–Periphery Tensions

Italy: Roman Legacy

Spain: A Multiethnic State

Switzerland and Belgium: Astride a Language Divide

Fragmentation in the Balkans: Yugoslavia and Its Successor StatesRussia: Nation-State or Empire?

Ukraine: From Border Province to Independent State

Challenges to the Territorial State

Sources and Suggested Readings

7 Land and Life in the Rural Sector

Fishing and Fish Farming

Land Tenure in the Modern Era

Production Patterns in the Modern Era

Rural Depopulation

Preserving Rural Landscapes

Sources and Suggested Readings

8 Manufacturing and Industry

Historical Overview (Pre–Eighteenth Century)Traditional Manufacturing Systems

The Industrial Revolution

Diffusion of the Industrial Revolution

Spreading beyond the Coalfields

Sources and Suggested Readings

9 The Postindustrial Economy and the Quest for European IntegrationThe Nature of Europe’s Service and Information Economy

Communications

Energy Production

Tourism

Retailing and Governmental/Social Services

The Quaternary Sector

The Trajectory of Integration

Economic Impacts of Integration

Sources and Suggested Readings

10 The European City

The Rise of the European City

The Medieval City

City Sites

City Attributes

Medieval Urban Morphology

Renaissance–Baroque Urban Development (1500–1800)

The Industrial City

Characteristics of the Mid-Twentieth-Century European CityThe Late/Postindustrial European City

The Preindustrial Core

The Preindustrial Periphery

The Industrial Suburbs

The Postindustrial Suburbs

Regional Variations

The Modern Urban Pattern

Sources and Suggested Readings

11 Europe’s Changing Social and Ethnic GeographyPatterns of Social Well-Being

The Demographic Challenge

The Immigration Challenge

Sources and Suggested Readings

12 Whither European Integration?

Impetuses for Integration

Globalization

The Changing Geopolitical Order

Relationships with Surrounding RegionsHeightened Interaction

Sources and Suggested Readings

Glossary

About the Authors

Figure 1.1 World map drawn by the Ancient Greek geographer Hecataeus

Figure 1.2 World map of the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela

Figure 1.3 Two versions of the medieval European “T in O” map

Figure 1.4 The Ural Mountains

Figure 1.5 Proposals for defining Europe physically

Figure 1.6 Areas in Eurasia where one, two, or all three of the following human traits arepredominant: Indo-European language, Christian beliefs, Caucasoid racial characteristicsFigure 1.7 A measure of “European-ness”

Figure 1.8 The Europeanization of the world

Figure 1.9 Proposed culture-based borders of Europe

Figure 1.10 Member states of the European Union

Figure 1.11 Sources of selected European concepts and inventions

Figure 2.1 Terrain regions

Figure 2.2 Tectonic plates

Figure 2.3 Glaciers in Europe during the height of the most recent glaciation

Figure 2.4 The dramatic Dolomite mountains of northeastern Italy

Figure 2.5 A branch of the Sognefjord

Figure 2.6 Earthquakes, volcanism, and tsunamis in Europe

Figure 2.7 Hydrogeographic features

Figure 2.8 Climate regions

Figure 2.9 Floristic provinces

Figure 2.10 Soil regions

Figure 2.11 Evidence of abandoned terraces on hillsides in Croatia

Figure 2.12 How the Netherlands would look without human intervention

Figure 2.13 An ancient terp in the Dutch coastal province of Friesland

Figure 2.14 Humans at work modifying the Dutch coastline, 1200–1950

Figure 2.15 The Zuider Zee Project

Figure 2.16 The Delta Project

Figure 2.17 Percentage of forest area damaged or dead by the late 1990s

Figure 2.18 Deforested, rocky landscape on the Aegean island of Patmos

Figure 2.19 Percentage of land forested

Figure 2.20 The retreat of woodland in central Europe, 900–1900 CE

Figure 2.21 Stages of forest clearance

Figure 2.22 Logs floating to Joensuu, Finland

Figure 2.23 Reduction of heath

Figure 2.24 Soviet-era coal-burning power plant in southwest Poland

Figure 3.1 Europe forms one of the major clusters of “continuous” settlement in the worldFigure 3.2 Population density in Europe

Figure 3.3 Diagram of the demographic transition

Figure 3.4 Advent of sustained fertility decline in Europe

Figure 3.5 Annual natural population change

Figure 3.6 Percentage of population aged 60 or older

Figure 3.7 Population pyramids for Germany and Albania

Figure 3.8 Emigration from Ireland, 1846–1851

Figure 3.9 Migration within and to continental western Europe during the 1960s and 1970sFigure 3.10 Diffusion of the Bubonic Plague, 1347–1351

Figure 3.11 Population loss owing to warfare and disease in central Europe, 1618–1648Figure 3.12 War memorial in the French commune of Limeuil

Figure 3.13 Concentration of settlement in the Rhône Valley, Swiss Alps

Figure 4.1 Languages and selected dialects of modern Europe

Figure 4.2 The Indo-European language tree

Figure 4.3 Maximum extent of the Roman Empire

Figure 4.4 Origin, diffusion, and fragmentation of the Indo-European languages

Figure 4.5 Number of Arabic and Arabized topographic names

Figure 4.6 An archaic language border in Germany

Figure 4.7 Retreat of the Celtic languages

Figure 4.8 Defacing of English language

Figure 4.9 The non-Indo-European lands of Europe

Figure 4.10 Galician-language graffiti

Figure 4.11 Bilingual French-Breton

Figure 4.12 Ability to speak English

Figure 5.1 Religious groups in Europe

Figure 5.2 Templed promontories of the ancient Aegean

Figure 5.3 Proportion of pilgrimage shrines dedicated to the Virgin Mary

Figure 5.4 Kildrummy Church

Figure 5.5 Diffusion of Christianity

Figure 5.6 Diffusion of Protestantism

Figure 5.7 St Peter’s in Vatican City

Figure 5.8 Pilgrimage shrines in Western Europe

Figure 5.9 Pilgrims at Santiago de Compostela

Figure 5.10 A rural Lutheran church

Figure 5.11 Neo-Protestant church in southern Sweden

Figure 5.12 A Methodist chapel in the Lleyn Peninsula of Celtic Wales

Figure 5.13 On the Protestant–Catholic divide, in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Figure 5.14 A splendid Eastern Orthodox church in Sarajevo, Bosnia

Figure 5.15 The Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow

Figure 5.16 The great monastery at Pechory

Figure 5.17 Population in European countries that is secular (percentage)

Figure 5.18 Muslim population in European countries (percentage)

Figure 5.19 The Giralda

Figure 5.20 The Grand Mosque of Paris

Figure 5.21 The non-Christian periphery and former Jewish diaspora

Figure 6.1 The independent countries of Europe

Figure 6.2 Types of states in Europe based on their territorial and ideological foundationsFigure 6.3 Core areas and the evolution of European states

Figure 6.4 Europe in the eighteenth century

Figure 6.5 Main post roads in Europe,

Figure 6.6 Europe at the end of World War I

Figure 6.7 Types of independent states, based upon unitary versus federal governmentsFigure 6.8 Swedish–Norwegian border near Torsby, Sweden

Figure 6.9 Inheritance systems and land fragmentation in the German province of Hessen,Figure 6.10 France: Selected geopolitical features

Figure 6.17 The disintegration of the former Yugoslavia

Figure 6.18 Territorial evolution of Russia

Figure 6.19 Areas of separatism or significant ethno-cultural difference within states

Figure 6.20 NATO expansion, 1949 to present

Figure 7.1 Neolithic origins and the diffusion of agriculture in Europe

Figure 7.2 Ancient and traditional types of agriculture

Figure 7.3 Intertillage of wheat and olives in an alluvial valley in Greece

Figure 7.4 Cork newly stripped

Figure 7.5 Finnish farmers in the interior of their country

Figure 7.6 Sami man in traditional dress with one of his reindeer in northern Norway

Figure 7.7 Field patterns exhibiting Roman influence

Figure 7.8 Fragmented, long-lot landholdings in Lorraine

Figure 7.9 Forms of rural settlement

Figure 7.10 Major types of rural settlement in Europe

Figure 7.11 Traditional rural building materials

Figure 7.12 Bergerac, in Aquitaine, France

Figure 7.13 Danish half-timbered houses

Figure 7.14 Specialized types of agriculture in modern Europe

Figure 7.15 Wine grape monoculture near Sadillac, in southwestern France

Figure 7.16 A collective farm in the Hungarian Basin

Figure 7.17 A commercial sunflower farm in southwest France

Figure 7.18 Production of all grains per hectare

Figure 7.19 Percentage of workforce employed in agriculture

Figure 8.1 Guild houses on the central square in Brussels

Figure 8.2 The concentrations of primary industry and traditional heavy manufacturing,about

Figure 8.3 The Ruhr industrial district, Germany, about

Figure 8.4 Selected patterns of environmental pollution

Figure 8.5 The Roman roads in Europe

Figure 8.6 Automobiles per person

Figure 8.7 Controlled access, divided highways

Figure 8.8 Motorable highways, kilometers per 1,000 square kilometers

Figure 8.9 Road traffic bottlenecks and choke points

Figure 8.10 Railroad density and gauge

Figure 8.11 Diffusion of the railroad in nineteenth-century Europe

Figure 8.12 The European master plan for twenty-first-century high-speed railroads

Figure 8.13 The Channel Tunnel, providing a railroad link between England and FranceFigure 8.14 Templed promontories of the ancient Aegean

Figure 8.15 Containerized port of Bremerhaven

Figure 8.16 Gas pipelines

Figure 8.17 Zones of deindustrialization and of new manufacturing growth, 1960–2010Figure 8.18 Percentage unemployed in Europe

Figure 9.1 Percentage of labor force employed in the service industries

Figure 9.2 Internet connections, proportional to population,

Figure 9.3 The geography of electrical energy

Figure 9.4 Major tourist destinations in Europe

Figure 9.5 Tourism in Europe, 2011–2012

Figure 9.6 Traditional farmsteads in Stockholm’s pioneering open-air museum known asSkansen

Figure 9.7 Major centers of producer service industry

Figure 9.8 The European Union

Figure 9.9 Schengen Agreement countries, 2013

Figure 9.10 The Eurozone in 2013

Figure 9.11 Government debt as a percentage of GDP, 2012

Figure 10.1 Urban population as a percent of total population and distribution of largemetropolitan areas in the early twenty-first century

Figure 10.2 Diffusion of the city

Figure 10.3 Cities of the Roman Empire

Figure 10.4 Distribution of important cities, about 1500 CE

Figure 10.5 Toledo, in the central Meseta of Spain

Figure 10.6 The city of Sion/Sitten, in the Swiss Canton of Valais/Wallis

Figure 10.7 The skyline of Bruges, Belgium

Figure 10.8 Ávila, on the Castilian Meseta of interior Spain

Figure 10.9 The central market square in Lübeck, Germany

Figure 10.10 Street plans of medieval towns in Germany

Figure 10.11 Survival of the Roman grid pattern in Pavia, Italy

Figure 10.12 Central part of Palmanova, Italy

Figure 10.13 The Champs Elysées in Paris

Figure 10.14 Munich (München), Germany, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Figure 10.15 Paris, looking westward from the Tour Montparnasse

Figure 10.16 Urban redevelopment in Duisburg, Germany

Figure 10.17 La Défense

Figure 10.18 Distribution of European city types

Figure 10.19 The preindustrial core of the small Hessian city of Weilburg

Figure 10.20 War damage to housing in Hamburg, Germany

Figure 10.21 A stylized scheme of modern Budapest

Figure 10.22 Models of the typical Spanish and southern Italian city

Figure 10.23 The northern periphery of Moscow

Figure 10.24 The urban landscape in contemporary Moscow

Figure 10.25 Oulu, a Nordic city of Finland

Figure 10.26 Development of Randstad Holland

Figure 10.27 European megalopolises

Figure 11.1 Effective tax rates for selected major countries

Figure 11.2 Percentage of GDP devoted to social welfare programs (excluding education)Figure 11.3 Differences in GDP per capita in Europe and surrounding areas

Figure 11.4 GDP per capita in first-order substate regions of the European Union andEuropean Free Trade Association member states, relative to the EU average (percentage)Figure 11.5 Levels of socioeconomic well-being in the Paris metropolitan area

Figure 11.6 SDR, chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis per 100,000 people

Figure 11.7 One of the book’s authors in front of the former main entrance to the publicprimary school he attended in 1964–1965

Figure 11.8 Percentage of women occupying seats in the parliaments of EU countries, 2012Figure 11.9 The gender pay gap within the European Union,

Figure 11.10 The absolute gender employment gap within the European Union,

Figure 11.11 Areas of separatism or significant ethno-cultural difference within states

Figure 11.12 Percentage of the population that is foreign born in European countries

Figure 11.13 Evidence of Middle Eastern immigrants in Brussels

Figure 11.14 The geography of the 2005 riots in the Paris metropolitan area

Figure 11.15 Containers being loaded onto a ship in the Copenhagen harbor

Figure 11.16 Total fertility rates in first-order substate regions in the EU

Figure 11.17 Park in Paris’s 13th Arrondissement

Figure 12.1 Attitudes toward European integration in

Figure 12.2 Trust in the European Union among EU member states and applicant countries,Figure 12.3 The Nordic vote on European Union membership,

Figure 12.4 Areas benefiting from European Union regional development funds

Figure 12.5 Future development scenarios within the European Union

Figure 12.6 Degree of identification with states, the European Union, or a combination ofthe two,

Figure 12.7 Gross domestic product per capita in the EU, 2011–2012

Figure 12.8 European Union border regions eligible to participate in the EU’s INTERREGIII program

Figure 12.9 Regions participating in the Four Motors Agreement

The sixth edition of The European Culture Area is the latest incarnation of a book begun in

1973 by the distinguished cultural-historical geographer Terry Jordan Terry’s original ideawas to write a text on Europe reflecting geography’s rich humanistic tradition—one thatsought to situate economic, social, and political circumstances within the broader story of theregion’s evolution over time Terry carried that tradition through four editions, butunfortunately succumbed to cancer before a fifth edition could be launched He left the fifthedition in the hands of his fourth-edition coauthor and a new lead author For that edition

we endeavored to stay true to Terry’s original vision, but we expanded the coverage ofpolitical, economic, and social developments to give the book more contemporary relevance.The sixth edition of the book comes in the wake of a major financial crisis and significantpolitical and demographic shifts that are having profound impacts on Europe Capturingthese developments required more than updating statistics and introducing contemporaryexamples We needed to make substantial revisions to reflect the changing European scene.The present edition reflects the results of those efforts The book continues to presentgeographic patterns and processes against the backdrop of changing arrangements and ideasover time, but recent developments shaping the geography of Europe are emphasized as well.Our fundamental goals in creating this edition were several We sought to situate Europewithin the wider world—focusing attention on how the region’s interactions with the rest ofthe globe have affected its development We also wanted to build on the book’s tradition ofproviding a wealth of historical and contemporary maps and photographs aimed at facilitatingunderstanding of the material in the text; 57 new maps and photographs appear in thisedition of the book Finally, we wanted the book to speak forcefully to many of the political,economic, and social issues of the day

In tackling this edition, we were able to draw on extended past experiences in Europe, aswell as on our own research and writing on European themes Our endeavor was also greatly

aided by others Several University of Oregon graduate students contributed substantially tothe project Anna Moore provided thoughtful input on areas that needed revision, as well asinvaluable research assistance She also drafted two of the new maps Eric Stipe undertookthe task of researching and creating some two-dozen new or revised maps for this edition,and Nicholas Perdue designed and crafted another dozen maps The sixth edition continues

to build on the assistance provided by former University of Oregon graduate students as well,particularly Corey Johnson, who contributed substantially to the chapter on social and ethnicgeography, and Matthew Derrick, many of whose maps and graphs for the fifth editioncontinue to appear in original or revised form in this edition Some of the book’s cartography

still bears the imprint of Dr John Cotter, who created the maps for early editions of The

European Culture Area.

Beyond the individuals who contributed directly to this book, Alec has benefited frombeing part of a community of colleagues and students at the University of Oregon who haveshared ideas about Europe over the past twenty years Among colleagues, specialacknowledgment goes to Ronald Wixman, whose insights encouraged new and importantways of thinking about Europe’s geographical character, and to Everett Smith, who sharedhis perspectives on the European city during a teamtaught seminar many years ago Generalthanks also go to a number of former and present Oregon graduate students with Europeaninterests who have shared ideas and insights: David Keeling, George White, Amber Kemp,Dominique Salliard, Anne Hunderi-Eli, Nancy Leeper, Sara Press, Anthea Fallen-Bailey,Joanna Kepka, Robert Kerr, Roberto Serralles, Minna Pavulans, Kyle Evered, Hunter Shobe,Adam Lake, Megan Dixon, Mahmood Khan, Vincent Artman, Emma Slager, and DouglasFoster On a more personal level, Alec would like to acknowledge his partner, Susan Gary,and his sons, Richard and George, whose presence has enriched multiple explorations ofEurope, and who provided encouragement and support during the preparation of this edition

of the book

Bella Jordan owes a deep debt of gratitude to her esteemed colleague and scholar of Balkanhistory and geography Dr Mary Neuburger, the director of the Center for Russian, EastEuropean, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin Dr Neuburger sharedher extensive knowledge of the region and provided unwavering support throughout therevision process Thanks also go to University of Texas graduate students Roxana Popan fromRomania and Vladyslav Alexander from Ukraine, whose comments and insights were of greathelp in revising the chapters on language and religion

The authors owe a special debt to the team at Rowman & Littlefield—most particularly

Susan McEachern, whose belief in this project and gentle but persistent encouragement wasessential to bringing it to fruition Thanks also to Carolyn Broadwell-Tkach, who was incharge of the art program, and to Alden Perkins, who oversaw production Their efforts andprofessionalism are much appreciated.

A Note about Place Names

Decisions about how to render toponyms are complicated, and our general preference is todefer to indigenous forms Since most readers of this book will be English speakers, however,

we have decided to use the English forms of place names in cases where an English variant is

in wide use (e.g., Naples instead of Napoli and Flanders instead of Vlaanderen) The danger

in this approach is that it can lead to confusion One American tourist bound for the wonders

of Florence reportedly refused to get off the train at the station bearing the placard “Firenze,”convinced that the conductor intended to cheat him! But the indigenous names of someplaces in Europe are not well known to most English speakers (Hrvatska, as opposed toCroatia), and most readers—including those of a variety of languages other than English—are more likely to identify with Vienna than Wien Moreover, using the English termprovides a convenient way of designating geographic features that extend across internationaland linguistic boundaries (e.g., the Danube, which is, at various places along its course,known as Donau, Duna, and Duanrea)

As for the names of independent countries, we have opted for commonly used anglicizedshort forms rather than formal country names (Germany instead of Federal Republic ofGermany or Bundesrepublik Deutschland) The one case that might be less familiar toreaders concerns the Czech Republic Increasingly one hears the short form Czechia Eventhough that name is not as widely known as other truncations (e.g., Slovakia for the SlovakRepublic), we have decided to use Czechia for consistency and to reflect its growing use inthe country itself

Finally, when we capitalize the adjective in the compound terms Western Europe andEastern Europe, we are referring to the two distinct parts of Europe that were a product ofthe geopolitical division that existed from the late 1940s through 1989 When the adjectivesare not capitalized in these compounds, the intent is to refer to general parts of Europewithout invoking Europe’s post–World War II partitioning Thus “western Europe” does not

denote a precise territory with a particular geopolitical and temporal association, but thewestern portion of the European landmass.

CHAPTER 1

What and Where Is Europe?

The title of this chapter raises a complicated question because Europe represents, in thewords of Norwegian geographer Leif Ahnström, “an elusive notion.” Anyone who hasfollowed the debate over the geographical limits of the European Union knows there is littleconsensus as to what constitutes Europe Yet the term has deep historical roots and we use itall the time One of the core concerns of the discipline of geography is to make sense of howthe world is organized—both on the ground and in our minds—so it is appropriate to begin astudy of Europe by considering what we mean by Europe, and where Europe is located

Europe as a Physical Entity

Most people regard Europe as a continent Continents are usually thought to be distinct,

sizable landmasses standing more or less separate from other landmasses North and SouthAmerica, connected by the narrow Isthmus of Panama, form continents, as do Africa, linked

to Asia only by the severed land bridge at Suez Australia and Antarctica clearly qualify, asthey are fully separated from other landmasses by surrounding seas

Europe, however, does not satisfy the most common definition of a continent since it isnot a separate landmass To be sure, the Mediterranean Sea provides a separation from Africa

in the south, while the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans define Europe’s western and northernlimits But in the east the notion of continentality founders Only the beginning of a waterseparation appears in the southeastern fringe, where an arm of the sea reaches northwardfrom the Mediterranean, through the Aegean, Dardanelles, and Bosporus to the Black Sea,and still beyond to the Sea of Azov There the division ends, for to the north stretches thevast East European Plain Instead of a narrow isthmus similar to Panama or Suez, the mapreveals a wedge of land broadening steadily to the east, welding Europe and Asia into one

large continent called Eurasia A glance at a map of the Eastern Hemisphere reveals Europe

as simply one rather small appendage of Eurasia, merely a westward-reaching peninsula At

most, Europe forms only one-fifth of the area of Eurasia.

Figure 1.1 World map drawn by the ancient Greek geographer Hecataeus about 500 BCE He erroneously linked the

Caspian Sea to the open ocean so that Europe and Asia joined only at the Caucasus isthmus Source: Adapted from Parker

1960.

The belief that Europe possesses the characteristics of a continent can be traced to thecivilizations of the ancient Mediterranean, in particular those centered on Greece and Rome(fig 1.1) The Greco-Roman worldview, in turn, owed much to older cultures One theoryconcerning the origin of the words Europe and Asia ties them to the Semitic Assyrian-

Phoenician words ereb (“sunset”) and acu (“sunrise”) Living along the eastern shores of the

Mediterranean, the Assyrians were aware of two different cultural realms located in thedirection of the sunrise and the sunset; it would have made sense for them to refer to thesecultural realms by their geographical positions in relation to the rising and setting sun

Another theory has it that an ancient mythological ruler of Sidon in Phoenicia had daughters

named Europa and Asia The legendary Europa married the Greek king of gods, Zeus, and

accompanied him back to the Aegean, whereas her sister remained in the east

Figure 1.2 World map of the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela, drawn in 43 CE The Caspian Sea is still depicted as an

arm of the ocean, but Russia has also been narrowed to form an isthmus Source: Adapted from Parker 1960.

Whatever the origins of the words may have been, the ancient Greeks, from their vantagepoint on the northeast shores of the Mediterranean, perceived a world divided into threeparts—one to the north and west (Europe), one to the south and west (Africa—then calledLibya), and one to the east (Asia) Greece was long a nation of seafarers, and its sailors fromthe time of Ulysses and earlier had charted the marine separation between Europe and Africa

In addition, the classical Greeks knew of the division of Africa and Asia because thePhoenicians before them had circumnavigated the African continent The Argonauts andother Greek explorers had probed into the Black Sea, founding trading colonies as far away aspresent-day Ukraine Intrepid Greek merchants went beyond the Black Sea to the shores ofthe landlocked, saltwater Caspian Sea Certain Greek scholars evaluating the informationbrought back by traders assumed that the saline Caspian was part of the ocean They assumedthe isthmus between the Black and Caspian seas was the only land bridge connecting Europeand Asia (fig 1.1) Little did they know that the Caspian was an inland sea, with no opening

to the ocean, and that to the north of the Caspian stretched a huge expanse of land TheRomans carried on this view Their maps whittled down the expansive Russian plains to a

narrow land bridge (fig 1.2).

As time went on, the three-continent concept passed to monastic scholars of the medievalperiod Religious-inspired cartography based on Greco-Roman representations of the worldled to the creation of the famous “T in O” map The church simplified the map of the known

world in such a way that the pattern of land and seas formed the letters T, for terrarum (“earth”), and O, for orbis (“circle”)—suggesting that God had shaped the world in a sort of

Latin shorthand The Mediterranean Sea represented the lower bar of the T, and the top ofthe map was east rather than north The Nile River (or Red Sea)–Aegean Sea–Black Sea–Don River line formed the horizontal bar of the T (fig 1.3) On many such maps, the center

of the world was the holy city of Jerusalem, while the lost Garden of Eden lay far out in theinaccessible reaches of Asia We should not judge “T in O” maps by modern standardsbecause their purpose, as interpretative art, was to depict religious mysteries and offer astylized stage for the Christian drama, rather than to picture the world accurately Thesemaps played an important role, though, in perpetuating the pre-Christian notion of a cleardistinction between Europe and Asia

Figure 1.3 Two versions of the medieval European “T in O” map Europe remained, as in classical times, a separate

continent Source: Adapted from Woodward 1985.

Even after the European Age of Discovery produced more precise understandings of the

physical configuration of the earth’s surface, the idea of Europe as a distinct continentpersisted This idea had to be sustained against the backdrop of maps showing that, instead of

a relatively narrow land bridge separating the western and eastern portions of Eurasia, a2,000-kilometer-wide wedge of land lay between the White Sea to the north of Russia andthe Sea of Azov in the south Discarding a 2,000-year-old basic belief does not happen easily,

however In the absence of an isthmus, geographers began looking for other environmentalfeatures that might mark Europe’s eastern border.

Attention soon fell upon the Urals, a low mountain range running in a north–southdirection across the heart of Eurasia (fig 1.4) These mountains had never represented asignificant barrier to west–east movement, but they served the purpose of suggesting a divide

in the physical environment To this day many publications treat the Urals as the borderbetween Europe and Asia Farther to the south, the more impressive snow-capped CaucasusMountains, stretching between the Black and Caspian Seas, provided another link in theeffort to bound Europe The problem is that many different physical features could be—andhave been—proposed as markers of the border between Europe and Asia (fig 1.5) The Don,the Dnieper, and the Ural Rivers have all been advanced as demarcators of Europe’s easternedge; other scholars have proposed that only those lands drained by streams flowing into theAtlantic Ocean, Baltic, Mediterranean, and Black Seas (as opposed to the Arctic and IndianOceans) should qualify

Figure 1.4 The Ural Mountains, long regarded by many as the eastern border of Europe The view here is in the far north,

near the Arctic Ocean, on the eastern boundary of Russia’s Komi Republic The month is June, but snow still caps the northern Urals Farther south, the Urals did not act as a major barrier to east–west movement Photo by T G J.-B., 1997.

The difficulty of specifying an eastern land boundary for Europe led some scholars to

propose a climatic approach to demarcating Europe—casting it as a region characterized bytemperate, well-watered lands flanked by deserts, steppes, and frigid subarctic wastes In theearly twentieth century, the geographer Herbert Louis suggested that Europe reached only asfar north and east as those lands having at least two months averaging +15° Celsius or warmerand a total of four months above +10°C—a limit judged critical for grain cultivation (fig 1.5).Some scholars suggested excluding from Europe the steppe grasslands that intrude from Asianorth of the Black Sea, regarding them as alien in appearance.

Of what value are these diverse proposals for an environmentally constrained Europe?Why, in fact, has the concept of “Europe” survived so long after its continentality, in theconventional sense, has been disproven? Why do we teach courses in the geography ofEurope, instead of Eurasia? Why is there a “European Specialty Group” within theAssociation of American Geographers? Indeed, why do the Europeans themselves continue

to believe that a separate and distinct Europe exists? Clearly the answers do not lie in thecontrived and discordant physical boundaries that have been identified in an effort to findorder where there is none As the Russian geographer E M Murzayev put it, “any attempt todivide Europe from Asia on a systematic physical-geographical basis is doomed to fail.”Addressing these questions, then, requires us to look elsewhere

Figure 1.5 Proposals for defining Europe physically Mountain ranges, rivers, drainage basins, terrain patterning, and climatic traits have all been suggested Borders: 1 = eastern border of small discrete terrain regions, beyond which lie boundless plains; 2 = western border of interior–Arctic–Indian Ocean drainage; 3 = Louis’s borders, based on warmth and rainfall; 4 = northern limit of the steppe grasslands; 5 = northern limit of temperate climates; 6 = Europe narrowly defined, including lands accepted by all who seek to bound Europe on a physical environmental basis; 7 = Europe most broadly defined, including lands accepted by at least one scholar seeking a physical boundary; 8 = southern border of Arctic tundra; 9

= most widely accepted border of Europe today Europe, environmentally, thus becomes a temperate, well-watered land of

variegated terrain Louis oddly extended it far into southern Siberia, off our map Sources: Hahn 1881, plate 3; Louis 1954,

map following p 80; Wolf 1982, 31; Parker 1953; Parker 1960.

Europe as a Human Entity

The main alternative to viewing Europe in environmental terms is to see it as a distinct

culture area As conventionally understood, a culture area comprises a set of people who hold

numerous beliefs, behaviors, and overall ways of life in common, including ways of thinking,technology, social institutions, and material possessions Adopting this definition, geographer

W H Parker long ago argued that Europe represents “a cultural concept” because “its easternlimits have been cultural and never long stable.” Europeans, following this way of thinking,belong to a cultural community rooted in a Judeo–Christian–Hellenic heritage

Viewing Europe in this way has deep historical roots As we have already seen, the ancientview of Europe and Asia as distinct realms reflected the generally accepted idea that thepeoples lying to the east and to the west of the eastern Mediterranean were fundamentallydifferent By the Middle Ages, a common belief was that those living in “Europe” could bedistinguished from peoples living farther to the east because the former were descendants ofJapheth, one of the sons of the biblical Noah Europe also came to be seen as synonymouswith “Christendom.” By 1571, the pope revealingly referred to “Europeans, or those who arecalled Christians.” Europe acquired a specific cultural meaning, and Europeans could bethought of as peoples who had a distinctive worldview based in a vivid, distinctive self-image

Of course parts of what we now consider to be Europe did not fall within the Christianrealm during the late Middle Ages Islam held sway in parts of the Iberian Peninsula (untilthe late fifteenth century), and Christianity had not fully taken root in parts of northernScandinavia Moreover, Christianity coexisted with other belief systems in what is nowcommonly referred to as eastern Europe, Islam was expanding in southeastern Europe, andJudaism was present in many places in the European east and west As such, Europe asChristendom was less a precise territorial demarcation than a geographically looseconception Moreover, the official division of Europe between the Western and EasternChurches in 1054 formalized a rift in the key cultural attribute that supposedly gave Europeits distinctiveness For those living in the western parts of the “continent,” that split gavebirth to the idea that those oriented toward the Western Church were the true Europeans,whereas the Eastern Orthodox realm was a zone of transition (an idea that is alive and welltoday)

Beginning in the fifteenth century, western Europe’s engagement with the rest of theworld took the form of a globe-girdling colonial project that furthered the idea of Europe as adistinct cultural realm Other parts of the world were cast as backward and culturally inferior

—and therefore open for the taking and in need of domination and control This way ofthinking was underwritten by a strong sense of racial superiority, as Europeans encounteredpeoples who looked different from them The idea took root of a world divided among threeraces—termed Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid—with explicit geographical connotations

attached to each (respectively, European, African, and Asian) Religion joined race, custom,and socioeconomic status as constitutive ingredients of the European culture area.

Even in the contemporary secular era, religion has not disappeared as a way of thinkingabout Europe In 1991, a pope in Rome exhorted Europe to return “to its Christian roots.” Inthat same year, the president of Turkey, frustrated at the failure of his dominantly Muslimcountry to be accepted as a member of the European Union (EU), lamented that “somepeople maintain that the EU should be a Christian club.” A few years later, a Britishperiodical described “a Muslim crescent curling threateningly around the southern and

eastern edges of Europe” (Economist, 6 August 1994).

In the early 2000s a vigorous debate developed over whether the preamble to a proposedconstitution for the European Union should include reference to the area’s Christian heritage.Although not ultimately accepted, the debate revealed the degree to which there remains atleast a historical sense of Europe as a Christian realm Moreover, religious differences are stillsources of tension in Europe, affecting relations between Spaniards and Arabs, Greeks andTurks, Russians and Chechens, Serbs and Bosnian Muslims Even in the very heart ofEurope, and within the past century, religion served as a sufficiently potent focus of identity

to bring on a reign of terror against those of Jewish descent

Since the nineteenth century an additional cultural trait has sometimes been used to defineEurope as a human entity: language The great majority of Europeans speak tongues

belonging to the Indo-European language family—an extended family of related languages

with common historical roots The term itself highlights the language family’s European (andSouth Asian) credentials Flanking the Indo-Europeans are speakers of other languagefamilies, including Uralic, Altaic, Caucasic, and Afro-Asiatic, all of which extend far beyondmost people’s conceptions of what constitutes Europe, and are therefore sometimes viewed asextra-European

Even though religion, race, and language represent the three most common ways Europehas been historically thought about as a human entity, these traits are no more helpful thanphysical characteristics in delimiting Europe geographically As figure 1.6 suggests, there is

no boundary in the east separating areas where these three characteristics predominate—and

of course such a small map covering a wide area hides areas in western Eurasia where, forexample, Islam is the dominant religion

The historical territorial record is of no more help than the distribution of overt culturalattributes in delimiting Europe Some 2,000 years ago, many thought of Europe as coincidingwith the territorial extent of the Roman Empire, a considerable expansion from the nucleus

of 1000 BCE Yet the passage of another millennium, to about 1000 CE, brought dramaticareal changes As already mentioned, the Arabs, driven by the evangelical spirit of a newreligion, Islam, had spread across all of North Africa, through the larger islands in theMediterranean Sea, and into most of Iberia The Arabs eventually reached into centralwestern France, where they were turned back on the battlefield of Tours Horsemen from theEast, the Magyars, penetrated as far as southern Germany, where a major battle was fought

on the Lechfeld in 955 CE After long years of raiding, these mounted warriors eventuallyabandoned all but the grasslands of Hungary, where their linguistic descendants remaintoday

The territorial ebb and flow of Europe continued into the present millennium Spaniardsand Portuguese, gripped by a religious fervor reminiscent of the earlier Muslim expansion,drove the Arabic Moors from Iberia, a reconquest that was completed in 1492 In the east, amajor Slavic expansion overland, accomplished by the Russians, busily pushed “Europe” deepinto the heartland of Eurasia and beyond to the Pacific shore In the southeast the MuslimTurks overwhelmed the Greeks and seized the center of eastern Christendom,Constantinople, which they renamed Istanbul From there the Turks spread northward tooccupy most of the Balkan Peninsula Repeatedly, an alliance of warriors gathered to turn theTurks back from the gates of Vienna (Wien) and also at Lepanto off the Greek coast TheTurkish tide gradually receded, but not without leaving significant Muslim populations in theBalkans and a Turkish bridgehead on the north shore of the Dardanelles and Bosporusaround Istanbul Even the most persistent efforts by Europeans failed to destroy thisbridgehead

Figure 1.6 Areas in Eurasia where one, two, or all three of the following human traits are predominant: Indo-European language, Christian beliefs, Caucasoid racial characteristics These formerly common traits that were thought to

characterize Europe are of little help in delimiting the eastern boundary of the “continent.”

As the twentieth century unfolded, Europe both tore itself apart in major conflicts thatdrew in significant parts of the rest of the world, and saw territorial integration initiatives thatshaped people’s conceptions of Europe In the aftermath of World War II, an East–Westgeopolitical split divided the European realm into two parts—leading many in the West toview “Western Europe” as the only true Europe The latest political-territorial configuration

to influence thinking about Europe is the EU, which expanded to the east with the collapse

of the Cold War order That entity does not include all states in the world regionconventionally labeled Europe, however, and its boundaries have steadily shifted over time.With culture and history providing limited help in determining what constitutes Europe,some commentators focus attention on social and economic indicators that distinguishEurope from surrounding areas

1 A well-educated population More than 95% of the population is literate, and in some places

it is illegal not to be In Germany, for example, 99% of the population can read and write,and in Spain the proportion is 98% By contrast, as close a neighbor as Morocco, along thesouthern shore of the Mediterranean, has a literacy rate of just over 56%

2 A healthy population The population enjoys a far-above-average life expectancy—well in

excess of 70 years in many countries Perhaps an even better measure of health is provided

by the infant mortality rate—the number of children per thousand who do not survive to

the age of 1 year For much of what is universally viewed as Europe, the rate stands below

10, whereas across the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas one encounters rates such asTurkey’s 20, Algeria’s 21, and Egypt’s 22

3 Low population growth rates The population is scarcely growing at present, and it is

declining in Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Moldova, Latvia, Hungary, Georgia, Germany,Estonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Belarus By contrast, most countries inneighboring North Africa, as well as in Africa and Asia at large, experience annual naturalincreases close to, or in excess of, 1%

4 A wealthy population Standards of living are comparatively high, as judged by standard

socioeconomic indicators, with 14 of the world’s top 20 countries in terms of per capitagross national product lying in what is conventionally thought of as Europe In adjacentareas to the south and east, significant numbers of peoples achieve a bare subsistence

5 An urbanized population The vast majority of the population lives in cities and towns of

10,000 or more people, and in some countries the proportion exceeds 80% By way ofcomparison, only 31% of the people in India, 51% in China, 43% in Egypt, and 57% inMorocco are urbanites

6 An industrialized or postindustrial economy All sectors of industry, especially the service

sector, are well developed in what is conventionally defined as Europe, and they collectivelyemploy the vast majority of the labor force By contrast, agriculture remains the dominantform of economic activity in many regions lying to Europe’s south and east

7 Freely elected governments Democracy is the dominant political form throughout what is

conventionally termed Europe Competing ideologies are tolerated, and considerabledeference is given to the rights of individuals Forms of political governance are much morediverse in areas lying to the south and east

Figure 1.7 A measure of “European-ness,” by province, based upon 12 traits that have historically been associated with Europe A pronounced core–periphery pattern is revealed—a pattern we will encounter repeatedly in subsequent chapters 1

= over 80% Christian or of Christian heritage; 2 = over 80% Indo-European speakers; 3 = over 90% Caucasian; 4 = infant mortality rate below 12; 5 = per capita gross domestic product is at least 40% of the European Union average; 6 = over 90%

of people literate; 7 = 300 or more km of highway per 100 square km of territory; 8 = less than 25% of workforce employed in agriculture; 9 = over 50% of people live in towns and cities; 10 = less than 0.5% annual natural population increase; 11 = lies

inside the European zone of continuous settlement (see fig 3.1); and 12 = no substantial restrictions on democracy today.

Although the foregoing attributes draw attention to some broad distinctions between

“Europe” and surrounding areas, no neat lines can be drawn around them that help usunderstand where Europe ends and the rest of the world begins Instead, whensocioeconomic variables are mapped along with characteristics such as language and religion,

a broad transitional zone emerges From a core in central and northwestern Europe, where allthe defining traits are found, the presence of these traits declines gradually to the peripheries,especially in the east and south (fig 1.7) “But,” you might protest, “how could Greece—thewidely accepted birthplace of Europe—display fewer than half of the European traits?” Such

an observation nicely highlights the difficulties and controversies surrounding efforts todefine Europe in sociocultural terms

Table 1.1 European Self-Identity: A Checklist

Tertiary Primary/secondary

Source: Adapted, with modifications and addenda, from Painter 2000.

It is also important to recognize that, in some respects, the sociocultural approach to

defining Europe represents the continuation of a process of othering (i.e., defining Europe in

opposition to other areas) that is centuries old (table 1.1) The attributes at the heart of thistype of othering process are reflected in the work of historian David Gress, who refers toEuropean culture as “a synthesis of democracy, capitalism, science, human rights, .individual autonomy, and the power of unfettered human reason.” Gress’s formulation castsEurope as the crucible of the elusive concept known as Western Civilization

There are three problems with thinking about Europe largely in these terms, however.One is that the criteria used to highlight European difference (such as those listed above) arehighly selective—focusing primarily on matters widely viewed as positive Inevitably,Europe’s character and legacy is much more complex Racism, colonial domination, andgenocide are also part of the European story A second problem is that the reasons whyEurope has a comparatively wealthy, well-educated population can easily be obscured.Europe’s prosperity is not just the product of European innovation; it also resulted fromEurope’s highly unequal encounters with other parts of the world Most obviously, Europe’scolonial empires were integral to its extraordinary economic success A third problem is thatEurope’s current character has been fundamentally influenced over time by developments,ideas, and practices coming from other places

The second and third problems raise a geographical issue of fundamental importance Noregion can be understood in isolation The interconnections among places often run deep,both in extent and in time Even before the Age of Discovery, Europe’s encounters withregions to the east and south shaped its character, and Europe’s makeup and destiny becameincreasingly intertwined with distant places from the fifteenth century onward Germanic-speaking peoples, in particular the English, created overseas Europes in Anglo-America,Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, while Spaniards and Portuguese transplantedmuch that is European to Central and South America Great tropical colonial empires wereestablished by the Spaniards, Portuguese, British, French, Dutch, Belgians, and Germans inthe eastern hemisphere In the entire world, only China, Japan, Thailand, Iran, Arabia, andTurkey avoided falling under direct European imperial rule at some time between 1500 and

1950, and even they were profoundly influenced by Europe’s colonial project.

Europeans, in short, carried their practices and ideas throughout the world, transplantingthem to thinly occupied lands or grafting them onto societies too firmly rooted to bedislodged (fig 1.8) In the process, many native peoples were subjugated or destroyed, andthe imprint of Europe became truly global India has a railroad system founded by theBritish, Haitians speak a form of French, and Filipinos adhere to the Roman Catholic faith.Even those few areas never ruled from Europe felt its cultural impress Japan embraced theIndustrial Revolution, China adopted Marxist socialism, and Turkey replaced Arabic scriptwith the Latin alphabet

It is important to remember, however, that other parts of the world also helped to shapeEurope Influence flowed both ways, and the European way of life was profoundly altered inthe process Prior to 1500 CE, Europe could best be regarded as peripheral to the greatculture centers of the eastern hemisphere, receiving far more than it gave Even Christianity,the traditional basis for much of Europe’s distinctiveness, originated in the so-called MiddleEast and attained its first major foothold in what was long called Asia Minor (i.e., modern-day Turkey) African Arabs taught Iberians some of the navigational secrets that permittedthe Age of Discovery, and Muslims preserved and advanced much ancient Greco-Romanknowledge during Europe’s lengthy Dark Age Agriculture originally reached Europe from awestern Asian hearth, and the later introduction of American Indian crops, such as thepotato, tomato, tobacco, and maize, greatly altered the European agrarian system

Much more recently, Europe has been profoundly influenced by cultural and economicinnovations coming from former colonies—artistic ideas from Africa, cultural andtechnological innovations from North America, foods from South and Southeast Asia, toname just a few Moreover, recent immigrants have played a key role in sustaining theEuropean economy in the contemporary era Contemporaneously, Europe’s global influencehas declined in some arenas—fueled in places by rising resistance to Europeanization InAfrica, Islam rather than Christianity is the fastest-growing religious faith, and Asia’s rapidlyexpanding economies have eclipsed Europe in key sectors Falling birth rates also mean thatEuropeans form an ever-smaller part of the world population